Page 1 of Paging Dr. Breakup
Chapter One
Deirdre Steen hurrieddown the hall, her caffeinated lifeline clutched in a lidded tumbler this chilly Monday morning. She straightened the casual black blazer layered over her sky-blue blouse. As the chief nursing officer for Yukon Valley Hospital, Deirdre didn’t need to hurry.
That said, avoidance was a powerful motivator. She’d seen the on-call schedule. Therefore, she needed to hurry.
Deirdre toyed with the hem of the blazer.
As long as she didn’t go near the ED, everything would be fine.
“Morning, Billy,” she called out to the middle-aged front desk staff member who somehow managed to hear every bit of gossip that came through the doors of Yukon Valley Hospital. The Alaska interior might have reduced connectivity compared with urban areas, but the internal communication both in the town and within the hospital flowed at light speed.
“Good morning, Deirdre,” he replied with a quick smile. “You’re really moving this morning. Off to meet someone?”
Precisely what she wasn’t doing. “Just getting my steps in early.”
The late March sun streamed through the bank of tall windows near the reception area of the hospital. The days might be longer, but the sun wasn’t yet strong enough to melt the piles of snow that had been pushed to the back of the hospital parking lot. With the gravel and asphalt surface visible in several spots, that meant mud season was almost here. Deirdre groaned to herself, already imagining the annual mess the hospital’s environmental services staff would once again tackle.
Like waking up from a cold winter’s sleep, the entire town seemed on the verge of breakup season, the time when the Yukon River was released from its icy prison and began flowing once again. Hell, Yukon Valley had an entire festival dedicated to the river turning from solid to liquid.
A nasty shudder ran through her. After her parents’ bush plane crash onto unstable ice four years ago, Deirdre refused to venture onto the frozen river, even in the safest conditions. Ice fishing on twelve inches of rock-solid ice in the dead of winter a few feet from shore? Nope.
So, the idea of celebrating the Yukon River becoming a relentless force of deadly, crushing ice floes was a definiteno thank you.
Passing the doctors’ lounge door, she blinked when a sunbeam blinded her, a split second before she crashed into a solid wall of human being.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.
Her mouth dropped open in soundless horror as a fresh coffee stain spread over a gray Patagonia vest. Droplets absorbed into seafoam green scrub sleeves. She glanced at the speckled once-white lanyard and followed it down to the employee photo. Oh, no. Of all the people.
Calvin Garrett.
Damn it.
“Whoa there.” Calvin took her upper arm in a steadying grip. Then they both froze. “Deirdre? Is it really you?”
For a solid five seconds, Deirdre’s world tilted as she stared at steel-gray eyes she never expected to see again. Calvin. Her childhood friend. Her husband’s childhood friend. The only person in Yukon Valley who she wanted to avoid, standing right in front of her. Holding her upright.
The quick furrow of his brows and a mischievous smirk took her right back to high school where she, her future husband Elijah, and Calvin had all been thicker than thieves. Those were good times. The time before Calvin left. The time before she married Elijah.
The time long before Elijah had gotten sick.
Calvin’s face had changed over the years, giving him a weathered, harder, but still handsome appearance. Nowadays, his dark, close-cut hair had sparkles of gray at the temples. His secure hold and his lean frame reminded her that some things didn’t change.
Acutely aware of Billy watching with rapt attention from the front desk, his hand mere inches away from the reception desk phone, ready to dial a friend to share this tasty interaction with the entire staff, Deirdre gave a polite laugh. “Hey, it’s great to see you, Calvin.” Crap, that came out way too corporate.
She craned her neck. His six-foot-two height hadn’t changed over the years.
“I heard you’d be helping us this spring while you were in town helping your folks. Glad to hear that your dad is doing better.” She stepped back, and his hands dropped to his sides. “Again,oof. Sorry about your… outfit.”
With a shrug, he mock-whispered, “First of all, did you know the scrubs are free in this place?” Then he grinned, transforming from a man in his late thirties to the cheeky and confident high school senior he used to be. “Second of all, you don’t have to be an administrator for my benefit, Deirdre. It sounds like you’re going to assign an AIDET patient communication module for me to complete on the spot.” He huffed. “What abouthi, Cal, how about a hug?”
Denying the urge to scan for an audience, she kept her gaze on Cal. “Ahem. I have it on good record that you already completed your training modules during onboarding. And I’d give you a hug, but you appear to have coffee all over you.” She sniffed and gestured with the empty tumbler at her outfit. “Um, I have my clean work clothes on.”
“That’s an excuse.” Not exactly a question, but not a statement.
Heat climbed her neck and cheeks. The years-long urge to sink into his embrace caught her completely off guard.
Hey, this might be a rural facility in the middle of nowhere, but Yukon Valley Hospital is still a place of business.As an administrator, she needed to maintain decorum and lead by example.
