Love Trauma: A Lakeside Hospital Novel Read online

  “And I’m MacGyver,” the woman said with a wry smile. She slid her hand into Krys’s, giving it a firm shake. “Although I more often go by Darcy Cosgrove.”

  “I’ve never seen a ballpoint pen jutting out of someone’s neck before,” Krys said. She wasn’t sure whether she meant it as a criticism or a compliment – she really thought she ought to give Darcy a hard time about it – but Darcy just smiled at her.

  She had smooth, olive skin and her lips were a natural shade of rose that Krys found her eyes being drawn to. When she refused to be admonished for her cavalier tactics, Krys had trouble sticking to her guns.

  “I’ve seen a lot worse,” she said. “Is Freddie okay?”

  “He’ll be fine,” Krys said, and Darcy finally relaxed a little, slouching against the countertop.

  “Good,” she said. “I’ve only met him three times before today and I’d hate for him to remember me as that woman who stuck a pen in his neck and made things worse.”

  Krys laughed and it came out as more of a giggle than she intended it to. Ivy really had wormed her way into her head with that dumb comment. She grabbed a tablet from the nurses’ station and started jotting notes just to have something to do – single-tasking was not really in her repertoire, but she found herself reluctant to walk away from Darcy.

  “So are you active military?” she asked with her eyes on the tablet.

  “No,” Darcy replied. “Honorably discharged three months ago due to injury and going stir-crazy ever since.” She looked down at herself and frowned, then added, “Shit.”

  “What?” Krys asked, intrigued. The fact that Darcy blushed before responding only served to make her more curious.

  “In all the commotion, I left my cane at the restaurant,” Darcy said.

  “You seem to be doing okay without it,” Krys observed, taking the opportunity to look at Darcy a little more closely. She had an athletic build that Krys could see even through the loosely fitting striped t-shirt and khaki chinos she wore.

  “I’m in physical therapy,” Darcy explained. “I was hit by some shrapnel on my last tour and it did a number on my thigh. I’ve been forced into retirement because of it, hence the random meet-ups with strangers.”

  “On the bright side, he pretty much has to call you for a second date after you saved his life,” Krys said, peeking up from the tablet again.

  “God, no,” Darcy said with a pleasingly enthusiastic denial. “This was not a date, and Freddie’s not really my type. In fact, I’m beginning to think the meet-up scene just isn’t for me. I’ve had more disastrous ones than successful ones.”

  Krys felt an urge to pry into Darcy’s response, or maybe the earworm that Ivy had left in her head was what urged her to pry. But before she could, a couple in their sixties came into the ER clutching each other’s hands and ran over to Freddie’s bedside as soon as they saw him.

  “That must be the parents,” Krys said. “I should go talk to them. Come with me – they’ll want to meet the woman who saved their son’s life.”

  “Nah,” Darcy said. “I’m not the bragging and accolades type. I’ll just sneak out when they’re not looking.”

  “Okay,” Krys said. She might have considered arguing with Darcy about this point – she really did deserve to be acknowledged – but she probably wouldn’t have wanted the attention if it had been her, either. She set the tablet down, then asked an impulsive question. “What qualifications do you need to be a combat medic, exactly?”

  “Generally, an army medic is trained as a basic Emergency Medical Technician,” Darcy said. “I’ve been doing it for ten years so I’ve got an advanced certification as a paramedic as well.”

  Krys smiled – that would work – and reached over the nurses’ station again to grab a slip of paper and a pen. She wrote Russell’s name and phone number on it, then handed it to Darcy. “If you’re tired of the meet-up circuit, give my friend Russell a call. He runs a free clinic and he could always use someone with your qualifications and, well, let’s call it creativity.”

  She grinned at Darcy, a look that bordered on flirtatious, and wondered what the hell had come over her. She had no time for dating and hadn’t so much as thought of it in years, and yet suddenly she was very curious about who exactly was Darcy’s type.

