Falling Snow (11 page)

“Good point.”

“Anyway, I usually hide from downtown when the tourists are out. The locals don’t really bother me too much, just a simple hey or good luck here or there.”

They got a small table by the window inside the tiny restaurant. Cason was still studying the menu when Adler ordered for both of them. When the waitress walked away Cason set the menu to the side and studied the woman across from her. Adler had the signature lazy smile on her face that almost looked like a grin. Her bluish-green eyes were just too much to look at Cason felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her chest swell. She was in trouble.

“Are you mad at me for ordering your lunch?” Adler asked.

“No.” Cason looked back at her. “We have a lot of the same tastes. You read my mind.”

“You looked at me strangely just now.”

“I did?” Cason shrugged it off. “So, what do we do when Harvey gets the okay on the proofs?”

“We take the outfits they chose and go up on the mountain. He’ll get a few shots of me standing around and then motion shots of me free riding. Usually, they only want two or three outfits so it should go pretty quickly. Harvey’s really good, he gets the shot and moves on. I can take you home of you don’t want to go.”

“Of course I want to go. Are you kidding? I love watching you snowboard and to get to see you free ride is pretty cool. What mountain are we going to?”

“The last time we did this we were in the pipe, but since I’m free riding we are going to my sweet spot. We have to hike a little bit to get there, but you will like the view and he will go ape shit for the shots he’s going to be able to get.”

***

Cason stretched out on her couch with a glass of bourbon. Her mind drifted back to the crazy day she spent with Adler. She was completely blown away when they finally made it to the mountain. Cason wasn’t lying about the secret spot. Harvey was literally salivating as he set up on the side of one of the small jumps to catch Adler in midair throwing a trick. Cason watched in awe as Adler rode down the mountain spinning and flipping through the air off of each jump in front of them on three separate occasions in three different outfits. She was amazed at the amount of effort it took to get through a photo shoot for a pro athlete. It was a lot more than taking a few simple pictures. Cason envied Adler’s patience. She wanted to beg off when Adler invited her for dinner, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could be around her without kissing her. She had never been more mentally and physically attracted to anyone in her life. The more time she spent with Adler Troy the harder she fell. She was glad they stopped at a restaurant instead of one of them cooking. She just couldn’t handle the intimacy of sitting on Adler’s couch with her two feet away looking into her eyes.

She drank the rest of the bourbon in her glass hoping it would chase away the stolen images of Adler’s sexy, slender body and six pack abs. Her mind was stuck on one in particular of Adler in her light blue satin bra, a pair of light grey ski pants slung low on her hips and black snowboard boots. That incredibly hot look was forever burned into her mind she was sure of it. She knew Adler caught her looking when she casually paused and that lazy smile spread across her face making her look even sexier. She was sure she would die of either internal combustion or sensory overload soon. Thankfully, she was leaving in just over two weeks. She would leave Adler Troy behind and go home.

Nineteen

Cason’s last two weeks in Aspen were flying by. Adler was gone to Canada for two separate competitions and wouldn’t be back until a couple days before she had to leave. The hospital wasn’t busy, but she a few skiing accidents and car accidents that at least gave her something to do. Serena found herself on a different schedule again, by coincidence this time, Cason didn’t mind however. The peace and quiet was kind of nice. She was actually kind of glad Adler was out of town, she was getting dangerously close to her.

“Dr. Macauley.” One of the nurses called her name. Cason was sitting on the leather couch in the doctor’s lounge watching the clock tick by.

“What’s up?” She said as she stood and stretched.

“We have a downed skier coming in. Looks like a young male with possible head and neck injuries. He’s coming in by helicopter.”

Cason ran passed her towards the elevator. “Tell Dr. Smith I’ll be on the roof.” She yelled back.

When the chopper arrived Cason ran through the double doors with only a pair of scrubs, and an under shirt, and sneakers on. Her adrenaline level was sky high and she never felt the bitter cold stinging her face and hands from the wind of the rotor blades.

