2. Heidi
It was certainly not a special day when I awoke that morning. The sun wasn’t up yet, but my alarm clock screamed at me to get up until I rolled out of bed and crossed the room to turn it off. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I was up, and that meant it was time for my run. I hated running. I hated mornings. About all I wanted was a cup of hot coffee and some time to surf Instagram before I had to work. That’s why the stupid alarm clock was ten feet from my bed.
My coffee went in my favorite red travel mug, and I grabbed my fanny pack and hat. The ranger uniform wasn’t flattering to any female figure, but I managed to fill out the top and the army-green jacket covered the worst part of the waistline. I glanced in the mirror and smiled to myself. Strangely enough, the shade of the uniform accentuated my coloring, and if the fit hadn’t screamed “menswear,” I would have felt pretty.
The visitor’s center was quiet when I arrived, but one of the trucks was missing. Eli had probably just gone straight out to check campsites, leaving me to deal with early morning hikers and getting the register ready at the gift shop. I was the only female ranger in the park, and that meant I was left to deal with what the other guys thought of as “girl work” more often than not. I prepped the center and flipped the sign to open and set out a reminder sign for hikers so they’d register with us. Because the park wasn’t on a mountain, people often thought that meant there was no danger for them out there. The blood-soaked man who burst into my life a few short hours later would’ve disagreed.
It was late morning when he hit the door at a full run, calling for help. He looked in a bad way, carrying a fawn that looked more like a pile of bloody rags than a deer, as people scattered ahead of him. Several cursed him for being rude or gasped as they saw his cargo and leaped out of the way. I rushed to his side and grabbed him by the shoulders, the only available body part that wouldn’t get me sued. Steering him back through a swinging door marked employees only, I started asking questions, but he seemed in shock and didn’t answer. I escorted him to our triage room, a sterile, white space filled with first aid supplies and rescue gear.
“Well, I think this is the first non-human patient I’ve ever had back here, but let’s see what we can do, okay?” I chirped, trying to stay upbeat as he laid the tiny deer on the table.
“He’s dying. I think a little more help and a little less cheerleader,” he snapped. He stroked the fawn’s head as I laid out bandages, trying to think ahead to what I could actually do for the little guy.
“I’m not a vet; we don’t have that kind of staff,” I warned him. I bristled, expecting him to bite my head off again, but he just nodded once and kept stroking the fawn, talking to it like a human infant. The deer seemed to respond to it and flicked out his tongue to lick the man’s hand.
I took shears to the bandages he’d fashioned from a bit of denim, probably his shirt. I glanced up at him in his white t-shirt, stained brownish red from the blood. He raised his eyebrows at me, and I dropped my eyes. I’d never triaged a wild animal before, and I was afraid to tranquilize him. Between his size and his blood loss, I thought I might kill him.
“I can’t tranquilize him. It might kill him,” I said, my mouth full of grit from nerves.
The handsome stranger nodded and held his hand over the fawn’s side, below the bandage with one hand. With the other, he continued to stroke the deer’s head, but when I lifted my sheers to the bandage, he pressed gently down, so the fawn couldn’t move his neck.
I quickly cut away the fabric and peeled it carefully off the wound. Some of the blood had congealed, and the bandage stuck. I swore softly as I peeled the cloth back and the blood started again. I heard the door open behind me.
“Hey, whatcha got there, Heidi?” Eli asked.
I offered a silent prayer of thanks as I directed him to call the closest vet and get them out to the station.
“We’ve got a fawn, maybe three days old, bleeding from a tear in his shoulder. The tear goes deep, but it’s not from claws, and there’s no bullet damage that I can see.” Eli repeated the information to Dr. Seale, a veterinarian we’d trusted for years when we had to work hands-on with the wildlife.
“How do you know it’s not claws?” Eli asked, presumably for the doctor.
“The edges aren’t clean like the claw marks I’ve seen before. It looks almost like he got dragged over a tree branch.”
“I found him in a sort of a ditch. It was full of felled trees and limbs,” the man offered, and Eli repeated everything into the phone.
“He’s already on the road and will be here in about ten minutes. He said to try to keep pressure on the wound and not to mess with it too much,” Eli relayed.
I glared up at him. “I don’t plan on ‘messing with it’ at all,” I grated. “I’m just trying to get a clean bandage on it.” The fawn struggled a little, and I took a breath, calming myself. “Sorry, baby. I’m not mad at you. That’s right, sweet thing, Doc’s on the way, and we’ll get you fixed up.” I leaned over and stroked the fawn’s nose ridge, as he stared at me with liquid brown eyes.
