Kitabı oku: «Snowbound With The Single Dad», sayfa 2

CHAPTER TWO

CALLUM HIT THE bottom of the river-filled minibus with a thud, the icy water doing nothing to slow the impact. What little part of him had remained dry was now soaked to the skin.

There was a splash outside, followed by some panicked shouts. Callum was instantly swept with a feeling of dread. The jolt had been a big one. Please, don’t let them have dropped the stretcher.

He was on his feet in seconds, his arms grabbing at the window edge above him and pulling himself up onto the side of the bus.

The stretcher was steady, the child safe and being passed along the line. The crew around him, however, was panicking.

‘Where’s her line? Wasn’t she wearing a line?’

Oh, no. His head flicked from side to side, searching frantically for any sign of Jess. She was the only female river-side. Everyone else was safely ashore. They could only be talking about her.

‘Can you see her? Can anyone see her?’

Callum didn’t hesitate. Not for a second. He saw where the outstretched fingers were pointing and jumped straight into the Clyde.

The water closed around his chest, leaving him up to his neck with barely a toehold on the river’s bed. Even after the water in the minibus, being fully submerged in the fast-flowing Clyde was a shock to the system. Every part of his body seemed to react at once. Everything went on full alert, hairs on end, trying to pull heat back into his centre.

He looked around him, shouting at the guys still on top of the bus. ‘Where? Here?’ He pointed to the riverbank. ‘Tell them to pull in her line!’

The Clyde was murky and grey and several pieces of ice, broken from the river’s edge, floated past.

He swept his arms around under the water. He couldn’t see a thing. Not even a flash of the bright green jumpsuit she’d been wearing. The water wasn’t too deep as he was on tiptoe. But he was a good foot taller than Jess, with a lot more bulk and muscle. Even he could feel the hidden currents pulling at his weight.

Every man working on the minibus had been wearing a line—except him. He took a few seconds to follow the lines from the riverbank to the bus, until he located the one that led directly into the river.

The firefighters on the bank were having the same problem. It took a few moments of frantic scrambling to ascertain which line belonged to Jess. They started to reel it in and Callum waded through the water towards it.

There! A flash of green as she was tugged nearer the surface.

He grabbed, lifting her whole body with one arm, raising her head and chest above the water’s surface.

For the briefest second there was nothing, just the paler-than-pale face.

Then she coughed and spluttered, and was promptly sick into the river. He fastened one arm around her chest, pulling her back towards him, supporting her weight and lifting his other arm to signal to the crew to stop pulling in her line.

‘I’ve got you, Jess. It’s okay.’ He whispered the words calmly in her ear. The cold wasn’t bothering him now. There was no heat coming from her body, but he could feel the rise and fall of her chest under his hands. He could feel her breathe.

Relief. That was the sensation sweeping through him. Pure and utter relief.

He always felt like this after a rescue. It was as if the anxiety and stomach-clenching that had been an essential part of his momentum and drive to keep going just left him all at once. More often than that, after a rescue he would go home and sleep soundly for ten hours, all his energy expended. Building reserves for the next day so he could do it all again.

Even Drew understood. And on those nights his little body would climb into bed next to his father and cuddle in, his little back tucked against Callum’s chest—just the way Jess’s was now.

She coughed and spluttered again. He could hear her teeth chattering. She still hadn’t spoken. Was she in shock?

There would be an investigation later. An investigation into why the paediatric consultant helping them had ended up in the middle of a fast-flowing icy river.

But right now he wanted to make sure Jess was okay. He started wading towards the riverbank, keeping Jess close to his chest. Several of his colleagues waded in towards him, sweeping Jess out of his arms and wrapping them both in blankets.

One of the paramedics started pulling out equipment to check her over. Callum pulled his jacket and shirt over his head. The cold air meant nothing to him right now—he couldn’t be any colder anyway. He gratefully accepted a red fleece thrust at him by one of his colleagues.

He pulled it over his head. There was instant heat as soft fleece came into contact with his icy skin. Bliss.

Two basket stretchers with a firefighter on either side were currently being guided up the steep, treacherous slope. The two kids with hypothermia. He could see the ambulance technicians waiting at the top of the bank, ready to load them into the waiting ambulances.

‘Stop it!’

He turned, just in time to see Jess push herself to her feet and take a few wobbly steps.

‘I’m fine. Now, leave me alone.’ She pulled the blankets closer around her, obviously trying to keep the cold out.

He turned to one of his colleagues. ‘See if someone will volunteer some dry clothing for our lady doc.’

Jess stalked towards him. Her face was still deathly pale, but her involuntary shivering seemed to have stopped. She pointed to the stretchers. ‘I need to get to the kids. I need to get them to hospital.’

Callum shook his head. ‘Jess, you’ve just been submerged in freezing water. You need to get checked over yourself. The kids will go straight to Parkhill. One of your colleagues will be able to take care of them.’

She shook her head fiercely. ‘I will take care of them. I’m the consultant on call. Neither of my junior colleagues has enough experience to deal with this. Two kids with hypothermia? It’s hardly an everyday occurrence. Those kids need me right now.’

