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‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘Okay. The doctor will do some more tests. We’re going to take you to hospital now.’
‘No, love, I don’t want any fuss. My GP can visit when she’s got time later today.’
‘For pity’s sake, Mum, just do as they tell you. If you weren’t so stubborn about going into the partial-care wing of this place, we wouldn’t be here now.’
Nikki felt her blood beginning to simmer but bit down on the retort itching to escape. This had absolutely nothing to do with her. ‘Your GP would probably send you to hospital anyway, Mavis.’
‘My daughter will be happy with that. Save her having to check up on me.’ The yearning in the old lady’s voice saddened Nikki.
‘I’m sure she’ll find time to visit you.’ Or was that unrealistic? Nikki mightn’t know anything about Judy or her own family commitments but she couldn’t understand people who neglected their parents. Look at Fraser. His parents’ woes had brought him home when nothing else had.
Fraser straightened up. ‘I’ll bring the stretcher inside. Mavis, you’re going for the trip of your lifetime. First-class bed in the ambulance.’ He winked down at the little lady in her winceyette nightgown.
‘Do you serve meals as well?’ Mavis rallied, a tired smile lifting her mouth.
‘This is the drinks run. Saline via drip.’
Nikki gave Fraser a reluctant smile. This was the man she used to know. The man who’d always made people laugh with his light-hearted banter. ‘Keep it up. You’re making her feel better. I’ll get the stretcher.’ Laughter was definitely the best medicine. ‘We need to get Mavis into her dressing gown to keep her warm outside. I’ll also brush her hair to spruce her up a bit.’ Warmth and dignity would be equally important to the elderly lady.
‘Thanks, love. Can’t go out looking like something the cat dragged in.’
Fraser picked up the thick robe and began to gently slip a sleeve up Mavis’s arm. ‘You’re going to wow those doctors in ED by the time I’ve finished with you.’
Nikki strode outside for the stretcher and gasped. She’d been smiling. At Fraser, and how he handled Mavis so well. For a very brief moment she’d forgotten the past. Dang.
Thirty minutes later their patient had been delivered into the kind care of the ED nurses and Nikki pulled away from Wairau Hospital’s ambulance bay. ‘You were good with Mavis.’
Fraser picked up the handset. ‘Why do you sound surprised?’
Gulp. Yeah, why did she? ‘I’m not, really. You were always brilliant with patients.’ She’d observed it first hand when he’d been training and she’d dropped by the hospital to see him. Changing the subject away from anything close and personal, she said quickly, ‘Some old folk are so lonely. I wonder how they get that way. Mavis’s daughter doesn’t exactly seem overly caring and loving.’
‘Maybe they’ve had a bust-up in the past. Life doesn’t always pan out how you expect it to.’ Fraser pressed the button and spoke to the call centre in Christchurch where all 111 calls in the South Island were dealt with.
Was she talking about his father? Or their relationship? Her life had certainly gone off course because of Fraser. But his voice had been harsh with knowledge, with deep understanding of things going wrong. Had he faced something terrible since before he’d left her? Or had it been the prospect of getting married that had distressed him so much? Not for the first time she wondered if he’d got cold feet at the thought of being tied to her for ever. Or had he thought her unattractive? Overweight? Not good in bed? Found another woman? All the insecurities she’d learned to deal with now flashed up in her head, but she quickly shoved them away. She was at work, not the place to be thinking about the past.
‘Blenheim One departing Wairau ED, en route to Base.’ His tone was measured, professional as he relayed details to Coms. It was the voice he used to calm distraught patients before he started gently teasing them and making them smile. The times she’d seen him on the wards he’d been completely at ease with patients and their families, making them feel they’d had his undivided attention for as long as they’d needed it.
‘Did you finish your medical degree?’ The words were out before she could stop them.
‘No.’ His fingers whitened as they pushed the handset back onto its hook.
‘Why not? All you ever wanted to be was a doctor. Even when we were kids you’d tell everyone that’s what you were going to be when you grew up.’
‘I changed my mind.’
Stunned, she again spoke without thinking, ‘You changed your mind after four years of study? Why?’
‘I wasn’t ready.’
‘Not ready? For what? You loved medicine. I remember all those endless nights you put in studying and not begrudging a single second. You couldn’t wait to get to university or the hospital every morning to learn more. You loved it all. There was the day you came home shouting with excitement, saying you wanted to be a surgeon, that surgery was amazing. Then months later you decided paediatrics was the greatest, all those little kids needing your care. Then—’
‘Drop it,’ Fraser snapped at her. ‘Just leave it, will you?’ The eyes he turned to her glittered angrily. His fists pounded his thighs. ‘I had a change of heart, Nik. That’s all.’
Perversely her heart swelled. He’d called her Nik, his pet name for her. No one else dared call her Nik. Until Fraser she’d hated it. Had he used it to drive his point home? Or because he still cared a little about her?
Idiot. Even if he does, it means nothing. You’re not interested in getting back with him, only in finding out why he took off in such a flaming hurry without a word of explanation.
