She experienced a stab of something suspiciously like rejection, but that only lasted for a second before panic set in.
Zach was here. And Riley was in the next room.
Her heart beat frantically as she considered her options, not that she had any. She could hardly bolt out of the room to go get Riley and then run away and hope Zach didn’t see them.
She didn’t know when—or even if—she was going to tell Zach he had a son; but definitely not this soon. Not in these circumstances. She could only hope Riley was too caught up in setting up the video system to bother checking out what was happening in the exam room.
Mindfully, and with all the willpower she possessed, she calmed her nerves and turned her attention to her patient, where it belonged.
Zach’s introduction of Spence had been a little off-script for what one would expect in a big hospital. But this was Serendipity, which was an extremely close-knit community. Everyone literally did know everyone. She’d gone to school with Spence, although he’d been several grades above her.
“He has second-degree burns on his left hand and forearm,” Zach continued crisply as he hung the IV bag on a hook on the wall and then helped his partner transfer Spence to the examining table. “His vitals are stable and we gave him morphine for the pain. Under normal circumstances we would have taken him to the nearest hospital, but I thought we should get his wound looked at as soon as possible, and now that you’re here in town…well, I hope you don’t mind that we brought him here to the clinic.”
“No, no, I don’t mind at all. I’m happy you thought of me.” Actually, she had all kinds of conflicting emotions about the idea that Zach had thought of her, but again she willfully tucked her feelings into the back of her heart to scrutinize later.
“My father went and called 9-1-1 after I asked him not to,” Spence explained in a raspy tone. “I really didn’t need an ambulance.”
“Sure you did,” Ben disagreed affably. He and Zach supported Spence as he transferred himself from the gurney to the examining table.
“You’re just too stubborn to admit it,” Zach added with a chuckle.
Even though Delia didn’t say so aloud, she agreed with Zach and Ben. She was glad old Frank Spencer had responded with an emergency call. Spence might not have thought he needed attention, but burns were nothing to play with.
“You’ve got this?” Ben asked Zach.
Zach’s lips flattened into a straight line, but after a moment he gave Ben a clipped nod.
Ben looked from Zach to Delia and back, his expression unconvinced. Everyone in this town knew Zach and Delia’s history together. Ben was no doubt wondering if leaving them alone together was the best idea.
“We’re fine,” Delia assured him.
Ben tapped his clipboard and nodded, and then turned for the door. “I’ll get to the paperwork, then.”
“So what have we got here?” she asked her patient. Wrapping a blood pressure cuff around Spence’s right arm, she leaned over the grimacing man and carefully drew back the blanket that covered his left hand.
The area across the back of his hand and halfway up his forearm was red and blistered, but Delia was relieved to find it looked no more serious than a second-degree burn, something she could treat here at the clinic.
Spence grimaced and Zach moved to his side, laying his large, reassuring hand on Spence’s shoulder.
“Hang in there, buddy,” he murmured gently.
Delia felt a wave of emotion reach her throat at the kindness in his words and actions. She was completely unprepared for the sizzling epiphany that reached both her heart and her head at the same time.
Zach wasn’t the boy she had left behind.
He was a man now, and not just in the way his lanky teenaged frame had filled out with solid muscle, either. For whatever reason, he volunteered his time and capability in a career dedicated to helping others. It wasn’t his usual self-centered M.O., or at least it hadn’t been, and she realized it would take her awhile to change her perspective. She’d grown up—she was far different from the teenager she’d been when she left.
Perhaps Zach was different, too—maturing into the man standing with her now.
She hoped her observations about Zach had at least some basis in truth. Riley needed a good, stable influence from his father, not the hot-cold, on-again/off-again relationship she feared might happen.
Had Zach changed—or was it just that paramedic work provided the adrenaline that he so craved? It was still too soon to tell.
“How did this happen, Spence?” she queried gently as she unwrapped the wound.
“I was boiling water,” Spence explained, wincing. “The twins’ favorite meal is spaghetti.”
Delia smiled and arched her brows as she closely examined the red and blistering skin. Keeping a patient talking kept his mind off the pain. “I didn’t know you had children. Boys? Girls?”
“Boys. Matty and Jamey. They just turned three and they’re a real handful, let me tell you.”
Delia thought of Riley at age three and had to agree, if only to herself. Obviously she couldn’t say what she was thinking out loud.
“Really cute little buggers,” Zach confirmed with a grin, though he didn’t look at Delia when he spoke. “They’re both on the junior T-ball team I coach every spring. They’ll be ready to move up into the major leagues pretty soon.”
Zach was a coach?
For a kid’s team?
She was equally relieved and flustered by the new information, but she’d learned a long time ago the necessity of compartmentalizing her thoughts and feelings when she was dealing with a patient. Right now her mind had to be on her work.
“So your burn is from the water?” she asked, turning Spence’s hand over to examine the palm.
“Yeah, that and the steaming pot. One of the twins screamed and I lost my focus—just for a moment. When I turned back to the stove, the water was overflowing. I scrambled to take the pot off the burner bare-handed, without even thinking about what I was doing.”
“Looks like you scalded yourself pretty good, buddy,” Zach said in a gentle, teasing voice.
Spence grimaced. “Pretty stupid, huh?”
“No, of course not,” Delia replied. “Accidents happen. Don’t worry. I can fix you up.”
Just for a moment, her gaze met Zach’s. His eyes were surprisingly full of compassion.
“Happens to the best of us, big guy.” Zach winked at his neighbor. “I’ve had my fair share of accidents myself.”
That was an understatement if Delia had ever heard one.
