Jen laughed. “I’ll try to control myself.”
Cora was still smiling when she picked up the clipboard at the nurse’s station and scanned the information. Grey’s name jumped right out at her. Her eyes moved to the symptoms and saw he was complaining of redness around a wound and a fever.
Her stomach dropped as she realized his cut had become infected. She’d wondered when they might run into each other again but hadn’t pictured this particular scenario. The moment she walked through the door in room three, her heart rate kicked up a notch. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself.” Grey smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He clearly didn’t feel well.
There was probably an ER closer to where he lived. Wouldn’t it have been easier if he’d gone there instead? She tried not to overthink his reasons for driving all the way out here.
“When did you start feeling bad? You never mentioned it.”
“There was nothing to mention. I thought everything was fine until I felt tired this afternoon. I went home and fell asleep. When I woke up, my leg was hurting.” He carefully lifted the leg of his sweatpants. “I thought I’d better take a look and found this.” He started to unwrap the bandage, but Cora took over for him.
She lifted the gauze and cringed at the red, angry skin all along the cut. “Yeah, you’ve definitely got an infection here.” She put the gauze back on. “We’re going to clean this up, but first I’m going to get your vitals and we’ll go from there.” It was all business as usual until she looked up and met his eyes. Why did her heart have to stutter like this every time?
“Sounds good.”
Cora recorded his blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and checked his oxygen absorption level. He had a low-grade fever, and his blood pressure and pulse were both high, all normal responses to an infection.
Doctor Coalson walked in then and shook Grey’s hand. “Alright, let’s see what we have here.”
Fifteen minutes later, he’d instructed Cora in what he wanted done and told Grey he’d be back after the results were in.
Cora made some notes in Grey’s file and then turned to him with a smile. “I’m going to get an IV placed, take some blood so we can check your white blood cell count, and then we’ll get you some fluids. Depending on what the blood results are, we may give you some antibiotics through the IV to give your body a chance to start feeling better.”
“That works.”
She got her supplies together and rolled a chair up to his left side. She got the tourniquet in place and gently felt his arm for the vein she wanted. “There we go.” She began to disinfect the area. “Did you ever go see a doctor after you got back?”
“I really don’t think this is the time for me to answer that question. Not with that needle in your hand.”
Cora shook her head as a smile tugged at her lips. With one fluid motion, she got the catheter in and proceeded to tape it in place. She filled vials with the blood the lab needed before she spoke again. “There. Now, about that answer…”
“My leg was sore, but I felt fine. I’d scheduled an appointment with my doctor for Tuesday to have the stitches removed and figured that would be fine. Obviously, I should’ve gone in sooner.” He looked annoyed with himself. “I was going to wait and go in to see my doctor tomorrow, but the fever had me worried.”
“You were right to come in tonight instead. You don’t want to mess with infections like this.” She finished labeling the vials of blood and got to work hanging some saline solution and getting it dripping into his IV. “If it makes you feel any better, infection is very rare. Sometimes you just can’t control how the die rolls.”
“I appreciate that. You know me, I don’t like screwing up.” There was sincerity in his voice.
Cora resisted the urge to reach out and touch his hand. “I know.” She lifted the vials of blood. “I’m going to get these to the lab for you, then I’ll be back with some medication to help with the pain.”
“Thanks, Cora.”
“No problem.” She gave him a comforting smile before stepping out of the room. Only then could she draw in a deep breath and try to calm her racing thoughts. She’d just started getting used to the idea of only keeping in touch through text and now Grey was here in her ER. Was this random, or was God trying to tell her something?
She distracted herself by taking the blood to the lab. Jen caught her in the hall on the way back.
“Hey, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Cora momentarily considered not telling her but knew that wasn’t going to do any good. “You know Grey, the ex I just spent the weekend with?”
“Do you have more than one?”
“No. He’s the guy in room three.”
Jen’s jaw dropped before she looked entirely too pleased. “You’re kidding me. What did you do? Did he say anything to you?”
“I took his blood like a vampire and then asked him out on a date.”