Nothing had changed in that respect. He’d made it very clear he had no intention of telling her anything about what he’d been up to in the intervening years. She needed to mind her own business, even with Fraser. But she’d like some closure, even after all this time.
The radio squawked to life. ‘Blenheim One, stand by.’
Snatching up the handset, Fraser acknowledged, ‘Roger, Blenheim One standing by.’ His relief at the diversion throbbed between them.
Nikki pulled the ambulance over to the side of the road to wait until they found out where they were needed next. Her fingers drummed on the steering-wheel as she waited for the details. Her stomach cramped as it squeezed around yet more disappointment about Fraser. The silence between them was heavy with all the things they’d left unsaid.
Had he ever really loved her? Had he got caught up in the excitement of their relationship and popped the question without thinking the ramifications through? Unlike her. She’d always loved Fraser, had always wanted to marry him and have his babies. She shot a quick glance in his direction, saw his face in profile as he glared outside, his chin pushed forward, the corner of his mouth white with tension.
‘Blenheim One, male, nineteen years old, severe abdo pain,’ the dispatcher intoned over the radio, her voice sharp in the frosty air of the cab.
Thank goodness. With a patient to deal with they could forget everything else for a while. Forget? Or postpone?
‘Roger, Coms.’ Fraser tapped the screen to bring up the patient details.
Nikki noted the address and made a U-turn, making a mental list of the obs she’d do for a patient with abdominal pain.
Fraser appeared fascinated with the passing houses. Then he surprised her further. ‘I’m not the only one to change careers. You always talked of being a chef, and had a goal to work in a top-class restaurant. What happened to that, Nikki?’
He’d turned the tables on her. She turned them back. ‘I never went back to Dunedin after you dumped me. I quit my job and stayed at home on the farm.’ She’d never have survived returning to the city where they’d lived. ‘You must’ve noticed that much.’
His mouth tightened. Regretting asking about her past now? ‘Who do you think packed up all your gear from our flat and sent it up to your parents’ farm?’
She deflated like a balloon suddenly let go. ‘I never knew it was you. I just thought it would’ve been one of our friends.’ So it had been Fraser who’d put into one of the boxes her favourite photo of them together at St Kilda beach. It now lay at the back of the wardrobe in her old room at the farm. ‘Did you leave university then? Or later?’
He ducked that one. ‘What made you choose the ambulance service?’
She sighed. ‘Dad had an accident, rolled the tractor at the back of the farm. Luckily he was thrown clear but still copped a broken femur and a punctured lung.’ Nikki paused, reliving the scene she’d come across when her dad hadn’t come in for lunch on time. ‘At first I thought he was dying, he looked so still and pale. I freaked.’ She’d wished Fraser had been there because he’d have known what to do.
Fraser had turned to look at her. ‘A frightening situation.’
‘Terrifying. The ambulance crew were fantastic and I began to see something else I might consider doing for a job. I volunteered the next week and gave them every hour I had free.’ It had also made her feel closer to him—for a while.
‘But you always hated the sight of blood.’ Fraser shook his head.
‘I got over that really fast.’
‘But you gave up your passion. I remember those fantastic meals you created. There was never a time when there wasn’t something tasty in our fridge. Our friends used to draw straws to see who came to dinner in our cramped flat because you loved giving them gastronomically divine treats …’ His voice trailed off. ‘Oh.’
‘Exactly.’ There hadn’t been a lot of fun in cooking after they’d broken up. Cooking was her way of expressing love and friendship, and for a long while she had struggled with the whole concept. She’d got a job as junior chef at one of Blenheim’s vineyard restaurants but it had been a drag, a way of earning an income, not a lot of fun. Because her passion for food had disappeared.
Moments later Fraser said, ‘Here’s our stop. That narrow driveway by the hedge. You’ll have to park on the roadside.’ He stood and pushed through to the back, no doubt to get the pack. His hip brushed her shoulder lightly.
She braked sharply. Sucked air through her teeth. It was only a hip. An unintentional touch.
‘Hey,’ Fraser called out.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered, and eased the heavy vehicle alongside the pavement. She was toast if she went hyper every time Fraser inadvertently bumped against her, because it was going to happen often working together with a patient in the crowded confines of the ambulance. She shoved her door wide, dropped to the ground with a thud, jarring her teeth. Not even halfway through day one of his training and she was going stark raving bonkers with emotions all over the place.
A girl aged in her late teens let them into the untidy house. ‘Col’s in a lot of pain. He can’t move at all.’
Nikki followed her through to the lounge, trying not to breathe deeply as the rancid stench of body odour swamped her nostrils. Looking for a clean spot to put down the pack, she asked the young man sprawled across the couch, ‘Col Hargreaves? I’m Nikki. I hear you’ve got a pain in your stomach.’ She had to shout over the din from the enormous television.
‘It’s agony,’ the man groaned.
‘Can you show me exactly where it’s hurting?’ Nikki crouched down beside the couch and, picking up the remote, lowered the noise level.
