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‘I guess she won’t want another proposal, then.’ Matt shook his head philosophically. ‘Story of my life.’
‘Well, it’s changed my life, too, you know.’ Tori sighed. ‘I’m living alone for the first time in my life, rattling around in a house that’s far too big. Nobody wants to come and live with me because it’s too far out of town, and I can’t sell up because it’s half Sarah’s house and, anyway, it’s where I grew up so I don’t really want to sell up.’ Tori smiled a little sadly. ‘So, here I am with the freedom to be out having a wild old time but instead I’m working all hours and missing having Sas around. My job was what was holding it all together and now—thanks to you—I’m starting to feel like it might not be exactly what I want to be doing.’
Matt’s pager sounded and he read the message. ‘Joe’s waiting for me. I’d better head back. Nice long drive out to the country. Hardly an exciting end to the day.’
‘Beats being stuck inside, waiting for another sprained ankle or a sore tummy that’s going to be around for hours demanding to know why something isn’t being done to fix them.’
Matt held the fire stop door open for Tori this time. ‘Seeing as it’s all my fault that life is less than perfect for you right now, why don’t I make amends?’
Despite herself, Tori’s heart gave an unusually vigorous thump. There was no disputing Matt’s attractiveness, and even being the object of conversational attention was enjoyable. How far would he go to make life a bit more interesting?
‘Keep talking,’ Tori instructed.
‘Come out on the road properly some time. I can arrange for you to be on board as an observer—especially if you are at all interested in changing careers.’
‘Who would I go out with?’
Matt grinned. ‘I don’t think Joe would protest at having you as third crew, and seeing as I’ve mucked up your life I feel obliged to help you find a bit of excitement again.’
Tori’s nod was satisfied. ‘Sounds fair to me. I’ll talk to my people and get back to you.’
* * *
‘We’re just good friends.’
Tori’s airy statement earned her a black look from Maureen, who dropped the magazine she’d been leafing through and stalked out of the emergency department’s staffroom.
Erin, the nurse who had brought up the subject of Tori’s relationship with Matt, eyed the abandoned seat at the table and gave Tori a meaningful glance.
‘Someone’s not happy.’
Tori shrugged. ‘She’s on the hunt for a new boyfriend. She liked the look of Matt.’
‘Can’t say I blame her.’ Erin took another bite of her sandwich. ‘So how long have you been seeing him now?’
‘I’m not seeing him, Erin. When I said we’re just good friends, I meant it. I’ve been out on the road with him a couple of times. I’m seriously thinking of becoming an AO.’
‘You’re kidding!’
‘Nope. I love it. Every job is different and you never know where you’re going to be next. We went from this mansion, which actually had a maid to let us in, the other night to an incident at a gang headquarters, where the police had to escort us inside for safety.’
Erin shuddered visibly. ‘And what happens when the police aren’t there?’
Tori ignored the warning. ‘It was a gunshot wound,’ she said. ‘With a hole in his chest sucking in air. I had to seal it with my hand until we could get an occlusive dressing on it, and then we had to load and go with the armed offenders squad outside dealing with the rival gang.’ She sighed happily. ‘It was really exciting!’
‘I’d rather be in here with a few security guards sitting on the troublemakers,’ Erin said firmly. ‘In fact, I think I’ve had about enough of Emergency. I’m thinking of transferring back to Orthopaedics.’
‘I love it,’ Tori repeated. ‘Especially being out with Matt and Joe. They’re great fun.’
‘Hmm.’ Erin’s expression was supremely tolerant. ‘Just good friends, huh?’
* * *
‘We’re just good friends,’ Tori said again later that night when Sarah rang from London. ‘He’s such a nice guy, Sas. Maybe you should reconsider.’
‘When I’ve got Ben? Not in this lifetime, kid!’
Tori suppressed the pang of totally unreasonable envy that Sarah had found ‘the real thing’. It wasn’t even on her own agenda, was it? Not for years and years, anyway. Good grief, she was only twenty-five and she intended to have as much fun as possible before she settled down to the kind of bliss Sarah was experiencing.
‘How’s Phoebe?’ she asked hurriedly. ‘Is she still doing well after the surgery?’
