Cedar Bluff's Most Eligible Bachelor (Cedar Bluff Hospital) Read Online Free PDF Page A

guys on staff, he had less reason to need anyone to cover him, but he didn’t mind.
    Work was his salvation.
    When Simon walked into the ED a few hours later, controlled chaos reigned.
    Apparently several staff members were sick with flu, so they were working short-handed. Even with the tight staffing, he was surprised to see that Hailey had been assigned to work trauma with him.
    Not that Hailey wasn’t a capable nurse. She’d certainly proved herself with the McLeod case. But Cedar Bluff’s policy was not to put their new nurses into the trauma bay until after six months. Hailey had come to them with trauma experience, though, and from a level-one trauma center to boot, so maybe that was why they’d made an exception in her case.
    Secretly thrilled to discover he was working with Hailey after all, he crossed over to talk to Quinn Torres, the day-shift physician in the trauma bay, to find out what was going on.
    “Hey, Simon,” Quinn greeted him. “It’s been steady all day, but nothing too overwhelming. The biggest issue is staffing. For second shift the trauma team is also covering team one.”
    Double duty. He grimaced at the news, knowing there would be delays with patients in team one if emergency cases arrived. There was nothing they could do, though, other than their best. “All right. What’s the disposition with this guy?” he asked, glancing at the patient who was currently in the trauma bay, hooked up to a cardiac monitor and a ventilator. He noticed Hailey was there getting a report from Claire, the day-shift nurse.
    “Fifty-eight-year-old guy with a GI bleed. We’ve dumped several units of blood and fresh frozen plasma into him, so he’s stable for the moment. We’re waiting on an ICU bed—hopefully should get one within the next fifteen minutes or so,” Quinn replied. “They’re moving someone out to make room.”
    “So are all hospital beds tight or just critical care beds?” he asked. Without open-floor beds and ICU beds, patient dispositions took much longer, causing back-ups in the ED. Not good on a day when they were already short-staffed.
    “Just critical care,” Quinn assured him. “And I think they’re moving a couple of patients out, so you should be fine.”
    “Okay. Anything else about this guy I need to know?”
    “Not really,” Quinn murmured, glancing over at the patient. “We have an H/H pending and there are four units of PRBCs and four units of fresh frozen plasma on hand if you need them.”
    “Sounds good.”
    “Excellent,” Quinn said, slapping Simon on the back. “Have a good night, because I know I will.”
    Simon had to laugh. “Is that your way of saying Leila is off tonight, too?”
    “Yes, and Kane Ryerson is the surgeon on call tonight. Don’t you dare page Leila unless you have a code-yellow situation,” Quinn threatened.
    A code yellow was a disaster call, something they’d never had to implement in time he’d been there. “Don’t worry, we won’t.”
    After Quinn had left, he went over to stand at the foot of the patient’s gurney, taking note of the most recent vital signs flashing across the screen. Hailey was performing a physical assessment, her head bent down as she listened to his heart and lungs. His fingers itched to tuck the silky strands of blonde hair behind her ear.
    He dragged his gaze away with an effort. So what if he thought she was incredibly attractive? Just the fact that she was a nurse on staff made her off-limits.
    “Ah, Dr—I mean, Simon?”
    He inwardly cursed when just the sound of his name in her voice made his gut tighten with awareness. Get a grip! She’s off-limits!
    “What do you need?” he asked, glancing up from the computer screen and keeping his expression neutral.
    “His hemoglobin hasn’t come up much—it’s 7.8 now and was 7.5 before the blood transfusion,” Hailey informed him. “Do you want me to start another unit?”
    “Yes, that should work. Hopefully he’ll be transferred upstairs to