The Nurse's Holiday Swap
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Ann McIntosh
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CHAPTER ONE
OUTSIDE HIS KITCHEN window the morning sky was gray and the bare branches of the maple tree whipped in the cold December wind. The aspect did nothing to improve Dr. Javier Pascal’s rather sour mood as he contemplated the day ahead.
The hospital board meeting the night before had been fractious. The chief of surgery’s complaint against pediatric surgeon Ben Murphy had been clearly valid, and Ben’s previous infractions hadn’t helped. Although Ben was admittedly the most skilled pediatric surgeon at Boston Beacon Hospital, his surly attitude had strained everyone’s patience to the breaking point.
Even Javi’s, and that took quite a bit of doing.
Being head of Pediatrics meant it fell to Javi to tell the surgeon he had until the end of the year to change his behavior. If he didn’t, they’d have to let him go.
It certainly wasn’t the way Javi wanted to start the month leading up to Christmas.
Plus, one of their nurses had given a week’s notice, and another, Abbie, had decided to take a sabbatical to Hawaii, switching places with a nurse from Molokai. That new temporary nurse was fully qualified, of course, but also an unknown quantity, and Javi didn’t much care for disruptions in the smooth running of his department.
His need for order and routine was already being severely tested today, and he hadn’t even gotten up from the breakfast table.
“Papi?”
Realizing he’d been staring out the window rather than concentrating on his plate or his daughter, Javi gave himself a mental shake and, forcing a smile, turned his gaze to meet Mabel’s.
“Yes, mija?”
“Will you take me Christmas shopping?”
Ouch.
The day was going from bad to worse.
He felt his smile wavering, and shored it up through sheer willpower.
“I thought you were going with Oma?”
Mabel’s eyebrows twitched together, but she nodded too. “She’s taking me tomorrow to buy a gift for Dad because she says we need to mail it soon or he won’t get it in time for Christmas. But I want to go with you another time. I can’t buy Oma’s gift with her there, can I?”
“No, mija, you can’t,” he replied, keeping his voice even with the greatest of efforts. “That would spoil the surprise.”
Mabel’s brown eyes suddenly twinkled, and her hopeful expression seared Javi to the soul. “So you’ll take me? Maybe next week or after school is out for the holidays?”
He’d been about to suggest she ask his mother, her other grandmother, to take her instead, but the words shriveled on his tongue and he couldn’t deny her.
Mabel asked so little of him most of the time.
“Yes, I will.” He hoped she didn’t hear the resignation in his tone, and apparently she didn’t, since all the six-year-old did was beam and bounce a few times in her seat, setting her dark ponytail dancing. “Now, finish up quickly for me so you won’t be late for school.”
“Yes, Papi,” she said, adding, “Thank you,” before obediently turning her attention back to her food.
And the tight hug and smacking kiss she later gave him before running into the schoolyard warmed him all the way through.
But after dropping her off, while on his way to the hospital, he found himself still brooding over their conversation.
It was times like this that he really missed Michael—and resented him too.
Christmas had been Javi’s ex-husband’s favorite time of year, and he’d been the one who’d made it over-the-top spectacular. He’d arranged outings and shopping trips, baked cookies with Mabel after they’d adopted her. Not to mention the skating, skiing and tobogganing outings, along with the drive out to the farm to pick a tree and the evening specifically planned for decorating the house.
Which was why Javi couldn’t understand why, two years ago, Michael had chosen Christmas to ask for a divorce. To inform Javi how unhappy and stifled he’d felt and that he’d signed up with a medical rescue service, which was sending him to Africa early in the new year.
It had turned what was already for Javi a fraught and somewhat chaotic time of year into a reminder of heartbreak.
In a strange way, Javi understood why Michael had become so restless and discontented. Their mutual friend, Hugh, had died while on assignment with a group of flying doctors in the Australian outback. Each time they’d gotten together over the years, Hugh would tell them about his job, making it sound like one grand adventure. And afterward, Michael would be quiet and moody, obviously resenting his staider working life.
Stupidly, Javi had thought adopting Mabel would help Michael settle down. After all, it was Michael who’d suggested they apply to adopt, while Javi had been a little more cautious about the disruption being parents would bring to his orderly, quiet life.
Now, as a single parent, Javi could say without reservation Mabel that was the best thing that had ever happened to him. If it weren’t for her, he wasn’t sure just how he’d have gotten through the divorce and kept himself on track at work.
Every time he thought he couldn’t go on, he’d see her beautiful little face, those big brown eyes, and he’d find the strength to continue.
And it was his love for his daughter that now made him consider the upcoming Christmas season with new resolve.
Ever since their divorce Javi had left it to Mabel’s grandmothers to pick up the slack around the season because he hadn’t the heart to fully participate. There had been too many memories attached to the holidays. He’d met Michael at a Christmas party, and the attraction between them had been so intense, they’d almost instantly become inseparable. Their seven years together had been the happiest Javi had known, the dissolution of their marriage the worst of times.
