Read Online Critical Care by Candace Calvert - Free Book Online Page A

going upstairs to visit Jamie.
Then he was heading out to the 4-H rodeo."

    The Cajun band, its fiddle backed up by the brush-thump of a
washboard, drew the rodeo crowd. Families with the season's first
sunburns clapped along, relaxing from the day's activities: gold
panning, mutton busting, face painting, and the win-a-goldfish
ball toss. They wore blue jeans, T-shirts, and glittery yards of Mardi
Gras beads, while devouring mustard-squiggled corn dogs.
    Corn dogs ... and sheep. The chaplain's rodeo therapy. Sure.
Claire sighed and stretched her jean-clad leg across the bale of
straw she was using as a chair. The spring sun seeped through her
embroidered T-shirt, warming her. What did Chaplain Estes say
about the therapeutic value of petting a lamb and munching a
corn dog? Maybe it was true-these people were smiling. But the rest of his prescribed remedy simply wasn't going to happen. Dance
and laugh?

    She rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. There was about as
much chance of dancing and laughing as there was for Smokey the
Demon Cat to purr. The same chance that she would ... go back
to the ER. Her stomach fluttered at the crazy, recurring thought.
Go back?
    Claire slid her sunglasses off and peered at the huge "Dare to
Care: Face Your Future as a Nurse" poster stapled to the front of the
recruitment booth. Its trio of scrub-suited nurses-African American, Hispanic, and Asian-looked convincingly heroic, bigger than
life. Ready to glove up and face anything life had to dish out.
    She groaned. The only thing she was facing these past few days
was the very real possibility she was losing her mind. It was the
only way to explain why the walls of her tidy office in the education department had begun to close in. Why its quiet order made
her edgier by the hour until she wanted to string paper clips into a
lasso, whirl it overhead, and holler like a demented cowboy. And,
worse still, why the sirens and stat pages-sounds that had made
her cringe for two years-now strangely drew her. They had even
caused her to leave the safe haven of the office to wander across the
hospital campus toward the doors of the emergency department,
the setting of every single one of her nightmares-nightmares that
had worsened in the past week.
    She'd been telling herself it was only normal to want to check
on Inez. See how she seemed now that she was receiving employee
counseling. Or because of the camaraderie she'd begun to feel with
Erin. Or, very likely, her concern after hearing that the staff had
dealt with another near drowning. In fact, Claire almost convinced
herself that all those reasons were true and that every instinct was selfless and purely professional. Until yesterday when she'd caught
a glimpse of a familiar pair of shoulders beneath a head of curly
dark hair. Her knees went so weak so fast that she could barely
make it back to the safety of her office. That combination-Logan
Caldwell and the ER-would be her undoing; she'd chain herself
to her desk if that's what it took to avoid them.

    Claire leaned down to grab her purse. The cleanup crew would
take down the booth. It was obvious she wasn't going to hand out
any more nursing recruitment brochures. A smile teased her lips.
Everybody who had a life was probably out laughing or dancing.
    She could still get in a nice, long run before it got dark. Maybe
throw some chicken on the mini grill to share with Smokey. Claire
sighed; right, like he wouldn't just drag it under the table and
growl at her. At least her parents would be glad to hear from her.
She'd give them a call later and hear the newest list of reasons why
she should move to Phoenix. Frankly, right now cactus sounded
pretty good.
    "Hey, Educator."
    Claire jumped at the voice, her heart climbing toward her
throat as she looked up.
    Logan was wearing Levi's with a Western belt, boots, and a
well-worn red Henley. The shirt had faded to a deep rose color and
was open at the neck,