One Summer in Santa Fe Read Free

jacket.
    “Yes, Doctor. Just finishing.” She clamped the transport monitor onto the rail of the stretcher.
    “It’s Taylor, please.”
    “Okay, thanks.” She smiled at him and swallowed down the bubble of attraction that wanted to surface. “Ready to go, but you’ll have to lead the way. I don’t know where the OR is.”
    “Happy to.” Taylor grabbed a rail on the stretcher and assisted Piper to push the patient down the hall where an OR team waited to put him back together again. Taylor gave his verbal report to the surgeon, and Piper gave hers to the anesthesiologist.
    After handing the patient off, Taylor was ready for a break. The new nurse had certainly had her trial by fire and survived, so he was sure she could use a break, too.
    “Ready for a cup of coffee?” he asked, and led the way back to the ER and to the staff lounge.
    “I should really check in with the charge nurse and let her know I’m here.”
    They entered the staff lounge. Someone had brewed a fresh pot, as the bright fragrance of exotic coffee hung in the air. Piper sniffed appreciatively, and her eyes went soft. “Oh. I suppose one cup first won’t hurt, will it?”
    “Hardly.” Taylor poured for them, and Piper fixed hers with milk and half a packet of sweetener. “It’s not like you weren’t working. Emily just didn’t know it.”
    “Emily is the charge nurse, then?” Piper asked, and plopped down into a chair.
    “Yes. She was with one of the other traumas that didn’t survive.” He hated that. Hated that he couldn’t fix each and every patient that came through his doors no matter the cause.
    “Oh. It’s tough to lose patients that you work hard on, isn’t it?” There was something in her eyes that was vulnerable, painful, but it wasn’t any of his business.
    “Yes, it is. Especially when the problems could be prevented.” Taylor sat beside her and tried not to think of the two patients he’d lost that morning. Though the odds had been stacked against survival from the start, he still felt like a failure when patients under his care died right in front of him. He didn’t like to lose.
    His cellphone rang.
    “Dr. Jenkins.”
    He listened for a moment with his eyes closed and a finger pinching the bridge of his nose. “And just how messy is it, Alex?”
    Pause as he listened. “Can you clean it up by yourself?”
    More listening. Bigger headache forming behind his eyes.
    “I’ll come home at lunch. Don’t worry about the stain on the carpet. Or the walls. Or the couch. It’s okay. See you at lunchtime.”
    Amusement fairly sparkled off Piper as he looked at her.
    “What?” There was nothing amusing about his end of the conversation.
    “Nothing.” She sipped her coffee, but couldn’t hide the gleam in her eyes. “Your son home alone?”
    “Nephew. Staying with me for…” he looked at his digital watch “…five more weeks and six days.”
    “Not counting down the days, are you?” she asked.
    “No, just the seconds.” He showed his watch to her and the time counting down every second of that period.
    “You’re serious. You’re really counting down the time like that?” Her blue eyes widened as she looked at him in surprise.
    “I’m doing my sister a favor, and that’s when the favor ends.” Not one moment longer. He had a life to live, airplanes to jump out of and mountains to climb, all before the summer ended. Putting his life on hold was a temporary measure. Very temporary.
    “I take it you aren’t happy your nephew is with you?” she asked, then paused. “Not that it’s any of my business, I realize.”
    “It’s not that I’m not happy. It’s just a completely different way of life than I’m used to. People here are taking bets on how long it will be before I drag my sister home from California to take Alex back.” He leaned his head on the back of the couch and groaned. There were headaches and then there were headaches.
    “Oh, that’s so sad,” she said, but