Seven Nights with Her Ex (8 page)

‘No, you're not. You're hardly eating and you're as thin as a stick of rock.'

She sucked in a breath, trying to not get pulled into an argument. ‘Honestly, Gray—just leave it, will you?'

‘Beau, I care about—'

She stood up and cast off the blanket and walked away from the campfire, aware that everyone would be wondering what the hell was going on, but not having the energy or the inclination to explain. Irritated, she stamped over to the riverbank and checked to see if her clothes had dried on the rocks.

Luckily for her they were almost dry, the heat of the sun having done its work, and she scooped them up and headed to her tent to get changed. Clambering in, she turned and zipped up the tent beside her, shutting out the outside world before she collapsed on the ground, trying her hardest not to cry.

How dare he show me that he still cares? Does he not understand what that is doing to me?

Just a couple of days ago, safe in her work environment, if one of her colleagues had asked her how she felt about Gray McGregor, she would have been able to answer calmly and easily that he meant nothing to her any more. That she hardly ever thought of him, and that if she did, it was only because of a vague curiosity as to what he might be doing now.

That would have been true. But
now
?

Now she felt all over the place. Confused, upset,
disturbed
.

I wanted to be in his arms! I wanted to
kiss
him!

She'd only been with him for two days. Two days into a week together! What on earth would she be like at the end of it? Beau had thought she was strong. She'd thought—she'd assumed—that she was resolute in her feelings towards the man. That those feelings wouldn't change...that she'd be able to carry on with her life and every day would be the same as the one before it. Just the way she liked it.

Only, Gray being here had changed everything.

She pulled off the clothing that Claire had let her borrow, and as she sat there in her underwear, she heard Gray clear his throat outside her tent.

‘Ahem...knock-knock?'

Just hearing that lilting Scottish accent, purring away so close to her, sent shivers of awareness down her spine.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled her tee shirt over her head and retightened her ponytail. ‘Yes?'

‘I've come to see if you're okay.'

Growling inwardly, she lay flat to pull herself into her khaki cargo pants and zipped them and buttoned them up before she yanked open the zip to her tent and stuck her head out.

‘I'm fantastic.'

His head tilted to one side and he raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘You sound it.'

‘Good. Then maybe you'll leave me alone.'

‘So you're angry with
me
?'

She scuttled out from within her tent and stood up, straightening her clothes. ‘Yes—and don't say that I don't have good reason.' She knew she sounded petulant, but she didn't care.

‘I'm sorry. I didn't realise that asking if you were all right was a capital offence.'

She didn't answer him, just knelt down to gather up Claire's clothes so she could return them.

‘Only if
you
do it,' she said eventually.

He shrugged and squinted into the bright sun. ‘My apologies, then. I was just trying to show that I care.'

‘Well, you can't.'

‘Why not?'

She turned to him, exasperated, but kept her voice low so as not to share their argument with the whole camp. ‘Because it's
you
, Gray. You. I put my life in your hands once before. I gave you everything and you abandoned me. And...' she raised a hand to stop him from interrupting ‘...just when I thought I knew where to place you on the evolutionary scale—which, for your information, was somewhere below pond scum level—you turn up here and you're nice! You're
annoyingly
nice and pleasant and charming, and then you have the nerve to save my life and make me feel
grateful
! Do you know what happened to me the last time I was grateful to you, Gray? Hmm...?'

All through her rant, all through her rage and exasperation, he'd stood there, staring calmly back at her, not saying anything. Just listening. Just being
gracious
about the whole thing, for crying out loud!

‘I was just worried that you weren't eating enough.'

‘That's for
me
to worry about, Gray. Not you.
I
get to worry about me. You don't get that opportunity any more—do you understand?'

He nodded once. ‘Okay. If that's what you want.'

She let out a pent-up breath. ‘That's what I want.'

‘Okay. Well, I figured you might want this. I sneaked it into my backpack and I was saving it for a special occasion, but...but I think you might need it more than me.'

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. Not just
any
chocolate bar, but her
favourite
.

She blinked uncomprehendingly. Then she reached out and picked it up, almost not believing it was really there until she held it. Her anger—which had been simmering quietly ever since she'd stepped foot into that ranger station and seen him there—disappeared.

‘I love these.'

‘I know.'

‘But...but you didn't know I was going to be on this course.'

‘No, I didn't. But I've always bought them. Ever since...' He stopped talking and looked down at the ground. ‘Anyway, you can have it. Seeing as you skipped dinner.'

He walked back to the campfire and joined the others, his back towards her.

She stared at the chocolate bar, which was slightly crumpled and soft from where it had been tightly packed into his bag, and felt her heart melt just a little bit more.

He still bought them. Even after all this time.

And I've just said all those horrible things...

Beau swallowed hard. Now she felt guilty. Guilty for being so harsh towards him just because
she'd
been feeling confused. Was it
his
fault that she felt that way? No. She should be in greater control of her feelings. Hadn't she always been before? Since he'd left her, she'd kept a rigid control over everything. Even down to making sure there were no unexpected surprises during her day. Her life had been timetabled to within an inch of its life. Knowing what would happen and when had kept her safe for so long. Had kept her from being hurt again.

But maybe...maybe surprises could be a good thing? Maybe a little uncertainty, a little risk, was okay? Didn't babies learn to walk by falling over? They didn't expect the fall, but they learnt from their mistakes.

Perhaps I need to let myself make a few mistakes? Take a few risks? Maybe there might be a little something out there for me, too.

She peeled open the chocolate bar and took a small bite.

* * *

The next morning Mack woke them early again and began teaching them another lesson. The topic this time was fractures.

