Читать книгу Paramedic Partners - Abigail Gordon, Abigail Gordon - Страница 7

AS HE’D let himself into a soulless flat in a high-rise block in the city centre on the Friday night, Kane’s mind had been on his meeting with Selina Sanderson earlier in the day.

First there’d been the ride in the ambulance when, mother of the victim or not, he’d wanted to throttle her for trying to take over.

At that time he hadn’t known who she was, and he’d been thinking ever since what a bizarre way it had been of getting to know each other.

Then there’d been the brief visit to her home and the glimpse of what she hadn’t been wearing beneath the raincoat. She was quite something in an understated way, he thought as he filled the kettle at a well-used stainless-steel sink.

It was sad that she’d lost her husband so young. Even more sad had been the youngster crying for the dad he wasn’t ever going to see again.

As he soaped himself under the shower it occurred to him that it was the first time in days he’d thought about anyone but himself.

It had taken the frantic young mother and the injured child to make him take a good look at himself, and he wasn’t too chuffed at what he was seeing.

You need to snap out of it, he told himself. It’s over and done with. You came out of it with your reputation untarnished, so what’s the problem?

It didn’t make him feel any less angry, though, and future working partners of the opposite sex would be kept at a wary arm’s length…even if they were leggy, blonde and appealing.

He’d never had trouble with women before. They were attracted to him for some reason and he’d had some pretty interesting relationships.

Yet they’d never lasted. There’d never been anyone that he’d wanted to make a commitment to. Of all things, he didn’t like to be pursued and that was how it had been with Eve Richards.

It still made his skin crawl when he thought about what she’d done, even though it had come to light that there’d been extenuating circumstances.

He’d decided to move as far away as he could get from her, and when she’d found out Eve had complained that she’d been sexually harassed by him.

If he hadn’t been so devastated it might have been amusing, as she had been the one guilty of that. From the moment she’d been assigned to him as an ambulance technician she had been like an infatuated limpet. Touching him whenever the opportunity arose. Buying him gifts. Inviting him out to lunch. And in the end blatantly asking him to sleep with her.

If she’d been the last woman on earth he wouldn’t have wanted to do that. She was reasonably attractive in a sloppy sort of way, but definitely not his type, and in the end he had asked for her to be partnered with another woman.

The station officer had been sympathetic, but new rotas and staff shortages had meant that the move had been a long time coming and in the end Kane had decided that the only thing to do had been to remove himself from her orbit.

There was a hysterical scene when she knew he was going and the next thing was the complaint against him. It was his word against hers and he knew with a sinking feeling that a woman was often believed in that sort of situation.

But where the station officer had been slow in the first instance, he moved quickly when the complaint was made and had the authorities delve into Eve Richards’s records.

They discovered that she’d been treated for a severe mental disorder in the past and it had been overlooked when she’d applied to join the ambulance service.

It made him feel less angry with Eve but furious with those responsible for him having to endure such harassment, even more so because their patients could have been put at risk by her unstable behaviour.

For weeks he didn’t know whether he was coming or going. Whether he would be suspended. Whether the position in the north that he’d accepted would be lost if he couldn’t take it up on the date specified.

A date for a disciplinary hearing was set and it was very near to the time when he was due to move to Cheshire to start the new job. He was summoned to attend and did so, angry at the kind of limbo he found himself in.

However, the medical evidence regarding Eve’s state of mind was so conclusive that before he knew it he was cleared of the charge.

The relief was exquisite, and though those in authority tried to persuade him to stay he was adamant that he was leaving.

And now here he was. In a dingy flat which was all he could find at such short notice.

He wondered if he would have been so aware of its shortcomings if he hadn’t been to Selina’s cottage in the delightful Pennine village. Maybe he ought to move in that direction when he started house-hunting…just as long as no one was going to get any wrong ideas.

With mother and child still on the edge of his consciousness, he popped in to see the boy on Saturday night when his shift was over.