“Was he alone when you found him?” Eli asked the stranger.
“No, I found him because his mother was pacing over him, trying to find a way down,” the man told us.
Eli grabbed a tranquilizer gun and headed for the door. “Come with me. I’ll get you a park t-shirt to change into, and you can show me where she was on the map.”
“Do you think she’ll take him back?” I asked.
“I think if we can get her in confinement and bring him to her, she’ll get him back out away from people, where he’ll do better.”
I nodded. Eli was pragmatic about the wildlife we worked with, and I knew that when we were alone, I’d hear from him about bringing an animal in here. But at least he wouldn’t dress me down in front of the civilian.
I trusted Eli. He knew the woods better than any other ranger, and he was a brilliant problem-solver. We’d even been friends once, until he tried to push for more. I didn’t date anyone, period, and I wasn’t going to start with my boss. He’d treated me differently ever since, and I hated the constant confrontation. But this was my home, and I wasn’t leaving, so I put up with the cold shoulder and the frequent chastisements.
I pressed the bandage to my little patient and talked to him to keep us both calm. His ear twitched at me, and it made me smile to think he was less afraid. His heart beat was fast, but not the breakneck speed of terror it had been.
“And what about your handsome friend, hey?” I asked aloud. His face was familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew him from. “Maybe he’s just such an avid nature enthusiast, he’s here all the time.” I chewed on my lip and thought. His hair was the color of mahogany, and he’d tied it back in a ponytail that fell to his shoulder blades. “And that face, yeah? I bet you just trusted him just because of those pretty gray eyes, huh?” I scoffed at myself.
I didn’t date. I didn’t have friends. There were people I liked, but I preferred my books and the woods. If anything, I missed having a furry friend to talk to, but my old retriever Butterscotch had finally passed away from complications of her age after eighteen years of chasing me around. We’d grown up together, and when I joined the park service, she’d been on site with me every day. I missed her so much that I started to cry standing over the fawn. I couldn’t help thinking about how her sweet nature would have calmed the little animal so much more easily than I could.
“Oh, God. Did we lose him?” A voice brought me back from my reverie, and I realized I had tears streaming down my face. I rubbed my cheeks dry with my shoulders so I wouldn’t move my hands.
“No, no, he’s actually doing okay, for all the blood lost. His heart beat’s still fast, but it isn’t working as hard as it was.” I glanced at the man, who still managed to be hotter than should be legal, even in the ridiculous t-shirt Eli had given him.
“Then what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing; just a stupid girl moment.”
“I doubt that. Nothing I’ve seen today suggests you are a stupid girl.”
“I got emotional about a friend I lost recently. She would’ve calmed this little guy down and made him feel safe, better than I can.” I glanced at his shirt and back down at the little body on the table. “Interesting choice in shirts.”
“Eli said this was the only one in my size. It’s ridiculous, but at least I don’t feel like some kind of bloody monster,” he replied. “My name’s Logan, by the way. You’re Heidi, right?”
“Yes. Um, nice to meet you.” Eli had lied, but I couldn’t understand why he’d want to embarrass Logan. If anything, he made the shirt look good. The way his chest pulled the material tight across him made my mouth water, and I kept stealing glances at him, trying not get caught staring. Lord, though, he was beautiful.
“I know I look stupid, but do you have to keep looking at it?”
“It’s hard to make eye contact at this angle without getting a crick in the neck,” I admitted, and he dragged two chairs over.
“Here. I’ll switch you, and you sit for a minute and rest your back. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think of it. Why didn’t you say something?” He slid his hands under mine, and I felt an electric shock as I touched his skin.
“Oh, Heidi isn’t one to complain,” Eli scoffed. “She thinks it makes her as tough as the men if she pretends nothing hurts.”
I stiffened, biting my lip to keep my anger in check.
“Well, I’ve lost a few friends in my life,” Logan said, gazing right into my eyes. “Sometimes the pain is easier when you just don’t talk about it.”
“Oh, my God. It was a dog. You can’t be seriously trying to get his attention for the death of your dog,” Eli said with a laugh.
I flinched and cursed myself. I did everything I could to never give him ammunition. The last thing I needed was him cruelly mocking my grief.
