The Doctor's Devotion (Love Inspired) (5 page)

Chapter Six

O
ne hour into their trauma center visit the next day, Mitch guessed Lauren regretted saying that.

She took her chances coming in, all right.

A bus of summer-camp teens overturned shortly after Mitch and Lauren arrived, which filled the center with victims.

“Eighteen and counting,” Ian informed Mitch. “No way to divert.” Ian referred to the fact that the center was diverting low-risk patients to other hospitals until Mitch and Ian secured a second trauma team. Today that wasn’t possible.

Kate handed him a chart. “Want me to call help in?”

Mitch nodded then faced Ian. “I need to get on the ball putting together another full-time trauma crew.”

“Yeah. You’ve been tied up at Lem’s, though.”

“Not enough hours in a day to get everything accomplished that needs to be, this summer.”

“Let me know how I can help.”

“I will.” Yet he knew Ian was already strapped for time with his divorce, court hearings, housing and custody stuff.

“Where’s Lauren?” Mitch asked Kate, passing by with an armload of ice packs.

“Your new director assumed Lauren came to help. She assigned her to triage to treat non-emergent wounds which, thankfully, she did graciously. She’s doing awesome, Mitch.”

Still, he’d better go check. Mitch found Lauren and assessed her for signs of panic. None whatsoever, but he should ask anyway. “Are you okay?”

“Are you absurd?” She looked down the hall of writhing, wailing, wall-to-wall youth and laughed. “I’m not about to abandon you to the fate of all this teen angst. I’m the last person you should be worried about right now, Mitch. Your director, however, is having a total freak-out.”

“So I heard. She’s not used to trauma care.”

Lauren made the funniest face. “Uh, hello? Neither am I.”

Yet he didn’t see her screeching down halls and complaining in front of patients and their families, as he’d received reports of the director doing. His mistake. Some applicants looked good on paper, yet they had no people skills.

“Point well taken, Lauren. I trust you. Unequivocally. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t feeling overwhelmed.”

“I doubt there’s a staff member here who doesn’t feel overwhelmed. Twenty patients hit the floor in two hours’ time.”

He grinned, loving the fire in her eyes. “You’re made for this. You are.”

“What I am is annoyed at the prospect of being babysat over a busload of mostly bumps and bruises. Now shoo!” But she smiled when she said it.

Satisfied she was okay for now, Mitch viewed X-rays. Then casted an ankle, miraculously the only bus-wreck fracture.

Between patients, he went to check on Lauren again.

She waved him toward another incoming gurney. “I’m fine. Check on that one. He looks kind of critical.” She smirked then righted herself before anyone but Mitch could catch it.

When Mitch found nothing but a nosebleed on Gurney Guy, he realized two things: One, Lauren had a gift at triage. Two, she knew when it was okay to use humor to cope. Something he felt crucial to anyone in trauma care. Otherwise stress and burnout would run off the best ones.

After earnestly convincing Gurney Guy he wasn’t bleeding to death, Mitch held an ice pack to the kid’s nose and issued fatherly hugs. Like Lem used to whenever Mitch had some kind of accident.

“Ever had a nosebleed this bad?” Gurney Guy asked him.

“Actually, yes.” He nodded at Lauren, bandaging a wound nearby. “I nearly broke my nose crashing a new bike her grandpa got me. Refuge Community Church had pitched in on it.”

“That’s cool,” the kid said.

“Not really.” Mitch laughed. “Considering I’m probably the only kid in Southern Illinois to have an entire congregation present to cheer me on when I learned to wreck and ride it.”

“You still go there?” The young man looked up to Mitch.

“Yep. That church has prayed me through med school and safely home from two wars. I have to say, though, that we didn’t have the distinct pleasure of experiencing a bus crash.”

That evoked the youth’s laughter and erased tension from his features. Mitch pivoted and caught Lauren, within hearing range, watching them with an adoring expression.

“She your girlfriend?” the kid asked.

Mitch caught himself before he reacted sharply. “Nope. She’s my nurse.” But he could hope.

“She
could
also be your girlfriend. Maybe even your wife.”

He could hope that, too. If he was hungry for more heartache. No, thanks. Still, the kid’s words circled around his head, stalked his brain and mocked his steely resolve.

