That being said, caring for patients wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, particularly in the emergency department. That’s why every day, before I left home, I made a ritual of looking in the mirror, taking a deep breath, and saying to myself, “You got this, Tessa.” I’ve come to depend on this daily pep talk because constantly witnessing trauma after could quickly burn you out.
In fact, the past week had been exceptionally busy. Even though I was just starting my shift, I was already praying for an easy day. But I hardly had time to sit my coffee down before I realized my hopes for an easy day weren’t going to be granted.
“INCOMING GSW!”
The announcement rang through the air and instantly sent my heart pumping. Nurses began to dash across the floor, hurrying to prep. Instinctually, I reached into my pocket for my hairband, quickly and efficiently twirling my hair up and out of the way. My body went into auto-pilot mode. Everyone working in the emergency department quickly learned to expect gunshot victims regularly, although that never made it easier to deal with. There was always pressure when someone’s life was potentially on the line, pouring from a wound.
The typical questions started firing back and forth throughout the emergency department while we all scattered about, trying to prepare.
“Male or female?” I asked.
“Male,” someone yelled in reply.
“Location of the shot?”
“Lower back!”
“How long ago?”
“About fifteen minutes.”
Shaking my head, I analyzed the information, trying to determine what would potentially be needed for the incoming patient. By the time paramedics rolled him through the hospital doors, I was ready. I followed closely behind them, noting the amount of blood collecting at the bottom of his shirt.
My nerves were already starting to subside, confident that Dr. Nualli would be able to save this one.
Dr. Nualli, a kind and caring Indian woman, was the doctor I usually got assigned to. Together, we made an excellent team. After some of the previous doctors I’d worked with, all whom had distant and aloof attitudes, it had been a breath of fresh air when I first got assigned to Dr. Nualli. Rarely did I encounter doctors who cared about patients just as much as I did. When I first met her, she smiled, looked at me with her warm brown eyes, took my hand and said, “Let’s save some lives, Tessa.”
“You’re going to be fine,” I said, jogging alongside the patient as he was wheeled in to the emergency department bay. He glanced up at me through his pained expression. “What’s your name?”
“Nate.”
“Well, you’re going to be okay, Nate. I promise.”
I didn’t leave his side until we reached the bay and the emergency room technicians began tending to him, preparing him for the doctor.
I scanned the area in search of Dr. Nualli, coming to a complete halt at the sight of someone else in her spot.
Standing at the sink was a doctor I did not recognize. Male. I saw the flash of tattoos on his skin as he scrubbed his hands and forearms with antibacterial soap.
“Where’s Dr. Nualli?” I asked the room at large, though I instantly regretted doing so. I didn’t want to make the patient nervous.
“She’s not in today. Dr. Sholly will be covering for her.”
At the sound of his name, or perhaps at my question, Dr. Sholly took a quick glance over his shoulder at me.
My heart gave an unusual patter that had nothing to do with the job ahead of me. In just that brief instant, it was impossible to not notice how handsome Dr. Sholly was. Even through his scrubs, his muscular build was evident. He had a headful of dark shiny hair, a prominent jawline that was covered with a 5 o’clock shadow, dark penetrating eyes, and an expression that showed he was all-business.
“Tessa?” I jumped. A fellow nurse—Molly—stared at me with her eyebrows raised. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
Dr. Sholly made his way over, briskly walking straight to the patient, who was now unconscious. I took a deep breath and forced myself concentrate while several nurses attempted to disrobe the patient’s wound area.
“Careful,” I said. “Don’t destroy the clothing, particularly in the area of the gun shot.”
Dr. Sholly glanced at me for an instant, although I couldn’t quite decipher his expression. There was no time to anyway. All my attention was on the patient now, making sure everything ran smoothly. All the while, I made sure to stay one step ahead of the doctor, anticipating his needs and his moves before he had even figured them out himself. That was my job.
“Looks like an exit wound right about here,” Dr. Sholly said in a voice that made knees weak. “Probably another damn drive by.”
“Let’s leave it to the forensics department to make that assessment,” I said, earning an annoyed glance from him.
“I know what I’m looking at,” he quipped. This wasn’t starting out well, but I was terrible at walking away from a fight.
“I’m sure you do,” I responded, “but we have a very specific job to do here, doc. So we should stick to it.”
Dr. Sholly mumbled under his breath and several other nurses raised their eyebrows, making me realize my words had bit harder than I should have allowed. I couldn’t really care though; my concern was for Nate, and for his sake, we needed to stay on task. I was forcibly reminded of why I preferred Dr. Nualli; we were always on the same page and she would have never taken a moment to contemplate any details other than what was absolutely necessary to treat the patient right then and there.
After long stretch of silence, Dr. Sholly spoke again. “Lucky guy here. There won’t be any permanent damage. He’ll need therapy, but he’ll walk again. No severe bone or nerve damage. The bullet seems to have made it in and out without hitting anything serious. Send up a notice to the surgeon upstairs that he needs to be stitched up.”
I let out a relieved sigh, causing Dr. Sholly to stare at me again. I felt a flush rising over my cheeks.
