The last thing she saw was her cousin, leaping out of her chair, her expression terrified. Charlotte yelled something to her. Lillian couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the ocean, but Charlotte was pointing madly and Lillian glanced behind her to see what Charlotte was pointing at.
A wave had crept up behind her, and the swell of water was now towering over her head. Lillian turned and tried to dive into it but she wasn’t fast enough. The wave smashed down on her, knocking her off her feet. She fell face-first into the water and immediately tried to push herself up. But it was impossible. Tons of water crashed down over her, pushing her down. She gasped and flailed her arms and legs, her lungs about to burst. She felt her body sucked under, swirling in the blue-green water. Finally, she felt herself making some progress. Up, she thought. Swim up!
Then she felt the sand in her hands. She had been swimming in the wrong direction, to the bottom. She turned, feeling her lungs about to burst. She tried to head up toward the light, but the undertow gripped her, twisting her as if she were a bit of seaweed.
I’m going to drown, Lillian realized. This is it. I can’t breathe. I’m being suffocated. I can’t get up. I’m not strong enough….
WHEN SHE OPENED HER EYES AGAIN, OLIVER WAS STARING DOWN at her. His face was very close. He looked so serious. She hadn’t imagined he could ever look that serious.
She felt his hand under her head, lifting it off the sand. “Thank God,” he said quietly. “Say something,” he prompted her.
She swallowed and made a face. She had sand in her mouth and tried to spit it out. “I feel sick….”
Unable to stop herself, she rolled away from him and spit up in the sand.
She felt his hand rub her back in soothing circles. “You must have swallowed half the ocean out there.”
“Here’s a towel,” she heard Charlotte say. “I put some fresh water on it.”
Lillian quickly wiped her face and took a long, shaky breath. She felt as if she were going to cry and fought to hold it back.
“Go ahead and cry if you want to,” he said quietly so that only she could hear. “I might feel better after a good cry myself.”
Lillian glanced up at Oliver, his dark lashes spiked with water, his hair slicked back wet. She realized he must have jumped in and pulled her out. He had saved her life. Just narrowly.
“I’m sorry,” she said awkwardly. Apologies had never come easily to her. “That’s never happened to me before. I’m a very strong swimmer….”
“Of course you are.” He patted her shoulder, his hand lingering there. “You were knocked down. That could happen to anyone.”
“You weren’t breathing, Lillian. You didn’t move. I thought…the worst.” Charlotte’s face was pale as paper, and Lillian realized she had scared her cousin half to death.
Had Oliver given her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
Lillian was too embarrassed by the idea to even ask.
“I’m all right now, Charlotte. Don’t worry.” She forced herself to sound much stronger than she felt and started to get up. She wasn’t about to lie there like a hospital patient.
Charlotte moved toward her. “Here, let me help you.”
“I’m fine,” Lillian insisted.
Oliver didn’t ask permission and didn’t believe her either. As she tried to stand he hooked his arm around her waist, lifting her up off the sand as if she weighed nothing at all.
“Come on, lean on me. Don’t be so stubborn, or I’ll toss you back in the ocean again.”
Her legs did feel weak. Having no choice, she leaned on him for support. He kept his arm around her as she walked back to the blanket.
Lillian managed to lower herself to the blanket, only to have Charlotte and her friends begin to fuss. They insisted she sit in the shade. They brought her a cold drink. They covered her shoulders with a towel. Lillian wished they would just leave her be, so she could get her bearings and pretend the whole thing had never happened.
She felt so embarrassed. So foolish. Oliver sat on the blanket in the sun, sipping a bottle of cola. He hadn’t put his shirt back on, and she saw now his physique was impressive, with heavy muscles in his shoulders and arms. Across one side of his back near his rib cage, jagged white scars crisscrossed his skin.
After a few minutes, Bess, Penny, and Charlotte decided that the excitement had made them hungry. They were going to the snack bar for lunch.
