“Of course,” Dr. Atwell says, bending down to grab a bag of saline. “Good thing you joined us, Luke.”
I couldn’t agree more. Although Dr. Atwell is clearly very competent, he’s not Luke.
EIGHT
LUKE
“Thanks so much,” I say to Ethan. “I owe you.”
Claire needed a second dose of epinephrine, but she’s stable now, and she’s been moved to the ICU for closer observation. Ethan and I are in the hallway outside her room, giving the pediatrician, Dr. Markland, some space to do her assessment. Now that Claire’s in the ICU, Dr. Markland will take over as the primary physician, which is a relief to me. Anaphylaxis really isn’t my field.
“No problem, man,” Ethan replies. “I’m on call tonight.”
“I still owe you.”
It’s true that as the surgeon on call, it’s Ethan’s job to deal with problems on the ward tonight, but I’m still grateful. When I called him, he didn’t give me any BS about how busy he was, he just went and dealt with the problem. He seems like his old self tonight, which leads me to hope that the rumors about his drinking were exaggerated.
He hasn’t asked how Melissa was able to reach me to tell me Claire was sick, but I decide to tell him anyway.
“I went to high school with Claire’s mom,” I explain. “The nurse on the ward wasn’t taking her seriously, so Melissa called my parents’ house and found me.”
“The nurse on the ward was a fucking idiot, Luke,” Ethan says in disgust. “Claire’s lucky her mom called you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The door to Claire’s room slides open, and Dr. Markland emerges. “We’ll keep her in the ICU overnight, but I think she’ll be fine,” she says briskly.
“Thanks, Dr. Markland,” I reply. Although I’m on a first-name basis with most of my colleagues, Dr. Markland is older than my mother, and I’ll probably never call her Donna. “Please let me know if there are any problems tonight.”
“You got it,” she agrees, before heading off toward the nursing station.
Melissa comes to the door with Liam on her hip, looking utterly spent.
She turns to Ethan first. “Thank you so much, Dr. Atwell,” she says earnestly. “You saved Claire’s life tonight, and you were so calm . . . I really can’t thank you enough.”
Ethan looks embarrassed. “You’d already figured out it was an allergic reaction,” he says gruffly. “All I had to do was give some epinephrine.”
“That’s not true. You were great,” Melissa insists.
“Happy to help,” Ethan says. “I should head out now, though. Take care, Ms. Lawrence.”
Ethan walks away, leaving me facing Melissa. Liam’s fallen asleep in her arms, and she hitches him higher on her hip. I almost offer to hold him for her, but I’m not sure how she’d take that.
“Oh, Luke,” she says with a sigh. Those two words are enough to tell the story; she’s been strong all day, but she’s reaching her limit.
“She’ll be okay, Melissa. She probably doesn’t evenneed to be in the ICU, but this way, if she so much as sneezes, someone will be on it. And you won’t need to deal with the ward nurse anymore. What was her name?”
“Karli.” Melissa manages a weak smile. “She was really awful, Luke.”
“I believe it. If it helps, Ethan and I both share your opinion of her. I think his term was fucking idiot.”
“That works too.”
The charge nurse marches up to us, and I groan inwardly. Jan’s worked in the ICU for longer than anyone can remember, and she’s a bit of a battle-axe.
“Hello, Mrs. Thompson, my name is Jan,” she begins.
“It’s Ms. Lawrence,” I correct. For some reason, it seems important for Jan to get this right.
