Jeremiah by Kris Michaels
Chapter 8
Eden wiped down the exam room, cleaning up after her last patient. Ryan Conklin, the ranch foreman for the Hollister Ranch, had sliced his palm open. It was deeper than they felt they could patch up at the ranch, so they’d called, and she’d waited on them. She also updated his tetanus shot, which was a major victory in her book.
The front door jangled, and Jeremiah walked in. “Did I get the time wrong?” A teasing smile lingered on his face.
“No, I’m late. A rancher versus rusty metal incident.”
“Nothing major, I hope?”
“Nope. Normal stuff. Give me a minute and I’ll head up and grab us a couple of beers.” She gathered trash from the stainless steel table.
“How about you finish that, I’ll pop up and grab those beers and meet you out on the bench?”
A sense of relief swept over her. She was very particular about cleaning and was thankful he wasn’t rushing her. “That sounds perfect.” She stepped on the pedal of the trashcan to lift the lid and threw away the wastepaper. By the time she finished, she could hear his boots on the stairs leading to her apartment.
After she washed her hands, Eden turned off the light and stepped outside. It was a beautiful spring evening. She turned on the bug light at the other end of the porch because the mosquitos at sunrise and sunset in South Dakota were big enough to be called vamp-quitos and wear a black cape. They’d drain your blood in a heartbeat. She sat down beside him. Once again, she acknowledged just how big this man was. He handed her a beer, and she took it and took a long drink.
“Bad day?” He leaned back on the bench, turning toward her, stretching his arm along the back of the seat.
She angled toward him and shrugged. “Busy, but that isn’t a bad thing. Keeping my visits up convinces the county to keep paying me.”
“Is it possible that they’d stop?” His brows drew together.
“Always. Times are tough, but I see my regulars. Older patients, parents of my ranchers and of the people in town that are Medicare and Medicaid recipients. It brings in revenue and I’ve survived the chopping block so far.” She wouldn’t stress it. She’d be employable no matter where she went—if she went. The pace and people of Hollister fit her needs now. She sighed and leaned back; her shoulders brushed Remi’s arm that stretched behind her.
“What speaks to you about this town?” He stared down the street, his eyes distant.
She sighed and thought for several minutes before she answered. “There’s no pretense here, or should I say very little. This little town provides for so many even though it’s a small speck built on a road junction. That way leads to Buffalo and that direction to Newell. Bottom line is it serves a purpose. There isn’t any excess here. Just the essentials. It’s like the world stripped this little town down to its best parts.”
“I thought that, too. It’s real.”
The feel of Jeremiah’s fingers playing with the ends of her hair should have coaxed her to move, but instead, she leaned on his arm. The sun was setting, and the small community had matriculated to their homes, the storefronts and clinics darkened for another night. There were massive cumulus clouds on the horizon blocking most of the grandeur of the sunset, but as they moved, rays of orange, red, and gold spilled to the ground, giving the horizon an unworldly feel. “It’s beautiful.” She stared at the sunset and sighed.
He made a noise of agreement. She took another sip of her beer. “Selma, Alabama is a small town. Compared to Hollister it is a metropolis, but I miss nothing.”
“Nothing?” He took a swig from his beer and sent her a glance before his eyes strayed back to the setting sun.
She snapped her fingers. “Sushi.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Not much call for sushi restaurants up here?”
“Remarkably, no. I’m not sure Hollister could sustain two restaurants, and Gen has already won them over with her delicious southern offerings.”
“She’s always loved to cook,” he agreed, still staring at the sunset.
She watched as the last light of the day faded. “Were you able to get all the lumber you needed?”
He snorted and shook his head. The long, dark brown strands settled but he pushed them back off his brow. “I had to special order the risers from a lumber yard in Rapid City. “I’ll work on the landings tomorrow and go down to pick them up the next day. The wood under the landings is solid so I won’t be replacing the framework, just the boards on the top that were exposed to the elements.”
“Sounds like two extensive projects.” She closed her eyes.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Gen has started a to-do list for me. Guess I’ll be sticking around for a while.”
“Yeah? What’s on her list?” She opened her eyes and met his steady stare.
“A root cellar to use to store vegetables but also to use as a tornado shelter.”
She shivered a bit. The tornadoes she’d seen since she’d moved here were huge and unforgiving. “Well, get that done and make it big enough for me, too.”
“What? You don’t want one of your own?”
“Nope, I’m good at mooching butt space. Besides, I have nothing to put in a root cellar. I shop over at the market for things like eggs, milk, and bread. I use this huge chest freezer that someone put in a small room beside the office in the clinic for meats and anything that I can freeze. Occasionally, I tag along with Gen and we spend the day in Rapid, get our hair done, eat out, and see a movie. Sometimes Allison comes with us.”
