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“Alright.” Blaine was pretty cooperative, considering the gaps in his memory. Some head injury patients could get very aggressive.
She checked on her other patients, one was an elderly man who was waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed for management of his congestive heart failure and the other a young girl who'd broken her wrist falling out of a tree. All in all, a quiet day as far as shifts in the emergency department went.
She took five minutes to eat a sandwich she'd brought from Austin's house, while Blaine was getting his scan. Hopefully, she and Josh would be able to move back home soon. It was sweet of Austin to lend them a hand, but sharing his house was much harder than she'd imagined.
Even worse was the deep temptation to let Austin solve her problems. She knew he would not hesitate to do whatever she asked, if she so much as dropped a hint.
No. She needed to be strong. When she caught a glimpse of Blaine being wheeled back to his room, she jumped up to meet with him. A quick glance in the chart revealed the results were negative. She checked on his laboratory work too, before heading over to talk to Dr. Markham again.
“Labs and radiology reports on Blaine Larson have come back negative.” She tapped the computer in front of him. “You can check them for yourself. Even his drug screen is negative.”
“That’s good to hear. He’d fine to be discharged home, but his mother needs to keep an eye on him for the next twenty-four hours.
She nodded. “Blaine’s after visit summary will include care of concussion patients.” Their system was set up to pull that information together automatically. This was one of those instances in which upgrading to a new computer system had helped save them time, at least from the nurse’s perspective.
She had just finished giving Blaine’s mother his after-visit summary, reviewing the care of concussion patient, when she heard her name being called.
“Lindsey? You have a call on line two from Sun Valley elementary school.”
The school? Josh? Her stomach knotted as she hurried over to pick up the phone. “This is Lindsey Winters.”
“Mrs. Winters? Eric Dolan, principal of Saint Sun Valley school. We have Josh in our office. He's been caught skipping school again. You'll need to come in.”
Not again. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. What was wrong with him? This was the second time this month. Then a week before that she'd been called because Josh had used foul language on the playground. Her sweet son, using bad language. She could hardly believe it. “I'm at work, as a nurse in the emergency department, but I'll do my best to arrange coverage for my patients so I can get there.”
“We’ll be waiting.” Principal Dolan didn't sound sympathetic.
Feeling sick, Lindsey sought out the charge nurse. “I'm sorry, I need to go. Josh is in trouble. Again.”
Sue glanced at the clock. “Well, your shift is over in forty-five minutes anyway, I guess we can cover your patients.”
“Thank you.” Lindsey gave a quick status update on her remaining patients to other nurses, then left the hospital. Outside in her car, she hesitated, thinking about Austin. As much as she wanted to remain independent, there was no denying Josh needed someone to talk to. Maybe even a father figure. She'd noticed how Austin had tried to draw Josh out over dinner last night attempting to break her son's bad mood.
For a moment she rested her forehead on the steering wheel. Austin was the last man she should lean on for strength. He was far too appealing. Too nice. Too attractive.
Too single!
He was just being nice with his repeated offers to help. And she understood. He was doing this because he was Sam's friend and wanted to look after her. Yet she knew he had a reputation throughout the emergency department of being a bit of a womanizer going from one nurse to the next. She had no interest standing in line for her turn.
If he was interested, which she knew he wasn’t. And he hadn’t done anything to encourage her attraction to him. He thought she was the grieving widow. He had no idea how strained things had gotten between her and Sam before his death.
She knew Sam's death was her fault. Her husband had probably been upset and not thinking clearly while fighting that wildfire because she'd told him she’d filed for divorce and had asked him to move out, right before he'd left on that last smoke jumping mission.
Chapter Three
Austin was standing in Lindsey 's house, assessing the water damage in the corner of her living room, when his phone rang. Recognizing her number, he quickly answered. “Hello? Lindsey? Is something wrong?”
“Austin, I'm so sorry to bother you but I need your help.” Her voice sounded thick, as if she was crying. “I just received a call from the school. Josh is in trouble.”
He frowned; Josh had seemed perfectly fine yesterday. Well, except for his odd withdrawal at dinner. “What happened?”
“He was picked up by the police for skipping school, again,” she admitted.
“Skipping school?” Again? Why hadn’t she said anything about the first time?
“Yes.” She sniffled loudly. “It started a couple months ago, right after we moved. He's skipped school at least three times and I was also called because he used bad language on the playground. I don't know what has gotten into him. He won't talk to me, but I wondered if you might have better luck. Would you mind talking to him?”
He didn't hesitate. “Absolutely. I’ll leave now.”
