“Is it still snowing, Dr. Blake?”
Blake glanced up from the chart he was scanning and peered out the window.
“It is, Aiden, and as soon as I take a little peek at your incision, I’ll help you move near the window so you can see.”
After a quick inspection, he helped the nurse redo the bandages, then lifted the six-year-old boy into the chair by the window.
“How do you feel? Think you can sit up for a bit, or would you prefer to be back in bed?”
“Sit up, please. I want to watch the snow. They say it’s going to be a blizzard.”
“I’ve heard that, too. Hopefully not too bad. It gets crazy here in the hospital if the staff can’t get into work.”
Directing his next comment to Aiden’s mom who was standing by the door, Blake said, “I wouldn’t let him stay sitting up much more than fifteen minutes or so. If you need help getting him back in bed, call the nurses’ station. I’ll be around on the unit for a while, or they can always call me if you have any questions.” He gazed out the window at the white floating down. “I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere for a while.”
It had been snowing since five that morning, and it didn’t show any signs of stopping. The news had reported it could snow for at least another day or more.
“Thank you, Dr. Wentworth.” Aiden’s mom shook his hand, then sat next to her son.
Once Blake had made some notes in the boy’s chart at the nurses’ station, he told them he was headed back to his office for a short while and they could call him if they needed him.
The truth was he wanted to check on Carli. It was almost four and time for her to leave. With the snow falling as hard and fast as it was, he was nervous about her getting home. The T would still be running, but delays were always a problem with heavy snow. Plus, walking from the station to her apartment by herself would be difficult. The walkways wouldn’t be shoveled and being in the streets was dangerous. He’d treated a child last week who’d been hit by a snowplow that hadn’t seen him. This one had survived, but every year there were some who didn’t.
As he took the elevator to radiology, he thought about the last week with Carli. They’d managed to do lunch a few times, when his appointments didn’t run too late. The day they’d gone to see the ice sculptures and she’d cooked him dinner, had been one of the best days he’d had in recent years. Nothing big and exciting, but man, it had been fabulous. Sitting around, talking, laughing, teasing. So relaxing. Exactly what he needed after a stressful week at work.
And that t-shirt she’d gotten him? He’d finally figured out what it said.Sexy Doctor. Luckily, not too many of his family or friends knew ASL, so he could get away with wearing it. He’d just tell a little fib if they asked what it said. But he liked that Carli thought he was sexy.
When he peeked through the window into radiology, Carli was at her desk, typing away. Joy was nowhere to be seen, so he took the chance and entered the office. As he got closer to her desk, she looked up.
“Hi. What are you doing here?” The smile she always had for him warmed him right to his toes.
“Checking on you. It’s really coming down outside, and it’s almost time for you to leave.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “Actually, I’m not leaving quite yet. Some of the night staff are stuck in their driveways or on the road, so I said I’d stay until someone else got here.”
“Well, I guess we’ll both be here for a while then. I have a few patients I’m concerned about, and I don’t want to get home only to have to come back out in this again. No way I’m taking my car, yet walking in this more than a few times would be a bit much.”
“Agreed. So what were you checking on?”
Blake propped himself against her desk and crossed his legs at the ankles. “I was worried about you going from the T station to your house in this alone.”
“That’s really sweet, but I’d have managed somehow.”
“Blake, how are you?”
Twisting, he saw Priya Khatri lingering in the back doorway, where her office was.
“I’m just checking on your best staff member here.”
“She is the best, isn’t she? Everyone else scurried out of here as early as possible, but our Carli is dedicated to her job.”
Carli folded her arms. “I also don’t have a husband, kids, or animals at home who need me to look after them.”
“You still could have refused the extra hours, but we appreciate that you didn’t.” Priya smiled at him. “Are you hanging around for the usual snow emergencies?”
“That and I have some patients in critical condition at the moment.” Most likely, they’d be fine, but he knew that blizzard conditions always made the emergency room go nuts, and they’d need extra bodies on hand. Between the homeless who were brought in with hypothermia and the auto accidents from the slippery conditions, it would be a madhouse.
“Since it looks like we’ll all be here for a while, how about if I get some food from the caf in about an hour and bring it down here? That’ll give me a chance to do a few things in my office and take another look at my patients.”