“Kennery?”
I gave a start at him saying my last name. “Yes?”
“You almost looked more panicked than our patient did when he first came in. Word of advice for you—if this kind of thing is too much stress for you, then maybe you should reconsider your line of work.”
I blinked and felt a flush spreading across my face again, but this time, it was purely from rage. I cleared my throat. “I beg your pardon, doctor. But as I’ve said before, you should refrain from making assessments you are in no position to make—be in the type of bullet wound, or my competence as an emergency room nurse. So a word of advice for you—stick to what you know.”
The room fell so silent, the beeping of the patient’s heart monitor practically sounded like a siren. One of the other nurses attempted to pass the tablet to another, but dropped it, for her eyes were too busy darting between me and Dr. Sholly.
“Sorry,” she said hastily, kneeling to retrieve it, but the other nurse—Miles—beat her to it.
Gripping the clipboard in his hands, Miles cleared his throat. “No offense, Dr. Sholly—but Tessa really is one of the best nurses we have here. So if she ever left this line of work, it would be a real tragedy.”
Dr. Sholly shot Miles an annoyed glance and then turned back to the patient.
I caught Miles’ eye and nodded in appreciation. “I’ll take that,” I said, reaching for the tablet. “Can someone read out his vital signs, please?”
I proceeded to record the patient’s information, deciding to let someone else take over handing Dr. Sholly the tools he needed because I suddenly wasn’t keen on having more interaction with him than necessary.
“Good work, team,” Dr. Sholly said after a while. “Put out the notice that Nate here can be sent up to a room awaiting surgery. Has his family been contacted?”
I glanced up from the tablet, dumbfounded. Dr. Sholly looked toward me, a challenging gleam within his gaze. “Yes?” he said.
I lowered the tablet. �
��You haven’t finished examining this patient. His whole body has to be examined, not just the area with the noticeable wound.” I looked around to my fellow nurses for backup, but they remained suspiciously quiet, some of them looking positively scandalized. Only Molly looked at me and nodded, encouraging me to go on. I shook my head and laughed, though I found the situation far from humorous. “Unbelievable,” I muttered, realizing they were all too intimidated to speak. This was yet another reason I appreciated Dr. Nualli; she had taught me to follow my instincts and never be afraid to speak up on a patient’s behalf, even to the doctor in charge.
“What is it that you feel is unfinished, Ms. Kennery?” Dr. Sholly said. “The patient is stabilized. His vitals are good. He is expected to make a full recovery in due time. Surely, you can see that.”
I pursed my lips together and took a deep breath. Perhaps it was just my imagination that made me think Dr. Sholly’s eyes had briefly lowered to my chest…
I swallowed before speaking, staring him straight in those deep seductive eyes of his. “You should be well aware that it is standard procedure to give the patient a thorough whole-body examination, not just solely concentrate on the area of the GSW. Although he appears to be fine otherwise, we have to be certain nothing is overlooked.”
I set the tablet down and approached the patient, ready to complete his examination even if I had to do it alone. All the while, I thought Dr. Sholly’s eyes would burn a hole in my head. But instead, after what felt like forever, he approached the patient again.
“Step aside, Kennery,” he said, and then proceeded to complete the examination.
The other nurses watched with baited breath until it was over.
“He’s just great.” Dr. Sholly glanced at me one last time before removing his gloves and leaving the area without saying another word.
“Good job, Tessa. Nualli would be proud,” Molly said, stepping forward to pat me on the shoulder.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat, attempting to ignore the obvious tension in the room. “Has Nate’s family been contacted?” I asked, mainly to just fill the silence.
“Yes, I believe they’re in the waiting room…Where are you going?”
“To go talk to them,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure that’s where Dr. Sholly went.”
I paused. “Oh…Okay.”
Molly shook her head and laughed. “Tessa, don’t get yourself in trouble, now.”
I recalled the way Dr. Sholly looked at me before he left. “I think it’s already too late for that.”
Shit.
CHAPTER 2
Evan
It was already lunch hour, and I still felt disoriented. Dammit. I felt like my time working the night shift had turned me into a vampire. All it took was one day to recall why I had previously vowed to stick with the night life.
One day and one nurse…
“Good job earlier today, Dr. Sholly,” one of the emergency department nurses said to me in the break room as I fixed myself an umpteenth cup of coffee. I glanced up at her, not recognizing her name or face. She blushed under my gaze, and I had to wonder if her compliment was genuine or sarcastic, given that my performance earlier had been far from my ordinary standards. When I offered her no response, she quickly got herself a bottle of water from the vending machine and made her exit.
I sighed, flopping down in a nearby chair and taking a sip of my coffee that was too hot and burned the roof of my mouth. I swore under my breath. All the whole, one face floated through my mind.
Tessa Kennery.
I’d never had the pleasure of working with her before, and frankly, that morning’s experience hadn’t exactly been a pleasure. Or perhaps in some ways, it had been too much of a pleasure—I couldn’t really figure out which was the case.
