Friend, Fling, Forever?

“Can you get her a blanket or something?” her husband asked, looking frustrated that his wife was getting worse.

“She doesn’t need to cover up,” Kami reminded him. She’d intentionally not given the woman a blanket. She directed her next comment to her patient. “It’ll hold heat to your body and you’re already too warm. We have to get your fever under control before we can even consider giving a blanket or doing anything that might make you worse.”

Wincing with discomfort, the woman tightened her arms around her body. “I’m so cold.”

They had to get her fever down and stable. Once they did, then she could possibly have a lightweight blanket. Certainly not before.

“When did the headache start?” Kami asked.

“She had a headache when she got here. It’s just gotten a lot worse,” the husband clarified. “It wasn’t bad enough to mention.”

Apparently not even when Kami had directly asked about a headache. Ugh. She really didn’t like when patients said something completely opposite when the doctor was present than what they’d told her during their assessment. It happened almost nightly.

Gabe ran through a quick examination of the woman. “Some swelling in the cervical nodes and neck stiffness. I want a blood count and a comprehensive metabolic panel on her STAT, and has that strep finished running?”

“Should be. I’ll log in and check.” Kami signed in on the in-bay computer and the test result was back. “She’s negative for strep.”

“Ache all over,” the woman told them, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “Cold.”

Gabe gave some orders, which Kami turned to do, but stopped when the woman said, “I’m going to throw up.” Then did exactly that.

Gabe was closer than Kami and got an emesis pan in front of Mrs. Arnold just in time.

“Give her an antiemetic IM now.” He named the one he wanted given and the dosage. “Then let’s get a saline lock on her.”

Kami drew up the medication and injected the solution. The woman was shaking and looked much worse than she had when they’d entered the bay.

“Do something,” the husband ordered, sounding worried, as he hovered next to his wife’s bed, gripping the woman’s pale hand.

Gabe sent Kami a concerned look. “Get phlebotomy to draw blood cultures times three and the previous labs I mentioned. It’s off season, but run an influenza test, just in case. Let’s get a CT of her head, too. I’m probably going to do a lumbar puncture.”

He was thinking a possibility of meningitis. Rightly so, given how rapidly her status was changing.

“Let’s put her in isolation. Just in case,” Gabe continued in full doctor mode.

The husband was talking, too. Kami didn’t want to ignore him, tried to answer his questions while she worked, but he continued to fret.

Gabe gave an order to get IV antibiotics started and told her which he wanted. Kami rushed around making things happen. Although she’d really not looked like more than a typical sore throat patient, Mrs. Arnold had gone downhill scarily fast. In case she continued on the decline, they needed to act fast to get an accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible.

* * *

Linda Arnold’s blood count came back showing a significantly elevated white blood cell count with a bacterial shift. Her headache and neck pain had continued to increase and the woman refused to even attempt to move her neck. Her strep and influenza were negative.

Lumbar punctures weren’t Gabe’s favorite things to do as there was always risk, but his concerns over meningitis were too high not to test her spinal fluid. As soon as he had the CT scan results back, he’d pull the fluid so long as the scan didn’t show any reason not to. He didn’t want to risk brain herniation by not following protocol.

From all indications, the woman had meningitis. Gabe needed to know the exact culprit.

He cleared out two other patients who’d come into the emergency department. Then, protective personal equipment in place, he went back to Mrs. Arnold.

The woman was now going in and out of consciousness and didn’t make a lot of sense when she was awake.

Also wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, Kami was at her bedside. She’d already gathered everything he’d need for a lumbar puncture. They needed to move fast.

Hopefully, the antibiotics infusing into her body via her IV line would be the right ones for whatever caused her infection, but if they weren’t, waiting around to see could mean the difference between life and death.

That wasn’t a chance he was willing to take.

“Dr. Nelson?” Mindy stopped him from entering the area where Mrs. Arnold was. “Dr. Reynolds just called with her CT results. He is concerned about meningitis and recommends proceeding with lumbar puncture.”

This was the call Gabe had been waiting for giving him the safe go-ahead.

Checking to make sure his respiratory mask was secure, Gabe nodded, then entered the area where Mrs. Arnold was isolated.