  Plus, Russell really did need all the help he could get. The free clinic was chronically understaffed and underfunded. Someone with Darcy’s problem-solving skills would be a great addition to the team.

  “Thanks,” Darcy said, looking at Krys instead of the paper. She folded it and tucked it into the pocket of her pants, then said, “I just might give him a call.”

  “Do that,” Krys said, and then she headed for Freddie’s bed before Darcy could see the embarrassment rising into her cheeks. She shifted her focus, telling Freddie and his parents what had happened, and the next time she looked toward the nurses’ station, Darcy was gone.

  4

  Darcy

  The next time Darcy went to physical therapy, she asked Miss Blackburn about working in the clinic. She was standing with one hand on a balance bar and a thick rubber strap tied around both of her thighs, slowly stretching it outward to strengthen the muscle and looking at her cane leaning against the wall.

  “I would love to make myself useful again,” she said. “I haven’t been out of work this long since high school and it feels indulgent to be spending so much time at home doing nothing.”

  “You’re not doing nothing,” Amanda said, tightening the band to make the exercise a little more challenging. “You’re recovering, and doing it with incredible speed.”

  “Well, in any case,” Darcy said, “I was thinking about giving the clinic coordinator a call. Do you think I’m up for it?”

  “Are you going to have to run any marathons while you’re seeing patients?” Amanda asked.

  “No,” Darcy said.

  “What about leaping tall buildings in a single bound?”

  “It’s a free clinic, not a job moonlighting as a superhero,” Darcy said with a smile.

  “Then I’d say you’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Amanda said. “How did you fare with the rock climbing last week?”

  “I chickened out,” Darcy said, giving the band one last stretch with her knees and then letting it drop to the floor. She busied herself with stepping out of it so that she wouldn’t have to see Amanda’s disappointed look.

  Darcy knew that her progress was good. When she first talked to her doctors after the surgery, they told her that she’d likely need a cane for the rest of her life, and she was already proving them wrong. She still needed it now, but Amanda seemed convinced that wouldn’t be the case for long, and she’d gotten by without it fine when she’d left it at the restaurant after Freddie’s allergic reaction.

  But making physical progress was different from coming to terms with it all emotionally. She’d lost more than just a chunk of her vastus lateralis muscle when she was injured, and the idea of limping up to that rock wall and finding herself incapable of performing the task was too much to handle.

  “All the more reason to try the clinic,” Amanda said. She really was good at being supportive, even when Darcy wasn’t at her best. “I can’t think of a single reason why you can’t do that job, but if you get there and realize there is, then at least you tried it.”

  “That’s true,” Darcy said. Then she laughed and added, “I don’t know how many more meet-ups I can take in any case. I’m going to have to give my brother a piece of my mind for that suggestion.”

  * * *

  Darcy went home after her physical therapy session and retrieved the little slip of paper that Dr. Stevens had given her from the dresser in her room. Harvey plopped down on top of her feet as she sat on the edge of her bed and gave Russell a call. He didn’t answer right away – first she spoke to a receptionist, then got put on hold for five minutes, and then the receptionist checked in on her again, and finally a winded man came on the line.

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sp; “I’m so sorry,” he said. “We’re swamped this afternoon.”

  “I could call back if this is a bad time,” Darcy said, but he refused the idea.

  “No, it’s fine,” he said. “I’ve got about ten minutes before I need to check on a pregnancy test. Mary at the front desk told me that you’re Krys’s friend?”

  “Well, not friends,” Darcy said, although a smile did creep into the corners of her mouth at the thought of working with the doctor from the ER. She’d enjoyed watching how skillfully she worked, and Darcy didn’t think she was making up the flirtatious look Dr. Stevens gave her when she handed over Russell’s number. The idea of seeing her again was intriguing at the very least. Darcy explained, “I met her last week in the emergency room and she suggested that I call you. I’m a retired Army combat medic with EMT certifications, sir.”