‘It’s amazing,’ Sarah said. ‘The tissue expansion created all this perfectly normal skin and they’ve managed to get rid of all the scar tissue on her face. She’s going to look absolutely gorgeous once the swelling’s gone down a bit more.’
‘That’s wonderful.’ Tori knew she wasn’t sounding as enthusiastic as the news warranted. ‘I miss you, Sas.’
‘It’s not long till the wedding and our plans to emigrate to New Zealand are really taking shape. I’ve persuaded Ben that living north of Auckland will be perfect. He can commute into the city to work. You’d better start keeping an eye out for properties near you.’
‘Maybe you should have this house. It’s too big and spooky for just me.’
‘Yeah…’ Sarah was laughing. ‘You could fit Matthew and all his kids in there.’
‘Don’t joke! The thought of taking on someone else’s family is a recurring nightmare. You know I had quite enough of foster-children when I was growing up.’
‘Hey—I was one of those foster-kids.’
‘You were different.’ Tori had to swallow a lump in her throat. ‘It’s so good to talk to you, Sas.’
‘Are you all right, Tori? You sound…I don’t know…lonely.’
‘Who, me? The ‘‘out on the town’’ party girl flitting from one romantic adventure to the next? Lonely? Hello-o-o!’
‘So what romantic adventures have you not been telling me about, then? The last one I knew about was Robert, and that was a disaster!’
‘He was the last one,’ Tori admitted. ‘How sad is that?’
‘So get out there and find someone new,’ Sarah ordered. ‘You obviously like Matt.’
‘Matt’s out of the question.’
‘Why?’
‘You know why. He’s got four children and no life!’
‘You don’t have to marry him.’
‘He doesn’t seem the type to do anything less than serious. And he’s too nice for me to want to make his life any more complicated. Besides, I don’t want to spend my time off with a bunch of kids.’
‘He must escape occasionally.’
‘Only to work, from what I can make out.’
‘So maybe he needs a chance to have some fun.’
Tori was silent. That thought wasn’t totally original, was it?
‘And at least he’s been upfront about the kids, which is more than Robert was. And he doesn’t have a wife tucked away either.’
‘Hmm. He’s too ugly.’
‘I’ve seen him, remember?’
‘Oh…so you have.’
‘When are you seeing him again?’
‘I’m not seeing him. We’re—’
‘Just good friends,’ Sarah interrupted. ‘You already said that. So when are you going out on the road with him again?’
‘Tomorrow, actually.’
‘A night shift?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Have fun.’
‘I’ll do my best.’ Tori was still smiling well after the phone call had ended. She wouldn’t have to try hard. The easy conversation, the humour and the growing friendship made her look forward to his company to the extent that Sarah’s suggestion appeared to have some merit.
Later, turning yet again on her pillow as she tried to settle into sleep, Tori decided against offering anything more than friendship, however. There was just something too inherently decent about Matt to contemplate an affair with no strings. Or maybe she just liked him too much.
She had never had a really close male friend without a physical relationship or the desire for one interfering with the friendship on one or both sides. Adding sex to their relationship would be the fastest way to ruin what was promising to be the best friendship Tori had ever had with a man. No matter how attractive Matthew Buchanan was, it wasn’t worth the risk.
‘And that,’ Tori whispered aloud to herself, ‘is that. End of story.’
CHAPTER THREE
IT DIDN’T turn out to be much fun after all.
The prospect of another night on the road as an observer with Matt and Joe had been the highlight of Tori’s week. The shift started with great promise and the priority-one callout to a car v. pedestrian resulted in an adrenaline-pumping, high-speed obstacle course through rush-hour traffic with Matt’s impressive driving skills tested to the limit.
The job was a fizzer, though, and it was almost embarrassing to turn off first the siren and then the beacons, having been informed by the owner of a secondhand furniture shop that the ‘victim’ had dusted himself off and walked home. Matt and Joe seemed quite philosophical about it, smiling and waving at the group of wide-eyed children who had gathered to watch. Matt blipped the siren in farewell as they pulled away and a small boy could be heard crowing with delight as the noise from the vehicle faded.
