‘Is this a good rest home?’ Fraser asked, peering through the windscreen as the entrance came into view.
‘I’ve never heard any complaints or noticed anything untoward. Why? Looking for somewhere to live?’ Dang, why crack a joke? She was supposed to be keeping aloof and discussing work only.
Fraser’s smile flicked on and off so fast she nearly missed it. ‘No, thinking about my dad.’
‘He’s too young for this place.’ She recalled Ken McCall as being years younger than her father. ‘But I guess dementia doesn’t take note of age.’
‘Isn’t that a fact? He’s decades too young. But soon Mum has to face reality and put him into care. He’s already a handful for her.’ A haunting sadness filtered through Fraser’s voice and into the cab between them.
‘But she loves him. It can’t be easy, making that decision.’
‘No, it can’t,’ he snapped.
Whoa, what had she said wrong?
Then he said in a milder tone, ‘Sorry. I’m still trying to get my head around it all.’
Nikki negotiated the narrow entranceway, her mind focused almost entirely on Fraser. His sadness made her want to do the strangest of things. Made her yearn to put her arms around him and hug him tight; made her wish his worries away.
Stop it. Let Fraser in at all and you ‘re back where he left off with you. It was a long enough haul getting over him the first time. Just remember the black hole of depression you fell into and that’ll keep you well away from him.
With a hitch in her throat she drove into the parking area. How could she even be contemplating touching him or wanting to help him? That’s what partners, husbands and wives, lovers did. Not estranged couples.
Finding unit three, Nikki prepared to back up to the tiny pathway leading to Mavis Everest’s front door, checking as she went how low a nearby tree hung. Wiping off the emergency lights with a branch never went down well back at the station. A car was parked close to where she wanted to put the truck. She sighed. ‘Why couldn’t the staff have asked the car owner to shift?’
‘Want me to direct you?’ Fraser’s hand was on the door-handle.
‘I’ve got it.’ She backed up neatly and stopped. Jumping down, she headed for the back of the truck and pulled the doors open, tugged out the stretcher in readiness for their patient.
When Fraser picked up the defibrillator and the pack containing their equipment, she nodded silently. He knew what he was doing.
A tall, gaunt woman in her late fifties opened the front door. ‘Judy Mathers.’ She sighed exasperatedly. ‘I came around when Mum didn’t answer her phone. We talk every morning at seven while I’m getting ready for work. I found her on the floor and I can’t lift her back into bed.’
They squeezed into the stifling, tiny bedroom full of large furniture. At least their patient hadn’t got hypothermic but how she’d found a space to fall was beyond Nikki. ‘Mrs Everest, I’m Nikki and this is Fraser. How long have you been lying down there?’
‘Been here all night.’ Mavis Everest’s voice was weak but there was a twinkle of mischief in her faded eyes. ‘Long time since I spent the night on the floor alone.’
Unzipping her jacket, Nikki squeezed down beside the prostrate woman and smiled as she reached for Mavis’s wrist. She hated seeing elderly people in this sort of predicament. It seemed so undignified and lonely somehow. ‘Can you remember what happened?’
‘Got up to go to the bathroom and felt a bit dizzy. Must have blacked out because that’s all I remember. Woke up some time about two.’ When Nikki raised an eyebrow, Mavis added, ‘The radio was on. The talkback show and some silly man complaining about his ingrown toenails and how the doctor wouldn’t fix them.’
Mavis was alert and her speech coherent. All good indicators. Amazing, considering how long she’d been lying there. Nikki counted the steady beats under her fingertip as her watch ticked over a minute. Sixty-three. ‘Normal,’ she assured Mavis.
Fraser took Mavis’s other hand. ‘I’m going to check your blood-sugar level so just a wee prick in your finger, Mrs Everest.’
‘Ooh, dear, don’t go to any fuss. Just help me back into bed and I’ll be good as gold.’
From the doorway Judy said in her exasperated tone, ‘Do what they say, Mum, for goodness’ sake. They know best. The sooner they’ve done with you, the sooner I can get off to work.’
Blimey, show some concern for your mother, why don’t you? Nikki kept her face straight with difficulty.
Fraser deftly took a small sample of blood from the elderly woman’s thumb, speaking softly as he did so. ‘We need to find out why you were dizzy, Mavis. Nikki’s checking all your bones in case you did some damage when you fell.’
Nikki ran her hands over their patient’s head, down her neck, feeling for contusions or abnormalities. Down Mavis’s arms, torso and on down her legs. ‘Looking good.’
‘For an old duck,’ Mavis quipped.
‘You’re only as old as you feel.’ Fraser shoved the glucometer back in its bag. ‘Glucose is four point six. No problems on that front.’
But a few minutes later he told Nikki, ‘Blood pressure’s low.’
Nikki nodded. ‘That could explain how she ended up on the floor.’ Looking up at Judy, she asked, ‘Has Mrs Everest got a history of low blood pressure?’
‘Doesn’t look like it.’ The woman held four pill bottles in her hand. ‘Only arthritis drugs here.’
She doesn’t know? ‘Can you pop them in a bag for us? And some overnight clothes.’ Nikki turned back to Mrs Everest. ‘Mavis, have you ever had any problems with your blood pressure before?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘Okay. The doctor will do some more tests. We’re going to take you to hospital now.’
‘No, love, I don’t want any fuss. My GP can visit when she’s got time later today.’
‘For pity’s sake, Mum, just do as they tell you. If you weren’t so stubborn about going into the partial-care wing of this place, we wouldn’t be here now.’
Nikki felt her blood beginning to simmer but bit down on the retort itching to escape. This had absolutely nothing to do with her. ‘Your GP would probably send you to hospital anyway, Mavis.’
‘My daughter will be happy with that. Save her having to check up on me.’ The yearning in the old lady’s voice saddened Nikki.
‘I’m sure she’ll find time to visit you.’ Or was that unrealistic? Nikki mightn’t know anything about Judy or her own family commitments but she couldn’t understand people who neglected their parents. Look at Fraser. His parents’ woes had brought him home when nothing else had.
Fraser straightened up. ‘I’ll bring the stretcher inside. Mavis, you’re going for the trip of your lifetime. First-class bed in the ambulance.’ He winked down at the little lady in her winceyette nightgown.
‘Do you serve meals as well?’ Mavis rallied, a tired smile lifting her mouth.
‘This is the drinks run. Saline via drip.’
Nikki gave Fraser a reluctant smile. This was the man she used to know. The man who’d always made people laugh with his light-hearted