It was done on impulse. He’d gone to buy an evening paper and had ended up buying comics and sweets at the same time, and as the hospital was only a few minutes’ walk from the flat he went round there with them.

There was no slender blonde beside the bed and he didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry. Josh told him that his mum had just left after being there all day, and that he was going home next morning.

‘Good for you,’ Kane said with one of his rare smiles. ‘I’ll bet your cousins are looking forward to seeing you again.’

‘Those girls? The twins?’ Josh said with boyish scorn. ‘All they think about are their dolls.’

‘And what is it with you?’ Kane asked, hiding a smile. ‘Footballs? Like the one you went on to the road for?’

Bright blue eyes refused to meet his.

‘I know. I was stupid. I won’t do it again.’

‘I should think not. Watch what you’re doing in future.’

As he got up to go Josh surprised him by saying, ‘When will I see you again?’

He hesitated. This visit was just a one-off because the lad was in hospital and because he lived but a stone’s throw away.

‘I’m not sure,’ he told him, ruffling the boy’s fair locks. ‘It depends on what your mother has to say.’ And he went on his way, thinking that it might be quite a lot, with words like ‘presumptuous’ featuring prominently.

* * *

As Selina walked Josh across the village green to her brother’s house early on Tuesday morning she was wondering if she’d done the right thing by agreeing that he could go to school.

He was getting around all right on crutches and in every other way was back to his normal self, but her confidence had been badly shaken by the accident and on Monday morning she’d been to see the headmaster.

It had transpired that the blame lay equally between Josh and the school. On his part because he’d unfastened the gate to get the ball, and on their part because the fastener on the gate hadn’t been completely childproof. There had also only been one playground supervisor on duty instead of two.

‘We admit that we are partly to blame, Mrs Sanderson,’ the headmaster had said, ‘but Joshua knew that he wasn’t allowed to leave the school yard and…well…we both know what happened. He got carried away in the excitement of the moment and all he could think of was to retrieve the football.’

‘What about the motorist?’ she’d asked and the head had smiled.

‘He was an elderly man passing through and, luckily for Joshua, a very cautious driver.’

She’d shuddered.

‘Yes, indeed.’

And now, in half an hour’s time, she would be back at the ambulance depot, and some time after that Jill would drop Josh off at school before taking the twins to their playgroup. And with Gavin already on his way to another day in Accident and Emergency, they would all be in their appointed places.

For some reason she was apprehensive about what the coming day might hold for her. She’d last seen Kane Kavener on Friday afternoon when he’d taken her home to change.

The circumstances under which they’d met weren’t what she would have wished, but there was no putting the clock back. And they were going to be workmates, for heaven’s sake! The best way to approach the coming meeting at the ambulance station was with pleasant, polite professionalism and see how that went down.

As soon as she walked into the staffroom behind where the ambulances were garaged, Selina was surrounded by those going off duty and those coming on.

‘How’s the boy?’

‘How’s young Josh?’

Their concern brought a lump to her throat.

These were people who were seeing pain and sickness every day of their lives, often in their more dire forms, and a degree of impersonality was the only way they could cope. But when it came to one of their own—and it was Selina, who had already had one awful tragedy to cope with—they were right behind her.

She was aware that Kane was on the perimeter of the group around her, standing to one side, aloof and silent as if he didn’t belong, but when their eyes met he smiled.

It wasn’t on a par with the morning sun, more a relaxing of the face muscles, but at least it was a welcome of sorts, and with a feeling that it was going to be a very interesting day she helped herself to a mug of hot tea and waited for him to make the first move.

He didn’t have to. She’d barely put the drink to her lips when the station officer appeared and beckoned her over.

‘I believe you’ve already met Kane Kavener, who is to replace Charlie Vaughan,’ fifty-year-old Mark Guthrie said. ‘You will partner him as you did Charlie…and, Selina, make him welcome. He’s a newcomer to the unit and a stranger in our town, and you know how keen I am to have harmony amongst the staff.