One of the firefighters appeared at his side with a T-shirt and another jacket. Callum rolled his eyes. ‘You’ve still got a stubborn streak a mile wide, haven’t you?’

He handed the clothes over to her. ‘Get changed and I’ll get you back topside.’ She shrugged off her jumpsuit, tying the wet top half around her middle, hesitating only for a second before she pulled her thin cotton top off underneath.

In just a few seconds he saw her pale skin and the outline of her small breasts against her damp white bra. It was almost translucent. She pulled the other T-shirt over her head in a flash. But not before he’d managed to note just how thin she was.

Jess had always been slim. But slim with curves. What had happened to her?

She zipped the jacket up to her neck. Meeting his eyes with a steely glare. Daring him to mention the fact she’d just stripped at a riverside, or to mention her obviously underweight figure.

Callum knew better.

He’d learned over the last few years to pick his battles carefully.

Now wasn’t the time.

He signalled and a couple of lines appeared down the side of the steep incline. He leaned over and clipped her harness. Her whole bottom half was still wet—as was his. Spare T-shirts and jackets could be found, but spare shoes and trousers? Not a chance.

‘You do realise we go back up the way we came down?’

She sighed, but he couldn’t help but notice the faint tremble in her hands. An after-effect of the cold water? Or something else?

He stepped behind her and interlocked their harnesses. ‘The quickest way to get you back up is to let me help you.’

He could see her brain searching for a reason to disagree.

‘You want to get back up to those kids?’

She nodded. Whatever her reservations, she’d pushed them aside.

‘Then let me help you. It’s like abseiling in reverse. Lean back against me.’

She was hesitating, still keeping all the weight on her legs, so he pulled her backwards towards him. He felt a little shock to feel her body next to his.

It had felt different in the water, more buoyant, the water between them cushioning the sensation. But now it was just clothes. Wet clothes, which clung to every curve of their bodies.

Her body was tense, stiff, and it took a few seconds for her to relax. He wrapped his arms around her, holding onto the lines in front of them, and gave them a little tug. His lips accidentally brushed against her ear as he spoke to her. ‘We let the lines take our weight. If you just lean back into me, I’ll walk up back up the incline. Just try and keep your legs in pace with mine. It feels a little weird, but it’ll only take a few minutes.’

He let her listen, digest his words. He could feel her breathing sync with his, the rise and fall of their chests becoming simultaneous. She put her hands forward, holding onto the same line as he was, reaching for a little security in the strange situation.

He wrapped his hands around hers. his thick gloves were in place, to take the taut strain of the line.

He felt the tug of the line and started to walk his legs up the slope, taking her weight on his body. He looked skyward. Praying for divine intervention to stop any reactions taking place.

It was the weirdest sensation. The last time their bodies had been locked together she’d been seventeen and he’d been twenty-one. A whole lifetime had passed since then.

A marriage, a divorce, a fierce custody battle—and that was just him. What had happened to her?

His eyes went automatically to her hand. He’d always imagined a girl like Jess would be happily married with a couple of kids by this age. But even through her wet gloves he could see there was no outline of a wedding band. Not even an engagement ring.

Something clenched at him. Was it curiosity? Or was it some strange thrill that Jess might be unattached?

His head was buzzing. He couldn’t even make sense of his thoughts. He hadn’t seen this woman in years. He hadn’t even heard about her in years. He had no idea what life had flung at Jessica Rae. And she had no idea what life had thrown at him.

Drew. The most important person in his world.

A world he kept tightly wrapped and carefully preserved.

Drew’s mother, Kirsten, had left after the divorce and costly custody battle. She was in New York—married to her first love, who she’d claimed she should never have left in the first place, as he was twice the man that Callum was. Callum had been a ‘poor substitute’. Words that still stung to this day.

By that point, Callum couldn’t have cared less about her frequent temper tantrums and outbursts. He had only cared about how they impacted on Drew.

Drew was the best and only good thing to have come out of that marriage.

He didn’t intend to make the same mistake twice.

He’d never introduced any woman to Drew in the three years following his divorce. No matter how many hints they’d dropped.

But his immediate and natural curiosity was taking over. He didn’t have a single bad memory about Jessica Rae. Even their break-up had been civilised.

Seeing her today had been a great shock, but her warm brown eyes and loose curls took him straight back thirteen years and he couldn’t resist the temptation to find out a little more when it was just the two of them. They were around halfway up now. ‘So, how have you been, Jessica? It’s been a long time since we were in a position like this.’

He was only half-joking. Trying to take some of the strain out of her muscles, which had tensed more and more as they’d ascended the slope. Was Jessica scared of heights?

Her voice was quiet—a little thoughtful even. ‘Yes. It has been, hasn’t it?’ She turned her head a little so he could see the side of her face. ‘I’d no idea you were a firefighter. Didn’t you do engineering at uni?’

She’d remembered. Why did that seem important to him?

