“Sorry. I…” Mari shook her head. “Not exactly the right time or place.”

Glenn nodded. “You’re right. Your call, anytime.”

“Thanks.”

Glenn wanted to know more. Whatever darkness haunted Mari’s past, every time Mari touched upon it, her eyes filled with sadness. Glenn ached to stanch the pain as much as she ever had a battle wound. Not the place, and not the time. The students filed in and Glenn grabbed the remote for the projector and moved to the head of the table. As she launched into her abbreviated intro at precisely 0700, she watched Mari out of the corner of her eye. When she brought up an aerial shot of the hospital to orient the students to the critical locations, Mari’s attention swung back and forth from the screen to Glenn. She’d given plenty of briefings before, but she’d never enjoyed having an audience. Mari’s attention wasn’t really on her, but she enjoyed the fleeting imagining. Quickly, she pointed out the east administrative wing, the central building with reception, the library and cafeteria, and the six-story west wing with the ER, OR, ICUs, outpatient clinics, and the patient floors.

“And here”—Glenn tapped a spot at the west wing—“will be an open colonnade leading to the building”—she made a circle with her laser pointer a few inches away—“housing the new MRI suite.”

“Nice,” Antonelli said. “When do you think that will be up and running?”

“We hope to break ground before the end of the summer and have the facility opened by late spring.”

“No shi—kidding.” Antonelli whistled. “That’s pushing things. You’ll be lucky if you have your bids in by three months.”

“Got some experience there,” Glenn remarked.

“My old man used to be a general contractor. The company put up a lot of buildings in this area, and there’s pretty stiff competition for something like this.”

Glenn would have agreed if it hadn’t been for Presley Worth. Their new CEO had a way of making things happen a lot faster than anyone else could ever anticipate. She had all the resources of the SunView Health Consortium, a huge international medical consortium headed by her brother, at her command and numerous contacts of her own. In addition to being the CEO of the newly minted Argyle Community Hospital System, she was the head of the eastern division of SunView. Presley had the power to get things done on her timetable and did. As much as Glenn revered Edward Rivers and the entire Rivers family, she was convinced along with most everyone at ACH that Presley Worth was the CEO they needed to keep the Rivers alive and flourishing.

“Until the MRI suite is up and functional,” Glenn said, getting the discussion back on track, “we’ll evaluate traumatic injuries, neurological events, acute abdomens, and the like with CAT scans and X-rays. Most things that require an MRI would be done after the initial evaluation and treatment anyhow.”

“What about the helipad?” asked Baker, a short, serious, steady African American student. “I heard that could be happening a lot sooner.”

Glenn nodded. “You’re all here for three months. There’s a good chance we’ll be taking medevac patients before you’re finished.”

“Oorah,” Antonelli muttered.

Marine, Glenn noted, dimming the lights. “So let’s start with the evaluation of the multiple trauma patient.”

When the hour was over and Glenn finished answering the students’ questions, she waited while they all trooped out to join Mari.

“I imagine that was all pretty boring for you,” Glenn said.

Mari closed her iPad. “Not at all. I think it’s good to know what they know, and what I can expect them to know because I’m absolutely certain they heard it before.”

Glenn laughed. “And so you can remind them when they forget?”

Mari grinned. “Absolutely.”

“Speaking of remembering, or remembering to remind you,” Glenn said, grinning when Mari gave her a confused look, “Carrie informed me I needed to tell you about the hospital staff barbecue this Saturday afternoon. It’s an annual thing. Kind of a celebration of summer and the chance for everyone at the Rivers to get together and celebrate…well, just that we’re all still here, and the hospital is still standing strong.”

Carrie again, Mari thought. “Why the Rivers? Almost everyone calls the place by that name.”

“Flann and Harper’s great-great-great-grandfather founded the place along with a few of the town notables a little over a hundred years ago. There’s been a Rivers as chief of staff here ever since. Their father Edward heads the medical staff now, but since the hospital was sold, Presley actually runs the place.”

“That’s some legacy,” Mari said. “And of course I’ll be there. It sounds like fun and it will give me a chance to meet some of the other people from the hospital.”

“I don’t suppose you play softball, do you?” Glenn surveyed her with unabashed eagerness.

“Ah, no,” Mari said. “Is it a requirement?”

“No, not really.” Glenn sighed. “We’re always looking for new talent. The ER has a team and we play a bunch of other teams from the hospital, and town teams like police and firefighters. Not everybody on our team is actually from the ER—Flann and Harper play for us, and Carrie, she pitches—wicked, wicked pitcher.”

“Aha.” For the first time in her life Mari wished she’d been more into sports instead of clothes when she’d been a teenager. “Sorry. I’m out.”

Glenn laughed. “No problem—we’ll still feed you, but it is a requirement that you come and cheer us on.”

“And when and where would this cheering take place?”

“Usually Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. I’ll take you over to the field the first time.”

“You’re kidding. You play that many games?”

“Only during the spring and summer,” Glenn said seriously.

“That has to be, like, dozens of games.”

“Well, sure. And then there are the playoffs and the finals and the championship game. That winds up by late August.”

“Okay, I can see this is a really big deal around here.”

“Don’t you have sports where you come from?”

“I suppose we do,” Mari said, “but I’ve never paid much attention to it. The professional sports you see on television are so commercialized.”

“What about those five brothers of yours, didn’t they play sports?”

“In high school, sure, and I did go to most of their games. Basketball and soccer. No baseball, though.”

Glenn shook her head. “Philistines.”

Mari smiled. “I hereby promise to be a devoted champion of your team.”

“Your support will be greatly appreciated.” Glenn glanced at her watch. “And I guess it’s time for us to get to it.”

