LITMIR.BIZ

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staff were crowding around the stretcher now and orders were being given for X-rays, CT scans and a neurology consult. Matt and Joe had pushed the stretcher out of the way and were finishing their paperwork in a corner of the room. Maureen took a swift glance at the two ambulance officers as she bundled up the rest of the driver’s clothing and put it in the bag. Then she winked at Tori.

      ‘I think I’d stay away and play with those two as well.’

      Tori followed her out of the trauma room. It was high time she apologised to the charge nurse, Pam, got herself changed and started work. She certainly didn’t want to get caught up in one of Maureen’s conversations, which always seemed to be centred on men. Her colleague’s attention was not easily diverted, however.

      ‘Who’s the new paramedic?’ Maureen asked.

      ‘Matt Buchanan. He’s not so new. He was around for a little while last year before you started here. He’s been off the road for the last six months.’

      ‘You know him?’

      Tori nodded. ‘I went on a weekend USAR course he ran.’

      ‘Do you know if he’s married?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Oh.’ Maureen looked crestfallen. ‘Why is it that the gorgeous men are all taken by the time I see them?’

      Tori had actually meant that she possessed the information but having opened her mouth to correct Maureen’s assumption, she promptly closed it again. Matt was probably more than capable of looking after himself, even as the prey of a determined man-hunter like Maureen, but Tori felt absurdly protective. Even more strangely, she took considerable pleasure in extending Maureen’s disappointment.

      ‘He’s got four kids, too.’

      Maureen sighed heavily. ‘Well, that’s that, then, isn’t it?’

      ‘Yep.’ Tori saw Pam coming out of a cubicle on the other side of the department and moved to intercept her boss and apologise for her lateness. She passed Matt and Joe coming out of the trauma room with their stretcher, and smiled in response to Matt’s grin.

      ‘Catch you later,’ she said. ‘Don’t work too hard.’

      ‘We won’t,’ Matt assured her. ‘Sure you don’t want to come and third crew with us for the rest of the shift?’

      ‘I’d love to…’ Tori grinned ‘…but I don’t think it would make me any more popular around here.’

      They could all see the frown on Pam’s face as she watched Tori approach.

      ‘Want me to put in a good word for you?’ Matt asked softly.

      ‘Pam’s OK. She’s just stressed.’ Tori waved them through the automatic doors to the ambulance bay. She couldn’t help one last glance over her shoulder before moving to appease the charge nurse. Matt and Joe were laughing as they loaded the stretcher, and even from this distance Matt’s smile was contagious. As Maureen had said, having four kids ended any possibility of a relationship more than friendship but friends were important, weren’t they?

      A friend like Matthew Buchanan could quite possibly be the best available. He was a very likable person and now that he was working on this side of town, Tori would be seeing a lot more of him. The thought was enough to buoy her spirits considerably.

      ‘I’m so sorry, Pam. I got caught up in the accident. There really wasn’t any way I could have got here earlier.’

      The charge nurse nodded then sighed. ‘We’re short-staffed as it is, and with everyone possible shoved back into the waiting room when we went on code, it’s going to be hours before we get back to normal. Get yourself changed and I’ll assign your patients. Are you able to stay on a bit later tonight?’

      ‘Sure.’ Tori glanced through the doors to the ambulance bay on her way to the locker room and saw the beacons being activated on the ambulance now out on the main road. The sound of the siren kicked in a second later and Tori smiled. There was a bright side to be found here.

      The longer she was on duty in the ED, the more chance she had of seeing Matt. And the more she saw of Matt, the more likely it was that they would become friends.

      Matthew Buchanan had a lot of responsibilities. He probably had very little time to have fun these days but he seemed like someone who would be very good at it, given the opportunity.

      Tori was good at finding opportunities. If they didn’t come along by themselves, she was quite capable of engineering them, given an incentive. And the thought of seeing that smile on Matt’s face at frequent intervals was an excellent incentive.

      * * *

      But it proved frustratingly difficult to get anything more than brief snatches of conversation with Matt, however hard Tori tried.

      The turn-around time for an ambulance crew delivering patients to the emergency department was generally rapid, and Matt and Joe seemed slicker than most. The times they were held up for some reason— by a queue waiting for triage or a bigger than usual clean-up operation before being available for a new job—were invariably the times that Tori was tied up with patient care and could do no more than smile or wave across a busy department.

      Happily, Matt seemed as determined as she was to renew their acquaintance. Over the first few days after the incident with the logging truck, both Matt and Joe were keen to get updates on the progress of the accident victims. Tori made sure she kept in touch with what was going on.

      Chloe had been the first to go home.

      ‘She got a bright pink cast on her arm,’ Tori told Matt the next day. ‘She was delighted with it.’

      A day later her siblings were allowed to go home with their father.

      ‘Mum’s still in ICU but she should go through to a ward later today or tomorrow. She’s doing well.’

      The male passenger of the car had been transferred to a spinal unit.

      ‘He had a fracture at C6-7,’ Tori relayed. ‘I’m so pleased I got someone to sit there and hold his head. He’s had surgery to stabilise the fracture and he’s not showing any neurological deficit.’

      The truck driver wasn’t doing so well, still in a coma a week after the accident.

      ‘I went up to see him.’ Tori shook her head. ‘He looks awful! His eyes are completely black and his face is so swollen it’s unrecognisable. His wife is in there with him most of the time and she’s so grateful for what was done on scene. She tried to thank me but I told her it was you guys who deserved the praise. I’m sure she’d love to say hello to you.’

      ‘We’ll try and pop in later maybe.’

      ‘Why don’t you go up now?’ Joe suggested. ‘Control wants us to wait for a patient coming down from plastic Outpatients for a rural transfer. I can go and get her by myself.’

      Tori wasn’t going to lose this opportunity. ‘I’m due for a break,’ she informed Matt. ‘I’ll come with you.’

      It was a satisfyingly long trip up to the intensive care unit after they bypassed the lifts and took the stairs.

      ‘This is good,’ Tori announced, pushing open the fire stop door. ‘I really needed to get out of the department for a few minutes.’

      ‘It didn’t look overly busy.’

      ‘More like boring today. I’ve had two abdo pains, a ninety-three-year-old with a rectal bleed and a sprained ankle so far. I’m on the trauma team but nothing’s come in yet.’

      ‘My apologies,’ Matt grinned. ‘I’ll see if I can arrange a good crash or a nice medical emergency for you.’

      ‘Awful thing to wish for,’ Tori admitted. She gave Matt a stern look over her shoulder as she led the way up the stairs. ‘I’m blaming

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