“I’ll just stay here,” Lillian said. “I’m not very hungry.”
“Care to join us, Oliver?” Bess glanced at him over the top of her big sunglasses.
“No thanks. I’ll stay here and keep Lillian company,” he said politely.
Bess answered with a knowing smile, then glanced at Penny in a way that made Lillian feel self-conscious. Finally, the three young women left, and Lillian and Oliver were alone.
“You must think I’m an idiot,” Lillian said finally.
He shook his head. “Not at all. I nearly drowned myself one summer, just that same way. Luckily my older brother was watching and pulled me out.”
She nodded, wondering if he was only saying that to make her feel better.
“Well…thank you. You saved my life.”
It was difficult to say the words. She wasn’t sure why. She didn’t like appearing weak in front of him—or feeling indebted to him.
“I guess I did, didn’t I?” He looked as if he wanted to smile but was trying hard not to. “I think we should celebrate. Will you have dinner with me?”
He never gave up, did he? She had to give him an A-plus for persistence.
“Dinner? Oh…thank you. But I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Of course it’s necessary. You have to eat dinner, don’t you? I’d like to take you out tonight, if you’re free.”
“I really need to have dinner with Charlotte’s family tonight. I’m not here for very long,” she hedged. Then, seeing the disappointed look on his face, she felt herself give in. “How about lunch? Would you settle for that?”
His expression brightened. “Okay, lunch is a start.” He picked up his shirt and pulled it on. “There’s a new restaurant that’s just opened on Main Street, the Clam Box. I’ve been meaning to try it.”
“Right now?” She hadn’t meant she wanted to go out with him right that minute.
“Why not?”
She couldn’t think of a good reason. Why not go with him now and get it over with? She certainly had had enough of the beach for one day. And Charlotte’s friends. “All right. Let’s go. I’ll just leave a note for Charlotte.”
He stood up and picked up his shoes and towel. “She’ll understand.”
She would understand, Lillian knew. She was probably expecting it.
Lillian pinned her wet hair in a loose knot atop her head. She pulled on her shorts and cotton blouse then quickly packed her canvas bag.
She was soon walking off the beach with Oliver. He took her bag and then took her hand, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She thought about resisting but for some reason she just didn’t.
CHAPTER THREE
Southport Hospital, Present-day
“YOU THERE…LINDY?” MARGARET SHERMAN, LUCY’S supervising nurse waved Lucy over to the main desk.
“Lucy Bates.” Lucy corrected her in a respectful tone.
“Lucy, right. I need a blood pressure reading in Room 203; patient’s name is Helen Carter.”
“No problem.” Lucy took the chart and the blood pressure cuff and set off for Room 203, glad for the assignment.
She had been at the hospital since the early morning but hadn’t gotten to do any hands-on nursing yet. Most of the time had been taken up with a group orientation and a tour of the building. Then she had been assigned to the second floor, east wing, where the patients were either in for tests and diagnosis or recuperating from surgery.
“Most of the patients in this wing are in relatively stable condition,” Margaret had told them. “Which is not to say that
caring for your patients will be any easier or less exacting than more acute cases. One small, seemingly unimportant error could put a life at risk.”
The warning had made Lucy nervous. She had done well with her coursework but it never came easy. Making a mistake here would be a lot worse than getting a bad test grade, especially with Margaret Sherman as her supervisor. Magaret was tough and intimidating, and Lucy suspected she enjoyed making the student nurses jump.
Lucy reached Room 203, knocked on the half-open door, and went in. Though it was the middle of the day, the shades had been drawn, and the room was so dark Lucy could hardly see where she was going.
Lucy made out a figure huddled under the covers in the room’s single bed. “Excuse me…Ms. Carter?”
No answer. She walked closer to the bed, and Helen Carter slowly turned her head in Lucy’s direction.
Lucy smiled. “I need to take your blood pressure.”
“What’s the difference?” the woman asked bitterly. “It’s all so pointless.”