The second call, over an hour later, was to a ‘sick person’ who was apparently unwell enough to also require a priority-one response.
‘I’m dying,’ he told the crew as he lay on his bed with a damp cloth covering his eyes.
‘Don’t think so,’ Joe said cheerfully. Matt pulled a blood-pressure cuff from the kit and winked at Tori.
‘What’s been happening?’ he queried.
‘My head hurts. My eyes hurt. I’ve got a sore throat. I ache all over and I feel dizzy when I try and stand up.’
‘Anyone else in the family been unwell recently?’
‘My wife had the flu last week but she wasn’t this sick.’
Tori glanced at the woman standing in the doorway of the bedroom with a toddler balanced on one hip and an older child holding her free hand. She probably hadn’t had time to be that sick.
‘Have you seen your GP?’
‘No-o-o.’ The man groaned rather dramatically. ‘I’ve been too sick to try and get out of bed.’
His wife sighed wearily. ‘They don’t do house calls any more.’
They listened to their patient’s chest, which was clear, took an ECG, which was normal, and pricked his finger to test his blood-sugar levels—also normal. They recorded a normal blood pressure and a slightly elevated temperature. They noted a clean medical history and absence of any prescribed medications.
‘You’ve got the flu, mate,’ Joe told him finally. ‘You need to rest and keep your fluid intake up. If you take some aspirin or a cold and flu preparation, it’ll help the aches and pains. A day or two in bed and you’ll be as right as rain.’
‘But…you’re supposed to take me into hospital, aren’t you?’
‘We can take you if that’s what you really want,’ Matt said, ‘but you’ll be in a very bright, busy, noisy emergency department. You’ll be well down any priority list and it could take hours to see a doctor, who will probably send you straight home again with the same advice we’ve just given you. By then it’ll be about 2 a.m. and you will have missed a good few hours’ sleep.’ Matt’s tone became much less forbidding. ‘Why don’t you try and get some rest at home and see how it goes? You can always call us back if things get worse.’
‘Can I?’
‘Of course.’ Joe was latching the kit. ‘That’s what we’re here for.’
The patient’s wife saw them to the door. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I wanted to take him to the after-hours clinic but he really did seem very sick and I couldn’t carry him to the car.’
‘Man flu,’ Tori pronounced as they headed back to station. ‘It’s a terrible thing.’
‘Careful,’ Matt warned. ‘You’re outnumbered right now.’
Tori was unimpressed. ‘Let’s hope the next one is a female patient,’ she said. ‘We might actually get a genuine case.’
They had to wait nearly two hours for the next call and the patient was, indeed, a female.
It was also very genuine.
* * *
The address was central city, one of a run-down group of old houses that backed onto a commercial and industrial street. Tori eyed the unkempt garden cluttered with rusting car bodies with some misgivings. The house looked equally uninviting. Window-panes were cracked or broken, curtains hung in ragged shreds. The front door stood ajar and revealed a dimly lit hallway strewn with rubbish. A strong smell of cannabis drifted out as they waited for a response to Matt’s knock.
‘Hello!’ Matt moved into the hallway. ‘Ambulance here.’
Tori hoisted the weight of the oxygen cylinder to hold it in her arms. While grateful for the solid presence of Matt and Joe in front of her, knowing she had a potential weapon of her own for self-defence was reassuring.
‘Hello!’ Matt called more loudly. ‘Anyone here?’
A man appeared at a doorway near the end of the hall. Naked to the waist, jeans undone, his body was covered with tattoos. Metal spikes protruded from piercings beneath his bottom lip and added considerably to the belligerent expression on his face. He took the joint of cannabis from where it appeared to be stuck to his lower lip.
‘Whaddyawant?’
‘Someone called an ambulance to this address.’ Matt had stopped and now he moved back in a subtle fashion, which Joe mirrored. Tori found herself surrounded and knew that both these men were poised to protect her if necessary.
‘Wasn’t me,’ the man said.
‘She’s out the back.’ A female voice came from someone still in the room behind the male occupant of the house. ‘In the garage.’
Matt turned and touched Tori’s shoulder. ‘Let’s go,’ he murmured.