  “She said you might call,” Russell said. “She told me you were resourceful and your emergency response was impressive.”

  “She did?” Darcy asked. She was surprised because she’d gotten the impression that Dr. Stevens didn’t particularly care for her ‘MacGyver’ ways.

  “Yeah,” Russell said. “But it sounds like she didn’t tell you much about this place. We run mostly on volunteer labor. There are a few part-time spots that open up here and there, but I can’t promise anything.”

  “Volunteering would be fine for now, sir,” Darcy said. “I’m recovering from an injury I sustained in the line of duty and at the moment, I’m just looking for an excuse to get out of the house a few nights a week.”

  “That we can do,” he answered. “And it’s Russell, not ‘sir’.”

  “Yes-” Darcy had to cut herself off from replying with a crisp Yes, sir! – a military habit that was hard to break after a decade. She adjusted her speech to match the doctor’s casual attitude and said, “You got it, Russell.”

  “Why don’t you come in later this week and I’ll show you what the clinic is all about,” Russell said. “We can talk about your schedule and responsibilities then.”

  “Sounds good,” Darcy said. They set a date and time, and then Russell got called back to the clinic and they hung up.

  She looked down at her faithful golden retriever, his head resting on top of her foot. She reached down to pat his head and he panted happily at her.

  “I’m going to save some lives, buddy,” she said. Then she took his face in her hands, ruffling his ears as she said, “I love you, but I don’t want to spend every night watching Dancing with the Stars with you, no matter how hot Victoria Arlen is. You’re gonna have to get a new hobby.”

  * * *

  The free clinic was in downtown Evanston. Darcy arrived around one o’clock in the afternoon two days after her call with Russell, walking through a crowded waiting room to the check-in counter.

  “Hi, I’m here to see Russell,” she said to the woman behind the glass. “He’s expecting me.”

  “He’s with a patient at the moment,” the woman said. She was wearing a scrub top with Mickey Mouse silhouettes printed all over it and she smiled as she asked, “Are you Darcy?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Darcy confirmed.

  “I’m Mary,” the woman said. “Just a sec.”

  She got up and a moment later, opened a door to the left of the check-in counter. She shook Darcy’s hand, then led her down a short hall to an office. Mary stepped aside and gestured Darcy into it, then asked her to wait for Russell there.

  “He’ll probably be about five minutes,” she said with a warm smile. “We’re not too busy at this hour on a weekday.”

  “Thank you,” Darcy said, sitting in a plastic molded chair in front of Russell’s desk. Mary left her to go back to the check-in counter and Darcy looked around. The office was tiny and wood-paneled, and the furniture looked like it was from the seventies. Russell’s medical degree hung in a large frame behind his desk and it stuck out as one of the nicest things in the room.

  The desk itself was cluttered with files and medical reference books lined a shelf below the window. Darcy’s back was just beginning to ache from her upright posture – she was terribly out of practice – when a man’s voice boomed behind her and Russell rushed into the room.

  “Darcy Cosgrove,” he said, loud and boisterous as he grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. “Nice to meet you, I’m Russell Pearson.”

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  Russell dumped a fresh set of files on his desk and leaned casually against it instead of sitting down. Then he said, “Thanks for coming in – with a recommendation from Krys Stevens, I couldn’t wait to meet you.”

  “A recommendation seems generous,” Darcy said. “I hardly know her.”

  “Well, you must have made an impression,” he said, and that made Darcy feel bashful. Luckily, Russell seemed to move with the same lightning speed that she’d observed in Krys and the conversation didn’t linger on any one subject for long.

  First, he asked her in more detail about her qualifications and Darcy told him what it was like to be a combat medic in Iraq. She went over the most common types of injuries and illnesses she encountered there, and the certification process for becoming a combat medic.

  She also made sure to tell Russell more about her own injury, pointing out the cane that she’d leaned up against his desk. He assured her that they could find plenty of work for her where mobility wouldn’t be an issue, and then he offered to show her around the clinic.

