“I was holding her hand, but when she fell, we both went down,” the younger woman—maybe a granddaughter, judging by the ages—told her as she knelt on the other side.
“Hi,” Cait said when the older woman looked at her with clear eyes. “I’m Cait.”
“She’s my gram. Her name’s Barbara.”
“Hi, Barbara,” Cait said to the grandmother. “Did you lose consciousness?”
“I don’t think so.”
When Cait looked at her granddaughter, she shook her head. “She didn’t lose consciousness. She wanted to get up, but her hip hurt and I thought maybe I shouldn’t move her.”
Tony unclipped his pen light from his pocket and checked Barbara’s pupils and asked some questions of her while Cait took some notes. Each time she answered, he glanced at her granddaughter, who would nod confirmation her answers were correct.
“We need to check your hip now,” Tony said. “Cait’s going to touch you, but if it hurts, you let me know and I’ll pinch her for you, okay?”
Barbara chuckled a little, and Cait saw Tony’s big hand close around hers before turning her attention to the hip the woman had landed on. Luckily, she didn’t think there was a break. Her head injury didn’t seem severe, either.
“Okay, Barbara, what do you say we get you into the ambulance where it’s warm?” Cait said. “I don’t think you broke your hip and I know you didn’t lose consciousness, but you should see a doctor. Maybe get an X-ray to make sure you don’t have a minor fracture that can cause problems if it’s not treated.”
“I’ll go with you, Gram. I can go with her, right?” Tony nodded. “I’ll call Dad once we get there. I didn’t want to call him until I calmed down because the roads are icy and I didn’t want him rushing.”
“Barbara, that’s a smart granddaughter you have there,” Tony said while they positioned the board. “We’re going to lift you onto the stretcher now, okay?”
Once the women were in the ambulance and the good Samaritans were thanked and back in their wet coats, Cait was hatching a plan to grab a coffee in the emergency department. But EMS was at zero citywide availability with pending calls, so they had to hand Barbara over and head right back out for an MVA with multiple injuries.
As they pulled up to the scene, seeing Ladder 37 gave her pulse a little kick, but then she saw the two mangled cars and the thought of seeing Gavin again became secondary.
But the driver of one car and the passengers of the other had already been handed over to the first EMS crews on scene, so Cait and Tony got their equipment and stretcher ready and then they had to wait for the firefighters to finish extracting the remaining driver.
Her gaze was drawn to Gavin, who was waiting to help fold back the roof after they were done cutting the frame supports. He was totally focused on the car, and the intense focus on his face triggered memories of the last time she’d seen it, when they were alone in a collapsing house with an injured boy. She still felt a pang of guilt every time she recalled the way she’d accused him of not taking his job seriously.
In less than a minute and a half, they had a collar on the unconscious driver and were ready to extract him from the wreck. Cait’s body tensed, ready for the signal for them to come in while cursing the lack of paramedic availability. The middle-aged man looked to be in rough shape.
The firefighters lifted him from the car onto their stretcher and Cait and Tony did a fast examination while packaging him for transport. The best thing they could do for him was get him to the hospital as soon as possible.
As she picked up her gear, she made eye contact with Gavin and he gave her a quick wink before slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Then they were loading the victim and all of her attention was on her patient. She could feel the speed of the ambulance as Tony pushed as fast as he could without endangering them or people stupid enough to still be out on the streets. She communicated the visible injuries to his head and chest to the ER as they went, and they were ready when they rushed him through the doors.
Cait could have cried when, while waiting for the stretcher, a nurse shoved a paper cup of coffee with a lid on it into her hand. “I love you, Jan. Until the day I die.”
“It’s black,” she warned over her shoulder. “No time for cream or sugar.”
“I love you,” Cait yelled again.
Dispatch wanted an ETA on their arrival to the pending call, so she risked burning her mouth with the strong, bitter coffee while they walked back to the truck.
Tony gave her a stern look as she buckled her seat belt one-handed in order to keep sipping. “Don’t blame me when you’re peeing in a hazmat bag going down the road.”
Chapter Eleven
The next day, Gavin sent a text message asking Cait if she’d be interested in getting a bite to eat after her shift and was pleasantly surprised when she said yes. Based on what she’d said about her mom, he’d half-expected her to tell him she couldn’t get away and needed to have dinner with her family.
Instead, she gave him a time she’d meet him at his place, which his mind kept turning over and over, like it was a puzzle.
Either she wanted to meet him there so they could have some alone time after dinner, or she didn’t want him picking her up at her mom’s house. If that was the case, it could simply be a safety measure that was common in new relationships or it could mean she didn’t want him to meet her mom.
But when he saw her walking up the sidewalk toward him, he didn’t care. All that mattered was that she was there and she was smiling.
