A Nurse To Tame The Er Doc. Janice Lynn
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village made up of tents offering their wares. There was a comedy tent, a dance party tent, sponsored by a popular music television station, and a dozen more entertainment tents. Some tents were huge commercial numbers with electricity and some having generator-run air-conditioners even. And people. People were everywhere.
“It already looks crowded,” she mused, taking in the multitude checking out their surroundings prior to the first show kicking off. “How many more are expected?”
“They’re expecting about a hundred thousand attendees. By this time tomorrow night this place will be packed.”
Taylor nodded. She’d expected most of the festival-goers to be college-aged kids. Most were, but there was a huge variety of ages represented, even some young parents with two or three kids in tow and some who appeared to be older than Taylor’s parents.
“Most of what we’ll see in the medical tent will be dehydration and intoxication, but there’s always a mix of other things thrown in just to keep things interesting.”
Taylor knew security screened for drugs, but that where there was a will there was a way. Amy had told about some of the patients they’d seen over the years. Unfortunately, there had been a few overdose deaths.
“From what Amy’s told me, boredom shouldn’t be an issue.”
He laughed. “Boredom is what I hope for at these events.”
Taylor glanced his way. “Oh?”
“Boredom means everyone is having fun with no worries.”
“Ah.” Glancing out over the happy, energetic crowd, she nodded. “Then that’s what I’m going to hope for, too. Boredom.”
But glancing toward the man walking beside her, who was telling her about the different tents and upcoming acts as they made their way over to the main medical tent, Taylor suspected boredom was the last word she’d be using to describe the next few days.
TAYLOR FROWNED AT the pile of poles and canvas, then went back to studying the instructions. She was a highly skilled ICU nurse. She could put together a tent. No problem.
Well, okay, some problem.
Mainly, that every time she put one pole end in the designated loop it would pop out when she tried to put in the other end. What she needed was—
“You need help with that?”
Taylor jumped, then looked up at Jack. She started to tell him she had it, because she would figure it out and hadn’t she made great strides in not depending on a man for anything?
But common sense won out, so she smiled and said, “Um...yeah, I do. I’ve got a tarp down for a moisture barrier, got my tent all spread out like these say...” she waved the instructions “...but that end doesn’t want to stay in that loop thingy when I put in the other side.”
Jack’s lips twitched. “The loop thingy?”
Before she could say more, he bent down, threaded the pole back into the end loop just as she had. But when he bowed the pole and hooked the other side, the pole behaved and didn’t slip out on the other end.
“Well,” she mused, putting her hands on her hips, “you made that look easy.”
“It’s all in how you handle the pole.”
Taylor’s cheeks heated and she ordered her mind to get out of the gutter.
“Um...yeah...well...” She hemmed and hawed, then brushed her palms down her shorts. “Thank you for your help.”
“Anytime.”
His grin was cocky as all get-out. “Anything else I can help with?”
“I feel guilty you had to help with that,” she admitted. A strong independent woman should have been able to figure out how to put up a tent, right?
“Wasn’t any trouble. I was on my way to my tent to grab a drink.”
“Your tent?”
He gestured to the tent next to hers.
Next to hers. Seriously? The medical staff parking/camping area located behind the main medical tent wasn’t that big. What were the odds?
He was offering help, but that hard-won independent streak refused to be silent. “Grab that drink and check on me in a few minutes, if that’s okay.”
“Be glad to.” His eyes danced with what she could only describe as happiness. How could any one man radiate so much positivity?
Trying to ignore the fact that Jack was a tent away, that if she coughed, sneezed, or made any other weird noises, he’d hear, Taylor pulled the air mattress from its box and placed it inside the tent. She hit the battery-operated control button and was relieved when the unit blew up perfectly. Within minutes she had her bed made and her bag to one side. The tent was large enough that both she and Amy could have set up their air mattresses, so with just the one she had floor space.
“Everything going okay?” Jack asked when she climbed out of the tent.
“So far,” she told the man sitting in a fold-up chair facing in her direction.
He held a refillable drink container and a protein bar. “You know it’s killing me not helping, right?”
“White knight syndrome?”
He shrugged. “Momma taught me to be useful syndrome.”
Taylor laughed. “Fine. You can help.”
Immediately he rose, set his water bottle down on his much sturdier appearing table than the one she’d just pulled out of the back of her car.
“I take directions well.”
Taylor arched her brow. “A man who takes directions well? I thought those were the things of unicorns and fairies.”
He winked. “Try me and see.”
Taylor gulped back the thoughts that ran through her mind. “Well, I’ve got to set up the canopy tent. Amy said to be sure to put it as close as possible so it would help shade my sleeping tent.”
“Yep, otherwise your tent will be hot as Hades in the daytime.”
She pulled out the canopy tent her friend had left in her living room along with the other camping items for Taylor to pick up on her way to the festival. “Let’s see if we can figure this out.”
The canopy tent was easier to set up, and not just because Jack was helping.
Well, maybe because he was helping. Certainly, it was more fun and had gone faster.
“What’s next, ma’am?”
“The table?”
He lifted the folding table from where she’d propped it against her car and set it up beneath the canopy tent, which had been scooted partially over the entrance of the smaller tent she’d be sleeping in.
Holding up a lightweight tarp she’d pulled from a duffle bag that contained at least one more, Taylor said, “I found the tarp with the tent and used it as a moisture barrier per Amy’s instructions, but was I supposed to do something with these?”
“Amy usually attaches them to the sides of the canopy to create shade and keeps one to put over her tent if the weather doesn’t co-operate and it decides to flood.”
Taylor wrinkled her nose. “If it decides to flood, I’ll be sleeping in my car.”
Jack laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first person to do so. Just set an alarm so you don’t overheat after the sun comes up. It gets too hot fast inside a vehicle.” He took one of the tarps and began attaching