She crammed her removed shirt into the backpack she’d brought with her and returned to where the others were waiting for a staff member to drive them to the medical tent.
When they arrived, Jack reached up to take Taylor’s hand to assist her off the golf cart. It might have been before the crack of dawn, but that didn’t stop the zings that shot up Taylor’s arm at holding his hand. Zings shot and her heart kaboomed.
“Thank you,” she murmured, cramming her fingers in her pocket the moment he let go. How was it possible to go from completely dead inside to so very aware? Had her body just saved years’ worth of sexual nothingness and was unleashing it all at once?
And why, why, why, why couldn’t he have been anything other than a doctor? To give in to Jack’s smile would mean ignoring not only her man aversion but also her decision that never ever would she get involved with another doctor.
At the medical tent they switched with the night shift and took over the few cases currently being treated. Taylor reviewed a case of possible food poisoning and an intoxication patient. As the sun came up and the hours passed, the temperature soared. A steady trickle of people came in with various complaints.
Two young girls came into the tent. One asked for a bandage for her leg as she’d tripped and skinned her knee.
Taylor started to register the girl and do minor wound care, but Duffy waved her off. “I’ve got this one.”
While Duffy was cleaning the girl’s grazed leg, another two young women came in. One was almost completely supporting the other.
“She started passing out but never completely did, but she’s talking out of her head, like she did something, you know, but she didn’t do anything,” the patient’s friend gushed, not pausing for breath as Taylor helped them over to a vacant cot.
“I was flipping out,” the woman continued. “I wasn’t sure she was going to make it here and then what was I going to do?”
“I’m just really hot,” the barely coherent patient said, her hand on her temple. “And my head hurts.”
“Name?”
“Cindy Frazier,” the friend answered. “We’re nineteen. I’m Lori. We’re from Maine.”
Maine? That was a long way to travel for a music festival, Taylor thought as she got Cindy registered.
Taylor ran a thermometer over her forehead.
Eek. One hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit.
She glanced around to see who was free and could grab an ice pack. Everyone was with someone except Jack.
“Dr. Morgan?”
Odd to call him that when in her head he was Jack. He glanced up from his clipboard, his blue gaze meeting hers.
“I have a hyperthermia case. Temp is one-oh-five. Can you grab an ice pack and ice water, please, while I finish checking vitals?” She supposed she should have offered to get them and let him take over with the patient, but Jack didn’t balk, just rushed to get the needed supplies.
Cindy moaned and clutched at her stomach.
“Are you feeling nauseous?”
Eyes squished closed, she nodded. “I may throw up.”
Jack stepped up, handed Taylor the items she’d requested. “I’ll get an emesis pan and anti-emetic.”
Taylor wrapped the ice pack collar around the girl’s neck.
“That’s cold!” she complained, shivering.
“We have to cool you down. You got too hot and you’re dehydrated, that’s why you’re feeling so bad.”
Jack was back, and handed the plastic pan to the girl. He bent to shine a penlight into Cindy’s eyes, then her nose and mouth. He listened to her heart and lung sounds.
“She’s tachycardic.”
Taylor opened the bottle top then handed the girl the iced water. “I want you to get as much fluid in you as you can.”
“I’ll throw it up.”
“Maybe not, but if you do, use the pan if you can. Just drink.” She glanced at Jack. “You okay with me starting the cold IV fluid and putting the anti-emetic in?”
“You took the words out of my mouth.”
She checked the girl’s veins and frowned. Dehydrated, Cindy’s veins were poor at best. Still, Taylor had always prided herself on being good at accessing veins and hopefully would hit her mark the first try, despite not having much to work with.
Gathering her supplies, Taylor then cleaned her IV site with an alcohol pad while Jack finished examining Cindy, including rechecking her temperature.
“Still one-oh-five.”
“Is that bad?” Lori asked, wringing her hands as she watched them work on her friend.
“It hasn’t gone up, so that’s a good thing,” Taylor assured her, breathing a sigh of relief when the IV catheter slid into Cindy’s vein perfectly. “Once we get these cold fluids in, her temp should drop.”
If not, they’d put her in the ice tub.
“I feel like I can’t breathe,” Cindy gasped, putting her hand to her chest.
“It’s going to be okay, Cindy.” Jack sounded calm as he continued to assess the girl, watching her closely. “Just take slow, deep breaths.”
Cindy visibly took a deep breath.
As Taylor taped the IV line to Cindy’s left hand, she fought breathing deeply herself as Jack’s voice was so hypnotic.
“Your temperature will start dropping any minute,” Jack assured their patient. “Once that happens, you’ll slowly start feeling better.”
Jack’s soothing voice made Taylor feel better as she grabbed the anti-emetic to go into the IV. Lots better. How could he be so calm when the girl’s situation really could turn dire if what they were doing didn’t work?
“I’m scared,” Cindy admitted, bursting into tears, which caused her friend to also burst into tears.
“Look at me, Cindy.”
The young woman lifted her tearful gaze to Jack’s. He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re doing all the right things to get your temperature down and we’ll keep you here until you’re feeling okay. You’re going to be fine.”
“Phew,” Lori sighed in relief, sniffling as she plopped down onto an empty cot next to Cindy’s. “She’s not the only one who’s scared. I’ve heard about people dying at music events but never thought about it possibly happening to someone I knew. She had me terrified when she started blacking out.”
Taylor leaned forward to inject the medication, but before she could administer it, Cindy’s body tensed. Taylor grabbed for the emesis pan, but lightning fast Jack had it to the woman’s mouth, making it just in time.
“Oh, no,” her friend groaned as Cindy heaved her stomach contents into the pan. “This is bad. I know it is.”
“It’s not uncommon for someone with hyperthermia to throw up.” Taylor injected the anti-emetic into the IV solution. “The nausea should calm down soon, too.”
Fortunately, it did.
Due to the degree of Cindy’s hyperthermia, Taylor stayed with her, closely monitoring her vitals over the next thirty minutes.
Jack came and went as he checked other patients who’d come in for care. Most were minor issues, thank goodness.
As Taylor checked Cindy’s temperature