and the ferries on the water.
She closed her eyes and drank in the peace and quiet of a late spring morning. Then she heard the distant whirr of the helicopter and she could see the bright orange of the medical helicopter coming across the Seattle skyline.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Get a grip.
In response, she crossed her arms and bit on her bottom lip as she grounded herself to deal with facing Ryan again.
This was just about work. This was about saving lives. Children’s lives, and that was a job she took seriously. There were going to be no pleasantries. Nothing.
As the helicopter came closer, getting ready to land, she moved back to the shelter of the elevator alcove, her short blonde hair being tossed out of the neat and tidy angled bob as the wind picked up.
Dr. Teal was waiting in the alcove with a gurney.
Emily nodded to her, because it was no use talking to her over the roar of the chopper blades as the medical helicopter gently landed on the roof.
Once the helicopter had landed, the blades of the chopper began to slow and the doors of the helicopter opened.
“Come on,” Emily shouted to Dr. Teal as the engines began to power down.
They ducked and ran toward the open door. The paramedics were in action, getting ready to transfer the child to her care.
As she approached the helicopter, she caught sight of Ryan and her heart did a flip-flop again. He hadn’t changed much in the last six months. He was just as handsome as ever. He took her breath away. His light brown hair was perfectly tousled, those stunning blue eyes focused on the patient and paramedics. Ryan still had the scruff on his strong jaw, but it didn’t hide the delectable cleft in his chin.
Get a grip.
And just as she was telling herself that, his gaze went from the patient to her. His blue eyes widened in shock, but only for a moment. It was if he was surprised to see her, like he hadn’t expected her to be here, but she found that hard to believe. She looked away and moved toward the paramedic as she and Dr. Teal stepped up to take over care of the patient.
The only way she was going to survive this was to treat him like every other surgeon she dealt with, at a distance and professionally.
Which was what she should’ve done six months ago in Vegas, instead of letting down her guard and letting him sweep her off her feet.
Maybe because you needed that?
Emily shook that thought away.
“Patient is male, ten years old and sustained a spinal injury while riding an ATV. Patient suffered a break in his spine between C7 and T3. Dr. Gary has induced a state of medically induced coma and hypothermia,” the paramedic said as they slid the stretcher out of the helicopter onto the gurney.
“Hypothermia?” Emily asked.
“To preserve the spinal cord so maybe he can walk again,” Ryan said from across the stretcher as he helped load the patient onto the gurney.
Emily didn’t say anything to him.
“We’ve got it from here,” she said to the paramedic.
The paramedic nodded and handed her the chart. Emily placed it on the end of the gurney and began to wheel the patient toward the elevator. She could feel that Ryan was looking at her but she didn’t care. They had to get this patient to the ICU and stabilized. The only things she wanted to discuss with Ryan was work and signing the divorce papers.
That was it.
And now was not the time to discuss the divorce.
Dr. Teal had called the elevator and the three of them got the patient’s gurney onto the elevator while Emily pushed the code for the floor holding the ICU. As the doors shut, she could hear the roar of the helicopter engine come to life again. She wished that Ryan had got back on that helicopter.
Inducing hypothermia on an adult in a traumatic spinal injury often had a good outcome, but a pediatric patient? It was frowned upon.
What was Ryan thinking? Was he this arrogant that he believed he was God or something?
“What the heck were you thinking, inducing therapeutic hypothermia in a pediatric patient?” Emily berated. She was so angry, but it really wasn’t about his method of treatment. She wanted to scream at him for ignoring her for the last six months.
For not responding about the baby.
For hurting her. But she couldn’t say those things in front of Dr. Teal so she attacked him over his treatment choice to blow off the anger she felt in that moment of seeing him again.
Dr. Teal’s eyes widened and for one moment Emily felt bad for exploding in front of her intern, but it was only for a moment, because when she looked across the gurney at Ryan he was smiling. That charming, arrogant smile that had got her into trouble in the first place.
“It’s good to see you too, wife.”
WHY DID HE have to be so cocky?
The moment he said the word, he was sure that fire was going to come shooting out of Emily’s nostrils and he really understood the meaning of that old saying, If looks could kill, from the way she was glaring at him. But, dammit, she looked just as good as ever.
Her blonde, almost platinum-colored, hair was shorter, but it suited her and he couldn’t help but remember the way that if he kissed her just below her earlobe it made her sigh in pleasure. He’d been a fool to walk away from her.
You weren’t the only one who walked away, remember?
When he’d woken up in that Las Vegas hotel room, he had been alone and the only thing left of her had been the marriage certificate on the night stand.
He’d tried to reach out to her but she hadn’t responded, and by the time she’d reached out to him, he’d been boarding a plane heading to the Middle East.
And Emily had never reached out to him again until he’d received the divorce papers a week ago. That was the first he’d heard from her. It had been around the same time that Dr. Ruchi had asked him to consult on the conjoined twins case.
He’d figured it would be nice to hand deliver the divorce papers to her and put an end to that reckless night in Las Vegas, and also lay her ghost rest, because for the last six months she’d been all he could think about.
The fact that another woman haunted him so much scared him, because he remembered the last time that had happened.
He’d thought Morgan had loved him. She’d fallen pregnant and, without telling him, she’d terminated the pregnancy and left.
He never wanted to get involved with another
