CHAPTER TWO
CHRIS
A groan escaped my lips as the elderly woman stumbled sideways, knocking into me and splashing my coffee all over my silk tie. I flicked the dark liquid with my fingertips, grimacing.
“Sorry, dear,” she said, her voice sweet as she smiled penitently at me, batting what was left of her eyelashes.
“Yeah, whatever,” I mumbled as I shook my head at the spots forming. “Maybe try a wheelchair next time.”
As I hurried down the hall, a twinge of guilt prickled at me. I shoved it away. I’d long since honed my defense mechanisms after a lifetime of difficult relationships. I pushed into the on-call room in search of paper towels to clean up.
“Bad day, Dr. Wright?” a voice asked as I grabbed a wad of napkins from the table and dabbed at the spots.
I rolled my eyes, refusing to turn around to face my colleague. “Some old bat ran into me and spilled my coffee all over me.”
Behind me, the other doctor laughed, the sound echoing off the walls of the cramped space. “Some old bat? You do realize we’re doctors, right, Wright?”
This time I twisted around to eye her. “Really?”
She smirked at me, flicking a lock of her dark hair over her shoulder as amusement played in her eyes–her message clear. She found my irritation more amusing that concerning. “See what I did there? Right, Wright?”
“I saw. You know, if this whole doctor thing doesn’t work out, you could try stand-up comedy.” I turned back to the mirror, intent on removing the stains from my tie.
“I’d be more concerned about the whole doctor thing not working out for you, Wright. I mean…you are the one calling our patients old bats. We’re supposed to be helping them stay healthy, not criticizing their age.”
“I wasn’t criticizing her age. And I do help them stay healthy. I’m a veritable angel, Lena.”
She crossed her arms and puckered her lips, fake concentration playing on her features. “Yeah. I can see your halo from here.”
I let out chuckle as I tossed away the napkins, still unsatisfied with the job they’d done but willing to give up. “I’m serious. There’s a thin line between saving lives and playing God. And I walk it daily.”
Lena rolled her eyes at ne. “Why did you become a doctor, anyway? It’s not like you need the money. Instead of hanging out here playing God, you could be…shuffling around that big old house of yours doing whatever it is you’d do. Being cranky and complaining.”
“I’m not cranky and I don’t complain.” I threw my hands out to the sides. “Is it so wrong that I’d like people to be a little grateful that I’m saving their lives.”
Lena crinkled her brow. “Wow, you really do think you’re an angel.”
I laughed at her, shaking my head. “No, I don’t.”
“Really?” she questioned. “Oh, so you just really think you’re God.”
“Nope. But there are no such things as angels, Lena. But there is such a thing as science. And some of my treatments are the most cutting edge in the world. I just think people would appreciate me a little more, that’s all.”
“Do you know why I got into medicine, Chris?”
“The whopping paycheck?” I asked as I returned to the mirror to study my marred tie.
“To help people.”
“Well, that makes one of us.” I spun to face her again. “I got into it for the science. The thrill of discovery. And with the progress I’ve made, I can change people’s lives. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a little gratitude.”
“Well,” Lena said as she hoisted a set of folders from the desk next to her, “maybe you’ll find some in your ER rotation.”
She shoved the folders at my chest and patted my shoulders with a grin.
“ER rotation? I’m not on this morning.”
“You are now. Raj is on vacation, and Izzie’s out sick. You’re up, doc.”
“You’re joking. I have other things to do, Lena.”
She strode to the door, twisting back to shrug and offer me an amused smile. “Sorry, Wright. It stinks that I’m your boss, huh?”
Lena left the room, and I rolled my eyes as I juggled the folders. “I really hate that fact.”
I slammed the folders onto the desk before staring down at them. My eyes fell to my stained tie. I’d run home and change to another after I visited these patients. Despite the number of cases, I’d burn through them in no time.
I didn’t bother spending a lot of time making friends with my patients. I wasn’t there to be nice to them, I was there to cure them.
With a sigh, I stalked to my locker and tugged it open, grabbing my white coat from inside and donning it. At least it would mostly cover my tie.
With the folders collected again, I left the on-call room behind and headed for the emergency room.
