Nursing The Doctor (13 page)

“And Gram, in the house where we grew up. Kaleb moved in after he divorced, when he found out Gram was developing Alzheimer’s and needed help. And when I came back to Vancouver, I moved in, too. It makes it easier to care for Gram with the two of us living there.”

He didn’t respond. He’d closed his eyes again, and she could tell that the medication was making him sleepy. His head was nodding, his breathing becoming deep and regular. She was still holding his hand, and she gently disengaged her fingers.

“I’m going now, Greg,” she whispered. “I think you need to rest.”

He struggled to open his eyes, and when he did, the pupils were enlarged and the look he gave her was unfocused.

“Night. Rest well.” Without stopping to think about it, she bent over and pressed her lips to his forehead. Then she moved toward the door. She was nearly in the hall when she heard his voice.

“Lily?”

“Yes, Greg?”

The words were slurred, but there was no mistaking the urgency. “Come and see me again, okay, Lil? Soon.”

She was so surprised it took a moment to answer.

“Sure. I will, I promise.” Pleasure filled her, and she was halfway down the hall before she remembered exactly why she’d gone to visit him in the first place. All the good feelings of the past few moments drained out as if a plug had been removed, and the despair and fear that had been her constant companions for the past several days came rushing back. She stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment as the irony of his request hit her like a hammer blow.

“
Come and see me again. Soon.”

And when she did, and told him what she had to tell him, he’d never want to lay eyes on her again.

The following Monday morning, Frannie sat in her office staring blindly at her computer, unable to concentrate on the report she was pretending to work on.

Kaleb was on her mind, as he had been ever since their date on Thursday. She couldn’t remember when she’d last had such fun with anyone, and that seated her.

They’d planned to have dinner and then go to a movie, but instead they’d lingered over the meal, talking nonstop, laughing together, losing complete track of time until all at once they realized the restaurant was closing and it was too late for a movie.

So Kaleb had taken her dancing, and she’d loved it, which still surprised Frannie when she thought about it. She’d never been at ease dancing with anyone, but with Kaleb it had seemed second nature to relax into his embrace and mimic his moves as they gyrated to the throbbing beat of a rock-and-roll tune. It had felt so good. In fact, it had felt too good. There was danger here.

She was twenty-eight, and the kiss he’d given her at the end of the evening had made her painfully aware that for four years now she’d been celibate. Her life centered around her work, her sister and her nephew, and she’d deliberately left little time for romance.

The fact was, Heather’s bipolar illness had determined the course of Frannie’s life. She’d learned long ago that familial mental illness carried with it a nasty stigma. The only man she’d ever loved had dumped her fast when Heather’s illness first manifested itself and she was diagnosed.

That had been almost five years ago, and the terrible hurt and deep sense of betrayal were not entirely gone even now. They’d made Frannie determined that she’d never be hurt like that again, and the only way to be certain was to keep distance between herself and any man she was truly attracted to.

She’d decided that marriage wasn’t for her; as well as mental illness, there was a history of alcoholism in her family. Her mother had died of it, and the thought of passing on her damaged genes horrified Frannie. She saw enough evidence of family dysfunction in her work without deliberately creating it.

Somehow, though, Kaleb had slipped past her well-constructed barriers. He’d asked her out again, an invitation so unlikely she hadn’t been able to refuse.

“This fireman I work with lives out in the valley, and he’s having a sleigh ride next Saturday,” he’d explained. “We guys are doing all the food—firemen are good cooks—and there’s gonna be a cow milking competition and a corn eating contest, since he’s got a freezer full of corn frozen from last summer. Everybody’s bringing their kids. How about you and Taylor coming with us? It’ll be an all day thing. He’s gonna put up a Christmas tree, and there’ll be a fireman Santa and gifts for all the kids.”

How could she refuse an invitation like that? Taylor had never seen a real cow, outside of a petting zoo. And this would be the first year he really appreciated Santa. And it wasn’t really a date, she rationalized. No one took their nephew along on a date.

A tap on the door interrupted her reverie.

“You got a minute, Frannie?” It was Britt, one of the nurses from the orthopedic floor. “We’ve got a real problem with a patient, Doc Brulotte from down in Emerg, and we wondered if you could just come up and see if you can maybe talk to him, get him to cooperate a little more? He’s on the bell constantly, he complains about everything, and we’ve had every specialist in the city parading through, questioning us about his care. Some nurses have refused point-blank to work with him. Even with the ones who will, we’ve had to work assignments around him so nobody’s with him for more than two days. He’s sent his family packing when they come to visit, and yesterday he had a big shouting match with his best friend, Doc Halsey. Brulotte makes obnoxious sound inviting.”

“Sure, I’ll come up right away, Britt.” Frannie couldn’t help being curious about Greg Brulotte; she knew that Lily was attracted to him. It was unusual for nurses to universally have such problems with a patient. Brulotte must be on a real rampage.

Half an hour later, she tapped at the closed door of Greg’s room, noting the Absolutely No Visitors sign, hand lettered and taped directly at eye level.

CHAPTER TEN

“
What is it now?"

The response to Frannie’s knock was anything but friendly.

She took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped inside smiling. “Hello, Dr. Brulotte. I’m Frannie Myles, one of the hospital’s social workers.”

He was sitting in an electric wheelchair, wearing pajamas that had been altered to accommodate his casts. He didn’t seem to be doing anything at all. The television wasn’t on; he had no book or magazine on his lap. He was just sitting, a big, handsome, rebellious looking man with a cast on his right arm and another on his right leg.