Tugging his sweatshirt up, Col stabbed the right side of his belly with his forefinger. ‘Here.’ Another poke on the left side. ‘And here.’
‘How long has this been going on?’
‘Since last night.’ Col moved sideways and foul language followed.
Wrapping the pressure cuff around his upper arm, Nikki kept up the questions, trying to ignore everything else. ‘Have you had something like this before?’
‘Yeah, last week. Your lot took me to hospital but the doctor couldn’t find what was wrong. Are you going to take me there again?’
‘Yes, after we’ve taken some readings.’ She wrote the normal blood pressure results on her glove. ‘What were you doing when the pain started?’ She could hear Fraser pushing the stretcher through the door behind her.
‘Watching TV.’ Her patient gave a loud and drawn-out groan. ‘I get giddy too. Ahh,’ he squealed.
‘Take it easy. On a scale of one to ten how strong is the pain?’
‘Ten.’
Then he should be writhing in agony. ‘Is it hurting anywhere else?’
‘Nah, only in my gut.’
‘Okay, Col. We need to get you up onto the stretcher. Reckon you can do that by yourself?’
‘Lady, I’m in pain here.’
Fraser stepped around the stretcher. ‘Right, bud, we’ll take an arm each to help you up. On the count of three, ready?’ When Col grunted, Fraser continued, ‘One, two three.’ And he hauled the guy upright.
Nikki helped get Col onto the stretcher and covered him with a blanket. She had a shrewd suspicion Col was more than able to walk out to the ambulance if he had a mind to. His symptoms were hard to pin down and he’d groaned before she’d touched his stomach, making her suspicious about what he was up to. But she could be very wrong. They’d make Col’s shift to their vehicle as comfortable as possible.
Fraser pressed the stretcher’s brake off and pushed the stretcher out to the ambulance. ‘We’ll soon have you in ED and the doctors can check you over.’
‘What about my girlfriend? She’s got to come.’
Col’s belligerence was beginning to annoy Nikki but she offered a lift to the girl and indicated the front seat. The trip to the hospital was punctuated with loud groans and intermittent swearing.
After handing Col over to the ED staff, Fraser commented dryly, ‘That guy bounced across from the stretcher to the hospital bed. What happened to the level-ten pain? He’s having everyone on.’
‘Not our problem any more. But maybe he needs someone to take notice of him, for whatever reason.’ She stepped into the back of the ambulance. ‘You drive. I’m going to wipe down the stretcher with antiseptic and see if I can’t get rid of that overpowering stink of sweat.’ It had taken over their vehicle.
What she wouldn’t give for a shower and a clean uniform. She began scrubbing every surface she could. Funny how that particular odour hung around long after the cause had gone.
Nikki’s cellphone rang as Fraser backed into the garage bay back at Base. Flipping it open, she smiled. It was Jay, her big, bad brother, who’d recently joined a rural vet practice close to the farm they’d grown up on. Nearly two years older than her, he was the youngest of her four brothers. He’d also been Fraser’s best friend at one time. Jay had taken it almost as hard as she had when Fraser had gone away. ‘Morning—’
‘Did I just see McCall in the ambulance with you?’ Jay’s deep voice rumbled in her ear.
It had taken all of two hours for the news to get out, quite slow for Blenheim. ‘Yes, the one and only.’
‘What’s he doing here? When did he return?’
The ambulance stopped and Nikki quickly slipped away to head outside the garage. This was one conversation she didn’t want Fraser overhearing. ‘I only found out last week when Mike told us he’d got a job here.’
‘He’s not working as your partner, is he?’
‘Yeah, Jay, he is. It’s not like I had a choice. Believe me, I tried to get out of it but Mike insisted we work together.’
‘Work together? What’s this about? Why would a doctor want to work on the ambulances?’
‘Thanks, Jay. Our job isn’t for the brain dead.’
‘I know that.’ Jay paused then went on, ‘So what’s going on? Is McCall here for a week? Or for ever?’
‘I’m not sure. Definitely more than a week.’ She quickly filled Jay in about Fraser’s father, before telling him, ‘Fraser didn’t finish med school.’
‘No way! He was destined for a great career. No, sis, you’ve got it wrong.’
‘He told me himself.’
‘Did he say why?’
‘You think he would?’
‘I think he should,’ Jay growled. ‘So he’s still hiding things from you. Wait till I see him. It’s time he knew exactly how we all feel about him.’
She surprised herself by saying, ‘Jay, leave him alone for now. Give him a chance. Who knows? He might turn up at the farm one day with a six pack of lager under his arm and apologise to us all for the trouble he caused.’
‘Sis, if you believe that, then you believe in the tooth fairy.’
Fraser plugged the electricity source into the ambulance, wincing as Nikki’s words reached him. He was going to have to move a lot faster than he’d intended. Apologising to the Page family was on his latest to-do list. Only he’d figured it wise to first let them get used to the fact he was back.
But if Jay was on the case he’d be breaking down his mum and dad’s front door by sundown tonight. The Page men were known to be very protective of their sister. Especially Jay, who carried his own demons about the sister who’d drowned years ago.