There was no denying that Nurse Kennery was an absolute knock-out. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d seen a woman so attractive. Even nurse scrubs and a sloppy hair bun couldn’t hide the natural sex-appeal that oozed from her. That silky blonde hair. Those stunningly bright blue eyes. Those amazing curves, which she had unfortunately caught me staring at…
Way to go, Evan , I thought to myself with a humorless laugh. I took another sip of coffee, thinking about how not only did the living Aphrodite think I was an unfit doctor, but she likely thought I was a sexist pig as well. I squirmed in discomfort at the thought.
The door to the break area swung open. I reached for a magazine, pretending to be interested as I sipped more of my coffee.
“Hey, Evan. How’s the daylight hours treating you?”
I looked up to see Morris, one of our surgeons.
“Makes me remember why I resigned to the night life,” I answered.
Morris chuckled. “Oh, so you’re not fond of being here with us mere mortals?”
I smirked. “No, that’s not it. It’s just that my brain doesn’t always kick in until the AM hours are over.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” he said, pulling a paper bag from the staff refrigerator. He crossed the room over to the table, took a seat, and pulled a sandwich from his bag. “It’s past noon now.”
I gave a strained smile. I had nothing against Morris. He was a great doctor and someone I could have even considered a friend. I just wasn’t in the mood for small talk, which was clearly lost on him. He beckoned me over to the table with him. “Come and keep an old man company, will you?”
I’d been staring down at the magazine in my lap, trying to appear engrossed by it, but apparently I hadn’t been convincing enough. I glanced up at Morris again.
“Anything interesting in there?” he asked, nodding toward the magazine.
“Not really,” I said, although I hadn’t actually been reading anything.
“So you’re filling in for Dr. Nualli, I hear?” Morris asked around a mouthful of his sandwich.
“Yeah. Just for a little while. No offense, but I’m not trying to make mortal hours a permanent thing.”
Morris laughed heartily, once again beckoning to the table with him. “Well, in the meantime, I hope you’re having something more than just coffee for lunch, doc. You’ll be a jittery mess by the time your shift ends. Those of us working in the daylight have to refuel properly.” He held up his sandwich as if offering me a bite. “You should know that.”
I smiled tensely again, not liking the sound of anyone telling me what I should know, even jokingly. Yet, right on time to save me, Dr. Morris’ pager went off. He swore under his breath. “Can’t catch a break around here these days!”
“Another day, another dollar,” I said, gratefully resettling into my seat now that Dr. Morris was rising from the table, being called for duty.
“You’ve got that right. See you around, Evan.”
“Yeah. See you, Morris.”
The instant I was alone again, I almost regretted it. Morris’ brief appearance had at least managed to push Tessa from my mind. But now that I was in solitude once more, I no longer had a distraction.
While her looks were undeniable, her skills had left me rather stunned as well. It was obvious that she was light-years beyond the other nurses. The way she worked around the GSW, she could have been a doctor. It’s not every day—or ever, in my case—that a nurse catches and calls out a doctor for making a mistake. Something about the way Tessa spoke to me while treating that gunshot patient had made me feel like a scorned child. It was like I was 14-years-old all over again, getting scolded by my algebra teacher in front of the whole class about “being too smart to be so careless.”
On the other hand, I didn’t even have legit reason to be upset with Tessa. She had every right to call me out on my mistakes because she was one-hundred percent right. If something had been overlooked with that patient, the blame would have ultimately been on me. Yet, this realization did nothing to alleviate my conflicted feelings about her.
And it was just barely past noon. Dammit.
With a sigh, I drank the last of my coffee and tried to mentall
y prepare myself for the long hours ahead.
CHAPTER 3
Tessa
In the break room, I drank the last of my water and threw the plastic bottle into the recycle bin just as Molly walked in.
“Long day,” she said.
“Tell me about it.”
“Are you okay?” She tilted her head in concern. “You seem a little annoyed.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m fine..”
She pursed her lips and folded her arms. Molly had known me for a long time, and we had started working at the same hospital within a week from each other. We went through our adjustment phase together, and both of us had been mentored by Dr. Nualli. Hence, she knew me well enough to know when I was bluffing, or hiding my frustration.
“You in a hurry, Molly?”
She placed a finger on her plump chin. “Hmm…At home, I have a tall, dark, and handsome stranger waiting for me. But he’s on my DVR, so I guess he can wait.” She smiled. “What’s up?”
Together, we took seats at the table.
“I guess I’m just worried about Dr. Nualli. Do you know where she is? She hasn’t left us, has she?”
A wrinkle appeared in Molly’s brow. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Maybe she’s just taking some time off, you know? It can’t be anything serious, otherwise, I’m sure we would have heard something. She’s a busy woman. She deserves some time off. Hopefully she’s on an island somewhere with a big fruity drink in her hand and some handsome company.”
I laughed, though the word ‘handsome’ immediately sprung thoughts of Dr. Sholly into my mind. I suppose it showed on my face too, considering the way Molly narrowed her eyes at me. I tried to rearrange my expression into something more neutral, but it was pointless. Sometimes I was sure Molly was psychic.
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