Rescue Nights (18 page)

‘Thank the boys,’ Kate replied. ‘Though does the whole of Cairns now know about what happened to me in the water?’

‘One of our elite paramedics almost drowned when trying to help a patient.’ Lucy screwed up her face. ‘Kate, the story is out there.’

Andrew didn’t want to move but he reluctantly pulled his body away from Kate’s, immediately missing the warmth.

‘I have to grab some things next door and get my own shower. Maybe you could help Kate find some clothes she’d be comfortable in,’ Andrew suggested to Lucy. He left only after extracting a promise that they would bang on the wall if Kate’s condition changed.

Walking into his own villa, he made short work of stripping off his clothes. After taking the dip in the ocean to grab Kate, he had had to change a soaking flight-suit for some hospital scrubs. Now it would be good to take the extra step of getting the irritation of salt water off his skin.

Andrew turned on the jets of his shower super high, letting the hot water pummel his body into some kind of reaction. For now, he just wanted to forget this morning. If he thought about it too much, the memories would overwhelm him, and he would be a shaking mess if he remembered how close Kate had come to death.

It was the thought of getting back to her which had him hurrying to pack. Track-pants and a soft t-shirt to sleep in, as well as his laptop, were added into his backpack.

Grabbing a bottle of beer from his fridge, he necked half of it before reaching for the phone.

‘I’ll need to take a few days off,’ he said, as soon as the night dispatcher picked up the phone at the rescue base.

Of course, those days off were given freely as Craig wanted to know exactly how Kate was recovering.

Andrew also had a similar conversation when he rang up Joe to give him some reassurance. However, now there was a newly formed bond, as only those three men in the helicopter would ever know the fear that gripped them as soon as they saw the attack and realized the danger to Kate’s own life.

‘Tell her that we are all thinking of her,’ said Joe. ‘And call us when we are able to visit.’

Andrew appreciated that no-one had challenged his role in Kate’s life and recovery. There was no way that he would have let anyone interfere but he was grateful that was a fight he hadn’t had to launch.

Back at Kate’s, Lucy gave him a plate of dinner of his own. ‘What will the chefs say about me getting some of the truffles as well?’ he asked, even as he appreciated the delicate flavours.

‘Reid told me that you helped rescue this one,’ Lucy said, nodding in Kate’s direction as Kate slowly ate, curled up on the couch. ‘So that gets you a few brownie points, at least for now.’

Andrew couldn’t accept the role as hero, especially with Kate looking so damaged. He pitched his voice low. ‘She did more to rescue herself than anything.’

Andrew spent the evening hyperaware of every breath that Kate took. On the hour, every hour, he did a full neurological check as well as making her apply an icepack periodically to her face and skull. She had eaten her half of the soup before pushing it away with a listless hand. His only consolation was how readily she seemed to seek out his touch.

Another dose of anti-inflammatories and Andrew was finally ready to let Kate sleep in her bed. ‘Hey sweetie,’ he said, brushing her hair off her face, ‘I’m going to let you go to sleep now. You’ll feel better in the morning.’

‘We both know that is a lie,’ she replied, showing more animation now she had the prospect of bed before her.

For a minute, he had forgotten she wasn’t a docile patient. ‘Yeah well,’ he replied, ‘In the morning I won’t be so worried about a brain bleed so I’ll be able to give you the good drugs.’

‘The things a man will promise to get me into bed.’

The shock had worn off enough that she was steadier on her feet, although still moving stiffly. He let her go to the bathroom and clattered around the kitchen, ready to move swiftly if she called.

‘You can go next door, I’ve got a mobile, I can call you,’ Kate said, as she headed towards her bedroom.

‘For a smart woman, you say a lot of stupid things,’ he replied, getting to the bed first and pulling down the covers. ‘Apart from anything else, if you get sick tonight you’ll ruin my professional reputation.’

Kate went to shrug and instead received what looked to be a world of pain.

‘Just be careful with yourself,’ Andrew warned, bracing his hands under her elbows. He lowered her onto the bed, before helping her sweep up her feet. He pulled the covers over her body and couldn’t resist the impulse to lay a feather-like kiss on her forehead.