From behind her clear plastic glasses, Kami’s eyes were filled with worry when they met his.

“She has gaze palsy and mild extremity drift now,” she told him. “I thought you’d prefer her husband not be in here for this as he was getting agitated. I sent him to the private counseling room to wait for you to talk to him after we get this done.”

That was one of the things he loved about Kami. She was always one step ahead of him.

Except when it came to the auction.

On that one, he planned to outstep her. Not planned to—he would outstep her, because the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to go on that “date” with Kami.

CHAPTER TWO

“WHAT A NIGHT,” Kami mused at the end of her twelve-hour shift that had turned into over fourteen. She couldn’t wait to get home, shower, eat whatever she could find in the fridge, and crawl into bed to pass out until it was time to come back and do it all again for night two of her three in a row.

“You look tired.”

She glanced toward Gabe. “You don’t look like a bowl of cherries yourself.”

He laughed. “Not sure if that was meant to be an insult or not, but I’ll go on record saying I’m grateful I don’t look like a bowl of cherries.”

Kami shrugged. “Too bad. Cherries would be an improvement.”

“A cherry fan?”

“They’re my favorite,” she admitted with a quick sideways glance toward him.

“You one of those talented people who can knot the stem with your tongue?” he teased.

Kami had very few silly talents, but tying a cherry stem into a knot was in her repertoire. Rather than admit as much to Gabe, she shrugged again.

“I’ll never tell.”

“Because you prefer to show me?” he joked, not looking tired at all despite the fact he had to be exhausted.

It really had been a long night.

“Okay.” He gave a dramatic sigh. “I’m game. There’s a pancake house a few blocks from here where you can get whipped cream and cherries.”

She frowned. “You know this how?”

“A man has to know where he can get whipped cream and cherries twenty-four hours a day.”

Kami scrunched her nose. “Ew. Spare me the details because I don’t want to know.”

Looking intrigued, he chuckled. “Your mind went to the gutter, Kam. I’m surprised, but I think I like it.”

“Nothing to like about you grossing me out.”

His brow arched. “My liking whipped cream and cherries on top of my pancakes grosses you out?”

She ran her gaze over his broad chest, down his flat abs that his scrubs failed to disguise. “Yeah, I can tell you regularly chow down on pancakes with whipped cream and cherries.”

“You might be surprised.”

Not really. She’d seen him put away a lot of food during their shift breaks. The man could eat. Not that it showed. Whether because of good genetics or his time spent in the gym, Gabe truly was the picture of good health.

“Doubtful,” she tossed as she clocked out and grabbed her lunch bag. “Not much about you surprises me.”

His brow rose. “Oh? You know me that well?”

“As well as I want to.” She gave him a look that said she was well aware he had fallen into step beside her as she exited the emergency department. “Bye, Gabe.”

“You have to eat, Kam. Let me take you to breakfast before I hit the gym.”

Her brows knitted together. “You’re going to the gym this morning after working over and having to be back here this evening?”

His eyebrows lifted. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Kami stared at him as if he were the oddest anomaly. “Do you not need sleep?”

He grinned. “Not when I’m properly motivated.”

“You that excited at the prospect of running into Baxter again?” She glanced at her watch. “You should hurry or you may miss him. Wouldn’t want that to happen.”

Gabe burst out laughing. “Okay, I’ll take a hint and a rain check on the pancakes with whipped cream and cherries.”

* * *

That evening, Kami glanced at her cell phone and winced. Her mother. Should she answer? Guilt hit her that she considered not doing so. Her mother knew it was time for her to be at work. If she was calling, something must be wrong, right?

“Hi, Mom. I’m about to clock in at work, so I can’t talk but a second. What’s up?”

“I’m headed out of town,” her mother answered. Then a male voice spoke in the background and, muffling the phone, her mother said something back. Then she said into the phone, “Can you feed my cat while I’m gone?”

Why her mother had gotten the scruffy cat, Kami had no clue. Most days she couldn’t take care of herself, much less a pet. But at least she’d not left without making arrangements for the stray she’d taken in. Then again, her mother should have been an expert at taking in strays.

