“On you or the plane?” I offer a small smile, unsure if he can see me beneath the gauze.
“Very funny, Miss. The plane has seen better days, but I don’t believe I have any broken bones. Just a laceration on the side of my face, and my hands from some shattered glass.”
Audrey is preparing the supplies to clean up the wounds as I nervously prepare to remove the temporary dressing.
With a gentle tug, I strip the tape free from the man’s hair, causing a mist of glass dust to fall from his hazelnut strands. He winces at the tug against his hair, and I’m worried for how much everything else might hurt. With a gradual slow movement, I peel the gauze away from his face. There is little resistance, which is a good thing. It isn’t until I uncover his eyes that I see the true damage and confirm my assumptions. My mouth falls open as if I’m facing a shocking scene.
“Oh my—it’s you—” I clear my throat to rectify my blundering acknowledgment. “Pardon me—aloha, Lieutenant Anderson.” I salute the Hollywood star, still struck with disbelief to find him sitting before me. There is minimal damage to his face aside from an-inch-long laceration on his temple. The injury was deep and I’m not sure there isn’t still glass lodged. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
He smirks and glances up at me. “Well, now, I recognize you,” he says with a grin. “But, no, Miss, I feel much less sore now that you’re tending to me.”
He’s a famous charmer. How could I forget? “Do you say that to all the nurses you run into?” Not that I’m a certified nurse yet, but for all intents and purposes, I’m acting on behalf of one.
“I don’t come into contact with many nurses,” he says. “Believe it or not, I try to stay out of trouble.” It’s inconceivable that this man with beautiful eyes and a charming smile tries to stay out of trouble. I can only imagine what type of shenanigans he attracts.
Audrey clears her throat, trying to hand me the supplies to irrigate the wound. I forgot she was standing behind me. I jump and spin around with my hands open. She shakes her head at me with disdain and I take the instruments. “Let me know if this becomes uncomfortable at any point,” I say.
It’s already more than uncomfortable in here for me, but I must remain composed and professional. While cleaning the lacerated area, I find a small shard of glass still caught in the raw flesh. My hand shakes a bit as I reach toward him with tweezers, but I can’t afford to miss. “This might pinch. There is a piece of glass lodged in the wound.”
“I’m sure I can take it,” he says.
I place my left hand beneath his warm, rigid chin and focus on the shard while reaching toward it with the prongs of the tweezers. With a lungful of air holding me still, I pinch the metal clamps, thankful to have grasped it on the first try. The wound has a curved shape, making it hard to find the best direction to pull. The glass slides out with little force, but his jaw muscles tighten within my grip. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant.”
“The sutures are ready,” Audrey informs me.
“I doubt you’ll need many. Seven or eight, if I have to take a guess.”
“Would you laugh if I told you I’ve never had stitches before?” With a face like his, I can imagine he and his parents did what they could to protect such beauty, but I find his statement surprising for a man. Most boys find it to be a rite of passage into adulthood. There are too many trees to climb and rocks to scale.
“You’ve been lucky,” I say. “I had to get stitches just once when I was around twelve or thirteen.”
“What happened?” he asks, appearing intrigued—more intrigued than anyone else would sound while asking me this question.
“Yes, Lizzie, what happened? I’ve never heard this story,” Audrey says.
“Oh, it was silly, really. I was roller skating down the street and a rock jumped out in front of me and took the lead.”
“The rock won the race?” Everett asks.
“Twenty stitches on my right knee. It won all right.”
“Fascinating,” Audrey mutters. “It sounds like you did a fine job landing the aircraft with a broken gear.”
I was avoiding the subject. The last thing Everett would want to focus on right now is what he just went through.
He winces at the pain from the needle before responding. “I should have double checked all the gears. It’s my fault,” he says through clenched teeth.
“Everyone is okay, and that’s what matters,” I follow.
“I need to go get some more dressing,” Audrey says, breezing through the blue curtain.
“Go out with me tonight, Miss Salzberg. Please. I won’t want to be alone with my thoughts after what happened today.”
His question makes my heart quake. I know exactly what I want to say in response, but the trouble it will cause forces me to pause. I narrow my eyes at Everett, marveling at the fact that he remembered my name, and his ability to be such a smooth talker. With such charming skills, it’s hard not to wonder if he has a little black book full of women’s names.
Without intention, I pinch my teeth against my bottom lip. “Lieutenant Anderson, are you aware of who my father is?”
The perplexing look in his glossy eyes tells me everything I have been questioning. “Should I?”
