more I wanted to say to this asshole, but there was enough shit swirling around me as it was, the last thing I needed was a complaint on my record.
“Pulling in,” Saxon announced.
“Thank Christ,” I muttered under my breath. With virtually no traffic on the roads, it had been a quick ride across town.
Saxon yanked the doors open and held out his hand for our patient. I could see Karen behind him, being surrounded by her coworkers. A nurse named Patsy wrapped an arm around her before leading her into the ER.
“Christ, and this is just the start of the day.” Saxon shook his head. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Looks and sounds like a concussion. I’m glad we transferred him. He seems like the kind of prick to refuse treatment, and then come back and sue us.” I shook my head.
“Dallas, I just want you to know…” Saxon didn’t have a chance to finish telling me what he wanted me to know, the radio crackled to life.
“You there, Dallas?” The voice sounded like Kennedy’s fiancé, Gunnar Prince.
“I’m here, Gunnar. What’s up?” Gunnar was an emergency dispatcher trainee for Essex County EMS.
“Just took a call from a neighbor of yours, Guinevere Stapleton. She says water’s on the rise and she could use your help.”
“Jesus Christ,” Saxon muttered. “Is she okay, Gunnar?”
“She said she is, but I could hear fear in her voice. Sounded to me like she was trying hard to be stoic.”
“We’re on our way. Radio Ozzy. Send him our way too. Tell him it’s Gwen.” My hands shook as I turned to Saxon.
“I’ll drive.” Saxon ran for the driver’s side of the ambulance before I could think to argue with him.
An evacuation order for my neighborhood was issued at six this morning. The thought crossed my mind to drive to Gwen’s house before Saxon and I went to the fire station. I wished to hell I’d listened to the little voice in my head.
There would be time to berate myself later. Right now, Gwen needed our help.
36
Saxon
Driving to Gwen’s house, I couldn’t help thinking about how excited she’d been to meet me last night. I imagined she didn’t host a lot of gay couples at her dinner table, but to her credit, she never batted an eye at me and Dallas.
The roads had been in pretty good shape. There were some downed trees, but I’d been able to maneuver around them. I turned left down Gwen’s street and couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Oh shit.” Dallas said, his eyes widening in shock.
Oh shit was right. The street was flooded between the parking lot and the restaurant. Gloucester Harbor surrounded the street on all sides. This one dip in the road seemed to be the catch basin for the rapidly rising tide. “Okay, I’m turning around.”
“Jesus Christ, Saxon. We can’t leave Gwen here like this.” Dallas looked like he was going to jump out of the ambulance.
“We’re not leaving her, Dallas.” Anger flared in my gut at the thought I’d abandon anyone in their time of need, much less a wonderful woman who’d accepted me with open arms. “This road is narrow. The ocean is roaring down the street from straight ahead. There’s no room to turn around, and when Ozzy gets here with the engine truck, forget it. We’ll all end up stuck in the rising tide.” I pulled into the parking lot and swung the ambulance around. “If she’s hurt, one of us is going to have to carry her to the ambulance. Grab what you need.”
Dallas looked too stunned to move, but I didn’t let that stop me from hopping out of the ambulance and grabbing my bag from the back. The heavy rains were slashing at my exposed face, but that was nothing compared to that first step into the water. A hurricane might be a tropical weather system, but the north Atlantic was most decidedly non-tropical. My best guess was that the water temperature was in the fifties. I was frozen by the time I’d waded in up to my knees.
“Wait for me, you stubborn bastard!” Dallas yelled out from behind me. In the distance, I heard the scream of the fire truck siren before a gust of wind howled, obliterating it.
“What the hell is wrong with you, wading into water like this? We don’t know how deep it is and or how strong the current. If you’d been swept out to sea, what then?” Dallas was full-on angry now.
“Do you want to stand here