“Seventeen year old male crashed into a tree head first on one of the slopes.” The EMT said as he pulled the stretcher out of the helicopter. “He was wearing a helmet, but his forehead took the brunt of the impact.”

“Let’s get him into ER One.” She said as she visually assessed the situation. His face was bloody and lacerated pretty bad. He had an open gash across his forehead that would need about thirty stitches. She shined the pin light in his eyes and his pupils were the same size, but extremely indicating a head injury. When they got the backboard moved onto a gurney she released the EMT’s and went to work. He was breathing on his own but his oxygen level was low.

“CT is ready for him.” The nurse assisting Cason was on the phone with radiology.

“Go ahead and send him up. Get a cervical spine scan as well. Also, go ahead and get a full spinal x-ray.”

Cason watched as he was wheeled away. She hoped she wasn’t right, sometimes she hated being right all the time. She hung out at the nurse’s station waiting for the results. She had already talked to his parents who were apparently skiing with him and witnessed his crash into the tree. They told Cason he was an avid skier and had been down that same slope at least three times that week. They were there on vacation from Arizona. Cason had them sign all of the release forms just in case he needed to be rushed right into surgery. Cason’s mind wandered to Adler, she hoped she was safe. Every snow related accident made her think of the beautiful blond daredevil.

When the phone rang Cason snatched it up. “Dr. Macauley.”

“Hey, this is Dr. Bennett in radiology. Your patient is on the way back. I just uploaded his scans and his x-rays are coming back with him. His C4 and C5 are crushed and pushing on the spinal cord. He has a hematoma on the frontal lobe of his brain that is bleeding with minimal swelling at the moment. My notes with the scans are a little more detailed, but that’s the gist of it. That kid’s in pretty bad shape.”

Cason rushed him straight into surgery and fused his spinal cord with rods in hopes that it would relieve the pressure on his spinal cord and maybe if he was lucky he would get some movement back. She left him in a medically induced coma and put him in ICU to watch his brain over the next few hours. She hoped this kid would turn around during the night. She was on shift until the middle of the next day so she spent all night checking him. When his brain function showed a dangerously low level of oxygen and blood flow she sent him for an MRI scan.

At two a.m. the neurologist on call helped her perform a craniectomy to remove a piece of his skull to try to reduce to pressure in his brain. It was a last minute resort and a very risky procedure. She had only done this procedure one other time and it was successful. She wasn’t really the praying kind, but she did silently ask for a little help with this patient.

When he was moved back to ICU she stayed at his bedside constantly watching the monitor attached to the wire lead inside the open part of his skull measuring the pressure in his brain. Every hour she noted the pressure rate in his chart. The swelling hadn’t stopped and the MRI scan she ordered at six a.m. showed very little brain activity.

At eight a.m. he was pronounced brain dead and taken off the respirator. Cason stood next to his parents in his room as he took his last breath. She’d lost patients, more than she cared to count, but this was the hardest loss she had ever faced as a medical professional. It hurt, it hurt so damn bad she left the room and went straight to the roof. The helicopter sat silently in the freezing cold with a fine sheet of snow on it. The sun was shining bright, gleaming off the snow in all directions. Maybe this is what death was like, all bright and shiny, but to her it was dark and cold. She wiped away the tears that fell, tears over her failed attempt to save a life, tears for a grieving family, and tears because she just needed to let her guard down for the first time in a long time. The first few years she cried for every patient she lost, but eventually she grew the thick skin that came with being a trauma doctor.

***

Cason finally fell asleep on the soft bed in her condo after being up the entire night. She gracefully finished her shift with little or no conversation with most of the other hospital staff. As soon as she got to her condo she showered and crawled into bed. She stared at the ceiling for so long she wasn’t even sure what time it was when she finally dozed off. She wanted to smash her cell phone when it rang. She hoped it wasn’t the hospital with another trauma, she didn’t think she had the strength at the moment.