‘A couple of the other guys would have liked you to be partnering them, though I can’t think why,’ he went on, with a twinkle in eyes that could be as bleak as a winter day when things went wrong. ‘But Kane is here as Charlie’s replacement and you were his partner.’

The twinkle was still there as he said, ‘It’s not always wise to let you folks have all your own way. So just to be awkward I’m putting you with the one who isn’t too keen on working with a woman, and those who are bursting to turn out with you remain as before.’

There was a troubled frown on her face.

‘I don’t want to be an object of distrust…or desire. All I want is to do the job to the best of my ability and then go home to my son.’ Her voice was flat. ‘So Kane is putting up with me on sufferance? What’s he got against womankind?’

‘Probably nothing. He came with excellent references. Was a top performer at his last place. So perhaps—’

‘He thinks that the casualties we collect won’t be the only passengers?’ she said tightly.

‘I don’t know. But if he does, you’ll have to show him how wrong he is, won’t you?’

‘Yes, won’t I?’ she agreed, and as Mark departed for the inner sanctum of his office Selina went to face the day with a man she had been prepared to like but now wasn’t so sure.

But he had taken the trouble to visit Josh in the hospital and she couldn’t let it pass without thanking him. So as he turned away from the refreshment counter where he’d been chatting with Olga, the tealady, she said, ‘It was good of you to go to see Josh on Saturday night. He’s short of male company.’

That would let him see that even if he was sexist, she wasn’t. But then he wouldn’t know that Mark had just spilled the beans about him preferring a male partner.

‘It was my pleasure,’ he said easily. ‘I’m renting a flat that’s only minutes away from the hospital.’

‘And have you settled in all right?’

He grimaced. ‘It’s not exactly from the Better Homes Guide, but because of coming down here at the last minute I took the first thing I was offered. However, in the near future I shall be looking to change my habitat, maybe to somewhere in the vicinity of your delightful village.’

Long-lashed violet eyes observed him in surprise. That might have been nice to know if it hadn’t been for the fact that he wasn’t keen to work with her.

‘I’m sure you’ll find somewhere,’ she said casually. ‘Not everyone can settle into country life.’

It was his turn to stare. So that was it, he thought. She might have to put up with him workwise, but she didn’t want her home territory invaded.

Their first call of the day came through at that moment, putting an end to the stilted conversation. Kane was already moving, with Selina right behind him.

One ambulance had already gone out while Mark Guthrie had been talking to her and now it was their turn.

As they left the canteen Kane pressed the button to activate the machinery that would raise the heavy metal exit doors, and once they’d climbed aboard they were off within seconds.

They were allowed eight minutes to arrive at the scene of the emergency and by that time would have discovered from information received on the computer in the cab what degree of urgency there was in the request for an ambulance.

The most urgent, like heart attacks or chest pains that might lead to cardiac arrest or the sudden onset of other life-threatening illnesses, along with serious traffic accidents or major catastrophes, were classed as red alerts.

Less serious-sounding accidents, inside and outside the home, were amber alerts, and anything not so urgent, yet requiring the service of am ambulance, were logged as green.

Being prewarned about the seriousness of the incident that they were approaching gave the crews the chance to prepare themselves for whatever lay ahead.

Obviously there were times when a red alert had become amber or even green by the time they got there, or vice versa, but in the main the system worked for both paramedics and patients.

The one they were speeding towards had a seriousness all of its own—a house fire on an estate on the outskirts of the city.

Fire Services were already there and the ground floor of the property was well alight according to the message received at the ambulance station.

Selina had attended fires before with Charlie, and his calm skills had helped combat the horror of what they’d found awaiting them in many instances.

But today another man was in charge, an unknown quantity, and she hoped he was going to be as efficient as his predecessor.

‘Have you been out to a fire before?’ Kane asked crisply as she sat beside him in the passenger seat, deep in thought.

‘Yes. I’ve been to a few,’ she said quietly.

‘Any fatalities?’

‘Some.’

‘Not pleasant.’

‘No. Certainly not!’ she agreed with a shudder and a quick glance at his unrevealing profile.