‘Thanks,’ she said, as she closed her eyes to rest.

He wanted a few more hours to monitor her breathing, so he sat on the bed and settled in for the long wait.

A groan from Kate woke him in the morning. Andrew looked across the pillow to where she was facing him. In the daylight, he had to restrain himself from wincing, such was the darkened vibrancy of the bruises on her face.

‘Are you sure I didn’t get run over by a truck and forget about it?’ she asked, gingerly moving her hand up to explore her damaged, and certainly hurting like hell, ribs. Her voice was still husky. He was surprised she could even speak, giving the swelling and bruising to her throat.

‘Nope, just a drugged-up man on one hell of a bender,’ he replied, swinging his legs to the bedroom floor and going around to her side of the bed. ‘The truck might have been less painful though.’

Kate struggled to sit up in bed but waved away his unspoken offer of a helping hand. Andrew clutched his fist in frustration in watching her slow and painful process.

‘What’s that?’ she asked, gesturing towards the barrier of pillows he had laid across the middle of the bed.

Andrew’s cheeks heated just a little before he could reply. ‘I didn’t want to hurt you when I was sleeping. If I’d gone to put my arm around you I could have done some damage.’

To admit the truth, Andrew had considered sleeping on the hard floor, so worried was he about unconsciously reaching out to Kate during the night.

‘How much sleep did you even get?’ she asked. ‘Every time I woke up you seemed to be checking on me.’

‘I got enough,’ he said, rubbing his hand over his bleary eyes.

The truth was, of course, he had been lucky to get even a few hours. The need to watch over her had been as much emotional as of actual medical need.

Grabbing the pen torch from the side of her bed, he checked her pupils for their dilation response.

‘So doctor, will I live?’

‘In a few hours you’ll be past the window where we have to worry about a bleed on the brain,’ he answered, seriously. ‘All the rest of your injuries will just require time to heal.’

Saying the words, and knowing she was almost out of the danger zone, went someway to easing the tightness of worry in his chest.

‘Does that mean I’m not going to work today?’

‘You are not even leaving these rooms for at least one week.’

The annoyed expression on her face didn’t surprise him. Andrew knew how hard these instructions were going to be to obey, but he hoped the steel in his voice would convey how seriously he intended to enforce her bed-rest.

The silence stretched between them. Kate couldn’t hide her peevish undertone when she said, ‘Well, one of us has to go to work today. So you should be getting dressed.’

‘Nup,’ Andrew replied, with determined cheerfulness. ‘You’ve still got me as playmate. So is it a Housewives of New Jersey marathon or the sports channel kind of day?’

A week of Andrew treating her like his personal project had Kate ready to take someone’s, anyone’s, head off. Her injuries were slowly healing; today she had even gone for a swim in the pool, but he kept treating her as if she was his elderly aunt.

She was bored out of her mind as she did a slow walk alone around the resort, working hard to minimise her limp.

A call, as Lucy spotted her, was a welcome interruption.

‘Don’t you dare ask me how I am,’ she warned, as soon as her friend got within hearing distance. ‘It’s bad enough I get that from Andrew twenty times a day.’

‘The gall of the man,’ Lucy replied, as she kissed her on the cheek and slipped a supporting arm around her. ‘First he dares to help save your life and then he dares to try and care for you.’

‘He’s a doctor,’ Kate said, knowing she was being ungracious. ‘Him checking on me is a professional occupational hazard.’

‘That’s funny, keeping you company everyday around the clock doesn’t seem like it is on everyone’s official health plan.’

Kate didn’t bother arguing; somewhere along the line, Lucy had become the number one member of Andrew’s fan club. It wasn’t as if the man wasn’t seriously conscientious, it was just Kate wasn’t used to being handled and patronised as if she wasn’t a health professional herself.

Before they reached the resort’s busy outdoor dining area, Kate reached into her pocket to put on the large sunglasses which had become her accessory of choice. She had learned early on that she didn’t enjoy the double-take that strangers took, and the inevitable discussions that she was sure they had about her supposed status as a battered wife.

Maybe she would get lucky and they would assume that she was just recovering from a brutal plastic surgery.