“Girls weekend out?” His voice softened.
“Yes and no. The necessity of living far away from anything major. Did you know the town has a Facebook page?”
He squinted at her. “I’m not on social media much, so no.”
“Well, we post there when we head south to make a run. If someone needs something we can pick it up for them.” She shrugged. It wasn’t an inconvenience most of the time.
“Quite the little community.” His fingers still played with her hair when she heard a truck turn from the highway. It wasn’t unusual for people to come into town on a Friday or Saturday night to hit up Declan’s bar, but everyone knew the bar was closed by now. She recognized the truck. “Oh, crap, that’s not good.” She stood and handed Jeremiah her bottle.
“What?”
“That’s Keelee Marshall’s SUV.” She turned and opened her door, flicking on the light as the vehicle skidded to a stop in front of the clinic.
A tall, willowy blonde with a ponytail that danced down to the small of her back jumped from the driver’s side door. “Eden, Danny got thrown and Dad thinks it dislocated his shoulder.”
“Bring him in.” Eden held the door open. Keelee jogged around to the other side of the SUV and opened the door. A big, bulky kid groaned as the tall blonde helped him up the step to the wood porch of the building.
Jeremiah stood and placed the bottles on the ground. “If you’re going to relocate it, you’ll need someone to hold him and someone to do the procedure.”
The woman Eden had called Keelee flicked a distracted glance at him and then did a double-take.
“Keelee, this is Doctor Jeremiah Wheeler, Gen’s brother.”
The woman nodded and helped the young man into the clinic and then the exam room.
“Okay, Danny, tell me what happened.”
“He got on Twister even after I told him not to do it.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?” Danny hissed as he sat on the exam table.
“Never.” Keelee retorted, but there was no heat in the comment. “The horse turned into a corkscrew when a dog dashed out of the barn. Danny flew about fifteen feet and landed on his elbow.”
Eden grabbed the scissors. “Danny, I’m afraid that shirt is toast.” She didn’t give him any further warning before she cut off the material. “The shoulder and upper arm are swollen. Any numbness or weakness in your fingers?” He nodded. “Hand, arm, neck?”
“No just the fingers and damn it…” The muscles in his shoulder spasmed and he groaned. When the spasm passed, he panted and apologized for his language.
“Nothing I haven’t heard before, but thank you. Okay, I’m going to do an x-ray and make sure there isn’t any other damage, but from what I’m seeing and what you’re describing it looks like a dislocation.” Eden lifted the back of the table so Danny could rest against it and looked at Jeremiah. “Please, make him comfortable. I need to go set up the machine. I don’t want to move him any more than we have to before we position him for the shot.”
Jeremiah nodded and she dashed into the x-ray room. She thanked God the county had received the grant for it right before she’d taken the position. Her machine wasn’t digital, but she’d become a damn good rad tech in the last four years. She turned the head of the machine into the position it would need to be to take a shoulder and arm shot and then draped herself in the lead apron.
“Pain meds aren’t a good idea until we know what we’re dealing with.” Jeremiah’s comment stopped her at the door.
“Good, ‘cause I’m not taking anything. We got too much work to do.” Danny’s jaw clenched against the pain.
“If Eden gives it to you, you’ll take it even if I have to shove it down your throat. This isn’t the time to be all John Wayne on me.” Keelee’s response was what Eden expected. That woman was a rancher all the way from the tips of her cowboy boots to the top of her head.
“Jeremiah, help him up, please?” Eden watched as Jeremiah instructed the man on what he was going to do. He used his strength to prop Danny into a sitting position so he didn’t have to tighten his muscles, but still, the young man’s face blanched to a dusty gray.
The trip to the x-ray room and positioning him left the poor guy sweating and the tears that ran down his cheeks wouldn’t be mentioned by anyone, that Eden could guarantee. They positioned him, standing, against the specialized plate where the film and sensors were located. She lined the crosshairs of the camera, inserted the tray behind Danny, and looked at Jeremiah. “Okay, you need to leave.”
He nodded and exited, shutting the door behind him. She slid the lead drape across the wall. The curtains already draped the other three walls and above and below the room, and she’d been assured panels were also installed. She walked into the protective alcove and readied the machine for the shot. “Danny, when I tell you, stop breathing. You need to be perfectly still for me. Okay?”
“Yeah,” the grunted answer came back at her.
“On three. One, two, three, hold.” She took the shot at the exposure she needed, and when the machine cycled through, she told the young man to breathe easy. They repeated the process for each angle needed to ensure there was no damage to the head of the humerus. Before she called Jeremiah in and went to get the pictures, she straightened his arm and took a shot of his elbow, which had a wicked bruise on it.
Eden turned on the light and pulled the curtain back. “I’ll be just a minute. Let’s not move him. If it is just a dislocation, we can do the closed reduction here.” She nodded to the gurney at the side of the room.