Was this how it was going to be? Selina wondered. Staccato sentences, fired at her like bullets. Was it the moment to tell him that she’d heard he didn’t like working with women, and if that was so, it was just too bad as up to now she wasn’t over the moon with jovial Charlie’s replacement?

But the comment had come to her secondhand and Selina believed in making her own judgements. Kane had been kind to Josh and herself on two occasions when he’d barely known them, so what it was going to be like working with him was a matter of wait and see.

There was just one casualty, she was relieved to see—a man with burns to the arm and chest. The remains of a sweater of some sort were hanging loosely around him.

He was sitting on the grass verge outside the house while firemen were round the back, tackling the kitchen, which was burning fiercely.

It appeared that he was a night worker who had decided to make himself a meal when he’d got in at seven o’clock that morning. But tired after a long shift, he’d fallen asleep with the chip pan on and had only awakened when the kitchen had been ablaze.

He’d suffered what looked like second-degree burns as he’d tried to put out the fire, but on seeing that it was too widespread he’d run outside only just in time.

‘The wife’s at work,’ he croaked as they helped him into the ambulance. ‘She’ll never forgive me for this. I’ve burnt the house down and frizzled myself, all because I fancied some chips.’

‘She might just be glad that you’re alive,’ Selina said as Kane opened the water-gel kit they carried for emergencies such as this.

It was a big moist blanket made to cover burns, with a twofold purpose. It stopped the skin from drying and tightening and kept the air away from tissue that had been exposed in the fire.

Kane had said little, leaving Selina to offer what consolation she could, but he’d displayed a sort of speedy efficiency that had immediately made her think that Charlie must have slowed down somewhat in latter years.

Here was a man who was really into the job, she thought. It was the kind of call-out that she’d taken part in on many occasions, but with Kane it felt different. He was confident and obviously very experienced, so the fact that he wasn’t into the usual chit-chat didn’t really matter.

By the time they arrived at Accident and Emergency the burns victim was having rigors and Kane eyed him in quick concern.

‘He’s in shock and becoming dehydrated,’ he said as he leapt out of the ambulance. ‘Let’s get him in there fast, Selina.’

When they’d delivered the patient to the A and E staff and were about to return to the unit, Kane said, ‘I noticed that your doctor friend isn’t on today.’

It was said casually, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a reason behind the comment, and when she said with equal nonchalance, ‘Gavin isn’t my ‘‘doctor friend’’, he’s my brother,’ he actually smiled.

‘Oh, I see. I thought it was handy if you had a boyfriend in A and E. Prompt attention and all that.’

‘I haven’t got a boyfriend anywhere,’ she said stiffly. ‘I have a child to care for, a house to run and a very demanding job, all of which leave me very little time for socialising. I lost my husband just twelve months ago, which isn’t a very long time in which to be thinking of replacing him.’

When the words were out Selina wished she’d been struck dumb before uttering them. Why was she justifying herself to this taciturn stranger? Was it because she felt that she had to make a stance? Clarify her position? Or was it because he had evoked anger in her with his tactless remark?

Kane could be excused for not knowing that Gavin was her brother, but as for the rest of it…Had he been given cause somewhere along the line to think that her sex couldn’t manage without a man?

‘I’m sorry,’ he said abruptly. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you and will bear your comments in mind.’

Selina groaned inwardly. Now he was making it look as if she was warning him off. As if she thought that every man she met saw an attractive young widow as easy prey.

Selina had no need to worry about him, Kane was thinking. He’d had enough aggro to last him a lifetime with the Eve Richards business. He was only just beginning to come up for air now that the taint had been removed.

* * *

If the first call-out they’d dealt with together had gone smoothly, it wasn’t to be so with the second. Before they’d got back to base another red alert came through on the dashboard computer.

A child was choking with a foreign object stuck in its throat at an address in a nearby avenue.

They were there within seconds, a flash of white shirts and navy trousers as they hurled themselves up the path with Kane in the lead and Selina following with the smaller of the two response bags.