If Mitch were smart, he’d refuse to entertain the innocent suggestion at all. Instead he dwelled on how to get Lauren to join Refuge Community Church this summer, as Lem had requested of him. Refuge lived up to its name and was where Mitch met the PJs who had become his friends.

After releasing the now-calm nosebleed fellow to his mom’s care, Mitch checked on other patients then the rest of his crew, including Lauren. Or maybe he just liked watching her work.

Her efficient yet calm body language revealed she’d picked up on the fact that the bus driver and chaperones had blown this wreck way out of proportion. Yet Mitch didn’t blame them for being scared. He was thankful it wasn’t worse.

It could well have been because they’d had to call Refuge’s pararescue team to help firemen extract teens who were in reality more frozen with fear and panic than physically trapped. Still, God had evidently had His hand over the kids and the bus.
Thank You, God.

The bus patrons had non-life-threatening injuries, but Mitch wanted everyone assessed nonetheless. That, along with parental worry and teen drama, made for a long, interesting day. By the time they had finished, dusk’s velvet-purple evening winked at them through the trauma center’s windows.

Lauren approached. “Mitch, some off-duty PJs are here.”

“Probably checking the status of bus teens they helped rescue.”

“They also offered to man the center overnight so your current crew can make like platelets and regroup.”

Mitch laughed. “Is that how they put it?”

Lauren grinned. “Pretty much.”

The group of elite men came down the hall like a formidable force, prepared to strong-arm Mitch’s crew into a much-needed break should anyone protest. He knew those guys well.

He also respected his personal limitations, plus the well-being of his overworked crew. “No argument here. Let’s give them a report, turn over the floor and head out.”

One of the PJs, Brockton Drake, approached. “You look whooped. Go home, man. Get a good night’s sleep.”

Mitch stretched. “I will but I have a unique date first.”

Lauren’s head popped up from behind a computer chart she took notes on. He couldn’t discern her expression, but knew it was one he’d never seen on her face before.

She blinked a couple times then closed the computer and walked off. Weird. He might’ve imagined it. Nope. Brock stared at her then faced Mitch. “Who’s she and what’s wrong with her?”

Mitch watched Lauren retreat like a soldier under fire. “She’s Lem’s granddaughter, visiting for the summer. She’s also a nurse who’s helping here sporadically. Name’s Lauren.”

“Why’d she walk off like that?”

“I’d like to know that very thing.”

Brock refaced Mitch. “It’s good to have you back in the States. Sorry your engagement with Sheila went south.”

“Thanks. We never actually got engaged, though. She turned me down even after I bought the ring she picked out.”

“Man, heartless. What happened?”

He shrugged. “She moved with her unit and moved on from me at the same time. Fell for another guy.”

“That bites. But, hey, better to have it happen now. I hear Ian couldn’t talk his wife out of a divorce.”

“Yeah. He’s having a rough go of it. Deployment and distance decimated a lot of relationships overseas.”

“Not all of them, though. And you have a date, so it seems you’re bouncing back okay.”

“Actually, the date is with one of Lem’s tractors. Specifically Lauren’s tractor, Bess.”

“Lauren’s the girl you’re into?”

Mitch handed Brock the patient roster. “I’m not into anyone. Especially not her. She lives in Texas.”

“What’s wrong with Texas? Part of our training’s there.”

“I have nothing against Texas. I love it, in fact. I just have a problem with being attracted to someone so far away.”

Brock grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. You like her.”

Did he just say that?

Brock tapped papers on the desk. “We have training ops the next couple weeks, but let me know if you need help after that.”

“Might take you up on that. Lem added fixing Bess to my already-tight summer to-do list. I don’t mind though, and would never want him to regret asking or feel like he’s a burden.”

“I hear he’s done a lot for you.”

“More than I could list in a lifetime. Anyway, he says Lauren loved to ride the tractor. So he asked me to make fixing Bess my top priority. I want to oblige Lem, even though it’s another unexpected time-sucker.”

“I hear ya.”

“Hopefully fixing her tractor will put her in a good mood about my being at Lem’s tomorrow.”

“She has a problem with it?”

“Pretty much. It boils down to us both having lofty summer goals yet little time. Plus our plans clash on all fronts.”

“You’re innovative. You can figure out a way for them not to.”

“In theory. In reality I won’t be able to get Lem’s stuff done once the center hits full status in the fall. The way we’re getting slammed now, I only have this summer to do projects I put off due to deployment.”