‘Yes, three years at Aberdeen Uni.’ He gave a fake shudder. ‘These would be normal temperatures for up there.’

‘So, how did you end up being a firefighter?’

Was she just being polite? Or was she genuinely curious? He’d probably never know.

‘There was a fire in the student accommodation where I stayed. We were on the tenth floor.’ He tried to block out the pictures in his mind. ‘It gave me a whole new perspective on the fire service. They needed to call out a specialist team and specialist equipment to reach us.’ He didn’t normally share this information with people. But Jess was different. Jess knew him in ways that most other people didn’t.

‘That must have been scary.’

Not even close. There was so much he was leaving unsaid.

The terrifying prospect of being marooned on a roof with the floors beneath you alight.

The palpable terror of the students around you.

The look on the faces of the fire crew when they realised you were out of reach and they had to stand by and wait, helpless, until other crew and equipment arrived.

‘Callum?’

‘What? Oh, yes, sorry. Let’s just say it made me appreciate the engineering work involved in the fire service’s equipment. I joined when I finished university. It didn’t take me long to find my calling at the rope rescue unit. I still do some other regular firefighting duties, but most of the time I’m with the rescue unit.’ He wanted to change the subject. He didn’t want her to ask any questions about the fire. ‘What about you? Are you married with four kids by now?’

It was meant to be simple. A distraction technique. A simple change of subject, taking the emphasis off him and putting it back on to her.

But as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he’d said the wrong thing. The stiffness and tension in her muscles was automatic.

They were nearing the edge of the incline and he could see movement above them. the flurry of activity as the stretchers were pulled over the edge and the paramedics and technicians started dealing with the children.

‘Things just didn’t work out for me.’

Quiet words, almost whispered.

He was stunned into silence.

There was obviously much more to it than that but now was hardly the time or the place.

And who was he to be asking?

He hadn’t seen Jessica in thirteen years. Was it any of his business what had happened to her?

The radio on his shoulder crackled into life. ‘We’ve got the last two kids. Minor injuries—nothing significant. There’s an ambulance on standby that will take them to be checked over.’

‘Are all the ambulances heading to Parkhill?’ She sounded anxious.

He lifted the radio to his mouth. ‘Wait and I’ll check. Control—are all paediatric patients being taken to Park-hill?’

There was a buzz, some further crackles, then a disjointed voice. ‘Four classified as majors, eight as minors. Two majors and six minors already en route. The adults have gone to Glasgow Cross.’

‘Give me your hand!’ A large arm reached over the edge and grabbed Jessica’s wrist, pulling them topside. Someone unclipped their harnesses and tethers, leaving them free of each other.

‘Doc, you’re requested in one of the ambulances.’

Jess never even turned back, just started running towards the nearest ambulance, where one of the hypothermic kids was being loaded.

Callum watched her immediately fall back into professional mode.

‘Scoop and run,’ she shouted. ‘Get that other ambulance on the move and someone get me a line to Parkhill. I want them to be set up for our arrival.’

Callum looked around him. The major incident report was going to be a nightmare. It would probably take up the next week of his life.

He grabbed hold of the guy next to him. ‘Any other problems?’

The guy shook his head. ‘Just waiting to lock and load the last two kids. The clean-up here will take hours.’

Callum nodded. ‘In that case, I’m going to Parkhill with the ambulances. I want to find out how all these kids do. I’ll be back in a few hours.’

He jumped into the back of one of the other ambulances, where the paramedic and nurse were treating the other hypothermic kid. ‘Can I hitch a ride?’ He glanced at the nurse, who was balanced on one leg. ‘Did you hurt yourself?’

The paramedic nodded.

‘Ride up front with the technician. We’re going to be busy back here.’

The nurse grimaced, looking down at her leg. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s just get these kids back to Parkhill.’

Callum jumped back down and closed the doors, sliding into the passenger seat at the front. Within seconds the ambulance had taken off, sirens blaring. Great, the paediatrician had ended up in the Clyde and the nurse had injured her ankle. The major incident report was getting longer by the second.

It wouldn’t take long to get through the city traffic at this time. He pulled his notebook from his top pocket. It was sodden. Useless, soaked when the minibus had tipped and he’d landed in the water.

‘Got anything I can write on?’

The technician nodded, his eyes never leaving the road, and gestured his head towards the glove box, where Callum found a variety of notebooks and pens.

‘Perfect. Thanks.’ He started scribbling furiously. It was essential he put down as much as could for the incident report, before it became muddled in his brain.

The number of staff in attendance. The number of victims. The decision to call out the medical crew. Jessica. The descent down the incline. The temperature and depth of the water. Jessica being called onto the minibus. His first impression of the casualties. The way the casualties had been prioritised. The fact that Jessica had landed in the water.

The feeling in his chest when she’d disappeared under the water.

He laid the notebook and pen down in his lap.

This was no use.

He wasn’t thinking the way he usually did. Calmly. Methodically.

He just couldn’t get her out of his head.

It seemed that after thirteen years of immunity Jessica had reclaimed her place—straight back under his skin.