“Come on, man. You can’t BS me. I used to be you before I met Natalie.”
“Just because you stunned us all by getting yourself hitched to the hot little schoolteacher doesn’t mean the rest of us need to follow in your footsteps down the matrimonial aisle,” Spence said, almost in a panic.
“Well, your brother seems pretty dang happy with his bride,” Hawk pointed out.
“Yeah, well, Alyssa is one of a kind, and after all the hell that Jackson went through, I’m really happy that he ended up finding her. And I can’t complain about my niece. She is simply amazing,” Spence said, getting slightly misty-eyed even thinking about her.
“Well, since you were the one who saved Angel’s life, you think the sun pretty much rises and falls on her,” Hawk said.
“Ah, Hawk, she was a fighter from the moment she was delivered. It didn’t matter that I was the one to do surgery on her, she was—and still is—a champion, and she would have made it no matter what.”
“How in the world can you be such a softie when it comes to your niece and also love your sister-in-law so much, but still not understand the female sex?” Hawk asked, sitting back with a confused look on his face.
“I do understand women. They are essential to our happiness. I just choose to stay with them until the times are no longer fun.”
“Okay, I really want you to explain this one,” Hawk said.
“All relationships start out in the honeymoon phase, where it’s all love and roses, and then when the couple gets comfortable with each other, they start to bicker, and eventually, they can’t stand to even be in the same room anymore,” Spence said, though he didn’t sound convincing.
“So, according to you, Natalie is going to grow two heads and become a monster one of these days?” Hawk questioned.
“No. Won’t happen to you, because you found one of the sane ones,” Spence said.
“And your sister-in-law?”
“Nope. My brother also found one of the good ones.” Spence was emphatic.
“So then, it sounds to me like you’re just full of crap. There seem to be a lot of good ones,” Hawk pointed out.
“Yeah, I think I just might be full of crap,” Spence admitted with a lopsided smile.
“All righty then. If you can admit that, then are you admitting that Sage might just be someone special, too?”
Spence thought a few moments before answering his friend. Did he think Sage was special? Hell yes, he did. She was talented, smart, and funny, and quick on her toes. Did he think the two of them had a future together? It was way too soon to even think about that.
“All I know for sure is that since that moment in the hospital when she looked at me like I was Satan’s love child, I’ve been infatuated with her. I want to get to know her. It’s not a game,” he told his friend.
“Well then, you’d better step it up. I like the girl, but I also like winning, so I won’t have a problem colleting my hundred and fifty,” Hawk said, lightening the mood, making Spence let out a relieved breath.
“Triple or nothing,” Spence said with a wicked grin.
“Ah, it will feel good to take your money,” Hawk said as he stuck out his hand and shook.
“Get this person intubated now!”
The surgical staff moved efficiently around her—completely resourceful, all of them knowing exactly which role they were there to play. Sage was a part of this drama, a part of the process of saving lives. She thrived on it—lived for it. She was where she belonged.
Almost without thought, Sage was tipping the patient’s head back and feeding a tube down his throat. Her hands were steady, her pulse calm. She was performing a procedure she’d done a hundred, maybe even a thousand times—first on dummies, then on real patients.
She still felt a pinch of nerves each time she did such a tricky procedure. It would be very nice when that was no longer the case, when she was as confident as the doctors who had been doing this for years. She would get there—it was only a matter of time.
While the nurses stripped the patient down and threw a hospital gown over him, she focused on the job at hand. That’s why this worked. They all knew their jobs and they moved together as one.
“He needs a unit of blood, stat. That gash on his leg is still bleeding. Let’s get the blood loss stopped.”
Orders. Lots of orders. Shouted orders. Everyone responding. It was awe-inspiring. They were going to save this man’s life, and she was right there, right in the thick of it.
“Dr. Banks, what comes next?”
Sage’s head snapped up as she looked into the eyes of Dr. Snyder, the surgeon who was on call that night. He was new, someone she didn’t know and didn’t feel comfortable with, which made her slightly nervous.
When she didn’t answer, he shouted out his next order. “Finish cleaning that leg wound. I want him in surgery ten minutes ago!”
Sage moved to the patient’s leg and didn’t hesitate at the sight of the protruding bone. This she could handle—blood, bodily fluids, torn skin. From the time Sage was eleven years old, or so her grandma told her, she was meant to be a doctor. That was when she’d brought home a kitten that had been run over and had a nasty wound on its side.
Most kids would have panicked at the sight, but she’d wrapped up the kitten, slowed the loss of blood, and ended up saving its life because she made sure they got it to the vet in time. The vet had been so impressed that she’d let Sage watch through the window as she operated. After this swift trip down memory lane, Sage Banks, MD, pulled herself together again and focused on cleaning John Doe’s wounds.