“Dr. Wright, I didn’t know you were on today,” Callie said as I approached the nurses’ station.
I didn’t care for nurses much. “Nurse Johnson, good morning. I wasn’t supposed to working today. I’m just helping out.”
“Good,” she answered, shoving another ten folders my way. “We’re swamped. Room 10 has been here for three hours already. Room 1 needs approval for pain medication, reporting level 10 pain. Room 3–”
I held up a hand. “Okay, okay, stop. I’ll get to them when I get to them.”
”But–“
“I said I’ll get there when I get there. I’m the doctor here. And three hours is hardly a wait. Cry me a river.” With a sigh, I shook my head and slammed the folders I’d carried from the on-call room on top of the new batch before I strode from the desk.
Slipping into the first room, I dumped the charts on the rolling cart and logged into the system and keeping my eyes fixed on the screen. “Good morning, I’m Dr. Wright. What brings you in today?”
“Dr. Wright? Is Dr. Wrong on staff, too?” The older man in the bed slapped his thigh as he laughed.
I pressed my lips together, holding in a sigh. “I’ve heard all the jokes. So, what’s brought you into the ER today?”
The man groaned as he leaned forward, pulling the sheet draped over him off of his foot. “I stubbed my toe this morning. Hurts like the dickens. Is it broken?”
I held back the grimace threatening to form on my lips as I glanced down at the crusty nail topping the toe. “I doubt it, but you may want to have that toenail checked by a podiatrist. ”
I returned to the computer to type in my notes.
“Really? Aren’t you even going to x-ray it? Just to be sure?”
“Nope. There’s no bruising, no swelling, not even a red mark. It’s not broken, and there’s no reason to subject you to the radiation.”
“I don’t mind. At my age, it may even help.”
“It’s not broken.”
“But it hurts.”
“I’m not surprised. I think you’ve got some sort of fungal infection on the nail. See a podiatrist.”
The man furrowed his thick brows. “Can’t you help?”
“This is an emergency room. It’s for emergencies. Not fungal infections. I’ll send the nurse in with a list of podiatrists. Have a good day, Mister, uh…sir.”
I strode from the room despite the man’s protestations and dumped the folder at the nurse’s station before I moved on to the next room.
I crossed to the computer and typed in my credentials. “Hello, I’m Dr. Wright. What brings you in today?”
A frazzled mother slicked a lock of hair behind her ear as she thrust her son’s hand forward toward me. “He has a paper cut. I tried to stop the bleeding, but…it’s very red. Will it need stitches?”
I slid his eyes closed and shook my head. “No, it needs a band-aid. Next time your kid needs a band-aid, put it on yourself and don’t clutter up the ER with nonsense.”
I dragged the wheeled computer station from the room with me and typed in his notes in the hall before I moved on to the next room.
The way I was banging these out, I’d have plenty of time to head home to change my tie before my afternoon appointment. I stopped at the coffee station to pour myself another cup as I allowed the anticipation to curl my lips.
It wasn’t just the medical puzzle facing me that aroused my sense of anticipation, but the subject herself.
The pretty brunette was a nice enough choice for a future Mrs. Wright. And if I saved her life, she’d be indebted to me.
That would make it easy to get her to agree to see me outside of a professional setting.
I wrinkled my nose as I sipped the coffee from the foam cup and set it on the computer cart to move to the next room.
In the span of ninety minutes, I’d “treated” a sunburn, a splinter, and hiccups that wouldn’t stop. I’d never felt my talents had been so wasted than in the span of this morning.
I took a break after polishing off another two ridiculous cases, pouring myself another cup of the awful sludge they called coffee here.
I settled into one of the uncomfortable chairs at the nurses’ station as I perused the other cases I needed to tackle before ducking out.
Chaos down the hall drew my attention. The doors at the ambulance bay, burst open and slew of people scrambled in alongside a gurney.
After tossing the coffee in the trash, I raced around the desk and ran headlong to the rolling bed. “What do we have?”
“Thirty-year-old male, front-seat passenger involved in a high-speed motor vehicle accident. Hit hard from the side. Increased respiratory distressed, diminishing breath sounds on the right side, and a tracheal deviation. BP is dropping, pulse is thready and fast.”
