“That’s going to need to go while I do this, but you can cover your…” I pointed at my chest, aware that Connor was probably still listening in, “with your t-shirt.”
“Can’t you just use tape?” she asked, eyeing the item in question.
“I don’t want to run the risk of putting tape on a burned area or sensitive skin. I’ve seen what happens when someone does that, and trust me, I’m doing you a kindness right now using this.”
Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “I need a hand with the back of it.”
Leaning over her back, I undid it as carefully as I could and then helped her remove her arms from the straps.
I’d just begun wrapping the bandage around her when Connor decided it was story time.
“I had sunburn once. I went to Mexico with my friends to celebrate my twenty-fifth birthday, got drunk, and woke up the next morning with these huge blisters on my shoulder because I’d messed up with the sunblock.”
You’d be amazed how often that happened.
“So I found a doctor near the house we’d rented, and he puts this cream on it and sticks a dressing over the area. The problem was, some of the skin he put the tape on hadn’t blistered at that stage, but it was going to in the future—”
Ariana shuddered, knowing what was coming next.
“—The next day, I went to take the dressing off to put more of the stuff he’d given me on it, and I ended up ripping the blistered skin off with the tape. Swear it felt like someone was tearing my arm off.”
Looking up at me in alarm, Ariana whispered, “Don’t put tape on it ever. Promise me.”
“That’s why I’m using a bandage.”
Looking back over at the curtain, she asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
“Sharing is caring, girl. Thought we’d bond over burned skin.”
Rubbing her lips together, she stayed quiet while I finished bandaging her up. It was only a thin bandage that lightly anchored the dressing in place, so it didn’t take me long. By the time I’d taped the end in place and was doing up the fastening of her bra, she’d decided what she wanted to say back to him.
“If I ever break the law and need to be arrested, can you make sure you’re not the one to do it?”
“And my work here is done,” he sighed, followed by the sound of his curtain opening.
I was helping her put her t-shirt back on as Chris—the doctor I’d gone to visit Ari at work with—said, “Well, mine isn’t. Good to see you, Connor.”
“Ah, hell,” he groaned. “Why do I always get you?”
“Because I’m awesome, that’s why,” Chris shot back. “I swear, I only saw you two weeks ago. So, how did you end up with glass stuck in your shin, man?”
It turns out, one of the RTAs we’d had come in earlier had been responsible for Connor’s mishap. He’d gotten out of his vehicle to assist the paramedics, tripped on his shoelace, and landed on some of the glass from the vehicle’s windows.
“How stupid can one man be?” Ariana mumbled as she got her shit together.
Archer had come back to see how she was doing and was now talking to Connor while he got the glass removed and stitches put into the wound, so I used the opportunity to give her a quick kiss.
“Accidents like that happen all the time,” I told her, my mind on her burn still.
I wasn’t lying, burn care on one like she had was very much a case of personal preference for doctors. Sure, we had a list of options to go for, and each burn was different, but I’d be lying if I said that most doctors would’ve done what I’d done for hers. I had a personal and emotional investment in her wellbeing, though, so I’d gone slightly over the top. Did I give a shit what anyone would say about that? No. Anyone treating someone that meant to them what she meant to me would give it that bit extra.
Turning around, she looked at me closely. “Are you okay?”
Checking the time on my watch, I saw I still had two hours to go. “I will be once this shift is over. Are you still up for seeing the kids tomorrow afternoon?” Before she could answer, I added, “You won’t be able to hold them because of your chest, but you can still play with them.”
“It won’t be the same not getting hugs from them,” she replied, the smallest pout on her lips.
“I’ll bring some hand soap and hand sanitizer so we can clean you up properly if you touch them.”
“If I touch them? Isn’t that overkill?”
Taking the three steps that separated us, I lifted her chin with the tip of my finger and kissed her gently. “Nothing happens to you, Ari, including the risk of infection.”