You Look Different
Except for the humming from all the equipment, the emergency room was quiet. It was as if the residents of Larkspur County had a gauge that determined when it would be a good time to have a traumatic injury.
Pam refused to trust her eyes. They had tricked her into thinking she could walk across a parking lot with some sense of dignity. She was not about to make the same mistake twice in such a short amount of time. Her eyes scanned the quiet and empty waiting room suspiciously. The magazines and newspapers stacked neatly on the table beside the faux leather lounge chairs confirmed her prior assessment. The E.R. was empty.
Nancy came out from around the nurses' station and stopped when she saw Pam leaning on Jorgen for support. With a voice full of accusation, Nancy launched into the tirade Pam fully expected. “You told me you were okay.”
Slightly annoyed with what had just happened, Pam pointed toward the door with her head. “I was until I got to the parking lot.”
Nancy’s attention shifted as she peeked out the window. “John’s getting ready to plow as we speak.”
Rachel, the other nurse on duty, stepped around the counter and disappeared into the triage room across the hall. Pam figured that she was getting things ready for her visit. She returned to the conversation with Nancy. “I bet they caught the fall on the security cameras.”
Nancy’s didn’t fall for Pam’s attempt at diversion. Her eyes searched Pam’s body for signs of injury.
“What hurts?”
“My ego,” Pam grinned shyly. She quickly added, “I better not see footage of that fall on Facebook.”
Jorgen guffawed.
Nancy rolled her eyes at the joke and motioned for Pam to walk in the direction of the triage room.
The idea of the searing pain coming back to life momentarily paralyzed Pam. Nancy had nearly reached the entrance to the room when she turned to see Pam hadn’t followed. She issued a disapproving eye raise that begged to know what it was about Jorgen that kept her friend pinned to him. Pam exhaled slowly to control her nerves and stepped away from Jorgen who she had been using as an anchor.
Nancy’s facial expression changed with the additional information. She held up her hand in a stop motion. “Let me get a wheelchair for you.” Before Pam had a chance to respond, Nancy disappeared through the door and returned with the rolling chair. “And, I don’t want an argument.” She tapped the arm of the chair. “This will make moving around much easier.”
Pam held onto Jorgen’s arm and stepped away from him with her strong leg. She cringed inside. The last thing she wanted was for Jorgen to see her like this. She was the type of person who helped people through their pain. Receiving help did not feel as good as giving it.
Nancy circled to help Pam into the seat. When she was directly behind her, she locked the chair in place. Pam had barely settled into the seat when Nancy stepped on the lever to loosen the lock. With Jorgen’s parting words, “I know you’ll take good care of her,” as a cue, Nancy wheeled Pam to the triage room for the initial examination.
They barely crossed through the triage room door when the interrogation began. “What in the name of all that’s good have you gotten yourself into?” Nancy wagged her finger at Pam. “I told you he was nothing but bad news.”
“Nothing happened.” To Nancy’s suspicious glare she replied, “Really.” Pam tried to step out of the chair to make her way to the scale. The look in Nancy’s eyes said, “don’t bother,” so Pam returned to sitting in the chair.
Nancy wrapped the blue blood pressure cuff around the middle of Pam’s arm. She tested the Velcro to make sure it stuck. “I wouldn’t blame you if it did. There’s something about these Montana men that makes a woman lose her mind. I should know. I married one.” She pressed on the bulb to add pressure. “Nothing happened, my foot. I can tell by the way the man is looking at you something happened.” Nancy scowled, “Your blood pressure is a little high.”
Pam rolled her eyes.
“What?” Nancy pleaded for an explanation.
“Is there anything else I need to know about my poor character?” Her clothes were soaked and muddy from the fall. She was cold, and the throbbing in her ankle and shoulder were getting the best of her. “You just assumed that something happened.”
“Describe your symptoms.” It was a classic Nancy move. Whenever she was losing an argument, she changed the subject.
“I think I broke my ankle when I stepped out of the pickup.”
“So, you two didn’t meet up after the brewery for some adult time?”
“You think I’m the type of person that adult times with a person she just met?” It was more of an accusation than a question.
Nancy shrunk. “Give a woman a break. Half the women in the next three counties would have played adult time with him.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “If I weren’t happily married, I’d be one of them.”
“You would?” Pam's mouth fell open, and she quickly closed it. Nancy had been so vehement in her dissuasion, hearing that she thought Jorgen was attractive was the last thing Pam expected.
“If my Clark wasn’t such a cutie, definitely.” A sly grin punctuated Nancy’s nod.
“Oh,” Pam didn’t have a retort. Instead, she offered a grin to show she accepted the peace offering from her friend. “Well, I didn’t.”
“Too bad for you.” Nancy giggled.
Pam joined in the laugh. It was moments like these that reminded her why they were such good friends. They didn’t have to be perfect; they just needed to be real.
The moment passed, and Nancy returned to the examination. She poked the Pam’s shoulder and asked, “On a scale of one to ten how much did that hurt?”
“A two.” She’d been in worse pain before. So, it wasn’t like she was lying.
Nancy took a deep breath. “Okay. With ten being the highest, and one being you could walk out of here without any medical attention, how would you score the pain?” She took on a stoical expression that said, “I will ask the question a different way until you tell the truth.”
Sighing in resignation, Pam grumbled, “A seven. It hurts like a seven. Are you happy now?”
“Yes,” Nancy gave her an I got you grin. She tapped Pam on the hand and added, “Noah should be here any second.”
Pam knew Nancy was happy he was the doctor on call. Her friend had been trying to get Pam to talk to him ever since he agreed to work with the hospital. “You mean Doctor Flynn?” Pam corrected.
“Yes, Doctor Flynn.” Nancy winked. "I heard he has a nice bedside manner too.”
With the air cleared between the two friends, Nancy happily wheeled Pam to Jorgen, so she could say goodbye and thank him. The two friends were so enmeshed in their conversation they didn’t realize what they were walking into until it was too late.
Jorgen had his arms folded and rested on the nurse’s station counter. He was talking about something with Rachel. His smile connoted a familiarity that struck a jealous nerve in Pam. The friends didn’t know what led up to this point in the conversation. And it didn’t matter to Pam. She heard the dismissive tone and saw the flirty smile when he said to Rachel, “No, we are just friends. I got involved when she obviously did not know how to handle the situation.”
A buzzing sound in her head cut off the rest of the conversation. Not once in the time they were together had Pam felt like his kindness was mercy. Hospitality, yes. Like he felt sorry for her no.
They slept in the same couch and talked for hours. He told her all about his childhood and asked her questions about hers. She didn’t know whether to be offended at his dismissal of their time together or hurt by his perception of her. The last time a man talked about her in that tone of voice, he left her. She didn’t expect an engagement ring, but she hoped Jorgen would have spoken about her with a minor degree of fondness. Like she was a friend he enjoyed passing the time with. Similar to Mark, Jorgen had deemed her unnecessary to his future. She had no words. They left her.
At this point, Jorgen and Rachel pulled away from their conversation to acknowledge Pam and Nancy.
Nancy maintained her neutral nurse demeanor when she said, “We need to take her for some x-rays. I’ll get her taken care of from here.”
Pam forced herself to smile. “Once again, thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.”
She almost got motion sickness from how quickly Nancy rolled the chair to get away from Jorgen.
When they were far enough away to be out of ear shot, Nancy leaned in and whispered, “I’m sorry I doubted you.”