Behind the obvious belligerence he had a certain look that Frannie recognized, the finely drawn expression around nose and mouth and eyes that patients got when they’d suffered intense pain.

“A social worker now. So they’re calling in the cavalry, huh?” he said in a hostile tone.

“Not at all, Doctor. I’m just here to listen if you want to talk. Being injured and trapped in here is a difficult and painful experience, and if I can help in any way, I’d be glad to.”

“Well, Ms. Myles, I don’t need a social worker, so go back and do whatever it is you usually do. Hold patients’ hands, cry with them, whatever.”

Frannie laughed. “Sounds a lot easier than trying to get thirteen-year-olds out of prostitution and off the streets. I’ll have to give this handholding a try. And by the way, call me Frannie.”

“Is that what you do, Frannie? Work with thirteen-year-old prostitutes?” There was a faint flicker of interest in his eyes.

“Among other things. But right now I’m here to talk about you.” She believed in a direct approach. “The nurses tell me you’re angry, Doctor. What specifically are you angry about?”

“Why, nothing at all, Ms. Myles.” The sarcasm was palpable. “I’m one of those rare people who always dreamed of breaking half the bones in my body and being encased in fiberglass while a small army of strangers waltz in and out of my room whenever the spirit moves them, doing various disgusting and painful things to my body. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m sincerely grateful for this....”

He tapped the cast on his right leg. “They just put it on this morning, which means I can sit in this wheelchair and finally get to the goddamned toilet all by myself. They tell me I’ll even graduate to rehab in a couple of days. I oughta be ecstatic, right?”

“So you’re feeling out of control. Is that the problem, Doctor? You feel you’ve lost control of your life?”

His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. “Damned straight I have.”

“So, what can I do realistically to help?”

“I told you, not a whole hell of a lot.” His voice was weary. The sound of lunch trays arriving in the hall brought an expression of revulsion to his handsome features. “Right at this very moment my needs are pretty basic. All I really want is a loaded pepperoni pizza, but I realize that pizza isn’t part of your job description.”

“Then you haven’t read it recently.” Frannie grinned and turned toward the door. “Thick crust or thin?”

There was a moment’s stunned silence. She waited.

“Thick.”

“Okay, just ignore your lunch tray. I’ll be back in half an hour.”

She was as good as her word. Twenty-five minutes later, she was again at the door to Greg’s room, balancing a large cardboard pizza box against one hip.

This time the door was wide-open, and as she stepped inside she saw that Lily was sitting on a chair near Greg’s wheelchair.

“Hey, Lily. Imagine meeting you here.” Seeing Lily reminded Frannie vividly of Kaleb. He was still very much on her mind.

“Hi, Fran. You changed jobs?” Lily gestured at the pizza box and Frannie laughed as she moved into the room and placed the container on Greg’s bedside table.

“Just part of a day’s work. Here you go, Doctor. Lily can help you dismantle this. I’ve got to get back to my office.” She didn’t really, but she sensed that Brulotte and Lily would be better off alone. There was a charged tension in the room. “Call on me whenever you need another one.”

“Thanks, Frannie. More than I can say. Now that I’m mobile again I can probably find a phone next time and get one delivered.” He looked decidedly more cheerful than he had when she’d seen him last, Frannie observed. Whether that was because of the pizza or Lily’s presence was anybody’s guess, but she’d put money on Lily.

“You on afternoon shift, Lil? Maybe we could grab a coffee later,” Frannie suggested.

“Sounds good.” Lily attempted a smile, but Frannie could see that it was strained. In fact, her friend looked pale and tense. There were dark circles under her eyes.

“See you later, then. Dr. Brulotte, if there’s anything else I can do for you, just have me paged.”

“Call me Greg.” He actually smiled at her.

Frannie nodded, pleased that he’d relaxed his guard that much. “’Bye now. Gotta go.”

She hurried out, wondering all the way back to her office what was troubling Lily. Wouldn’t it be a coincidence if she and her friend were having man problems at the same time? Not that Kaleb was a problem; it was her own reactions to him that disturbed her.

Instead of smelling inviting, the odor of the pizza made Lily feel nauseous. Every nerve in her body was on edge, and she simply couldn’t summon up any lighthearted conversation.

She’d told Greg how pleased she was that the wound on his leg had healed so that he could have the cast put on, and now all she wanted to do was get the rest of what she’d come to say over with so she could leave.

She’d deliberately come early in the day so that he wouldn’t be tired and medicated this time. She tried to ignore the lump in her throat.

“Greg, I need to talk to you. Privately. Is it okay if I shut this door?” She got up and closed it without waiting for him to answer. Her hands were trembling, and a pulse was hammering in her throat.

“Yeah, shut it, by all means.” He sounded surprised. “It’ll have the staff speculating on what’s going on with you and me. You up for that, Lil?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she drew in a deep, shaky breath and blurted out, “Greg, when you were in the OR, they gave you a transfusion.”

“Yeah, I know. Could I have a piece of that pizza before it gets cold? And take some for yourself. We’ve had some of our best moments sharing a pizza, remember, Lil?” He was smiling at her, and she felt worse than ever, because this was the first time she’d seen him smile since the accident.

She opened the pizza box and separated a triangle for him, putting it on a paper plate and positioning it on his lap so it was easy for him to eat