Practicing Partners (Maiden’s Bay #2)

Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE DESCENT DOWN Sentinel Hill was the fastest Bran had ever trodden. When they hit the parking lot, he felt the strain on his knees and hips. The aftermath would be worse tomorrow.

They decided to take their separate cars to the clinic. The drive on a Saturday normally would’ve taken about fifteen minutes, but he pushed past the speed limit when he could. Aubrie had no problem keeping up behind him.

It had only been ten minutes since Doc Bernie had called Aubrie when they arrived, though every second felt like an hour. Was there a fishing vessel injury? A car accident? Neither of them had been able to see any disruption in town from their vantage point on Sentinel Hill.

They both parked on the street in front of the clinic, next to an open-air Jeep hastily parked sideways. Bran held the door open as Aubrie raced in.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Bran scanned the waiting room. A young woman in a thick red jumpsuit received a cup of hot liquid from Edith. Next to her was a man in the same outfit, sitting on the ground, arms resting on his bent knees.

“There was an incident on a whale watching tour.” Edith spoke low. “Doc wants you two back there.”

Bran led the way to the first patient room. A woman, her jumpsuit unzipped down to the waist, paper gown draped over her torso, lay upright on the examining table. Doc Bernie busied himself placing leads on the patient for an ECG.

“Doc, what’s up?” Bran stood next to Aubrie, ready to jump in.

“She had a seizure out on the water,” Doc said. “No history of seizure. At least one ambulance is on the way from White Bend. Should be any minute now.”

“At least?” Aubrie asked.

“I need you two to check on the other patients.”

Bran and Aubrie met glances before moving to the second patient room. One patient lay on the examining table, another on the floor. Only their heads were exposed, while their bodies were buried under mountains of blankets.

A third man stood up from the chair in the corner. “They helped her out of the water.”

“What?” Bran stuck a hand out, slowing down the explanations that weren’t explanations at all. “Tell us what happened out there.”

Aubrie approached the patient on the table, lifting up the stacked fabric over his feet.

“We were in the middle of a whale watching tour, when that guest started convulsing. She lost grip of the raft… it happened so fast.”

“She fell overboard.” Bran pieced it together. “And these two jumped in after her.”

The man nodded, rolling his wool cap in his hands nervously.

“What’s your name?”

“Terrence.”

“Okay, Terrence. We’re going to help. How long were these passengers in the water?”

“I don’t know. Maybe three, five minutes? But it took us a good twenty minutes or so just to get back to land.”

“Bran.” Aubrie said it with worry. “They all still have their wet clothes on.”

“Terrence, I’m going to need you to help us get their wet clothes off.” Bran pulled the layered blankets off the patient on the floor, hastily unzipping the wet jumpsuit. The patient lazily eyed him, but didn’t say a word.

Aubrie and Terrence worked on the other patient.

“Any idea of the water temp out there?” Aubrie asked.

“Sub fifty where we were.”

Bran caught the worry in Aubrie’s eyes. He checked the patient’s pupils and pulse, and examined the body for any discoloration, especially in the extremities.

“Aubrie.” He nodded for her to speak with him by the doorway. “I’m not seeing anything overly concerning with mine.”

She shook her head. “Mine whispered he couldn’t feel his feet. But his fingers and toes check out, as far as I can tell.”

“I still say we keep them under the blankets. I’m going to turn up the thermostat, as well.”

Aubrie nodded in agreement.

“If more than one ambulance arrives, let’s send them just in case. If not, keep them here for a while.” He turned to Terrence. “Would you mind staying with them a bit longer?”

He shook his head. “No. My boss Brie’s here, too. She’ll understand.”

Aubrie turned to Bran. “Where are you going?”

“Out to the waiting room. Come on.”

He glanced in the first room, Doc Bernie staring at the ECG readout, as he walked to the waiting room with Aubrie following. The seated woman leaned her head back on the wall, eyes closed. The other man remained on the floor.

Bran walked right up to the pair. “You must be Brie? I’m Doctor Jackson. This is Doctor Turnbridge. It’s my understanding one of your passengers experienced a seizure and fell overboard. Two other passengers then jumped in the water, retrieving the first. Is that correct?”

Brie nodded. “Yes. Isaac”—she pointed to the drained man next to her, damp from the boots to the waist—“and Terrence back there helped carry her offboard to a transport vehicle.”

Aubrie crouched to Isaac’s level. “How are you feeling? May I?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit tired.”

She slipped his sleeve up to check his pulse. “You’ll let me know if you start to feel unwell? Something like this can come as a shock. Everyone handles it differently.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Aubrie smiled. “Good. You might want to take off your outer gear. Edith can help you with a blanket.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“Doctor! We need help back here!”

Bran and Aubrie ran back to the hallway. Doc Bernie stood in the doorway of the first examining room, waving them over to the second.

Terrence was stripping off his jumpsuit, pulling off a thermal shirt over his head. He threw it on the floor, face red and body full of sweat.

“What’s going on?” Aubrie asked.

“He just started fanning himself.” The covered patient on the examining table sat upright. “Then breathing hard.”

Bran turned the thermostat back down a few degrees. Aubrie checked Terrence.

“It’s not that, Bran.”

“What do you mean?”

“Terrence, you’re having a panic attack. I want you to sit up here on the counter. Can you do that?”

He nodded, eyes watering with tears, and propped himself up.

