Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes #3)(16)

“Who are you and what have you done with Sage Whitman? Marriage has morphed you into some other human being—certainly not my shy BFF,” Grace snapped, exasperated.

“She was a bore. Spence makes me come alive—actually makes me come over and over and over again. And when you feel as good as I do, you want everyone you love to feel the same way,” Sage told her, a bit smugly.

Grace rolled her eyes. “Oh, my gosh! It’s been so long since I’ve been around people in love, I forgot how nauseating it is,” she grumbled. “And Cam and I are certainly not in love with each other. That died ten years ago.”

“True love never dies. It may dim, and it may drift to the far reaches of your mind if you allow it to, but all it takes is a spark, a scent, a memory, and in a flash, you’re back at the moment your heart fluttered for the first time. You and Cam are meant to be, so no matter how much you fight it, the result will be you in a beautiful wedding gown, and me picking out my own maid—no, matron—of honor dress. I so don’t trust you with that task,” Sage said, and just then her beeper went off.

“I wouldn’t trust me, either, after the awful dress I had to wear to your wedding,” Grace growled. “Not that I’m going to be getting married, especially to Camden Whitman.”

“Denial, denial. And that dress was from Paris and absolutely fabulous.”

“I’ll let you think so,” Grace said. “Where are we going now?” Sage was once again on the move.

“To the ER.”

Grace trailed behind her friend toward the emergency room, knowing their time was about up.

When a child came in on a stretcher, blood pouring down his hand and his parents sobbing as they were led in right behind him, Grace decided that this scene was just too much for her. Especially after the loss she herself had suffered so many years ago.

“I’ll call you later. I’m going behind the doors now.”

Grace backed away as Sage’s favorite nurse, Mo, ran by holding up a Broselow tape, ready to assist in the trauma. “I hope you got some coffee into your friend, Grace, because we’re going to need her brain working at full capacity.”

“I did, Mo. Good luck,” Grace called back before turning to leave.

Before the door shut behind them, Grace watched this superstar team begin work on the small child.

“We have a two-year-old, approximately fourteen-foot fall out of a window. She has a Glasgow coma scale of seven but the medic couldn’t get a breathing tube in her because . . . well, frankly, because it’s his first day on his own and he sounded like it may be his last. BP is sixty-four over thirty-two, HR one fourteen, RR twelve, and are assisted with a bag valve mask. Oxygenation is ninety-one percent and trending down. The medic got a twenty-two-gauge IV to her left AC and should be arriving any moment,” Mo called, ever efficient.

“Everyone in this hospital fears that woman, but Mo sure loves my wife.”

Grace jumped at finding Spence next to her. “Is the little girl going to be okay?” she asked, not wanting the answer if it was bad.

“She will be if my wife and Mo have anything to do with it,” Spence told her.

“Are we keeping you from something, Cheryl?” Mo shouted at a lab tech, who quickly put her phone away and stood at attention.

“She has a roar but she’s got a heart as big as Texas,” Spence said.

“I’ve always enjoyed her. Sage loves her to pieces,” Grace replied.

The brand-new paramedic spoke with a shaking voice, preventing Spence from saying anything else for a moment as they both listened. He confirmed Mo’s findings.

With that, the medic, who was almost as pale as the patient, finished his job by helping to get the patient transferred to the hospital’s gurney and monitoring equipment. He slowly crept to the back of the room as if watching a movie unfold before him.

Sage began her head-to-toe assessment of the patient, calling out her findings. In minutes, the child was assessed, medicated, intubated, and on her way to the CT scan, and out of Grace’s sight.

“I don’t know how you do this day after day,” Grace whispered.

“We do it because we make a difference,” Spence told her, his hand resting on her shoulder.

They watched Mo walk over to the medic, who was obviously only still standing because of the counter behind him, holding him up. “Listen, kid, you did great . . . Not an easy call, but you managed everything perfectly.” She walked toward Spence and Grace after that. “I think you saw way more than you wanted to see there, darling.”

“Yeah. I really shouldn’t have peeked in,” Grace said, her voice shaking.

“We’re here to help people. Sometimes it’s messy, but at the end of the day we go home knowing we did everything we possibly could have.” Mo walked away without waiting for a response.

“I have to get out of here,” Grace told Spence.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she turned a corner and slammed into a rock-hard wall of flesh. She would have fallen on her butt if strong arms hadn’t shot out and caught her.

“Twice in one day. I’m a lucky man.”

Grace had to crane her head back to look up into Cam’s smiling face. Quickly, he lost the smile and concern took its place.

“What’s the matter?”