Kate appreciated the break that Lucy took with her each day. The serving staff out here on the pool deck had become used to their routine and quickly brought over their iced teas.

‘Have you heard anything about getting back to work?’ Lucy asked.

It was another touchy subject but Kate decided that another rebuff might end up with her drinking alone. ‘I’m out for at least another week, and then I’ll be on light duties for a month after that. They won’t even consider a fitness test until then.’

Lucy knew what a blow losing her professional identity was to Kate, and leant over and took her hand. ‘Important gossip update time,’ she announced. ‘Has Andrew tried to kiss you again?’

Kate, of course, had told her best friend the details of the night she had gotten back from making out on the scenic railway, and further updates after the dinner at his place. Those girly confessions seemed to belong to another time-zone now.

‘He does kiss me on the forehead every night before he leaves to go back to his villa.’ She laughed self-consciously, pointing at her bruised cheekbone. ‘It’s not like all of this is super appealing.’

‘No, it’s not appealing,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s scary and it’s horrible and the day it happened Reid told me that Andrew almost ripped his throat out. Maybe he is just waiting for you to be ready to make a move.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t care enough to want to bang the girl who isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs.’

Hearing herself speak, Kate heard the self-indulgence that had been plaguing her since the accident occurred. Maybe it was time that she got back her action initiating self.

Kate heard the door next-door thud, and with it, her nerves ratcheted up a little more. If Andrew was following the routine he’d developed, he’d be changing his clothes, putting on jeans and a button up shirt. Then he would come over, ask a million health-related questions and then trespass on her sofa, treating her like a sister. If Kate followed her own routine, she’d be dressed in an oversized track pants, a hoodie of Andrew’s that she had requisitioned, and she would spend the whole night curled in her own armchair, not even moving with any vigour to eat the food the resort’s kitchen would send over.

Sometimes patterns needed to be broken.

This time when Andrew opened the door after a cursory knock, she was at the kitchen bench preparing an evening meal.

‘How was work?’ she asked, beating him to a discussion about her particular aches and pains.

‘Good,’ he answered, although she could see his puzzlement. ‘We got called to a semi-trailer versus car. Two critical patients who had to be airlifted, but, on the balance of probabilities, they should make it OK.’

While he was speaking, Kate kept her nervous hands busy, tossing the salad and checking on the Atlantic salmon she was oven cooking in freshly squeezed orange juice with shallots and grated ginger. She had dressed carefully, going through her wardrobe to find a long length, long sleeved sapphire blue embroidered silk caftan. The look had the advantage of covering her still marked skin, but it still looked appealing in the way it clung to her tall body. She also bothered with makeup for the first time in over a week, using her foundation to disguise the impact zone of the punches. There wasn’t much she could do about the vivid bruises that still coloured her neck, but she looked like an approximation of her normal self.

Andrew stood on the other side of the kitchen bench, and jumped in with his questions before she had a chance to expand on her own. ‘How are the ribs feeling today? Did you experience any shooting pains after the swim?’

‘Yeah, about that,’ Kate replied. ‘I’ve decided you are not my doctor anymore. Let’s face it, you never really were in the first place. So we no longer talk about my pain levels, my recovery, or the exact nature of my bruising.’

‘What exactly has brought this on?’ Andrew asked. His voice was cold, his displeasure evident.

Kate stilled her hands that had been serving out the rice. ‘There are certain oaths that frown upon you shagging me while I’m a patient. I’m a trained medical professional with plenty of doctors just a car ride away and I’d like you to sleep with me more than I need free medical advice. So,’ she asked, ‘are you ready to sit down for the meal?’

Andrew took a moment to clear his throat before he nodded his assent. Kate might have spoken confidently but she wasn’t quite sure of the outcome of the evening. He was so blond, so perfectly handsome. Maybe he would find someone else, someone beautiful, someone who wouldn’t freak him out.

‘I didn’t know you could cook like this’, Andrew commented, as he helped her bring the plates over to the already set table.

‘The resort kitchen has been great at sending over meals. But I’m well enough to cook now and I thought it would be a nice thank you for your company.’