I smiled and shrugged. “Butterscotch was pretty badass,” I said to Logan, refusing to look at Eli. I checked my watch. The doc would arrive any second, and I prayed that it was in the next ten, as I sat between the perplexed-looking Logan, and Eli, with his hard, angry stare.
“I’ve never been as broken as I was when my horse died,” Logan said, and I watched his eyes glass over as he spoke. “God, look at me, I still tear up, and it’s been years.” He laughed at himself and nodded. “He was my best friend, and I left him behind to travel the world. He got sick, and by the time I got home, he was gone.” His brow furrowed, and he looked at me with sad eyes that made me want to put my arms around him. “I’m still working on forgiving myself for that.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, hoping Eli wouldn’t hear me. “It sucks to lose your best friend. Butterscotch was my only friend, so I get it.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I might as well have held out my hand and introduced myself as “Heidi, biggest loser on the planet.”
“I can’t imagine someone who looks like you has no friends,” Logan scoffed. “But I understand what you’re saying. Butterscotch, huh? That would be a good name for a horse.”
“Well, she was a golden retriever, and I was only four when I named her, so, I think no matter what, she would’ve been named after some sort of candy or a Barbie doll.” I laughed. “I didn’t hit my tomboy stride until kindergarten.”
He looked me over. “Never looked back, huh?”
I laughed aloud. “I feel like that was an insult to the uniform, but no, I haven’t.” I grinned as the door opened. “Doc! I’m so glad you’re here.”
He snorted and raised an eyebrow. “No kidding. From the looks of things, you’re trying to branch out into veterinary work. I always said you should come work for me.”
I glanced at Eli, and his face was now flushed. I’d never told him I had offers to leave. Now he knew I stayed to spite him. I couldn’t wait to hear what new insults he had for me, once we were alone.
“Well, after this, I feel like I probably should come for an internship. Apparently, we need more rangers trained in animal triage and emergency care.”
“Yeah, well, now that the doc is here, you think maybe we can go find his mother?” Eli asked, his voice tight and angry.
I glanced at Logan, who watched my boss carefully.
“Yeah, if the little guy is okay, I can take you back to where I found him.” Logan smiled at me. “Switch?”
I nodded and took his place, applying pressure to the wound while the doctor got his instruments out of his medical bag.
“I’ll see you later, Heidi,” Logan said. His smile was warm and real, and made my stomach flutter so much I could only nod in reply. He winked and followed Eli out the door, and I sagged against the table in relief.
“How can three people be too many for a room, Doc?” I asked, working to slow my pulse by taking deep breaths.
“When a beautiful woman is interested in one man and not another, but they’re both looking for something from her, I can imagine being the woman could be very intimidating.” Dr. Seale said.
“I don’t think that’s what happened here, Doc. But I’m sure glad you came.”
He motioned my hands away from the wound and examined the fawn, who laid still even when he began to explore the wound physically.
“Um, Doc, he’s not sedated,” I informed him.
“No, but he’s okay with this, so let’s not, just in case it does more harm than good. Be ready to hold him down if he thrashes, but I think his little body is past that point right now.”
“Is he dying?” I gasped.
“No, but he is in shock and could die if we don’t get him back to the hospital, where I can better assess his needs and provide him with fluids.”
I nodded and grabbed a sled from the corner. “We never use this; will it fit in your car?” I’d brought it in for Butterscotch to ride in when her legs stopped working properly, but it had sat unused since then.
“Perfect. Lift him in there and let’s tie it down. It will easily fit in the front seat of the truck.”
I did as he asked and helped him carry the orange sled out to his truck.
“They’re looking for his mother. If she’s still at the site where he was found, they’ll bring her back and pen her until he’s okay, or…” My voice faded out. I leaned over the fawn and kissed between his eyes. “Just get better, okay? We’ll worry about the rest later.”
Doctor Seale shut him in and rubbed between my shoulders. “You did good, Heidi. Stop questioning yourself so much. You’re smart and good in a crisis. I meant what I said. It’s easy to see that everything isn’t okay here for you. You have somewhere else to go.”
I blushed and looked at the ground as my throat closed off for a moment. “I don’t like being chased from my home because I won’t sleep with someone, especially my boss. But if I can’t take it, I’ll give you a call.”
Doc laughed and tugged my braid. “Shy people are always underestimated as being weak. You are the most stubborn person I know. You’ve been like that since you were this high.” He waved his hand at the level of his hip. “No one knows all you’ve been through. Maybe it’s time you let someone in.”