There were two rooms—the larger front room and a smaller back room that would serve as the warm-up room. The supplies that Megs and the other Team members had helped her inventory sat on their pallets still wrapped in plastic. The oxygen equipment, blankets, and AEDs were there, too, along with cots, two folding tables, and an aluminum shelving unit.
She was supposed to have all of this set up in an hour and a half.
The only way to get it done was to start, so Ellie got busy and was soon joined by Lolly, who had brought her a latte. “Oh, God, you are an angel.”
Lolly fluttered her lashes. “I know.”
Gus, one of the hospital’s pharmacists, showed up ten minutes later. “Sorry. I slept through my alarm.”
They worked together in the cold to set up tables and the shelving unit, where most of the supplies would go. Then they set up two cots, covering the canvas with cotton sheets and placing folded blankets at the bottom. The back room—the warm-up room—was smaller. They managed to fit the oxygen equipment, IV poles and two cots back there, too, as well as the blanket warmer. They were unpacking supplies when a woman walked in wearing a hard hat, a tool belt around her waist.
“I’m with the Town of Scarlet. I’m here to make sure all your equipment is hooked up to electricity and running.”
Ellie, Lolly, and Gus waited outside while the woman went to work, taping electrical cords out of the way and running them beneath the wood floor out the back. In ten minutes everything was operational, from the infrared space heaters that sat in the corners to the blanket warmer in the back.
Ellie bent over one of the space heaters to warm her hands. “Ahhh.”
Now it was just a matter of getting all the supplies on the pallets opened and set out in a functional way. They were almost done when they got their first patient.
“You got a minute?” A man in a hardhat stood near the entrance holding his hand in a blood-soaked handkerchief. “I ran a drill bit through my own damned hand.”
Chapter 21
Jesse gotoff early to take his volunteer shift at the first-aid tent. He dropped by his cabin and grabbed a quick bite to eat then drove into town. Scarlet Springs had doubled in population, SUVs and pickup trucks parked every which way along the roads, every parking lot downtown full.
He ditched his vehicle and made his way toward the first-aid tent in the center, the wooden walkways crowded with people who shopped and ate and listened to music despite the cold temperatures. He knew from the schedule that Ellie had worked seven to three-thirty p.m. today. He wished their shifts had overlapped. Even though they’d be working, it would have been nice to spend some time with her. Maybe he could stop by her place tonight and …
She stood just outside the tent, bundled in a parka and scarf and sipping something hot from a paper cup, steam rising into the air from between her hands. She smiled and waved when she saw him, then walked back inside.
He stepped into the tent and was surprised by how warm it was—and how complete and well organized. “Wow. It’s like a mini-ER.”
She sat on a metal counter stool, still sipping her drink. “It’s warm enough to take off your parka—most of the time. When we get a lot of traffic, the heat escapes. They’ve got coffee and hot cocoa across the way if you need something warm.”
“Thanks. How about water?” He’d had enough caffeine today to kill an elephant.
She pointed to the bottom shelf. “There.”
He grabbed a bottle, ripped off the cap, and drank. “How has the day gone?”
He knew she was troubled by the fact that he wouldn’t stay with her at night, but how could he explain it? He needed to know that he was right in the head, that he was worthy of her, that he wouldn’t hurt her or the kids, before he let this relationship get any more serious. Not that it wasn’t already serious…
The horses are out of the barn on that one.
“It started bright and early with one of the workmen running a drill bit through the pad of his thumb. We’ve had four cases of hypothermia—three from the polar bear plunge. A woman tripped over one of the wooden walkways and twisted her ankle. We transported a man who was having shortness of breath. All in all, a pretty quiet day.”
Jesse found another stool and sat. “I thought you were off at three thirty.”
“I knew you were on this evening, so I traded shifts with someone else. I took a break in the middle of the day, spent some time with my mom and the kids. That’s the kind of thing you get to do when you’re in charge.”
So, she had wanted to see him. “I like the way you think.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Are you growing a beard?”
So, she’d noticed.Damn.
He lied. “I just haven’t had time to shave.”
Bear stepped into the tent, and Jesse could see he was unwell. “Jesse Moretti of the Team. Ellie Rouse Meeks.”