Chapter 8 #2
With no patients this morning, Anna had gone to the Indigo Lounge for an unaccustomed daytime pick me up of one of the delicious mocha concoctions that resident barista Natalie did so well. And perhaps a fried potato and pepper skillet. And also, perhaps, a little sensible chat with Esme.
Esme looked surprised to see her. “To what do I owe this honor?” she asked, wiping her hands on a bar towel and coming around to give Anna a hug. “I thought you usually hit up that French bakery in the mornings. And way earlier than this.”
“A rare free morning,” Anna said, hoping she was putting a cheerful enough note in her voice that Esme wouldn’t spot her turmoil behind it just yet.
But there is no one as perceptive as a queer bar owner who had been in the business for multiple decades, and as soon as Esme’s eyes narrowed, Anna knew she’d been rumbled. “Hmm. Give me your order and go sit at that back corner booth. I’ll be there soon.”
Chastened, Anna did as directed, sitting in the back booth, twisting her fingers into knots.
Sometimes it was deeply inconvenient to be such an open, honest person, she reflected.
She simply wasn’t capable of deceit on any level.
It made her patients trust her, but it also made her a goddamned open book.
Esme arrived with a hot skillet in one hand and a whipped cream iced mocha in the other. “One Home Skillet Sizzler and a Dietrich’s Delight Mochaccino,” she announced, delivering the goods with a flourish before sliding into the seat across from Anna. “I did my part. Now, talk.”
“I almost kissed her,” Anna blurted out, covering her face with her hands so she couldn’t see Esme’s reaction.
She didn’t need to see. “Whew,” came out with a low whistle, and the sound of Esme slumping back against the booth cushions. “So that’s a yes on the impending ethics issue after all?”
“Maybe,” Anna said, muffling the affirmation in her palms.
Esme sighed and Anna felt her hands pulling Anna’s down off her face. “Well, a maybe and an almost don’t make a problem. Yet. Girly, you’re going to have to figure something out. Can you assign her to someone else?”
Anna bit her lip. “We just had a breakthrough. It would be such a bad time. Plus…” She thought about how to word it, to continue living on the correct side of the ethical line. “There’s a higher-ups issue. More I can’t say. But I feel responsible for getting her across the finish line.”
“Then you’re going to have to set aside your feelings, aren’t you?” Esme’s voice was gentle, but wry. “The most important thing is to get your mean girl healthy and happy again.”
“I know. I know.” But the scent of their mingled perfumes, the electric zing… Anna could still smell and feel it all, as if it were fresh. “I know what I have to do.”
“But it feels impossible. I know. I do.” Esme wrapped Anna’s hands in both of hers and squeezed. “When you meet the right person, the universe doesn’t give a damn about whether or not it’s convenient for you.”
“Oh, I don’t know if it’s… like that.” Anna shook her head.
“You’re in here looking for guidance from me twice in as many weeks, pumpkin.
It’s at least a little like that.” Another affectionate squeeze.
“You know what you need to do, Anna. It’s not going to be easy.
But hey.” She let go and slid the still-sizzling skillet in front of Anna.
“Eat up, drink up, and you know you can come here any time and I’ve got an ear for you.
Before work, after work, whenever.” Esme slid out of the booth, then leaned over to Anna and pressed a kiss into her hair.
“Be good. Stay strong. Do what’s right for you. ”
Anna nodded absently as she started to pick at her breakfast. At least she didn’t have an appointment with Victoria until next week.
That would give her time to think, maybe even to get her attraction firmly corralled and stamped down into a fun little internal box.
She’d have to dig up one of her old journals on patient ethics, that would surely be dry enough reading to kill even the most electric of attractions.
Driving into the hospital was unexpectedly difficult today, she noticed, about a half-mile away.
Not that Los Angeles traffic was ever a picnic, but this kind of standstill post-rush hour wasn’t entirely normal.
Anna craned her neck, trying to see if she could see lights, sirens, smoke, anything that might give her an idea of what was happening.
There did seem to be some smoke in the distance, but other than that, nothing.
Slowly, she inched her car forward, creeping ever closer to the hospital.
Then she saw it; a blockade of police cars and fire engines on the road leading to Oakridge.
Police officers were going from car to car, chatting with drivers.
Anna rolled down her window and waved one down.