But now, with Mabel in mind, wasn’t it appropriate to let go of his antipathy for the holidays and make it special for her, instead of depending on others to do so?
It wouldn’t be easy. Michael had been the extrovert to Javi’s more introverted personality, but Mabel deserved the best Javi could provide for her—and not just financially. She deserved the happy memories Javi himself had of childhood Christmases. Coming from a large, boisterous Hispanic family, Christmas had been a chaotic, wonderful affair, filled with outings and family get-togethers. Since his family was now scattered all over the country, he couldn’t offer Mabel the exact same experience, but he could do a lot better than he had been to this point.
Offer his parents a better time of it too, rather than moping about, letting them take the lead on the seasonal activities and do all the work to make it bright and cheerful. Mamita and Papa had always supported him, even when they didn’t fully understand him. It must have been difficult for his conservative and slightly old-fashioned mother and father to wrap their head around what it meant to have a pansexual son. Explaining to them what that meant—that gender meant nothing to him when it came to attraction and love—had been hard, but to their credit, they’d never made a big deal about it.
And that acceptance had allowed him to live his life openly and without fear or shame.
Not every person in his situation was so lucky, and he knew he had so much to be grateful for.
Now would be a great time to start showing it.
Turning into the hospital parking garage and driving toward his reserved space, Javi made a promise to himself to do right by Mabel and his parents this year.
Then he put the entire thought of the holidays out of his mind and turned his attention to the upcoming workday.
He’d need to be on his toes to keep the department running smoothly, especially with the chat he had to have with Ben Murphy. Hopefully, even now when medical personnel was short, he’d be able to find a replacement for the departing Heather and the new nurse would settle in without too much trouble.
The last thing they needed was to have to babysit Ailani Kekoa during the rush of patients engendered by the flu and other respiratory illnesses going around.
The trouble with having an adventure after a lifetime of craving it but being unable to satisfy the urge was that it left you feeling completely unprepared.
But Ailani refused to give in to the shivers of apprehension crawling in waves over her skin as her new friend Bryn steered her car toward Boston Beacon Hospital.
Making the decision to do a three-month life swap with another nurse, Abbie, had been not just stepping out of her comfort zone but rather like leaping off a cliff into the sea for the first time.
Terrifying and thrilling all at once.
The swap had come with an apartment, car, job and roommate, Bryn, who Ailani had discovered was also an RN, although she wasn’t working as one at the moment. Ailani didn’t know why, since although she and Bryn had become fast friends almost immediately, the other woman hadn’t said. And Ailani didn’t believe in prying for information others didn’t want to give of their own accord.
However, Bryn worked with therapy dogs like her own golden retriever, Honey, now ensconced in the back seat, wearing a bright holiday sweater and what could only be termed a grin on her face.
“Are you cold?” Bryn asked, obviously concerned. “I can turn the heater up higher if you want.”
Ailani shook her head, sending her friend a small smile. “I’m fine. I should be, since I have on enough clothing for five people.”
Bryn gave her a sideways glance, her lips quirking to one side in a half smile. “Once you get used to the cold, you’ll find it’s better to wear just two or three layers, depending on whether you’re going to be inside or out.”
Somehow Ailani doubted she’d ever get used to winter. The frigid air stung the skin and hurt her nose when she inhaled, despite the fact that Bryn assured her it wasn’t really that cold yet. There’d been a little snow since she arrived, just enough to send light whirls like tiny blossoms blowing in the breeze along the ground. Nothing like what Ailani had expected.
In fact, one of the things on her adventure list—experiencing a white Christmas—had been the impetus for this trip. And now it sounded as if it might not even happen.
“Oh, we usually get most of our snow in January or February,” Bryn had said when Ailani had asked why there was no snow on the ground after she’d arrived five days earlier. “Sometimes we get a white Christmas, but more often it’s just frosty and gray.”
Well, that would be a disappointment—no doubt about it. She’d assured Tutu that was the main reason she was going on the trip, and although her grandmother had shaken her head, Ailani was sure the older woman had kind of wished she could see snow too. It was something about the faraway look she’d gotten in her eyes, as though imagining the pristine white landscape glistening with holiday lights.
“You can see snow in those sappy Christmas movies you like to watch, and without risking pneumonia,” Uncle Makoa had inserted, his brows drawn together. “No need to go all the way to Boston to do that.”
But it had already been too late for any of their objections. Ailani had made all the arrangements with Abbie, Boston Beacon and Molokai Regional and even booked her ticket. When she’d told them as much, Uncle Makoa had made a derisive sound in the back of his throat and gotten up to leave the room.
Wanting to call him back, Ailani had bitten her lip to stop the words from emerging.
It was past time for Uncle to realize she was going to live her life on her own terms, not his or Tutu’s.
