Molly Evans – Children's Doctor, Shy Nurse (страница 3)
“I’m an ICU nurse, so
“Now, I’ve worked with plenty of sweet ICU nurses, so I’d have to argue with you on that,” Mark said, wondering why she was down on herself.
There was a moment of silence before Ellie answered. “I might have been at one time, but over the years, it seemed to have gotten lost in the job, you know what I mean?” she asked, her voice softer than it had been moments ago, meant for only him and Gil to hear. The others were too far away to hear anyway. “Life gets to be about what you do, not who you are.”
“Oh, I doubt that or Vicki wouldn’t have recommended you,” Gil said and poked a marshmallow onto a long wooden stick. “This is for you. Roast to your preference and enjoy.”
“Thanks.” She took the stick and focused on putting the fat marshmallow at the edge of the hot coals. “Vicki’s a good friend, Gil.”
“She said you’d fit right in here, and I believe her.” He handed her a chocolate bar and graham crackers to go with the marshmallow.
“I hope she’s right.” Tucking her head, she focused on making the gooey treat.
Mark’s mouth watered. “Gil, can you fix me up with some of that? I haven’t had a s’more in years.”
“You got it.” He reached into the bag and produced a marshmallow that he handed to Mark, then gave him a chocolate bar and a graham cracker.
Mark took the items, watching Ellie as he did. Her focus seemed to move inward as she watched the changing lights in the fire in front of them. The light picked up the reddish hues of her short brown hair. There was a simmering fire in Ellie that he saw, but she probably didn’t even know about. Mark hoped for her sake that it wouldn’t go out completely.
CHAPTER TWO
HAD she seriously even thought the word
“Great, stuff, isn’t it?” Mark asked her as the campers made their way to the infirmary for exams. He poked bellies, and tickled ribs, as each child made it through, then supplied all with a sweet treat.
“Great?” Ellie gaped at the line of campers, boys and girls, ages seven to fourteen, that trailed its way through the infirmary and out the door, filing all the way across the compound to the lodge, nearly a football field’s length away. “Uh, that wasn’t quite how I would have described it.”
Mark laughed and placed the otoscope into the ear canal of the next camper and leaned forward for a look. “It’s great to me.”
Ellie gave him a sideways glance and raised her brows. The man obviously lived a crazed life if he thought this was great. “If you say so. Too much chaos and noise kinda makes me nervous. Reminds me too much of work.” The thing she’d come here to get away from.
“The noise level with kids is always high. You’ll get used to it.”
“I doubt it.” She’d never get used to it. “There’s always too much to do, and never enough time to finish it.” Hurrying, she pulled the folders for the next group of kids. “There’s only a few minutes before they’re supposed to be heading to their cabins, then to the lodge for the welcome reception.” She looked at the line of campers and anxiety cramped in her belly. “We’re never going to make it.” What if they were late, what if she didn’t do things the way Dr. Collins liked them, what if—
“Ellie?” Mark touched her on the shoulder, distracting her from her racing thoughts. She hadn’t seen him rise and step closer to her.
“What?” She looked up at him. He was so close and tall that she felt small in comparison. Until now she hadn’t realized how different they were in height. He just kept going up.
The calm smile on his face didn’t detract from the sharp assessing look in his green eyes. “Don’t have a panic attack the first day. We’ll be fine.”
Sweat broke out on her back. Being so nervous about everything wasn’t how she wanted to be, but she didn’t seem to know how to change. After so many years of being dedicated to helping others and more recently helping her parents through her father’s illness and death, something had broken inside of her that she didn’t know how to fix. She didn’t know if it could be fixed. The last man she had been intimately involved with certainly hadn’t thought so. “But the kids will be late, and then—”
“So? It’s not like they’re going anywhere for the next eight weeks. They can be a little late for the first meeting in the lodge, or we can do the remainder of the assessments tomorrow. Won’t hurt anything.”
Ellie simply stared at Mark. “Are you serious? Things need to be done on time, not when we feel like doing them or get around to it.” How could he be a physician and say that?
“Ellie. We’re not slacking. There are simply a few kids I want to take an extra look at right now. There are some campers with chronic illnesses that we need to follow closely over the summer, and if I document well now, it will save me a lot of brain strain later.”
Looking away from him, she lowered her eyes. “I see. Sorry, Dr. Collins.”
“No sorry about it, and please call me Mark.” He squeezed her shoulder once in a gesture that was meant to soothe her frazzled nerves, then turned away. “Let’s just get finished with what we can reasonably do, and then we’ll go to the lodge with the kids.” He called the next camper over. After a quick, assessing glance at Ellie, he carried on with the exams.
Before Mark finished with the next set of eyes, ears and tonsils, the paging system called the campers to the lodge. Without preamble, the kids scattered in a mob of gangly legs and arms and choruses of cheers. “Guess that settles it. Off to the lodge with the bunch of them.” He popped off the cover of the otoscope into the trash bin that nearly overflowed beside him. With a look at Ellie, he bundled up the trash and placed a clean liner in the bin.
Stacks of files lay on every conceivable surface; some hung precariously from their perches, and a few had landed on the floor. Ellie hurried around the room picking up trash, putting away files, writing notes on other files. Her frantic pace nearly made him dizzy. He’d had enough of that sort of thing for a while. The change in his life over the past few years had made him much more aware of how he spent his time. He wasn’t going to waste his, and he didn’t want to see Ellie use up hers on mundane things that could wait. Especially when there was a bonfire waiting. With
“I guess it’s time to head to the lodge,” Mark said and motioned for Ellie to join him by the door. Mark paused at the look of panic in her eyes as she surveyed the mess. There was something definitely going on with her and it wasn’t files or organization. Getting out of a hospital environment was going to be good for her, too. That was obvious. He knew nothing about her personal life, but the signs of stress she displayed were enough to make him want to reach out to her, want to help her. “Are you ready?” he asked, knowing there could be an explosive answer at the end of that question, but he was ready for it. He hadn’t grown up with three sisters without learning a few things about women.
“Uh, no.” Ellie shook her head and moved back to the first pile of charts. “I can’t go until all of this is taken care of. You go ahead, and I’ll join you later.” She picked up a stack of files and their contents slid onto the floor. “Probably much later.”
He caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes before she hid her face behind the files in her arms. “Ellie, this stuff isn’t going anywhere. Let’s go meet the kids and let them get to know us a little. We’re going to be here all summer, and the charts can wait.”
“I just can’t leave things undone, you know? I’m not built that way.” A sigh flowed out of her. “If I leave things for later, I’ll never catch up. You go ahead.” She grabbed another stack of charts and began going through them. “It’s practically a sin in the nursing world to leave something for the next person to do when you could have done it yourself.” She clucked her tongue.
“You’re not the only one here. I can help you. I helped create the mess—I can certainly help clean it up.” That was logical, wasn’t it?
“But that’s not a physician’s job. This is a mundane task that I should do.”
“Ellie, we’re not going to be in a hospital setting for eight entire weeks. I won’t tell if you don’t.” Offering her an encouraging smile, he wanted her to respond, but she didn’t.
She eyed the piles, but gave another heavy sigh. “I don’t know. It’s a lot of work. I’ve always had the philosophy of ‘
“My philosophy is ‘