was great, but had gotten too clingy too fast and he’d started feeling claustrophobic in their relationship by the end of the first month. At the end of the second, he’d been done. Too bad Debbie hadn’t been.
“How is Racine Mathers tonight?” he asked to change the subject.
Apparently, the fragile elderly woman had arrived by ambulance in hypercapnic respiratory failure earlier that day. Yet again. She’d been admitted to the medical floor, which neither Gabe nor Kami had anything to do with, but he knew Kami would have checked on the woman prior to clocking in for her shift. She cared about people and that big heart was one of the things he liked most about the perky little blonde who’d quickly become one of his closest friends.
At the mention of their patient, her green eyes filled with concern. “Her arterial blood gases are still jacked up. Her CO2 level remains in the upper fifties.”
“I was hoping once they got her on BiPAP her numbers would improve.” He logged in to the computer, began scanning messages in his inbox.
“That makes two of us, but apparently she hasn’t wanted to keep the mask on and the day-shift nurse caught her with it off several times.”
He shook his head. “Racine knows better than that.”
Kami nodded.
The woman did. This wasn’t her first respiratory failure rodeo. Then again, Gabe suspected the elderly woman was tiring of her inability to breathe and the medical community’s failure to do much more than Band-Aid her back together until the next episode.
“I’m going to swing by and see her. If I’m needed before I get back, page me.”
She arched a brow. “You think I wouldn’t?”
Gabe grinned. No, he never doubted that his favorite nurse would do the right thing and get him where he needed to be when he needed to be there. Kami was an excellent nurse. There was no one he’d rather spend his shift working with. Fortunately, their schedules were on the same rotation and he got to spend several nights a week in the emergency department with her.
Whether it was busy, slammed, or on the rare occasion slow, he was never bored. Not with Kami around to keep him entertained with her quick wit and sassy mouth.
Which was yet another reason she should be the one to rescue him from Debbie. Not only would Kami not get the wrong idea, but Gabe would truly enjoy their “date.” Not that they’d ever gone anywhere just the two of them, but when the work gang gathered, he gravitated toward Kami and they almost always ended up paired off.
There was just something about her that made him feel good on the inside.
She needed to buy his auction package and he intended to make sure she did.
* * *
“That is the most exciting thing I’ve heard in weeks.”
While dropping in a urinalysis order for bay one, Kami curled her nose at the woman who’d been her best friend since they’d bonded during nursing school. “You would say that.”
Mindy gave her a duh look. “The man is gorgeous and I saw that once-over you gave him. I think you should go for it.”
Kami shook her head. “You misunderstood. That once-over was a joke and Gabe doesn’t want me to buy his date so we can go on a real date. He wants me to save him from having to go on a date with someone else. Either way, no, thank you.”
Mindy leaned against the desk. “I’m just saying, the most eligible bachelor in the hospital asked you to buy him at the fund-raiser. I think you should see that as a sign and go for it.”
Go for it? Her friend had lost her mind.
“A sign of what?”
Mindy waggled her brows. “Your good fortune. Do you know how many women would kill for Gorgeous Gabe to ask them to buy his date package?”
Kami made a bleh motion with her tongue. “They can have him. He’s too stuck on himself for my taste.”
Mindy didn’t look convinced. “That’s not how I see him.”
Kami didn’t, either. Not really. Gabe was gorgeous, but he didn’t seem to get caught up in his looks other than that he took care of himself and worked out regularly. Nothing wrong with trying to stay healthy.
Gabe was the picture of good health.
Great health.
Health at its finest, even.
Yeah, yeah. The man was easy on the eyes. No big deal.
“He’s got a big heart and you know it,” Mindy continued, oblivious to Kami’s wayward thoughts—thank goodness. The last thing she needed was Mindy pushing her toward doing something she knew better than to do. She might be immune, but you didn’t rub your face in germs to tempt fate, either.
“He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He’s the first to jump in and help when someone needs something. I’ve never known him to pull the doctor card.” Mindy gave a pointed look. “I’d be hard-pressed to name someone, male or female, who didn’t like him.”
“Since you’re a walking, talking advertisement of his virtues, you bid on him,” Kami suggested and wondered at the slight twinge in her belly at the thought of her friend buying Gabe’s date.
Her two friends getting together would be a good thing, right? Well, except that Gabe would eventually break Mindy’s heart and then Kami would have to bust his chops for hurting her bestie. That was what the issue was. She didn’t want to have to dislike him for breaking Mindy’s heart.
But Mindy’s eyes lit at Kami’s suggestion and a smile slid onto her face. “I might do that.”
Kami’s brow shot up. Her mouth opened, but she didn’t comment as Gabe came strolling back into the emergency department.
“What have I missed?”
“Not much. Been a slow one so far,” Mindy told him, all smiles and looks of all sorts of possibilities.
“Bite your tongue,” Kami and Gabe said at the same time.
“Listen at you two,” Mindy said, giving Kami a mischievous glance that said maybe her friend hadn’t really veered from her original mission after all. “So in sync.”
“Not wanting you to jinx our evening is common sense. Nothing in sync about that,” Kami corrected, hoping her friend caught her warning tone. “Now, Dr. Nelson.” She turned her attention to Gabe, ignoring his curious looks between her and Mindy. “Bay one is a urinary tract infection. Onset earlier today. Her urinalysis results are in her chart. Bay two is a fever and sore throat. I’ve swabbed for strep, but the results are pending. Both are pleasant, stable, and accompanied by their significant other. You want me to go with you while you examine them?”
Bay one was given an antibiotic, a bladder antispasmodic, a handout on the preventions of UTIs, and was sent on her way. The woman in bay two, however, looked worse than she had a few minutes before when Kami had last checked.