The front door was already open and in a back sitting room a young mother was holding a small boy from behind. With her fists beneath his breastbone she was making frantic inward and upward thrusts to try to dislodge whatever it was that was choking him.

An agitated neighbour was hovering and when she saw them she cried, ‘Help the bairn, for God’s sake!’

He was blue in the face, eyes rolling in his head, and Selina knew that they only had seconds to free whatever it was.

‘Dean swallowed a plastic toy and it’s stuck,’ the mother screamed at them, becoming hysterical now that help had arrived.

As Kane snapped, ‘Forceps!’ Selina already had them in her hand.

‘Take him!’ he ordered with the same brevity.

Obeying, she grabbed the child out of his mother’s arms. As she did so he went limp.

‘He’s barely breathing!’ she said in low voice.

Kane nodded. ‘Lay him on the floor. As long as there’s some inhalation, however faint, I’m going to try to remove the toy before we start to resuscitate, otherwise we’ll be defeating the object. If I can’t get at it with the forceps I’ll have to do a tracheostomy.’

They were both on their knees now, Selina behind the child’s head and Kane at his side. As she held open the boy’s slack mouth, he shone a pencil torch into his throat.

‘Can you see it?’ she asked.

He shook his head.

‘No…Yes! Yes! I can! It’s bright green and oblong.’

‘Can you reach it?’ she gasped.

‘You bet I can,’ he said coolly. ‘Don’t let the boy move, Selina. I don’t want to push it further down than it is already.’

The only sound in the room was the sobbing of the distraught mother as Kane carefully lifted the obstruction out of her child’s throat. He held it aloft triumphantly, before throwing it to one side and ordering, ‘Oxygen, Selina. He’s still breathing but only just.’

* * *

An hour later they were back at the ambulance station. The little boy, with his relieved mother in attendance, had been admitted to the children’s ward at the hospital, where they were going to examine his throat for any damage from the obstruction and would monitor his breathing for twenty-four hours.

It had been Selina’s turn to be silent on the return journey and eventually he’d said, ‘So what’s the problem?’

‘There isn’t one.’

‘Oh, come on!’ he hooted. ‘Let me guess. You don’t like working with me. You prefer cheerful Charlie. You think I was too chatty with the boy’s mother on the way to hospital. Or maybe the opposite—that I’m not sympathetic enough with the public.’

‘You’re crazy,’ she said with a smile that took the sting from the words. ‘How can I know whether I like working with you? It’s only our first day together. As to Charlie, you’re faster than he was, but not as cheerful by any means.

‘And, no, I didn’t think you were too familiar with Dean’s mother. You were just trying to calm her. I haven’t had time to see how you treat the public in general, but it seems clear that you see me as a pair of hands rather than a person. Could that he because you don’t like working with someone of my sex?’

He eyed her sharply at the question.

‘And who might have told you that?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘No. I suppose not. But I’m not keen on having my likes and dislikes discussed in public.’

‘So is it true?’ she persisted.

‘Yes and no.’

‘Meaning?’

‘I once had an unpleasant experience.’

‘And have now tarred us all with the same brush?’

A smile tugged at the corners of Kane’s fascinating mouth.

‘You make me sound like a flattering combination of male chauvinist and bighead.’

Selina had to laugh.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s early days for us, isn’t it? We’ll adjust to each other’s peculiarities in time, no doubt.’

As Kane’s cool, dark gaze took in the charms of his new assistant he knew that he didn’t find her peculiar at all. Unique maybe. She was beautiful in her golden slenderness, and tranquil with it, unlike a lot of women he’d come across.

Yet life had dealt her a poor hand so far. She’d lost a young husband and it stood to reason that they’d been happy. He couldn’t imagine a man being unhappy with a woman like Selina Sanderson.

He shook his head as if to clear it. He was getting soft, rhapsodising over a woman he’d only just met. And wasn’t he supposed to be watching his step as far as her sex were concerned?