Now that she understood why they’d always held her back from doing anything even remotely adventurous, she’d figured the only way to break the cycle was to just go for it.
Whatever it happened to be.
That was what her mother had done, and although it hadn’t ended too well for her, at least she’d lived.
Ailani wanted to do the same, and no one was going to stop her.
No matter how much she loved them.
She was thirty, just a year younger than her mother had been when she’d died. If that wasn’t impetus to get out and explore life more, then she didn’t know what was.
A chilly, damp nose touched her ear, making Ailani jump and sputter with laughter. Turning, she looked over her shoulder at the golden retriever on the back seat who, although tethered into a safety harness, had somehow managed to reach her. Liquid brown eyes looked back—offering comfort, Ailani thought fancifully.
“Honey, girl, I’m cold enough as it is without you adding that nose to the mix.”
The dog’s mouth opened, seemingly about to answer but instead just smiled, tongue hanging out.
“Are you nervous about your first day?” Bryn maneuvered the vehicle down a busy road that went past Boston Common.
“A little,” Ailani admitted, reaching back as best she could with all those layers binding around her arm to ruffle Honey’s head. “Do you think that’s why Honey touched me?”
Bryn shrugged slightly, her indicator on for the left-hand turn into the hospital parking garage.
“Could be. Or maybe she was just tired of being ignored.”
Ailani laughed the way she knew Bryn wanted her to, but at the same time she gained new respect for Honey as a therapy dog. Up to now, she’d only seen Honey the couch sneak and Honey the goofball, who’d do anything for some peanut butter. She’d yet to experience Honey in her work capacity—offering comfort to the children on the wards—but already she knew the dog would be amazing at it.
After all, just that little interaction had lowered Ailani’s heart rate and allowed her to catch a full breath as Bryn found a parking spot and pulled in.
“Okay, my friend,” Bryn said after they’d gotten into the hospital and taken the elevator to the second floor. “I’m going to have to leave you here. You have a great first day, okay?”
“Thanks, hoaloha.”
Giving Bryn a hug and Honey a last pat, Ailani went off to find the head nurse and report in.
Leigh Wachowski had an almost bruising handshake and shrewd blue eyes.
“Good to meet you,” she said, then started walking toward a door marked Staff Only, which she held open for Ailani. “You’ll miss morning briefing since I’m sending you up to the administrative office to get your key card and ID, and after today you should come in through the staff entrance. That corridor leads to the staff room, where you can swap your outdoor shoes and stow your belongings. We’ll go there now so you can take off your coat. Otherwise you’ll be sweating in no time.”
Ailani didn’t bother to mention she already had perspiration running down her back.
No need to advertise the fact that when it came to winter, she had no idea what she was doing! Best not to take the chance that it might be seen as a sign of general incompetence and silliness.
After she’d stripped down to scrubs and a thick cardigan, she set out to follow Nurse Wachowski’s directions.
“When you get back, I’ll show you around and introduce you to some of the staff,” the older woman said as Ailani was heading toward the elevator.
But when she got back to the nurses’ station after filling out more forms, getting her picture taken and receiving her badge and card, Leigh was nowhere to be found.
“She was called away, up to the administrative floor,” the nurse said as he got up to answer a buzzer. “Just stay here for a minute. When I get back, I’ll try to figure out what to do with you.”
The words made her sound like she was some kind of package or a waste of space rather than a competent, experienced nurse. A bubble of annoyance rose in her throat, but the other nurse had already brushed past her and was heading off down the hallway, leaving Ailani standing, uncomfortably, on her own.
“Nurse Kekoa?”
The smooth, deep voice, coming from directly behind her, made Ailani jump. Spinning around, she found herself looking at a broad chest. Strange to find her gaze fixated on the V of the white dress shirt, which exposed a tanned throat and a little swathe of straight, dark hairs.
Looking up caused her heart to do a strange flip as she found herself the focus of a pair of beautiful hazel eyes surrounded by long straight lashes and set in a decidedly handsome face.
Remembering she’d been asked a question, she stuttered, “Y-yes, that’s me.”
“Dr. Javier Pascal, head of Pediatrics,” he said by way of introduction, thrusting out a large, long-fingered hand in greeting.
Taking it was instinctual, but Ailani had to stop herself from pulling her own hand back when a zing of electricity shot up her arm on contact.
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Pascal.” After a firm shake, she eased her fingers from his grasp. “I’m just waiting for Nurse Wachowski to continue my orientation.”
“She’ll be unavailable for a while yet,” Dr. Pascal said. “I’ll be showing you around instead.”
“Oh.” Why did she hesitate and wonder if she was about to go through a trial by fire? Pulling herself together by taking a deep breath, she added, “Thank you, Doctor.”
His eyebrows twitched together slightly, but his only verbal response was a dispassionate, “Follow me.”
And all there was left to do was fall into step beside the tall doctor and remind herself not to think of Javier Pascal as an intriguing man but only as her boss.