They went out the way they had come in, found a gap between the hulks of wrecked cars and discovered a double garage with its side door hanging open.
Two teenage girls, devotees of Gothic styling, sat on a bare mattress just inside the door. They stared at the newcomers with matching blank faces.
‘Hi, there. I’m Matt from the ambulance. This is Joe and Tori. Did you guys call for us?’
‘Yeah.’ One of the girls pointed to the other side of the garage. ‘It’s Charlene. She won’t wake up.’
Another young girl lay on her side between two mattresses piled with some old blankets and pillows that were losing their stuffing. Matt rolled her over onto her back.
‘Charlene, can you hear me? Open your eyes, love.’
There was no response. Even in the dim light provided by the single bare bulb dangling in the centre of the garage Tori could see the blue tinge of cyanosis on the girl’s lips.
Joe was uncurling the leads from the life pack to attach electrodes. He cut through a thin sweatshirt to expose what looked like the underdeveloped chest of a child. Having determined that Charlene was not breathing, Matt flipped open the kit and pulled out the bag mask. Tori grabbed the end of the tubing and pushed it onto the oxygen cylinder’s connection. She fitted the key to the valve, twisted it open and turned the flow up to fifteen litres a minute—the highest available.
Matt tipped the girl’s head back and lifted her chin to open her airway, having checked that there was no obstruction in her mouth. He fitted the mask and inflated the bag twice to deliver two full breaths. Then his fingers went to the side of Charlene’s neck.
‘No pulse,’ he reported grimly.
Joe simply nodded. The display on the screen of the life pack was just settling into a readable rhythm.
‘Fine VF,’ he announced, equally grim. Tori could understand why. When first in cardiac arrest, a rhythm of ventricular fibrillation was coarse, with the wiggles much further away from a flat base line. There was far more chance of converting a coarse VF into a perfusing rhythm. The longer the ‘downtime’, the finer the wiggles…and the less hope there was that a life could be saved.
‘What’s happened here?’ Matt directed the question to the girls still sitting near the door. ‘How long has she been like this?’
One of the girls shrugged. ‘Dunno.’
‘Stand clear,’ Joe directed. ‘Shocking at 200 joules.’
Matt moved backwards so that he wasn’t touching the patient. He put the bag mask down and reached for his radio. After a rapid request for back-up to a cardiac arrest, he turned to his kit.
‘Could you hold the torch to give me some decent light, please, Tori? I’ll intubate in a minute.’
‘Sure.’ Tori clutched the torch and held it high enough to cast a useful circle of light. She watched in dismay as Joe delivered a second and then a third shock, with no change to the fatal cardiac rhythm displayed on the life pack screen.
Matt unrolled the intubation kit. ‘Put the torch down for a sec and hyperventilate her for me, Tori.’
She did as requested, giving the girl as much oxygen as possible before the procedure of securing her airway with the tough, plastic tube. Then she held the torch again, holding her own breath in sympathy with the look of intense focus on Matt’s face as he lifted the tongue with the laryngoscope and angled the light on the instrument to visualise the vocal cords.
Tori was ready with the bag mask when Matt had inflated the balloon on the ET tube to help secure its position. He listened for the sound of moving air as Tori squeezed the bag, to ensure it was going into the lungs and not the stomach which would indicate incorrect placement of the tube.
‘We’re in,’ he announced. ‘Start CPR, Joe, and I’ll get IV access.’
Tori inflated the girl’s lungs twice after every fifteen of Joe’s chest compressions. They kept it up for a full minute, by which time Matt had an IV cannula inserted and a bag of saline attached. Then Tori sat back to allow Joe to start the next series of three shocks. Matt was drawing adrenaline into a syringe. He looked up as he twisted the top off the second ampoule.
‘Somebody needs to tell us what’s been going on here,’ he told their silent audience. ‘It could make a difference to whether we can help Charlene or not.’
His words had an effect. One of the girls burst into tears and the other one put her arms around her.
‘Leave her alone,’ she shouted at Matt. ‘It’s not Jamie’s fault.’
Tori felt, rather than heard, Matt sigh. ‘How old is Charlene?’ he asked.
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