Fortunately, her mother didn’t make a habit of asking Kami to feed them. At least, not since Kami had moved out the moment she’d graduated from high school and escaped the constant chaos of Eugenia’s life.

“I’ll swing by in the morning and feed her.” Then she couldn’t hold back asking, “What’s his name?”

“Bubbles. You know that.”

“Not the cat. The guy.”

“Oh.” Her mother giggled and the person in the background said something else, which elicited another giggle. “Sammy. He’s a drummer in a band and so good.”

Her mother tended to be drawn to artistic types. Especially unemployed ones who needed a place to crash while they waited on their big break. Not that any of them ever stuck around long. They stayed. They used. They moved on. Another arrived to fill the vacancy. It was the story of Kami’s childhood and was still ongoing. Would her mother never learn?

“Okay, Mom,” she sighed, putting her lunch in the break-room refrigerator. “I’ll feed Bubbles. Any idea when you’ll be back?”

“A couple of days. I’ll text to let you know for sure. Don’t forget to love on Bubbles.”

“Right.” Because she wanted to stick around at her mother’s apartment longer than she absolutely had to. Not. “Well, I’m at work, so I need to go. Bye, Mom. I’ll feed Bubbles.”

She’d probably love on the scrappy cat, too. Goodness knew that if her mother had a new man in her life, the cat would be ignored until his departure.

Kami had a lot of empathy for Bubbles.

* * *

“I was disappointed I didn’t see Baxter this morning,” Gabe teased as Kami came over to where he sat reviewing chart notes. Gabe loved his job, loved being a doctor, and loved knowing that, if the need arose, he could do everything humanly possible to save someone’s life. Knowing he’d see Kami made the prospect of going to work all the sweeter. He never knew what was going to come out of that sassy mouth of hers.

“Maybe he’s already given up his exercise kick,” Kami mused, not looking as if she cared one way or the other.

Actually, she looked distracted and he wondered who she’d been on the phone with earlier. He’d been coming back into the department from the NICU, where Beverly and her husband had been sitting with their baby. He couldn’t imagine the stress they were going through as each day was a struggle for their tiny baby girl to live. He’d been thinking on the fund-raiser, hoping it raised enough money to cover the couple’s out-of-pocket medical expenses, not to mention all their day-to-day expenses that still had to be paid despite their being at the hospital instead of their jobs. Whomever Kami had been on the phone with, it hadn’t been a pleasant conversation.

“Doubtful.” Gabe leaned back in his chair and eyed the petite blonde nurse standing a few feet away. Were there problems with the fund-raiser? Or had the call been personal? “My guess is he was already there and gone by the time I got there. He’s determined to buff up for you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She didn’t sound impressed. “Someone should tell him I’m not into buff.”

Gabe arched a brow. “I thought all women were into buff.”

She rolled her eyes. “Men are into buff. Any intelligent woman would rather have a man of substance than bulgy muscles.”

“Can’t a man have both substance and muscles?”

Kami shrugged. “Apparently not.”

“You’re overlooking the obvious.”

Her forehead scrunched. “What’s that?”

He waggled his brows. “I’m substance and bulgy muscles.”

Giving him a critical once-over, she seemed to be debating his claim. “You’re not that gross. You don’t have that no-neck, bulgy-muscles look I can’t stand.”

Gabe wasn’t sure if she’d insulted or complimented him. “That means I don’t count?”

“You don’t count, anyway,” she said flippantly, handing him a piece of paper she’d jotted patient vitals on.

Ignoring the paper, he asked, “Why’s that?”

“We’re talking muscles and substance, remember?” she said matter-of-factly and gestured to the paper she’d handed him.

Gabe laughed. “Right. I forgot. Disqualified on all counts.”

“Exactly. Now, are you going to go see the poor lady in bay three? Her blood pressure is crazy high at two hundred and fifteen over one hundred and thirty-seven.”

“Slave driver,” he accused, glancing down at the numbers on the paper she’d handed him as he headed toward the bay. “But rightly so.”

* * *

Connie Guffrey’s EKG was normal, as were her cardiac enzymes. Fortunately, after Kami administered IV medication, her blood pressure decreased to closer to the normal range, but Gabe decided to admit her for overnight observation due to her having developed some shortness of breath and mild chest pain just prior to plans to discharge her home.