“What have you done?” I asked as I whipped my stethoscope from around my neck and slid it into my ears.
“Administered high-flow O2 and tried to stabilize en route. ”
“Let’s get him into trauma one,” I said as I hurried alongside the bed, pressing my stethoscope to his side.
They rolled the gurney into the trauma room and shifted the patient from the temporary bed to the hospital bed.
Nurses poured into the room to assist. “I want a chest x-ray immediately.”
Before they could snap into action, monitor alarms blared.
“He’s going into V-Tach,” one of the nurses warned.
“Get me a needle,” I shouted as he lined up on the patient’s right side. “We need to alleviate the pressure on his heart and lungs.”
The patient’s breathing turned labored as the heart monitor continued its rapid beeps.
“Where is that needle?” I barked.
Nurses cleared the area around the patient’s chest as someone slapped a large-bore cannula into my hand.
A nurse cleaned a spot on the patient’s chest before I positioned the needle, taking a moment to ensure my hand remained steady before I plunged the needle into the chest wall. The hiss of escaping air filled the tensely silent room.
“Let’s get a breathing tube in place,” I ordered as I moved on to tackle the V-Tach with a medication order.
A central line was placed, and the medication administered. The patient’s heart rate and breathing normalized, and the alarms finally settled. I blew out a long breath as I ripped my gloves off and strode from the room, giving orders for the next steps.
As the adrenaline of the moment waned, I couldn’t help but marvel at the delicate balance between life and death, all influenced by my decisions.
Lena strode toward me, her eyebrows raised. “How’s it going?”
“Excellent,” I said as I tugged off my white coat. “I just saved another life. You’re welcome. And now, doctor, I leave this place in your very capable hands.”
“Wait a minute, you aren’t finished.”
“Yes, I am,” I answered. “I’m finished. I have to run home and change my tie before my afternoon appointment.”
She scoffed, her features pinching. “You can’t leave me here swamped like this.”
I twisted around, walking backward as I grinned at her. “You’ve got this, Dr. Morgan. You’re the best.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Wright!” she called after me, but I barreled straight into the warm spring sunshine.
My lips twisted into a smile as I left the hospital behind, enjoying the banter between us. A moment of melancholy passed over me as a memory flitted through my brain. A ring, a woman, a proposal, and a rejection.
I shoved it away. I had a new interest on my horizon, and I was intent on making a good impression.
Having a clean tie was a part of that. I wanted her to understand what I could offer her. Not only a potential cure for her condition, but a life of leisure.
What woman could turn that down?
As I crossed through the park, my mind recalled one woman who could.
I shook my head, squeezing my eyes closed in a desperate attempt to shake the negative memory from my mind as I cut through a quiet tree-lined area as a shortcut.
The next thing I knew, someone crashed into me.
My features pinched as I opened my eyes to a flailing redhead twisting to face me. Her delicate fingers latched onto my hand in an attempt to stop her fall.
Warmth like I’d never felt before surged through my body, sending my heart beating at an abnormal speed. I’d never experienced anything like this sensation before.
Her wide eyes focused on me, her jaw hanging open. She appeared stunned, though I’ll admit, so was I. I’d never been so taken with someone in my life.
Something about her sparkling blue eyes, the delicate structure of her features, the pale, but rosy skin. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but something captivated me.
One corner of my lips tugged upward into a partial smile.
Everything faded when she let go of my hand, and I was left pondering what had just happened. Before I could speak, though, she began to back away.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice filled with concern–surprisingly to me.
She offered me one final glance before she offered a breathless, “Fine,” and turned to hurry away.
“Wait!” I called, taking a few steps in the direction she’d fled. I rounded the bush and scanned the park in search of the redheaded beauty.
She was nowhere to be found. I shuffled back into the clearing we’d met in, easing on to the bench as I rubbed my palms on my pant legs.
Her touch had been…bizarre. Emotions had welled in me that I hadn’t felt in years, some that I’d never felt at all.
I stared at the spot in which she’d stood, not understanding what had just happened. But I was determined to find out.
Whatever happened, I had to find that redhead.