“Look at me, Terrence. Follow my breathing.” She took a deep breath in for several seconds, exhaling out for more. “That’s right, keep going.” She grabbed a wad of paper towels and wet them at the faucet. “Here, put this on your chest or neck, wherever it feels good.”

Bran stood between the two hypothermia patients, tending to them, though he couldn’t keep his eyes off Aubrie. Panic attacks weren’t uncommon in the trauma center. If they happened, it was usually experienced by a relative or friend of the patient, who had witnessed or been a part of the accident, or saw the severity of the injury, or both. But did Aubrie have experience with panic attack patients? Didn’t seem like something she’d encounter a whole lot in pediatric oncology.

Yet she knew exactly what to do, how to speak with him soothingly yet firmly to calm him down. When she was thrown into action, it was like a switch turned on, and she did everything right.

Except yesterday, with Ben’s daughter Annabel. Some other switch had been flicked. One that made her run from the situation. He thought she was about to open up about it at Sentinel Park, but then Doc Bernie called them in.

“I’m going to give you some space, check on Doc Bernie.”

Aubrie gave him a quick glance of affirmative, and Bran moved to the room next door. The patient was sitting up, alert, chatting with Doc Bernie.

“Everything okay in here?”

Two EMTs, led by Edith, rushed the room. Doc briefed one of them while the other helped the patient off the examining table. They walked her out to the gurney in the corridor and rolled her out of the clinic.

“Is it okay if I stay until the other passengers are cleared to go?” asked Brie, standing outside the doorway.

“Of course.” Doc Bernie led her out of the hallway to the waiting room. “Edith here can get you anything you need in the meantime.”

Bran found himself alone with Doc Bernie as he returned.

“Everything okay with the other patients?”

“Yeah, one is back on his feet, the other is on his way there. One of the tour employees experienced a panic attack, but Aubrie has that covered.” Bran rubbed his chin. “Actually.” He touched Doc’s elbow. “Can I speak to you in private?”

Doc led him into his office and sat at his desk, stacking a pile of mail on top of another mishmash of papers.

Bran closed the door most of the way and remained standing. “Is there something I should know about Aubrie? Something that maybe led her to work here?” The guilt crept up, the irony of his unspoken secrets not escaping him. “I don’t mean to sound rude or sketchy. It’s just, she was really great with that patient in there during his panic attack. Yet, yesterday, when Ben came with his daughter Annabel, something about it changed Aubrie.”

“What do you mean, changed her?”

This was all wrong. He shouldn’t have brought up her behavior. It made him look like he was trying to “win” over her in this crazy competition. Had Aubrie told Doc Bernie about his passing out the other day? Not that he knew of. Nor had she said a word about his probation.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking to you about a coworker, especially in this situation.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Correct me if I’m wrong.” Doc Bernie stood, walking around his desk and leaning on it, close to Bran. “But it sounds like you might care for Aubrie?”

“Care is a relative term.” Even he could hear the fluster in his words.

“Is it?”

“Care, in as much as her being a doctor, at my grandfather’s clinic. She’s a coworker, and it’s good to have each other’s backs.”

“Mmhmm.” Doc seemed to enjoy Bran’s discomfort too much.

“I just thought maybe you knew something I didn’t.”

Doc Bernie rested his hand on Bran’s shoulder. “Bran, there are many things I know that you don’t. And I’d assume vice versa.”

Bran chuckled. “You’re right.”

“But maybe you two can work that out this afternoon.”

Bran’s interest piqued, the adrenaline from the unforeseen emergency returning. Another one of Doc Bernie’s plans? “Why? What’s this afternoon?”

“That’s why I had you two take the morning off. But you can see how that goes sometimes. Let’s grab Aubrie.”

Bran waited in the office as Doc Bernie went to the patient room. He heard a little of their conversation, Aubrie hesitant to leave the patients in the room. But Brie was in there, and Terrence had calmed down, while the hypothermia patients were improving last he checked.

Doc Bernie returned with Aubrie and sounded his usual clap, the one that signaled an announcement.

“First, thank you both for coming this morning. Obviously, unforeseen circumstances. But.” He held up both hands, forefingers in the air conducting his announcement. “I was having you come in today so I can offer the afternoon up to you, to go to the Crab Festival. Aubrie being new in town, I thought it would be a good way to meet more people, have your face out there.”

Bran’s feelings jumbled. A bit of sadness, hurt even, that his father didn’t invite him to go, knowing Bran was in town. It was one rare family affair they had carried through Mom’s passing, up until Bran left. Add to it a pinch of excitement at the excuse to spend the afternoon with Aubrie, outside of the clinic.

Aubrie tucked her loose strands behind her ear. “What is the Crab Festival? Do I have to go crabbing, or touch a crab?” She winced. “I’m not sure that’s my thing.”

Bran’s enthusiasm grew. “No, nothing like that, though there are plenty of vendors selling crab everything to eat.” He tapped her arm. “Come on, it’ll be fun. The whole town will be there, and what else are you going to do the rest of the day?”

He knew he had her. Either that, or she felt obligated because Doc Bernie all but assigned them to it as a job. But it wouldn’t feel like a job. Not with Aubrie. Just like working with her in the clinic never felt like actual work.

“Okay, fine.” She looked at Bran, and he knew the elation showed on his face. He didn’t care. She pointed in his face. “But I’m not touching a crab.”

Bran showed his palms. “I get it, no crabs. Only cooked crabs. And we’ll use a fork.”

She punched his arm lightly, and they both smiled.

Bran would have to thank Doc Bernie at some point.

This was going to be fun.