When they arrived back at the station Selina said, ‘Let’s go and grab a coffee before we’re called out again.’

‘Good idea,’ he agreed equably, and it was as if their challenging discussion on the way back had never been.

* * *

During the next few days they established a situation they both seemed reasonably happy with. Workwise Selina was aware that Kane was extremely efficient, and under his brisk command they were offering a first-class service to sick and injured alike.

From a personal point of view she was curious about him. He hadn’t said so in so many words, but from the odd comment he’d made and his attitude in general she deduced that he had no ties, which was surprising as he was of striking appearance. Not attractive or handsome in the true sense of the words, but with a sort of dark magnetism that would instinctively appeal to womankind in general.

He was the complete opposite of Dave. He’d been fair-skinned, with light brown hair and boyish good looks, and as she dwelt on the comparison Selina was aghast at the channels that her thoughts were moving along.

Since losing the man who’d been her childhood sweetheart, no other male had invaded her consciousness until now. But, she told herself with calming reason, it was only to be expected that she would be aware of Kane if they were going to be working together for twelve hours at a time.

Charlie popped in for a chat and invited them all to join him for a farewell drink at a bar close to the station, and most of those who weren’t on duty agreed to go.

Selina and Kane were due for two days off and, knowing that Jill wouldn’t mind having Josh for this one evening, she accepted the invitation.

Kane had said nothing, obviously feeling that as a new member of staff it didn’t apply to him, but Charlie said, ‘You, too, Kane, if you feel like joining us. It’s no joke moving to a new town where you don’t know anyone, is it?’

Kane smiled, giving nothing away as usual, and said easily, ‘Thanks. I’ll bear it in mind.’

Selina felt guilty after that. Charlie was right. Kane was alone in a strange town. The station officer had reminded her of that on that first day. Though she’d like to bet he wouldn’t be alone for long.

At least she could offer him some hospitality until he’d made some friends. He’d said that he had a basic sort of flat somewhere near the hospital and that was all she knew about him.

‘I’ll be going to Charlie’s farewell tomorrow night,’ she said awkwardly as they set out on a call shortly after his visit, ‘but I’ve nothing planned for the night after and I wondered if you would like to come round for a meal.’

She could feel her face warming as he observed her with surprised dark eyes.

‘Just to show you some northern hospitality,’ she said quickly, ‘and I’m sure that Josh would like to see you again.’

‘Really? Well, on the strength of that I can’t refuse. What time?’

‘Seven?’

‘Yes, that will be fine.’

* * *

Later that night, sitting quietly in the summer twilight with Josh fast asleep upstairs, Selina was regretting her rash offer. Did she want another man eating at her table…in the house that had been hers and Dave’s?

She didn’t know whether she did or not, but she was about to find out. And, she reasoned, wasn’t she making too much of it? She’d asked Kane to dine with them merely as a gesture to a stranger in their town, not as a date.

When she’d asked Jill if she would mind Josh while she went to Charlie’s party her sister-in-law had said, ‘But of course. It’s time you had a social life. You haven’t had an evening out since Dave—’

‘I know,’ Selina had agreed softly, ‘and I haven’t wanted one, but I’m fond of Charlie…and I might as well tell you I’ll be socialising the night after, too, but here on my own patch.’

Jill’s eyes had sparkled.

‘Tell me more!’

‘I’ve invited my new partner round for a meal. He doesn’t know anyone in these parts and I thought I should show him some hospitality.’

‘Well! How old is he? What’s he like? Is he free?’

She had to laugh.

‘Hold on! He’s thirty-something. Darkly brooding. And I don’t know whether he’s free or not. That doesn’t come into it. I’m merely being hospitable…nothing else.’

Jill had given her a quick hug.

‘Yes, I know, my dearest one, but Gavin and I don’t want you to be alone for ever. Dave would want you to—’

Selina put a gentle finger on her lips.

‘I know what you’re saying, but he would be a hard act to follow…and then there’s Josh.’

‘What about him?’

‘He has to have a say in those sort of things.’