Kami agreed doing serial cardiac enzymes overnight was in Ms. Guffrey’s best interest and arranged the transfer to the medical floor.

“Don’t look now,” Mindy advised, “but you know who has been watching you all night. I think he really does want you to buy his date.”

Kami immediately turned toward where she’d last seen Gabe. He was busy talking to a respiratory therapist who’d just administered a breathing treatment on an asthma patient.

“I told you not to look,” Mindy reminded her.

“Doesn’t matter that I looked because you’re imagining things.”

“Not hardly. And you know what?” Mindy looked absolutely smug. “He’s not the only one who’s been staring.”

Realization dawning as to her friend’s meaning, Kami frowned. “I have not been staring.”

“Sure you haven’t.”

“The only time I’ve looked at the man is when we’re discussing a patient or treating a patient.” She scowled at her friend. “Don’t you have something better to fill your time than making up stories?”

“You just looked at him, Kami.”

She gave a duh look. “Because you told me not to.”

“Exactly, and you immediately seized the excuse to look at him.” Mindy bent forward and whispered, “I think you like him.”

“Of course I like him. He’s a nice guy who I work with. We’re friends.”

Mindy shook her head. “Not buying it. You should be more than friends.”

Kami’s gaze narrowed. “Says who?”

“Me.” Mindy leaned against the raised desk area that provided a divider for the nurses from the examination bays. “Apparently he thinks so, too, or he wouldn’t have asked you to buy his date.”

“The reason he asked me to buy his date is because we’re just friends and I wouldn’t get the wrong idea.”

“Which is?”

“That there could ever be something between him and me.” Kami outright glared at her friend. “This isn’t some television show where doctors fall for nurses and harbor secret feelings. This is reality and the reality is that he and I are just friends and that’s all we want to be. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”

“Maybe you should make it into something it’s not.”

“You sound like a broken record. Let it go,” she ordered, then, frowning, added, “Besides, I thought you planned to bid on him.”

Mindy crossed her arms, regarding Kami. “I should.”

“Good. Buy him. He’s taking his date to Gatlinburg for a fun-filled Saturday of visiting the aquarium, playing laser tag and putt-putt golf, riding go-karts, and topping the night off with a dinner show. You’d have a great time.”

“I should hire you as my press agent. My bid might break records.”

Kami jumped at Gabe’s interruption. “I didn’t hear you come up. I was…uh…telling Mindy she should bid on you.”

“I heard.” He grinned at Mindy. “She convince you?”

“I’m saving my pennies, Dr. Nelson.”

He laughed. “Good to know.”

Mindy looked back and forth between them, smiled as if she was in on a secret, and gave Kami a you-should-go-for-it look. “I hear the receptionist talking to someone. I’m off to see if it’s a new patient and they’re ready to be triaged.”

Kami frowned at her retreating friend. She hadn’t heard anyone registering. Her friend had purposely left her and Gabe alone. Mindy had a distinct lack of subtlety.

“Good to know that since you don’t plan to buy my package, you at least plan to save me by convincing others to bid.”

“What are friends for?”

He met her gaze. “I’ve already answered that question.”

“True.” Still feeling irked at Mindy’s comments, she gave him a tight smile. “And we’ve already established that I’m not bidding on you.”

“I’d spot you the money. Imagine—you’d get a fun-filled day in beautiful Gatlinburg, my company, and you wouldn’t even have to save your pennies.”

“You’re wasting your breath.”

“Talking to you is never wasted breath.”

“Don’t try sweet-talking me, Gabe. I know you better than to buy into that garbage.”

He held his hands up. “Hey, I was making a legitimate observation, not trying to woo you into bidding on me.”

“Right.”

He laughed. “Okay, you’re right. I was trying to woo you into winning my bid. Can you blame me?”

She gave him a look she hoped said she sure could.

“Fine,” he relented. “But I do enjoy our conversations, Kam. You make me smile.”

He made her smile, too, but she wasn’t convinced that was what he’d meant.

“How is Ms. Guffrey?” she asked to redirect the subject to work. “Any news of how her cardiac tests are holding?”

