booming male voice she recognized as Brody’s professional wrestler voice yelled, “Quiet.”
The room went silent.
She bent and put her ear close to the man’s mouth.
“Allergic.” He wheezed. “Nuts. Shellfish.”
She looked at Angie. “Call an ambulance.” Angie jumped to her feet and ran off.
Emma turned her attention back to her patient. “Do you have an EpiPen with you?” She sent up a prayer that he did because they were in the middle of nowhere and he’d likely die from anaphylaxis before an ambulance could reach him.
Thank goodness he nodded. “My...car. Center...console.”
“Keys,” Emma said.
He fumbled ineffectively to reach into his pocket.
Emma moved his hands out of the way and dug into the front pocket of his dress pants. They didn’t have time to waste. “Who’s his date?” she asked, looking up at the people surrounding her.
A young brunette who looked in shock raised a hand.
“Do you know where his car is parked?” Or had she insisted on separate cars like Emma had?
Eyes wide and tear-filled, the woman nodded.
“Come on.” Brody grabbed the keys, took the woman by the arm and pulled her out toward the parking lot.
The seconds passed like hours while Emma waited. The man’s breathing grew more labored, his wheezing more pronounced. His pulse increased, each beat pounding beneath her fingertips. Emma did all she could, loosening his tie, unbuttoning his shirt to reduce any exterior restrictions to his airway and in preparation to administer CPR if his condition worsened. She reassured him, did her best to keep him calm and watched helplessly as his lips turned an alarming shade of blue.
Finally Brody crashed back into the room—did the man do anything quietly?—and thrust two EpiPens at her.
Then he set to work herding the gawkers outside.
Out of habit, Emma checked the packaging for signs of tampering and an expiration date. Not that it mattered because she would inject at least one regardless. Then she popped off the safety cap, flattened the material at the man’s outer thigh and administered the premeasured dose of medication right through his pants. Afterward she checked to make sure the needle had dropped and the full dosage had injected before massaging the insertion site.
The epinephrine went to work immediately. As his breathing eased and his color improved the man introduced himself as Neil. Emma stayed with him, which suited her just fine since she had no desire to have any interaction with Brody the Birthday Ruiner.
Fortunately for Neil, unfortunately for Emma, the ambulance arrived much faster than she’d anticipated. She gave her report to the EMTs, found her purse and hoped to slip away unnoticed.
But it seemed remnants of bad-luck bomb particulate lingered on her person.
Just outside the door, Nick snuck up beside her, linking his arm through hers and falling into step as she walked. “Soooo. Not a real physician or a real fiancé, after all.”
“I told you tonight’s a role-play date,” Emma lied, deciding to continue the charade rather than own up to her misinformation. “Tonight he’s the doctor and I’m his nurse.” She extricated herself from Nick’s grip and, as politely as she could, pushed him away.
She noticed Brody over by the privacy fence at the center of a swarm of his adoring fans. Of which she was not one—even if he was nauseatingly attractive and great with the kids on her floor.
“But you really are a nurse,” Nick pointed out.
“Well, yes.” She headed for the parking lot. “My role wasn’t much of a stretch.”
Nick followed her. “You know you’re still welcome to hang with me and Sugar. Brody, too.” He may have looked the part of laid-back man issuing a casual invitation, but his voice came out way too eager.
Would this night never end? “Thank you so much for the very tempting offer. But I really have to be going. Emergency at home,” she lied. “I’m not sure how Brody plans to spend the rest of his night. Maybe he’d be interested.” Based on all she’d read about him in online news articles, probably he’d be interested, especially once he got a look at Sugar.
“Hot diggity!” Nick said and veered off, probably to hunt down Sugar and give her the news.
The darn gravel hindered Emma’s hasty departure. Sadie had suggested she wear comfortable shoes. But chubby girls needed to elongate for optimum presentation, so she’d chosen a nice pair of three-inch wedge-heeled sandals for the evening. They were comfortable, usually, but, as it turned out, not ideal for travel over gravel.
“It was nice meeting you,” she yelled after Nick. Then she maneuvered the rest of the way to her SUV without looking back.
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