of his neck, he headed back to his office to catch up on his e-mails until the hour was late enough that he could call his sister.
Forty-five minutes later, he picked up the phone. “Jess? I managed to get off work tonight, so I can go to the father-daughter dance with Lizzy.”
“Oh, Rick, that’s wonderful. Lizzy will be ecstatic.” Jessica hesitated, then added, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I know this won’t be easy for you.”
“I’m fine.” He knew he sounded gruff, but couldn’t help it. Two years and the pain of his loss hadn’t gone away. Although sometimes he could go for days without thinking about it. He cleared his throat and tried to soften his tone. “Lizzy deserves to have someone escort her to the father-daughter dance. I’m honored to take her.”
“She’s going to be so thrilled. Thanks for rearranging your schedule, Rick.”
“No problem. Tell Lizzy I’ll pick her up at six.” He hung up the phone and stared blindly at his computer. He wasn’t so sure Naomi would appreciate why he’d asked her to cover his shift, but he couldn’t regret taking up her offer. Lizzy had just turned ten and was feeling left out of the “in” crowd at school. But she was a great kid, and it certainly wasn’t her fault she hadn’t seen her father for years. The jerk had taken off shortly after Lizzy’s birth.
Jess had done a good job of raising Lizzy alone, but he also knew his sister had struggled. He’d helped Jess financially, but it hadn’t been until recently, after he’d lost his own wife and child, that he’d begun looking for a position to bring him closer to home.
A new start was just what he needed to help get away from the memories. Plus, he figured he should help Jess raise Lizzy, as they didn’t have any other family left. And he wasn’t interested in going down that path again. Having and losing one family in a lifetime was bad enough.
Rick left work early so he could catch a couple of hours’ sleep, just in case he had a busy call night. He didn’t sleep well, but managed to get a little rest. He showered and dressed, then left to pick up his niece.
The father-daughter dance wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d expected. The gym of the elementary school had been decorated with streams of crepe paper and dozens of balloons. The disc jockey played songs, took requests and held a dance contest. He and Lizzy participated but his lack of coordination hindered their chance of winning. He managed to participate in the chicken dance, though, and if he felt like an idiot, flapping his arms like wings, he considered it lucky that no one he knew was around to see him.
For a few songs the DJ played some sort of rap music that hurt his ears. Thankfully, the girls preferred dancing with each other, leaving the dads and surrogate dads to stand around, awkwardly talking about sports and wishing for something stronger than punch to drink. He caught himself glancing at his watch and wondering how Naomi was doing. For her sake, he hoped the trauma calls weren’t too bad.
Finally, the DJ announced the last song, and he danced once again with Lizzy. Her head barely reached his chest, but they managed to get through the whole number without him stepping on her toes.
“Thanks, Uncle Rick,” she murmured, gazing up at him with wide, adoring brown eyes. “I’m so glad you could come with me. I was so sad to think I might have to sit at home alone tonight.”
The thought of Lizzy feeling sad and lonely made him doubly glad Naomi had helped him out. “Hey, I’m the lucky guy who got to dance with the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“Oh, brother.” She rolled her eyes, but blushed and giggled. “You always say that.”
“Because it’s true.” He took her hand as they headed toward the door, and glanced down at her. “I love you, Lizzy.”
“I love you too, Uncle Rick.” She flashed him a dazzling smile, and just for a moment he imagined that his daughter Sarah would have looked at him in the same way, six years from now.
A sharp stab of pain caught him off guard and he dropped his car keys. Fumbling, he picked them up and then held the door for Lizzy so they could walk outside. A thick fog hung over the school parking lot, so he used the key fob to help locate their car.
Pulling himself out from under a cloak of painful memories, he helped Lizzy inside and then walked around to the driver’s side. He started the car and carefully drove out of the parking lot, moving slowly because of the dense fog. Luckily his sister’s house wasn’t far. He was headed in that direction when his pager went off.
With a frown, he pulled the car over and read the text message from Naomi. Multi-vehicle crash with five peds victims expected, one DOA at the scene. I’m going to need help.
“Is there a problem?” Lizzy asked, her freckle-dusted nose wrinkling in a frown.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to go back to the hospital tonight.” Still driving slowly, keeping a careful eye out for other cars, he pulled into his sister’s driveway and left the car running while he took the time to see Lizzy safely inside the house. “See you later, kiddo.” He gave her a quick hug. “Tell your mom I’ll call her tomorrow.”
“I will. Bye. Thanks again.” Lizzy waved as he dashed to his car and backed out of the driveway.
Adrenaline surged as he drove toward Children’s Memorial, the short ride taking twice as long as usual. He didn’t doubt that the heavy fog had contributed to the MVA. Five peds victims was almost unheard of when the average was a couple calls a night. He supposed he should be thankful that the crash had taken place after Lizzy’s father-daughter dance had ended.
Fifteen minutes later he strode into the E.D. and found Naomi up to her pretty neck in pediatric trauma victims. There were three youngsters in the trauma room, ages ranging from eight to fourteen, each looking worse than the next.
A wave of guilt for asking Naomi to switch shifts with him hit him.
“Where do you want me to start?” he asked. Naomi was still the surgeon in charge, and he didn’t want to automatically take control of the situation she’d already begun to handle.
“Take a look at the youngest over there.” She pointed to the victims closest to the door. “I think he needs to go to the O.R. We’re going to have to split up, one operating on patients while the other continues triaging patients down here.”
He glanced around, noting the level of activity. “Split up? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“We don’t have a choice.” Naomi’s gaze was grim. “These are only the first three victims—there are still two more on the way. We need to clear a few of these patients out of here before the next ones arrive.”
CHAPTER TWO
NAOMI wished she could have avoided bothering Rick, but there were too many victims for one trauma surgeon to handle. This many pediatric trauma patients was unusual, but apparently there was a special kids’ night being held at the baseball park and lots of kids had been in the cars that had crashed. As she was already triaging, she decided to send Rick to surgery.
“You’d better take this patient to the O.R.” She gestured to the youngest patient, Jimmy Dupont, an eight-year-old with a tense abdomen. “I’m pretty sure he has a ruptured spleen, he’s lost too much blood. If you can take him off my hands, I’ll manage the rest of the triage down here.”