“Thanks again for taking the lecture this morning,” Mari said as she gathered up her things. “I really would’ve been beat if I’d had to stay up much longer.”

“Not a problem.” Glenn searched her face. “You’re okay for a full shift? Over the jet lag?”

“I’m absolutely fine,” Mari said, certain from the glimpse of worry in Glenn’s gaze she’d been right to keep some things to herself. “Let’s go clear the board.”

*

Abby tapped on Presley’s door at a little before eight. She knew Presley would be in, since she kept longer hours than most of the staff. She was behind her desk with her laptop open, her cell phone by her right hand, an iPad propped up against a stack of folders, and a supersize coffee in her left hand. She looked, as always, impeccable in a navy silk blazer and open-collared white silk shirt. A multistrand gold necklace rested just below her collarbone and a square-cut diamond glittered on the ring finger of her left hand. Her blond hair was swept back from her face and fell to just above her shoulders in thick easy waves. She smiled when she saw Abby peer in the doorway. “Hey, come on in.”

“Busy? Of course you are busy.” Abby made for the chair across from Presley. “How many worlds have you conquered this morning already?”

“Only a few,” Presley said, laughing. “What’s going on? Problem in the unit?”

“No, the ER’s fine. Well, we could always use more money, more personnel, more space—” Abby grimaced. “Really, we’re full most of the time and believe me, I’m glad for it, but if we increase our trauma call, we are badly going to need more rooms. Plus the MRI…”

“I’m working on it.”

“Believe me, I know that and I’m appreciative,” Abby said. “This is something personal. It won’t take long.”

Presley immediately sat forward, pushing aside her computer as if whatever major undertaking she’d just been involved in was completely unimportant to her. Her gaze fixed on Abby. “Is something wrong between you and Flann?”

“No, God no. Everything’s fine.” She blushed. “Ridiculous, I know, but perfect is the word I use in my head.”

“Blake is okay?”

“Blake is thriving. Somehow”—she shook her head—“he’s talked me into letting him and Margie volunteer in the ER this summer. If you and Harper agree.”

“I’ll discuss it with Harper and legal, but I don’t see a problem there.” Presley grinned. “The two of them are scary when they get their heads together.”

“Thank God it’s good scary.”

“Amen. So—what do you need?”

Abby didn’t have much time and she knew Presley didn’t either. “Flann wants to get married.”

“Of course she does, she’s more of a nester than Harper and doesn’t have a clue,” Presley said. “She took one look at you and Blake and knew where she belonged.”

Abby’s heart lurched. She hadn’t ever expected to need anyone the way she needed Flann, the way she loved her—body and soul. “She has been using the M-word from day one.”

“And is there a problem?” Presley’s question was gentle. “I know we lost touch for a while, but I think I can read happy all over you.”

“Oh no—I mean, yes, I couldn’t be happier. It’s just that you know Flann—her idea of a proposal is let’s get married and today would be time enough.”

Presley laughed. “Yeah, that’s Flann.”

“I’ve managed to hold her off for a month or so, but I don’t want this to interfere with what you and Harper have planned. After all, you got there first, so to speak.”

“Abby,” Presley said with a shake of her head, “I think it’s great. Harper will be beside herself. And so will Edward and Ida. Besides, I can’t wait to help plan your wedding.”

“Oh, please, anything you can do. Everything.” Abby pushed a hand through her hair, relief pouring through her. “I don’t know anything about weddings.”

“We’ll be old hands at it by the time Harper and I get around to it in—God, is it really only two weeks? We’ve got so much to do, we need another meeting.”

“Brunch this weekend?”

“At the latest.”

“I’ll gather the troops and let everyone know where and when.” Abby stood. “Thank you, thank you.”

Presley came around her desk and gave Abby a quick hug. “I am so happy for you. Flann is fabulous.”

“I really love her,” Abby said quietly. “And so does Blake.”

“Well, Flann is lucky to have you both. Is it a secret?”

“I don’t think Flann has told her parents yet, and we haven’t told Blake, so I’d keep it quiet for a while.”

Carrie said from the doorway, “Keep what quiet?”

Abby looked over her shoulder. “Flann and I are getting married.”

Carrie gave a little victory wiggle. “Good for you. Congratulations. Oh boy, another wedding!”

Abby thought about all she had to do in the ER, and her son who still had to find his way emotionally, physically, and in the community, and stemmed the rising panic. “Oh boy, indeed.”

Chapter Eleven

The board was full all morning and Mari ran from cubicle to cubicle seeing patients, checking on the students, and tracking down Abby or another ER doc for final sign-off on her own and the students’ cases. They were good students, responsible and caring, but they were still students. They had no idea what they didn’t know and were flush with coming out of the classroom where they thought they had learned everything there was to know. She’d felt the same way her first few days on her clinical rotations. Around eleven thirty, a quick wave of dizziness when she stood up after spending a precious fifteen minutes at a table in the little break room with a cup of tea while charting her last discharge notes reminded her she hadn’t had anything to eat since the croissant and coffee at six in the morning. She really did need to pay more attention to eating. She couldn’t do much about fretful sleeping or her frenetic pace in the ER—that was the job, after all—but she could at least try to eat. Her appetite still was nothing like it used to be, and some flavors and smells had gone off for her completely. Thank God, she still loved pizza.

Thinking about pizza made her think of Glenn, and she got that odd little twinge of heat in the center of her chest that seemed to be happening every time she thought of her or heard her voice in the hall outside a curtained room or caught a glance of her, leaning a shoulder casually against the wall while conferring with Abby or one of the students. She always looked so confident, so focused, so…sexy. Oh, hell. She had no time for out-of-the-blue thoughts like that, and no place for what they might lead to. Not for a long, long time.