‘You have to know, even as a layman, how to evaluate an injury—either for someone else in your group or yourself.'

Beau could appreciate that. She was having a hard time assessing herself right now.

‘You need to consider three things—the scene, a primary survey and a secondary survey if you're to come to the most accurate conclusion and assist yourself or another hiker out in the wild.'

‘What's a primary and secondary survey?' asked Leo. ‘I always get confused about those things.'

‘Good question. A primary survey means looking at your patient and checking for life-threatening injuries or situations. So ABC.
Airway.
Is it clear? If not, why not? Can you clear it?
Breathing.
Is your patient breathing? Is it regular? Are there at least two breaths every ten seconds? And last of all
circulation
. Is there a major bleed? What can you do to stop it? That's your primary survey.'

‘And if there aren't any of those signs?'

‘Then you do your secondary survey. This also consists of three things. Remember with first aid and CPR there's generally a rule of three—ABC is one set of three. Scene survey, primary survey, secondary survey is another. If you remember to check three, you can always feel secure in knowing that you've checked everything. The secondary survey includes checking vital signs, taking the patient's history into account and a full head-to-toe body exam.'

‘I'll never remember it all!' declared Barb.

‘You'd be surprised,' Gray said.

‘Once you've checked their vitals are okay, you can ask if they have pain or an injury. Find out how that injury occurred. Does it sound like there was enough force to create a fracture? Then you check the body, feeling firmly for any pain or deformities. But remember—even if the patient seems okay, their condition could change at any moment. You need to be alert. You may miss an injury because the patient is focusing on the pain from a bigger injury. And then what? Beau?'

‘Then you swap hats,' said Beau, happy to answer. ‘You take off the hat that states you're treating a fracture and put on the hat that says you're treating someone who's unconscious—you put them into the recovery position. If it gets worse again, you put on the CPR hat.'

Mack nodded. ‘So, now let's focus on the fractures themselves. You look for the signs and symptoms of a fracture. Gray, can you tell us what they are?'

‘Inability to bear weight on a limb, disabled body part, obvious deformity, pain, tenderness or swelling, angulation or bone protruding through the skin or stretching it. The patient might also mention hearing a crack.'

‘Good. Did you all get that? You need to treat all possible skeletal injuries as if they are fractures. Even if you suspect a sprain or a dislocation, treat as a fracture until proved otherwise.'

‘Okay, so how do we do that with no splints available?' asked Rick.

‘There's always something you can use,' Gray continued. ‘You've just got to think outside the box. Splinting is correct. It stabilises the break and helps prevent movement on the splintered ends—which, believe you me, can be excruciatingly painful.'

He rubbed at his leg, as if remembering an old injury.

‘If you don't splint an injury, it can lead to further damage—not just to the bone, but to muscle, tissue and nerves, causing more bleeding and swelling, which you do
not
want.'

‘So what do we do?' asked Rick.

‘You need to get the bones back into the correct anatomical position. Which means traction—which means causing yourself or your patient
more
pain. But you must do it—particularly if you're hours or even days from medical help.'

Claire grimaced. ‘I'm not sure I could do that.'

‘You'd have to. It can be upsetting, but it's best for the patient. Causing pain in the short-term will help in the long-term.'

Claire nodded quickly, her face grim.

Mack took over. ‘Let's imagine a break on the lower left leg, near the ankle. This will be the most common injury you'll come across. People hiking and trekking across strange open country, falling down between rocks, not putting their feet securely down—all that contributes to this kind of injury. Claire, why don't you be my pretend patient?'

She got into position before him.

‘You need to grasp the proximal part of the limb—that means the part of the limb closest to the body—and hold it in the position it was found. Then, with your other hand, you need to apply steady and firm traction to the distal part of the limb—this is the furthest point—like so.'

He demonstrated by gripping above and below Claire's ‘fractured' lower leg.

‘You do this by applying a downwards pull, and even though your patient may cry out, or try to pull away, you
must
slowly and gently pull it back into position. This will help relieve the patient's pain levels. Okay?'

Everyone nodded, even if they were looking a bit uncertain about their ability to do it in a real-life situation.

‘Before you apply a splint, there's a rule of three again. You need to check CSM—their
circulation
, their
sensation
and their
movement
. Can you feel a pulse below the injury? In the case of this one, can you find a pulse in the foot?' He demonstrated where to find it. ‘Is the skin a good colour? Or is it pale and waxen, indicating that the positioning may still be off? Does the patient feel everything below the injury? Can they wiggle their toes? If there's anything restrictive, like a tight boot or socks, you can remove it to help reposition the limb properly.'

‘What if the break is inside the boot?' asked Rick.

‘You leave the boot on. The boot itself can act as a splint around the ankle sometimes—it's for you to judge what needs to be done.'

‘What if we do something wrong?'

‘You might never know. Or the patient might get worse, in which case you'll assess and treat accordingly. You can use sticks for splints, or walking poles, backpacks, snowshoes, the straps off your packs—anything that will provide a steady and supportive purpose.'

Rick nodded. ‘Okay, but when we put a splint alongside the injury, how exactly do we attach it? In the middle? Where the injury is?'

‘No. Fasten the splint above and below the suspected fracture.'

‘Right. And what about an open fracture? Do we bind it? Compress it?'

‘No. Leave it uncovered before you splint, and if you can find enough splints to go around the injury on all sides, that's even better. Use padding, if you need to, to prevent discomfort—torn clothing...whatever you can find. But remember to keep checking it afterwards, because the wound may cause swelling and the splinting may then be too tight. You need to assess frequently and often. Have you all got that?'