Lucy was a bit unnerved by the reaction but tried not to let it show. She unwrapped the rubber cuff. “If you could just lean a little closer and hold out your arm, please.”
Helen shook her head and turned away from Lucy. “Get that thing away from me. I don’t want to be jabbed or poked or stuck with anything.”
Lucy took a step back. Her first day as a nurse, and she had to deal with a genuine, fire-breathing dragon. She stood beside the bed a minute, not knowing what to do.
“I’d like to be alone, please,” Helen Carter said. “Can you just go now?”
Lucy winced inwardly. It was going to be hard to explain to Margaret Sherman that she had been chased away by the patient on her very first assignment.
But the woman did seem upset.
Lucy rolled up her equipment. “Is there anything I can get you, Ms. Carter? Would you like me to raise the shades?”
Again, a swift shake of her head. “Leave the blinds. I want it like that…. Some fresh water would be good. I’ve been asking for it for hours.”
“Water? No problem.” Lucy took the plastic pitcher from the bedside cart, brought it to the ice machine in the hallway, and filled it with ice and then fresh water.
Maybe after she had a drink, Helen Carter would be in a better mood and let her take the pressure reading. Lucy hoped so.
“Here you are.” Lucy entered the room again and set the water pitcher on the cart. “I’ll pour you a cup.”
As Helen Carter watched silently, Lucy pulled a disposable cup from the stack on the bedside cart and started to fill the cup with ice water. For some reason, her hand was shaking. This woman unnerved her.
Get a grip. You’re not doing brain surgery here, Lucy.
“So, how are you doing today?” Lucy asked, trying to make pleasant bedside conversation.
“How am I doing? I’m dying. That’s how I’m doing. Do you find many healthy people in these beds?”
Startled by the outburst, Lucy stepped back and knocked into the cart. The pitcher tumbled and flooded the bed.
“Aaaaah!” Helen Carter screamed. “You idiot! What are you trying to do, kill me?”
She jumped out of the bed, the bottom of her nightgown and robe soaking wet. She held it away from her body, doing a little dance.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry!” Lucy ran over to help her, trying to keep her head. It was only ice water. Yes, she was a clumsy clod to have spilled it, and she was sure it wasn’t comfortable, but the woman was absolutely hysterical.
“No, get away from me! You’ve done enough. Get out!”
“Please, let me help you. Just…sit in this chair. I’ll get some help and change the bed….”
But help already seemed to be on the way. Lucy heard buzzers sounding and footsteps running toward the room. Lucy wasn’t sure how, but she and Helen Carter had set off alarms at the front desk.
A flock of nurses and doctors raced into the room. Lucy stood at the foot of the bed. She had just pulled the blanket and sheets off. The plastic mattress cover had done its job, and a puddle the size of Lake Michigan filled the middle of the bed.
Lucy couldn’t bear to look at all the faces that were now staring at her—a few nursing students along with doctors and nurses from the floor, several of them whispering together, fighting not to laugh out loud, she thought.
A doctor walked up to the irate patient and spoke quietly. Lucy couldn’t hear what he was saying but his tone sounded soothing.
Helen answered him loud and clear. “I will not calm down! That woman should be fired! Get her out of here, right now.” Helen sat up and pointed at Lucy. “That one!”
Lucy felt her face turn flaming red.
“Student nurse,” she heard Margaret Sherman murmur to the doctor. Then Margaret walked up to Lucy and touched her arm. “All right, Lindy, you can go now. We’ll take care of this.”
Lucy didn’t have the heart to correct her name again. She let the wet bedding drop and walked from the room, Helen Carter’s voice ringing out clearly behind her, “I could sue this hospital. I could have slipped, jumping out of bed like that…”
Lucy hurried down the hallway, fighting back the urge to cry. She would have felt worlds better if she had been allowed to help clean up and make the bed again.
Could she possibly be cut from training on the first day?
She went back to the nurses’ station, where another nurse asked her to sort out some patient consent forms.
