Page 25 of The Trauma Response
“I don’t know. She still doesn’t have feeling in her left hand, but I suppose only time will tell. It doesn’t seem like she thinks she will though, not based on the message I got from Jackson before you arrived.”
Thor pushes his bulky body off the wall and assumes a firm stance. He can’t help it. The military in him is always on guard, and becoming a bodyguard was probably natural for him. “What do you mean?”
“He asked if I knew anyone offering a job. I was about to call Christian and see if she could do some work for him temporarily, but then you pulled in. I’ll call him after.”
“Nah, go ahead. I’ll go finish up with Gunner and head out. You can tell me how it went later,” Thor says.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, besides it’s like I said, Gunner didn’t come here for you.”
I roll my eyes while Thor walks off laughing. In the quiet of my bunk room, I pull up Christian’s phone number and tap call. There’s a good chance he’s not in the office, but if I leave a message he’ll get back to me soon.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Oh, you answered,” I say, reworking my plan since I had anticipated leaving a message.
“You called,” Christian teases. “So, what’s up?”
“Uh, so I know this might sound weird but I was wondering if you have any temp jobs available? Whits needs something at least to hold her over for a while. I’m not sure what will happen in the long term, but for now, you know?”
“Can’t say I have anything open for a trauma surgeon, but I’m sure I can come up with something that needs doing around here. What else is she good at?”
“It’s been a while. I’m not sure but when we were kids she was always a take-charge kind of person. You could trust her with any task you need done, especially on a deadline. She seems to thrive on deadlines, which I suppose makes sense. She’s detail-oriented. Yeah, I guess any skill one would need as a surgeon might work well in other areas.”
“Good point. Let me see what I can do. Can you have her contact my receptionist and set up an interview for next week? In the meantime, I’ll see what I can find to match her skill set.”
“It’s not putting you out is it? I don’t want you to be put in a bind over this.” I know Christian will do anything for his friends. I never want to put him in a position that takes advantage of his kindness, but Whitsreallyneeds something to keep her focused and healing. A new job, even if it’s temporary, might do that.
“Cai, it’s really not an imposition. Actually, I already have an idea that might be brilliant. Have her set up an interview and we’ll take it from there.”
I breathe a sigh of relief and my body relaxes. “I owe you one, Chris. I really do.”
“You don’t, especially if this brilliant idea of mine pans out, okay? I’d be up front with you if there was nothing I could do, but I want to give it a try.”
“Okay. Perfect, thank you so much.”
“Not a problem. Send her my details and I’ll be waiting for the interview.”
“Right. Will do. Let’s just hope she takes it well. Whits is sweet, but she does have a certain fire about her when she’s caught off guard.”
Christian chuckles. “Yeah, I’ll leave that to you to figure out, Mr. Firefighter. Talk to you later.”
“Later,” I say and end the call. I peer out the window and spy Thor and Gunner heading out of the parking lot. Gunner is all smiles, which in turn makes me grin with happiness. I guess now is as good a time as any to call Whits and give her the news and pray Jackson didn’t set me up for failure by asking me to do something he did not get permission to do. I tap her number and wait.
It almost goes to voicemail but she grabs it at the last second, puffing out an exasperated, “Hello?”
“Are you all right?” I ask.
She laughs. “Yes. Just doing a little cardio. Someone bought me a bunch of books, and I’m being a lazy person reading through them. I needed a little exercise.”
“Okay, then,” I say and buckle up for the next part. “So, I’m hoping that Jax already told you that he asked me about helping to find you a job?”
She sighs and mumbles, then says, “Yes, but listen, you do not need to feel obligated to find work for me. You have already done so much, so if you can’t then it isn’t a big deal. Jax is such an annoying pain in the—”
“Whoa, whoa there, Whits.”
“I was gonna say rear end, and you know it.”
