Couldn’t he?
DON’T DIE. DON’T DIE.
Flo glanced up at the monitors as she worked on Kyle Francis, and she tried not to think about the fact that Dr. Nate King was standing on the opposite side of the bed, working with her as they tried to stabilize him. If Kyle died, he’d judge her. He seemed like the arrogant type who would put the blame on her when really it was the management team that Kyle employed who would be at fault. They were the ones who’d put a stop to her helping him right away, insisting that Dr. King be flown in.
Making her and Kyle wait.
That wouldn’t have happened if she’d been allowed to put in the left ventricular assist device when Kyle had first come in, and she was going to make sure that Freya and James Rothsberg both knew that. Especially if Kyle died.
Come on.
Right now she’d like to throttle that acting management team. Their delay might’ve cost Kyle his life.
“Come on,” she whispered under her breath as she pictured all the thousand ways she’d torture Kyle’s managers.
There was a bleep from the monitor as the sensor picked up a faint pulse. Flo gave an inward sigh of relief. Thoughts of murder and disemboweling some Hollywood yuppies dissipating for now.
“Good job, everyone!” She took off her latex gloves as the nursing team stepped in to make sure that Kyle didn’t code again. “I need this man prepped and ready for surgery. I’m on my way to get an OR prepped. I want a repeat of his labs drawn.”
“Yes, Dr. Chiu,” said Olivia.
“Make sure that I’m informed of those labs as well, Nurse,” Nate said, not even glancing in the direction of Flo’s favorite transplant nurse.
Olivia looked at Flo for confirmation and she nodded.
Flo glanced at Nate, who was scowling as he monitored Kyle’s vitals. She thought maybe she could sneak past him. She didn’t want to deal with arrogance this minute. Moments like that just brought back the vivid memories of the time she’d collapsed during band practice. When her kidney had failed her at fourteen and she had been rushed to hospital.
They were jumbled memories, but her parents liked to tell that story about how she’d hovered near death. She’d needed a donor then and Kyle needed one now. But a heart and lung transplant match was tricky. The list was long and the United Network of Organ Sharing didn’t care who Kyle was. Placement on the list was prioritized on who got on the list first.
There were other people waiting for a heart and lung transplant. Kyle was at the top of two lists, one for the heart and one for the lungs. He had to have both at the same time from the same donor.
At least the left ventricular assist device would stabilize Kyle while they waited. By the time her kidney had failed, dialysis had no longer worked for her. At least kidneys could be donated by a living donor.
You could live with one kidney.
Flo always had.
Her stomach twisted as she thought of that, because her time was so uncertain. She’d had this kidney for fifteen years now. How much longer until she was on her sickbed? On dialysis and waiting for another transplant?
Another precious gift so she could go on living?
Which was why she had to continue to live life to the fullest.
“Going somewhere, Dr. Chiu?”
Drat.
She turned around to see that Nate had followed her out of Kyle’s suite. “I’m going to schedule our surgery.”
“I’m so glad you said ‘our’ surgery.”
Flo rolled her eyes and he fell into step beside her. “Really, I can handle this surgery on my own.”
“I know you can, but what would be the fun in that?” Nate asked, his scowl changing into a teasing smile.
“Trust me. It’s fun.” She grinned back at him and he chuckled. He had a gorgeous smile, perfect white teeth against that tanned face. There was a faint scar that ran through his eyebrow and another on his chin.
Definitely a jock.
“So where can I get set up with a pager and scrubs? I wouldn’t mind an office, either.”
“You’re not asking for much, are you?” Flo remarked.
“Well, if I’m going to be here a while I would like to continue my research.”
“Research? What’re you researching or is that a secret?”
“No. It’s no secret. I’ve published several papers on regenerative tissues as well as robotic and mechanical devices to prolong organs and life while waiting for transplants.”
Flo was impressed. She’d never read any of Nate’s papers, but the premise was interesting.
“Well, if you’re looking for a place to set up shop then you would have to talk to Freya Rothsberg, but she’s gone home for the evening.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to her in the morning. I don’t have to talk to her about getting a pair of scrubs, do I?”
Flo laughed. She couldn’t help it. The jerk was charming. She pointed to the OR charge desk, where a nurse sat behind her desk and was electronically entering patients’ details onto a vast surgical board. “No, just speak to that OR nurse and she’ll point you in the right direction.”
He smiled again, one that made her melt just slightly, before he headed off to get scrubs. She admired his well-defined backside as he strode away.
Don’t think about him like that.
Flo had no time for romantic inclinations, because the one time she had and Johnny had found out that she had a chronic kidney disease because of her time in NICU, he’d run in the opposite direction, breaking her heart. He had crushed her completely. It was easier to guard her heart than have it mangled by someone you thought you loved and who loved you back. She’d bared her most intimate side to Johnny, but the moment he’d seen her scar, the game had changed. Attraction had been replaced by disgust and fear. Even pity.
So Flo had given up on the notion of love. Which was probably why she was still a virgin at thirty.
She didn’t need it. Besides, if she involved someone else in her life they would tell her that her bucket list was crazy and no one was going to dictate to her how she was going to live her life. She’d been given a gift when she’d been given that kidney and she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life like she’d spent her childhood, wrapped up in cotton wool by two well-meaning but overprotective parents.
No, she was going to live her life to the fullest, until her donor kidney failed and she’d go back on the list again. When she was waiting she’d have all these amazing memories to think