  “It’s not much,” he said, “but we treat about fifty patients a day most of the time so we’re doing a lot of good in this humble little building.”

  There were a couple other rooms in the hall – a medical supply closet and a locker room for the volunteers to leave their street clothes and lunches. At the back of the building, there was a large treatment room with five beds lining one wall and file cabinets along the opposite wall. Two of the five beds were occupied and at one of them, there was a nurse applying liquid stitches to a gnarly cut on a teenager’s elbow.

  Russell walked Darcy around the room, introducing her to the nurse (whose name was Aisha) and showing her the ins and outs of the treatment room.

  “We treat a mix of acute and chronic cases here,” he said as they walked. “Most of our patients come here because they can’t afford to see a general practitioner or go to the hospital for care, and we do get a lot of referrals from the area ERs when they’re backed up and the patient’s issue isn’t a true emergency.”

  Russell told Darcy that he could use her as a medical assistant, taking vitals and triaging patients as they came through the doors and waited to see the clinic doctor on duty. “There’s usually only one of us on the floor at any given time. You’ll be working with me or Krys primarily, and we have a few other doctors who volunteer less frequently. How does all of that sound?”

  “It sounds like just what I’m looking for,” Darcy said, pleased at the prospect of working closely with Krys. She couldn’t wait to figure out what she was all about.

  “Great,” Russell said, and he sounded genuinely pleased to bring her onboard. “When can you start?”

  “Whenever you need me,” Darcy said, then shrugged and added, “Today, even.”

  Her father was currently flying over the west coast and he wouldn’t be back for a couple more days. Daniel was indisposed because of a weekly dinner date with their mother that Darcy would certainly not be going to, so the only one who would miss her if she stayed for a while was Harvey – and she had a feeling he’d forgive her if she plied him with a biscuit or two.

  “Super,” Russell said, patting Darcy on the back. “Let’s get your paperwork filled out, then I’ll put you to work.”

  “Thank you,” Darcy said, following him back up the hall to his office.

  “No, thank you,” he answered, finding a few forms in the mess on his desk. He left Darcy with them as he headed back to his waiting patients. Darcy picked up a pen, smiling as she noticed that it was the same style as the one she’d used to i
ntubate Freddie in the restaurant.

  She popped the cap off, then started writing.

  5

  Krys

  It was about eight o’clock when Krys arrived at the free clinic after a long ER shift.

  For most of the clinic patients, the night was winding down. They’d come to see the doctor on call about injuries they sustained at work or illnesses their kids came down with at school, but now that it was getting late, they had practical matters to attend to. Meals, homework, and family responsibilities didn’t stop just because someone got sick.

  As a result, evenings in the clinic were usually pretty quiet, with just a few patients trickling in here and there until closing time at eleven. It was a good time to get caught up on the mountain of paperwork and medical supply orders that needed to be done to keep the place running smoothly.

  Krys enjoyed the lull because it gave her a chance to catch her breath after a hectic day in the emergency department, and being here was preferable to her empty, endlessly boring apartment.

  “Hey, Krys,” Mary said from the check-in counter when she walked through the door. “How’s your day going?”

  “Good,” Krys answered. “I got to see first-hand why it’s a terrible idea to leave potato salad sitting out in the sun at a picnic.”

  “Food poisoning?” Mary asked with a cringe.

  “A whole family,” Krys said, rolling her eyes. “They won’t make that mistake again. How’s it going here?”

  “Fine,” Mary answered as she got up to let Krys into the back area. As she pushed open the door, she said, “It’s been quiet this afternoon, and you know what that means.”

  In unison, they said, “It’s gonna get crazy.”

  Mary was about ten years younger than Krys, in her mid-twenties, and she’d been volunteering at the clinic for about two years, making her one of its senior staff members. It didn’t take long before a new volunteer could start to predict the ebbs and flows of patient traffic, and sometimes they entertained themselves by taking bets on the types of cases they’d see.