Darlene Scalera - Hard Rain

“The team’s EMT just left to fly up with Micky Flynn in the turboprop to pick up those scouts and their leader. But there’s a trauma nurse and an ER resident getting ready to start setting up a triage area.”

“I’m on my way to check out things at the high school. It’s filling up pretty quickly. If a member of the team is available, I’d like one of them to come with me to assess the setup, look over the school nurse’s station and suggest any other supplies or equipment that should be brought in.”

“You bring another nurse into Flo’s territory, she’s going to get huffy.”

Jesse smiled. The school nurse, Florence Templeton, was two years from retirement and had spent a lifetime soothing students and defusing catastrophes. She did not take kindly to outside interference.

“Maybe not if it’s a doctor,” Jesse suggested. “How about I swing by the station after I check in at my office, pick up the doctor and bring him over to lend a hand?”

As Jesse spoke, a broken tree limb spun crazily across the road. He turned the wheel, swerving to avoid the branch. It moved on into a field. The wind was picking up. The temperature was dropping. Jesse could feel it in his bones.

“It’s a—” Static crackled over the line, cutting short the chief, as the rising wind played with the communication waves.

“What’d you say?” Jesse asked the chief once the channel cleared.

“I said the doctor is a woman. Dr. Amy Sherwood.”

The four-wheeler swerved once more, although the road was straight and clear.

AMY TURNED to Fire Chief Mitch Kannon as he stepped out of the dispatch office into the station’s main area. “Change of plans, ladies.”

Amy glanced at her colleague, Cheryl Tierney, a trauma nurse from Courage Bay Hospital. They had both flown in from California with their two colleagues, Nate Kellison and Dana Ivie, this morning. Chief Kannon had already sent the paramedic and EMT out on calls. The chief held out an opened bag of chocolates, but both women shook their heads. For Amy, the adrenaline had already kicked in. She hadn’t been able to get down the homemade cinnamon buns the chief’s daughter had brought the volunteers before the call came in about the woman in labor. Fortunately Amy’s colleagues had had no problem enjoying them.

“Sheriff would like to swing by, take you, Doc, out to the high school with him.”

“There’s a problem?”

The chief unwrapped the candy, popped it in his mouth. He chewed slowly. “No problems yet, but like I told you, the school’s been set up as an evacuation center and it’s filling up fast. Although major injuries can be handled here, the sheriff would like you to have a look at the first-aid supplies and equipment at the school in case of minor emergencies. He should be here in a minute or so.”

Cheryl Tierney, a trauma nurse, picked up a box of the supplies the team had brought with them from California. “I’ll start setting up. It shouldn’t take long.”

“I can help you carry the supplies while I wait.” Amy headed toward the other box.

“I’ll get that.” The chief set the bag of candy on the table and hoisted the other box. “One of my men is manning the radio until our dispatcher, Ruth, gets in. If the sheriff shows up, give me a shout,” he told Amy.

As Cheryl and the chief headed for the far end of the firehouse, Amy opened her medical bag on one of the long tables near the kitchenette area. Although she knew everything was in order, she busied herself checking the bag’s contents once more. She hated feeling useless. Some would interpret it as a fear of feeling helpless. When a ferret-faced second-year psych intern had done exactly that, she’d told him to save his analysis for rounds.

The chief came back into the station house. “Sheriff didn’t show up yet?”

Amy shook her head.

“He should be right here.”

Amy counted bandages by twos.

“The oddsmakers are saying Damon will turn south, come ashore down by the border. Say it’ll peter out over the sea, bringing in no more than heavy rains and high winds by the time it makes landfall.”

“Is that what you think, Chief?” Amy checked the tops of several saline bottles to make sure they were secure.

“That’s what I pray.”

She glanced up at the chief, whose blue eyes didn’t miss a trick. Over six feet tall and with a width as much muscle as fat, he easily earned his title. The humbling touch of silver at his temples and the wink he now gave her told Amy he was a man who could comfort as well as command.

“I hope your prayer is answered, Chief.” She turned back to her bag.

“You should sit, Doc, while you have the chance.”

She hadn’t come here to sit. She was used to taking care of others, not the other way around. She appreciated the chief’s concern though. “Thanks, Chief, but I had my share of sitting on the flight down.” She flashed him a reassuring smile and turned her attention back to her supplies for a final time. She was zipping the bag closed when she heard a new voice behind her.

“Hey, Mitch.”

She stopped.

“Hey, Sheriff. How’s the roads?”

“Not bad if you stay off the main routes. You ought to see the lines stretching out of the stores, though.”

Amy listened to the voice. Her body was still.

“Bet by noon there’s not an unbought jug of water or case of beer in the whole county,” the chief said.

“Turning Point residents may be stubborn but they aren’t stupid.” A low chuckle came from the newcomer. Something clutched inside Amy.

She swung around, looked directly into the newcomer’s eyes. A fiercer blue than the chief’s, deep and dark as midnight dreams, revealing even less.

“Sheriff, this is Dr. Amy Sherwood,” Mitch said. “Flew into Christi this morning with the others from Courage Bay to give us a hand. Doc, Sheriff Jesse Boone.”

Amy heard the name. It repeated inside her. She felt dizzy. She forced herself to breathe, told herself it could not be. Just as swiftly she asked, could it be? Could this man before her be the boy she’d loved? Her mind said no. Her heart begged yes. She forbade herself to remember. She’d had fourteen years to forget.

Still, she was about to whisper, “Jess?” when the newcomer touched his hat brim and said without expression, “Ma’am.” Their eyes locked. Neither one of them moved.

She didn’t answer. All she could do was stare at him, her eyes ruthlessly searching. He did not turn away.

The face was not ugly, nor was it handsome. It was rugged and scarred as though once shattered and stripped and put back together. The features were slightly asymmetrical, and the skin stretched tight along the jaw, leaving no appearance of softness. Her professional eye saw that the necessary procedures had been numerous and painstaking. Her personal eye saw a strength in the jagged facial lines and the set of bones that came from the man, not modern medicine.

She saw a stranger.

“Nice to meet you, Sheriff.”

She offered her hand. He didn’t hesitate to take it but his touch was light. She felt the thick pad of his palm, the skin worn by hard work. She looked down at their clasped hands, felt heat flood her face. Just as if it were fourteen years ago.

“Call me Jesse, ma’am.” His voice was as rough as the hand she held.

“Thank you…” She raised her eyes to the scarred face and said too softly, “Jess.”

Something sparked in those blue eyes before they went flat again. His features masked, he let go of her.

“Is that your equipment?” He nodded toward the table behind her. When she nodded back, he started toward it. His gait did not reveal that his injuries had gone beyond his face, although she suspected they had. He had the admirable height of the boy she’d known, but not his bulk. Beneath his clothing, this man’s body was sleek. He picked up her bag, his arms whipcord muscles and taut sinew, the fit of his uniform indicating the rest of him followed suit. A body honed to its lean limits. Whatever had been broken had been mended. Only his haunted eyes as he turned and looked at her told Amy this man had not healed.