Twenty minutes later, Lucy looked up to see a grim-faced Margaret Sherman standing over her.
Lucy summoned up her courage. “I’m very sorry about spilling the water. The patient started yelling at me, and I was just taken by surprise. I usually work as a waitress and I’ve rarely even done that in a restaurant.”
Margaret stared down at her, sizing her up, Lucy thought. “A waitress, huh?” she asked finally.
Lucy nodded. “My husband and I own a diner.”
“Don’t quit your day job,” Margaret said dryly.
“What would you like me to do now?” Lucy asked, forcing out the words. All she really felt like doing was crawling into a hole and disappearing.
Margaret glanced at her watch. “Why don’t you take a break? Sign out on the sheet over there. I think you’ve done enough around here for one afternoon.”
Lucy headed for the elevators, feeling exiled. Two other student nurses passed her in the corridor, nodded hello, but didn’t stop to talk. Lucy could tell from the way they smiled back that they had heard the news: Lucy Bates nearly drowned a patient in her own bed.
The hospital cafeteria was almost empty. Lucy bought herself a cup of tea and a packet of cookies and sat at a table near a window overlooking a courtyard. The day was dreary and gray. Lucy turned away from the bleak view. Someone had a left a newspaper behind and she paged through it, too upset to concentrate.
Charlie was right. She wasn’t smart enough to be a nurse. Whatever made her think she could actually pull this off?
Maybe this was a sign, a sign that she should quit before she really hurts somebody. Today it was just ice water. The next time, it could be fatal.
She felt tears well up again and pressed a tissue to her eyes. When she took the tissue away, a man was standing at her table, gazing down at her. She guessed from his green scrubs and stethoscope slung around his neck that he was a doctor. He carried a tray of food and looked down at her with concern.
“Are you okay?” His voice was quiet, calming. Lucy recognized it immediately. He was the doctor who tried to calm down Helen Carter.
She nodded quickly. “Sure, I’m fine. The newsprint—” She pointed down to the paper. “It gets my nose going.”
“Interesting. You’re either allergic to the ink…or all the bad news.”
She laughed. “Maybe both.”
“Would you mind if I sit here?”
Lucy gazed around at all the other tables, which were completely empty. “Sure, have a seat. I can see that
it’s hard to find a spot.”
He grinned and set down his tray. She eyed his large paper cup filled with ice and water and pointed to it as he sat down. “Better keep that away from me.”
He set the cup on the far side of the table. “Better?”
Lucy nodded and smiled. “Thanks. It hasn’t been my day.”
“Is this your first day at the hospital?”
“Yes. I just hope it’s not my last.”
“Hey, you’ll have to do a lot worse than that to get kicked out of training. It was just a little water.”
“My supervisor seemed pretty mad. She told me not to quit my day job.”
He laughed and took a bite of his sandwich. “She was just trying to scare you.”
“It worked,” Lucy admitted.
“Listen…what’s your name?”
“Lucy Bates.”
“Listen, Lucy, when you start your training it’s nerve wracking. You want to do everything right, but nobody’s perfect. You’re bound to make mistakes. Dumping water on a patient may be the least of it.”
“That’s encouraging…I think?” Lucy gave him a doubtful look. “I’m going to screw up even more before this is all over, is that what you’re saying?”
He nodded, his thick brown hair falling down across his eyes. “There’s a reason they call it training.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
He smiled and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “That patient who blew up at you? She had just gotten some upsetting news about her condition.”
“Oh.” I should have guessed something like that was going on when I saw her sitting in that dark room, Lucy thought. “What’s wrong with her, or can’t you tell me?”
He looked away a moment. “I guess it’s easy enough for you to read her chart. She has cancer. She had a tumor removed about five years ago, but it’s come back, spread to her kidney. It’s not operable and she’s refusing other courses of treatment.”
“That’s awful. She looks so young.” About my age, Lucy thought.
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