“I work in the hospital! What’s happening? ”
The officer she hailed was a young man with sober dark eyes. “Ma’am. There’s been a major fire at a nearby restaurant. It spread to an apartment complex next door.”
“Oh, no.” Then she realized what that meant. Mass casualty event. “Oh, God.”
The policeman nodded. “Yes ma’am. The hospital is overwhelmed.”
“I need to get there,” she informed him urgently.
Mass casualty events meant all hands on deck.
She would be able to help orderlies assemble extra supplies for the physicians and assist in keeping non-patients calm and informed.
And she’d be needed afterwards, for any medical staff who had seen too much—
Victoria. Victoria in her fragile, just-held-together state of freshness would be in the thick of emergency surgeries, moving from patient to patient as quickly as possible.
Tensions and adrenaline would run high. The crash afterwards…
Anna gripped her steering wheel and stared wildly up at the officer. “I need to get to the hospital!”
“Can I see your ID?”
She handed over her badge and tried not to vibrate out of her skin as he inspected it.
To her relief, he didn’t ask her any more questions, simply handed her badge back and guided her into an empty lane of traffic so she could get to the hospital parking garage.
It was an agonizing bit-by-bit drive, her speed held back by the officers directing the traffic.
She had to show her badge and explain herself two more times before she could finally access the garage and fling her little car into the first available spot she could find.
Anna bolted out of her car and made a beeline for the emergency department, where she would be most needed and where she would surely find Victoria.
She spotted exactly who she needed right away, her big messy bun of brown curls a beacon in the busy department; Dr. Deborah Morales, Chief of Emergency Medicine, standing in the middle of the chaos at the central podium and directing people like a train conductor. Anna raised her hand in a wave.
“Dr. Monroe, I’ve got a nurse named Angelina Ross who needs a good right hand.
” Deb indicated a tall, lanky brunette in blue scrubs who was busy taking vitals in a trauma bay.
“You’re CPR certified, right?” At Anna’s nod she waved her off in Angelina’s direction.
“Get gowned and gloved up for safety, and thank you.”
Anna suited up and followed Angelina around from patient to patient, helping with supplies and assessments.
All the while, she kept a weather eye out for Victoria, but of course she was probably back in an OR somewhere helping the trauma team.
Still, Anna fretted inwardly while chatting with patients and moving through the chaos as more and more ambulances streamed in with injured people.
“Listen up, folks!” By now, Deb Morales was standing atop the central podium, waving for attention. “We’ve got to redirect any incoming ambulances to other hospitals. We are officially over capacity. Keep helping where you can, but be aware I am calling it and we’re gonna stem this tide.”
She got down, assisted by Hayley Milton from the ICU, and disappeared into the crowd. Angelina nodded at Anna. “We’ve got a couple more beds to visit, you still good to help out?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Anna replied, a bit distractedly. She kept looking around the emergency department just in case.
“You looking for someone?” Angelina asked.
“Dr. Victoria Ellis.” Anna craned her neck to see if she could spot Victoria’s distinctive blonde head. But of course, Victoria would be in a surgical cap and gown. Anna shook her head at her forgetfulness.
“She’s in with Dr. Laura Foster.” Angelina tilted her head, regarding Anna with curiosity. “There was a patient at the center of the restaurant fire, really badly burned. They needed all the help they could get on that one.”
“I see.” That concerned Anna greatly. There was a lot of trauma in burn victims, who were not the type of patient Victoria would normally see. It would be a very high-pressure, high-stakes situation. She bit her lip, worried.
“Do you know Dr. Ellis very well?” Angelina’s tone was polite, but curious. And she looked concerned, for which Anna couldn’t blame her. She wouldn’t make much of a good right hand for the nurse if she was distracted by worry for Victoria.
“We’re acquainted. But never mind.” She shook off her nagging worries and squared her shoulders. “Let’s get some more folks helped.”
It was another two hours—she’d ended up calling Kathleen and having most of her afternoon patients rescheduled—of checking pulses, fetching water, and talking to family members whose hectic nerves needed soothing while their loved ones were being worked on.
True to Dr. Morales’ word, there had been no further incoming patients, so the nurses and the ER physicians were able to slowly whittle away at the less critical cases, sending them to other departments, or to their homes with referrals for non-urgent care within the next few days.