“I don’t get what Lauren’s problem is.”

“I have to be at Lem’s to do the chores, and Lauren wants uninterrupted, undistracted time with her grandpa.”

“Doesn’t sound feasible.”

“It’s not. She’s struggling emotionally, so I’m giving them the space I can. But I need to be there most of my spare time or projects won’t get done.”

“I can help with the time-sensitive stuff a couple days before I leave and more when I get back. What all is there?”

“Might be easier to list what doesn’t need repaired.” Mitch chuckled. “I have a feeling some of it is Lem wanting me to be there when Lauren is.”

“Cupid’s arrow?” Brock laughed.

“Totally. Anyway, in addition to misguided matchmaking, Lem has a leaky roof, basement flooding and a rickety porch all the way around. I’m afraid the railing will give way and he’ll take a tumble.”

“We’ll get that stuff knocked out when I get back.”

“Awesome. Thanks, Brock. I appreciate you and your team stepping in to help.”

“Keeps our paramedic skills up. I’ll call you later about helping at Lem’s.”

“I owe ya one, buddy.” Mitch clapped Brock’s shoulder. With Brock being the only unmarried member of his pararescue team, he probably needed to keep busy anyway.

“Nah. Just pay me back in chili. I hear Lem’s is kickin’.”

Mitch laughed. “It is. Sounds good. See ya later, Brock.”

Mitch twisted his watch then peered around. Where had Lauren gone? Probably with Mara, the texting teen. He really wanted to go work on Lem’s old tractor as promised so Lauren could ride it. No rest for the weary. And no romance for the wary. Cupid could kiss off.
Hear that, bowhead? Abort mission. This arrow won’t fly.

Mitch talked with a few PJs, signed patients off then located Lauren, quietly stocking surgical rooms. “Ready?”

She didn’t meet his gaze. “Sure.”

“Something wrong?” Mitch asked in the truck. She hadn’t spoken since leaving, and Lem’s place was now a few miles away.

She shrugged. “Thanks for dropping me off.” She fidgeted with his dash. Nervous gesture? If so, he wished she’d get her fingers away from the bad memory bound up in the glove box.

“Sorry to infringe on your date time.” What? He scrambled to remember any conversation that might’ve led to the assumption. Then it hit him.

Mitch burst out laughing. “The date I mentioned is with a farm contraption named Bess.
Your
tractor, to be exact.”

Lauren’s cheeks reddened. “Oh!”

He decided neither to press nor tread.

By the snarky gleam entering her eyes, her thoughts about the misunderstanding must be too caustic to mention.

* * *

He did
not
want to know what she was thinking. He’d conclude her as a cross between the ultimate curmudgeon and ambivalence at its finest.

She’d completely shocked herself by experiencing disappointment that he was interested in someone.
That
sure came out of left field. It had so rattled her, she’d had to power-walk halls until her head had cleared. But then the saner part of her had kicked in—the part that preferred he had a date. It meant more opportunities for her to have quality time with Grandpa.

Would Mitch intrude on their time all summer? The more she got to know him, the more caring he seemed. Couldn’t he see it bothered her not to have all the time she could with Lem?

Time to start dropping heftier hints.

“Need to stop anywhere on the way home?” Mitch asked.

Home. The word startled her coming out of his mouth. The ambivalence flared both because he thought of Lem’s as home and because Mitch’s use of
home
put him in a sudden domestic light.

“I’m dying for a cola.” Grandpa normally kept his fridge stocked with her favorite goodies. This was the first time he hadn’t. Of course she had dropped in with little notice. “I’ve taken too much for granted.”

Mitch eyed her keenly. Compassion grew evident. Surely he’d be considerate of her need for time with Grandpa. She didn’t want to smite Mitch’s feelings or make him feel unwanted. She knew how that felt and didn’t want to inflict it on others.

Still, he was beginning to really step on her proverbial toes. Thinking that made her wiggle her real ones, which ached from all the work they’d done.

She flexed her ankles. “I definitely need better shoes,” she said at a gas station he pulled into.

Mitch’s gaze found her feet. “Those look sensible.”

Sensible? Lauren eyed her foot attire. “Hmm. I wonder when I went from stilettos to Dr. Scholl’s.”