After a long stretch of silence, Dr. Lewis spoke again. “Lucky guy here. There won’t be any permanent damage. He’ll need therapy, but he’ll walk again. No severe bone or nerve damage. The bullet seems to have made a clean exit out without hitting anything serious. Send a notice to the surgeon upstairs that he needs to be stitched up.”
I let out a relieved sigh, causing Dr. Lewis to stare at me again. A flush rose over my cheeks.
“Hackett?”
I gave a start at him saying my last name. “Yes?”
“You almost looked more panicked than our patient did when he first came in. Word of advice—if this kind of thing is too much stress for you, maybe you should reconsider your line of work.”
I blinked and felt a flush spreading across my face again, but this time, it was purely from rage. I cleared my throat. “I beg your pardon, doctor. But as I’ve said before, you should refrain from making assessments you are in no position to make—be in the type of bullet wound, or my competence as a military nurse. So a word of advice for you—stick to what you know.”
The room fell so silent, the beeping of the patient’s heart monitor practically sounded like a siren. One of the other nurses attempted to pass the tablet to another, but dropped it, her eyes too busy darting between me and Dr. Lewis.
“Sorry,” she said hastily, kneeling to retrieve it, but the other nurse—Lester—beat her to it.
Gripping the tablet in his hands, Lester cleared his throat. “No offense, Dr. Lewis—but Kylie really is one of the best nurses we have here. So if she ever left this line of work, it would be a real tragedy.”
Dr. Lewis shot Lester an annoyed glance and then turned back to the patient.
I caught Lester’s eye and nodded in appreciation. “I’ll take that,” I said, reaching for the tablet. “Can someone read out his vital signs, please?”
I proceeded to record the patient’s information, deciding to let someone else take over handing Dr. Lewis the tools he needed because I suddenly wasn’t keen on having any additional interaction with him.
“Good work, team,” Dr. Lewis said after a while. “Put out the notice that Neal can be sent up to a room awaiting surgery. Has his family been located and contacted?”
I glanced up from the tablet, dumbfounded. Dr. Lewis looked toward me, a challenging gleam within his gaze. “Yes?” he said.
I lowered the tablet. “You haven’t finished examining this patient. His whole body has to be examined, not just the area with the noticeable wound.” I looked around to my fellow nurses for backup, but they remained suspiciously quiet, some of them looking positively scandalized. Only Megan looked at me and nodded, encouraging me to go on. I shook my head and laughed though I found the situation far from humorous. “Unbelievable,” I muttered, realizing they were all too intimidated to speak. This was yet another reason I appreciated Dr. Nehru; she had taught me to follow my instincts and never be afraid to speak up on a patient’s behalf, even to the doctor in charge.
“What is it that you feel is unfinished, Ms. Hacket?” Dr. Lewis said. “The patient is stabilized. His vitals are good. He is expected to make a full recovery in due time. Surely, you can see that.”
I pursed my lips together and took a deep breath. Perhaps it was just my imagination that made me think Dr. Lewis’s eyes had briefly lowered to my chest…
I swallowed before speaking, staring him straight in those deep seductive eyes of his. “You should be well aware that it is standard procedure to give the patient a thorough whole-body examination, not just solely concentrate on the area of the GSW. Although he appears to be fine otherwise, we have to be certain nothing is overlooked.”
I set the tablet down and approached the patient, ready to complete his examination even if I had to do it alone. All the while, I thought Dr. Lewis’s eyes would burn a hole in my head. But instead, after what felt like forever, he approached the patient again.
“Step aside, Hackett,” he said, and then proceeded to complete the examination.
The other nurses watched with bated breath until it was over.
“He’s fine.” Dr. Lewis glanced at me one last time before removing his gloves and leaving the area without saying another word.
“Good job, Kylie. Nehru would be proud,” Megan said, patting me on the shoulder.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat, attempting to ignore the obvious tension in the room. “Has Neal’s family been contacted?” I asked, mainly to fill the silence.
“Yes, I believe they’re on the phone now. Where are you going?”
“To go talk to them myself,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure that’s where Dr. Lewis just went.”
I paused. “Oh…Okay.”
Megan shook her head and laughed. “Kylie, please don’t get yourself in trouble.”
I recalled the way Dr. Lewis looked at me before he left. “I think it’s already too late for that.”