“Dr. Macauley.” She said without looking at the phone. She was already thinking about going back to the hospital when she heard the sweet voice on the other end of the line.

“Hey stranger,” Adler said.

“Hey.” Cason laid back down in the bed. “I miss you.” She whispered softly. Then, all of a sudden she realized she just said that out loud. “I mean…”

“I miss you too.” Adler said. “I qualified first, but a few of these girls are riding sick.”

“You’re great Adler, I’m sure you will throw down an awesome run.”

“Yeah, thanks. The finals are in a couple of hours so I thought I’d see how you were doing. You’re not at the hospital are you?”

“No. I’m lying in my bed actually.”

“Oh really,” Adler’s voice dropped slightly, but Cason noticed the change. “It’s only five o’clock.”

“I had a really bad night at the hospital and didn’t get to sleep. My shift ended a couple hours ago so I came home and went to bed.”

“That sucks. What happened? Don’t tell me that crazy nurse bothered you all night.”

“A teenage skier came in with a bad head injury and a broken neck. I did everything I could,” Cason stared at the ceiling. “He died early this morning.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry Cason.”

“I’m okay, now. It never gets any easier, but I sort of got use to the circumstances of my job. This one really tore me up, I guess because he was just a kid, only seventeen.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say. I’m just really sorry. There is nothing safe about skiing or snowboarding, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry I told you this when you’re there competing. I’m not thinking, I haven’t slept in about thirty hours.”

“It’s okay. I know the dangers. I’m actually sorry I’m not there for you right now.”

“I’m fine. To be honest, I’ve only lost four people here in my four years and two were car accidents. I’ve lost more than four in a week alone from all kinds of things at home in Denver. We get car accidents, shootings, and all kinds of other crazy things. This shouldn’t have bothered me the way it did. I guess sometimes you have to come back down to reality to remain sane and remember you’re only human.” She knew she was upset because it was a kid, but at the same time the back of her mind was thinking of Adler and that triggered her emotions. She silently kicked herself for letting that happen.

“Yeah, I bet you see a lot of stuff there. I should let you get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how did. I should be home in a few days.”

“Good luck Adler. Kick ass and take names.” Cason said before she hung up. She needed to go back to Denver before she really screwed up and let her feelings slip out.

Twenty

Cason was heading back to Denver in two days, but she found herself at Adler’s townhouse waiting for her to answer the knock. She wanted to turn down the dinner invitation when Adler called the day before. How was she going to go back to her life and leave this amazing chapter behind? How would she let go?

“Hey stranger,” Adler opened the door in jeans, a thin, beige, three-quarter sleeve scallop-necked shirt, and bare feet. Her dazzling smile tugged at Cason’s heart. She quickly threw her arms around Cason’s neck when she stepped inside. Cason wrapped her arms the warm, slender body and inhaled her citrusy scent. A single moment that was wrong in so many ways felt so damn right. Cason closed her eyes. The embrace only lasted a second or two, but it was long enough for Cason to drop her guard and that scared her.

“So,” Cason said as she took her jacket and snow boots off. “Something smells good.”

“It’s just a simple pasta dish with vegetables and chicken.” Adler said on her way back to the kitchen. Cason loved the open floor plan of the first floor. It reminded her of her condo in Denver. She watched Adler pour her a glass of wine.

“At this point, I’d eat the ass end of a horse if you said that’s what was cooking. I think I’ve eaten more TV dinners over the last two months than I care to admit.” She smiled and accepted the glass.

“Here’s to new beginnings.” Adler said.

Cason nodded. “I’ll drink to that.”

“So you leave in two days?”

“Yeah, I go on shift tomorrow afternoon and work until the following morning and I should be relieved sometime before lunch. I’ll pack everything up in the morning so I can just go from the hospital.”

“Wow. It’s sounds so final.”

“I’ve been doing this for four years so it’s kind of routine I guess.” She sipped her wine and sat on a stool across from the counter to watch Adler finish cooking their dinner. “So, you didn’t tell me about Calgary.”