Seducing The Boss (Pulse #2) - Mari Carr Page 0,45

a second and then gently pulled away. “You’re going to get us both fired.”

He grinned tiredly. Leave it to Sara to find a way to make him smile when his whole world was falling apart.

She darted off in the direction they’d taken his father, while Kellan made his way to the waiting room. As he expected, his mother was there, pacing the floor despite the crowd. Then he saw Josh sitting in a chair nearby. He gave his friend a grateful, tired smile.

His mother rushed up to him as he approached. “Kellan.”

He opened his arms, offering her the same comfort Sara had just provided for him. “He’s alive,” he said, though Kellan was still shaken by the image of that flat line. “They’re prepping him for surgery. Sara is with him right now. She’s promised to keep us updated.”

“Thank God she’s there. I just can’t believe…” Mom’s words were lost to crying. Her voice broke and the tears she’d obviously been holding back fell.

The rest of the day passed in a haze as he and his mother sat side-by-side, awaiting news on his father’s condition. Josh remained close as well, making calls to family members, getting them coffee and food, even though most of it went uneaten.

Despite the chaos in the emergency room, Sara still managed to give them hourly updates, offering words of support that bolstered his mother’s strength. As if she had some sort of sixth sense, Sara always appeared just when Mom was about to fall apart, and found a way to bring her back up.

Kellan spent the entire day observing the way the emergency room operated, the way the doctors and nurses interacted with the patients and their families. Given the high number of critically injured patients transported from the crash scene, the people who’d come in with less severe problems had to wait longer.

For months, Sara had tried to explain why patients had to be prioritized according to need in the ER. He’d argued with her, insisting on less patient interaction times and multitasking priority cases with minor ones to improve their wait time averages.

Now he was grateful no one had ever listened to his bullshit. His father’s life had been on the line, and the staff had thumbed their nose at his insane “ten to fifteen minutes per patient” regulation and done everything in their power to save him.

During their next meeting, he was going to tell the board to take their bottom line and shove it up their asses. He’d probably be fired for it, but he didn’t care. The hospital staff was there to protect the patients’ safety, their health. Not to ensure that everyone got a damn lollipop.

While he had caught glimpses of Sara at work throughout the years, he’d never had the opportunity to sit and watch her. She was a born nurse, a natural caregiver. Her competence, her experience and soothing manner, left everyone she spoke with calmer. He was struck by the visible difference he saw in the people Sara dealt with. Their whole bodies relaxed, and their anxiety lessened. She was incredible.

The surgery lasted nearly six hours, and when they brought his father out, they put him in ICU, his condition critical. Though his father would continue to sleep, Sara said they would allow his mother to go see him.

“Well, I think that’s my cue,” Josh said as he stood to leave. “Everything’s going to be just fine, Mrs. James.”

“You were a godsend today,” Mom said, kissing Josh on the cheek.

Then Josh turned, placing a hand on Kellan’s shoulder. “I’m a phone call away if you need anything, man.”

Kellan shook Josh’s hand tightly. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you did, Josh.”

Josh shrugged away the thanks. “You hang in there, okay?”

Kellan nodded as Josh turned to Sara and gave her a hug. He couldn’t hear what his friend whispered to her, but Sara laughed softly and returned the embrace.

Once Josh was gone, Sara walked with them to ICU, explaining his father’s injuries to his mother in a way that she could understand.

“Mr. James suffered splenic trauma, meaning his spleen was torn during the injury. It caused some serious internal bleeding. The doctor removed it.”

“He can live without his spleen, right?” Mom asked.

“Oh yes,” Sara reassured her. “Absolutely. Mr. James is a very strong man. I have no doubt he’ll pull through this.”

“Good.” Mom hugged Sara and thanked her for everything she’d done for her husband.

“I didn’t do anything,” Sara demurred. “It was all the doctors, the