hurried into the meeting room and greeted the crew, hoping her expression was relaxed and professional. Half the group was already seated at the table, picking up and examining the medical items in front of them, while the rest were still standing and chatting.
Her hyperawareness of Zeke’s tall form at the other end of the table was a distraction, but the interest the crew had in learning about the first-aid techniques made it easier to move her attention to teaching. Everyone there knew there might be times they were away from the station in the field and would need to know how to do basic emergency treatment, or an occasion when Jordan was in the field herself and someone would have to take over here at the Fletcher during an emergency. The two hours went by quickly, and the whole thing turned out to be fun, to Jordan’s surprise.
A big part of what made it fun? Ezekiel Edwards. His joking had everyone laughing at the same time they were learning. The man was not only knowledgeable, he seemed to have that perfect balance of knowing how to teach while keeping everyone engaged.
Just like he’d been there when she’d needed her scalp repaired, he’d been here for this, too. A man you could count on whenever you needed to. Having him as a partner for this training made it much less stressful and a lot more enjoyable, and the next important step was to convince her body and not just her brain that they needed to keep it strictly professional.
“Last is stitching a wound,” Jordan said to the group, holding up a needle and suture. “It’s really just like sewing, except you need to stop the bleeding the way we’ve already discussed, then clean the wound as best you can before you close it.”
“Remember this is a field technique, though, as there might be a better option if someone is injured here at the station,” Zeke said, seated between two people who were riveted by his every word. “Either Dr. Flynn or I will have derma glue on hand, which often can be used in place of stitching for smaller wounds. Especially scalp injuries, should your head make contact with a wall, or something.”
He sent her that teasing smile of his, and the secret little connection between the two of them about what had happened the first night they’d met made her belly feel all fluttery. Their eyes met, and she just couldn’t help but smile back, everyone else in the room seeming to fade into the background except for him.
She drew a breath and managed to turn away and focus on the crew. Ezekiel Edwards might be beyond appealing, but he was not irresistible. She could dive with him, and work with him, and still keep her heart firmly to herself. Work colleagues and simple friendship would be the goal.
The six-wheel van lumbered across the ice shelf, and Zeke hoped like hell that the dive would go smoothly without any kind of hitch. Having only two divers and one tender wasn’t the norm down here, but he’d done it before. So why did he feel this niggle of worry?
The answer was obvious. He wanted today’s dive to be a special experience for Jordan.
He glanced across the seat at her and wondered if the hum between the two of them as they drove was palpable even to Bob, who sat in the back seat. Then Zeke wondered if maybe it was all one-sided and he was imagining the connection between them. A connection, if it was real, that he shouldn’t encourage, anyway.
“I can’t believe how incredible it is out here,” Jordan said, turning to look at him. The awe on her face made him smile, though he’d known all along she was the kind of person who would appreciate this crazy southern world of intense blue sky; barren, snow-covered mountains and the slow ice melt over beautiful blue-green waters as much as he did.
“It is incredible. The way it changes from day to day, even hour to hour sometimes, is like nothing you’ve seen before.” He worked to keep his voice even and not warm and intimate, the way he couldn’t seem to help feeling toward her ever since they’d packed up in the hangar earlier. Since yesterday, working together in the clinic. Since the moment they’d met. “Wait until the hours-long sunsets. Crazy storms. And, if you’re lucky, the aurora australis—though that might not happen during your trip here. Once it’s twenty-four-hour daylight, in another week or so, it’ll be too late, and I don’t know how much solar activity there’s been lately to make them visible.”
“I so hope I get to see it. But even if that doesn’t happen, just being here is so much more amazing than I ever dreamed.”
He took in her shining, excited eyes and wide smile as she scanned the expanse of white in the clear air, the iceberg chunks floating far out in the water, the Adélie penguins waddling along in groups of over a hundred, and hoped she’d be just as pleased once they were actually diving.
“Was it you who placed all these flags along where we’re driving?” she asked. “I assume they mark the route?”
“Yeah,” Bob chimed in from the back seat. “Zeke and I spent a day getting the markers placed before he and a few burly engineer types came back to cut the dive holes. A couple trips ago, I learned how important it is, believe me.”
“What happened?”
“We were at a small station with a group that got the holes placed, but didn’t post flags. A nasty storm blew up and we couldn’t see a thing. Barely made it back. I thought for sure we were goners, our bodies about to be buried under the snow before being eaten by a leopard seal.”
“Bob is a little melodramatic, as you can tell. I always get the flags in first, so stop trying to scare her.” Zeke sent a frown back to Bob, not wanting him to worry Jordan. It was true that getting lost in a blizzard was no joke, and preparation was critical.
Also true that no matter where you were, Antarctica or anywhere else, if you didn’t plan for the worst-case scenario it could result in a tragedy you would never forget.
Zeke’s chest tightened, and he battled back the familiar and unwelcome anxiety that would come from nowhere and that was beginning to well in his chest. Slow, calming breaths, in and out, usually pushed it away now, and he breathed and focused on the white road in front of him.
“How much farther to the dive hole?”
He turned to look at her, and seeing her beautiful face smiling and calm managed to help him relax, too. “See that speck of red in the distance? That’s a tent set on top of the closest hole we cut. As we get deeper into the summer we can usually do without the tent and leave it open. This early in the season, though, it helps protect us from cold wind and snow as we’re getting in and out of the water.”
“I admit it’s amazing to me that you dive here at all.”
“Are you feeling nervous about it?” He reached for her hand, wanting to show he was there for her. “You don’t have to go in. With both you and Bob as tenders, I’d be fine, especially if I stay fairly close to the hole.”
“No, I want to experience it. Test the earplugs. But I’ve heard people feel claustrophobic under the ice sometimes. A little worried about that, to be honest.”
“I don’t want you to worry.” He tightened his hold on her hand, and when she twined her fingers with his, his chest felt that strange expansion thing again. Hopefully, her holding on to him meant that she trusted him. “It’s not that common with experienced divers, which you are. But if it happens to you, just like in any other dive situation, it’s important not to panic. We’ll attach a rope to your weight belt, so if you get weirded out, you know you can always follow it back up.”
“I
