Chapters (27)
“Thanks,” Hunt said, and finished shopping with a smile on his face. It was amazing what being loved could do to a man.
He took the groceries back to Ava’s and put them up, then went to check on the painters.
Satisfied that all was well, he sent Ava a text, told her he loved her, and he’d see her after work. He was headed downtown to gas up the truck when he began hearing the ambulance sirens and realized they were leaving town in the opposite direction. He said a prayer for whoever was in need and kept driving.
* * *
Skipping lunch was a common occurrence in Ava’s occupation, especially in a small hospital like the one in Blessings, and especially working the ER. Emergencies didn’t have a schedule, and sick people in the beds upstairs didn’t have a routine. So the job and the patients always came before a nurse’s hunger pangs.
Ava had a candy bar she’d been eating for over two hours, taking a bite now and then when the free moments presented themselves. But she was thinking about what she would make for supper tonight and hoping Hunt got the hamburger meat she’d put on the grocery list because she wanted spaghetti and meat sauce.
She was entering some data into the computer on the patient they’d just dismissed and trying to finish the rest of her candy when they heard an ambulance coming in.
“Uh-oh,” Rhonda Bailey said. “You better chew and swallow that fast. They’re back from the wreck site at the two-mile bridge north of Blessings.”
Ava quickly hit Save on her work and grabbed some wet wipes to clean her hands. She took a quick drink from her water bottle and then stood. Last they’d heard, there were multiple injuries, so everyone was ready and waiting when they began wheeling in the first of three victims.
The EMTs were rattling off the injuries and stats, and nurses were directing them to different exam rooms. They’d called down two doctors from upstairs to aid Dr. Quick, and Ava was serving as the triage nurse, getting pertinent info, assessing the symptoms, and directing the most seriously injured into exam rooms first. It was steady chaos but nothing they hadn’t dealt with before, and then the victims’ relatives began coming into the ER, getting in the way, arguing about who’d caused the accident, making it even more difficult for the ER staff to tend to the injured.
Dr. Quick stepped out of an exam room, saw what was going on, and called out, “Ava, call the police.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, and turned around to go to the phone when one of the men grabbed her by the arm and slung her around, shouting, “You ain’t callin’ no cops on us!”
At that moment, orderlies came running to Ava’s aid.