“Sounds like a plan.” Jeremiah sauntered over to the young man casually, but Eden knew it was to be there if the man needed support. “You know, motorcycles don’t throw you to the ground and try to trample you.”
Danny laughed and then groaned. “Doc, you’re killing me here.”
Jeremiah laughed, “Not my intent.”
Eden smiled and hustled to the other room and waited for the film to develop. It didn’t take long before she was back in the room and turning on the backlight to slide the image into the slot.
“Full,” Jeremiah said from behind her.
She nodded. “I’m thinking local anesthetic and traction to put it into place.”
“What’s that mean?” Danny asked from over her other shoulder.
“See here,” she pointed to the end of his arm. “This is your collarbone, here is your scapula or shoulder blade, and this is the upper arm, which is the humerus. At the top is the head.” She cupped her other hand over a fist. “What happened when you fell is that it jarred this bone out of that joint.” She separated her hands, showing how it happened.
“So, it’s not broken or nothing like that?” Danny stepped in closer to look at the x-ray.
“Correct. I took a shot of your elbow, and I can’t see any breaks, but here is the hitch in that giddy-up. I’m not a radiologist. What I’m seeing here looks like a full dislocation. I will send these x-rays to Belle Fourche tomorrow and have the radiologist down there read them, too.”
“So, I’m stuck like this until then?” Danny sighed in resignation.
“No, I’m going to give you a local anesthetic and Doctor Wheeler and I are going to maneuver that bone back into place. Then I’m going to x-ray it again and make sure we have it in place. Those pictures will go to the doc first thing in the morning. If he sees something that I don’t, you’ll need to take a trip south.”
Danny nodded. “How long will I be off a horse?”
“Two weeks, and that isn’t just off a horse. You’ll be in a sling and you will not use that arm. I’ll also make sure Keelee is aware of your restrictions.”
Danny snorted. “Between Keelee, Tori, and Aunt Betty, I’m sure I won’t be allowed to do a thing. The boss is going to be… disappointed.” Danny shook his head.
“Let’s move over here and get you into position. I’m going to go out and tell Keelee what’s up.” She helped as Danny got onto the gurney and Jeremiah lowered him down to a prone position. “Be right back.”
She hung up her lead-lined cloak and dashed out to the exam room where Keelee was pacing.
“Frank was right, it is a dislocated shoulder. I’m sending the x-rays to Belle to the radiologist for confirmation. We’re going to numb that shoulder and then put it back into place.”
“We’ve got insurance and I’ll pay any copay.” Keelee handed her an insurance card.
“No worries. I’ll take down that information while we’re letting the numbing agents work. The county will bill the insurance company and let you know what isn’t covered.” She unlocked the medicine cabinet and withdrew what she needed. “Danny said your sister is back. I hadn’t heard that.”
Keelee sighed. “Yeah, she was in a big accident back East. Broken and battered, but she’s getting stronger every day. Physically.”
Eden hesitated at Keelee’s last comment. “Mental trauma from the accident?”
“I think so. I hear her crying at night. The nightmares and such. I’ve talked to Dad and we’re going to ask her to see someone, but damn, that would be a day’s drive there and back. Whatever, we’ll deal. We always do.” The woman gave a closed-off, tight smile.
“Right. Let’s get Danny patched up.”
* * *
An hour and a half later, Eden turned off the light and followed Jeremiah out of the clinic. He went outside and picked up their two half-empty beer bottles. “Looks like we didn’t get that drink.” Jeremiah took them to the trash can at the corner of her clinic and deposited them.
“I’m sorry. Some weeks I can go days without a patient, and then there are days like this.” She rubbed the back of her neck. Jeremiah stepped up to her and turned her around, placing his hands on her neck and rubbing. The heat and pressure about melted her into a puddle of ooze on the wooden platform in front of her clinic. It had been so long since someone had taken care of her. She sighed and relaxed under his skillful massage.
As he kneaded the tight muscles of her neck and shoulders, he leaned forward. “Coffee tomorrow? I’ll bring it over here. We can watch the sun come up instead.”
She turned around and stared up at him. So damn handsome. Even this soon, she couldn’t deny the draw she felt to this man. He’d meshed into her life tonight. There wasn’t a moment of awkwardness while she worked on Danny. His support was silent yet there. “I’d love to have coffee and watch the sun come up with you.” She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Until then.” Eden stepped backward as a fire ignited in his eyes. She smiled. She’d done that. She’d put that hunger there, and for the first time in four years, the possibility of what was to come excited her. Even if it was short-term. She turned and went into the clinic, locking the door behind her. If she hadn’t been so tired, she’d have floated up the stairs; as it was, she pulled herself up with the handrail. A smile slid into place. She had a date at sunrise.