“She’s stable. We’re thinking she just panicked and that’s where the new symptoms came in. I sure didn’t want to send her home and her have an MI.”

“Agreed. I’m glad she’s doing okay.”

He glanced at his watch. “Only another hour until the end of our shift. You want to go for pancakes with me?”

Surprised at his repeated offer from the day before, Kami frowned. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you didn’t go yesterday and you have me curious.”

“About?”

“You know what.” He waggled his brows.

It took her only a second to realize what he referred to.

“Puh-leese. That’s what this is about? You want to know how talented I am with my mouth?”

As the words came out of her mouth, Kami realized how her comment could be interpreted. Her cheeks flushed hot.

“That’s not…” At his laughter, Kami’s face burned even hotter. “You know what I meant, Gabriel Nelson, and what I didn’t mean.”

“Do I?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You know you do.”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk. “Maybe, but saying I don’t might be a lot more fun. Why are your cheeks so red, Kam?”

Deciding that ignoring him was the best approach, Kami grabbed a brochure and fanned her face. “It is hot in here, isn’t it?”

Which was a joke if Kami ever heard one. The emergency department was notoriously cool—purposely so to help keep germs down.

But, for once, the area felt blazing.

“Not particularly.” His grin was still in place. “Even better than you going for pancakes with whipped cream and cherries with me would be if you did that and went to work out with me. That would send Baxter the message that he was wasting his time, for sure.”

“If I ate pancakes then tried to work out, I’d be sick, so, in that regard, you’re right about sending a message.”

He laughed. “We could have breakfast after we work out.”

She looked at him as if he was crazy. “Again, wrong girl, Gabe. I’m not a gym rat and I’m not a girl who would work out on an empty stomach.”

His gaze ran over her. “You look like you could be.”

“Is that a compliment?”

One corner of his mouth slid upward. “It wasn’t an insult.”

Kami fought to keep heat from flooding her face again. “Either way, I’m not going to the gym.”

“You don’t want to see the new and improved Baxter?”

Not that she could go anyway since she had to go feed Bubbles, but Kami pointed out, “You don’t even know he’ll be there this morning.”

“Then you do want to see him?” Gabe sounded surprised.

“No, I don’t want to see Baxter. That’s why I broke things off.”

Gabe immediately seized on her comment. “I thought your relationship ended due to a mutual decision.”

“It did. Mutual means I told him things weren’t working and he agreed.” She glared at Gabe. “Would you stop twisting what I’m saying?”

Feigning innocence, he put his hands up in front of him. “I’m doing nothing of the sort. I’m just trying to buy you breakfast. Quite friendly of me, I’d say.”

“You just want to harass me into buying your bid,” she countered, knowing it was true. Gabe was her friend, but he was a guy and guys had ulterior motives, right?

“Perhaps,” he agreed. “But I was serious about buying you breakfast. We could discuss the fund-raiser.”

“What about it?”

“I could help in ways besides the auction.”

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “You’re not getting out of the auction, Gabe. We’re auctioning off five men and five women and you’re the big-ticket item.”

Grinning, he asked, “You think so?”

Despite all her efforts to prevent the heat, her face went hot again.

“Women seem to think so.” At his pleased look, she added, “Especially Debbie.”

That ought to simmer his arrogance down. If not, the brilliant idea that hit her would.

“I’m thinking of asking if she’ll use her television connections for local publicity to raise awareness of the fund-raiser.”

Rather than look annoyed, he looked impressed. “That’s brilliant. You want me to check with her?”

A bit floored he’d be willing since he was making such a big deal of the woman planning to buy his date, Kami nodded. Garnering as much free publicity as possible was important and she should have thought of Gabe’s connection to the local television station sooner. “Would you?”

His eyes danced. “For you?”

“For Beverly and her baby,” she corrected.

“If it would help Beverly’s baby get a new heart, I’d talk to the devil himself.”

Kami didn’t recall Debbie being anywhere near that bad, but she’d only met the woman a couple of times when she’d shown up at the emergency department to bring Gabe a late dinner or a cup of his favorite coffee. On television, she smiled often as she made over homes in the Eastern Tennessee area and seemed nice enough.