Carolina Moon

cleaned the field. All Faith could hear now was the slurping noises of her hose when he demanded suction, the click and clatter of tools. She averted her eyes, wanted to keep them that way, but he kept snapping out orders that required her to look.
    Before long, it was like a movie.
    Wade’s head was bent, his eyes cool and calm, though she saw beads of sweat pearling on his forehead. It seemed to her his hands were like magic, moving so delicately through blood, flesh, and bone.
    She didn’t even blink when he slid the protruding bone back into place. None of it was real.
    She watched him suture impossibly tiny stitches inside the gash. The raw yellow of the sterile wash he’d used stained his hands, mixed with the blood until it was all the color of an aging bruise.
    “I need you to check his heart rate manually. Just use your hand, gauge his heartbeat for me.”
    “It’s kind of slow,” she said when she pressed down. “But it seems steady. Like, bump, bump, bump.”
    “Good, take a look at his eyes.”
    “Pupils are awfully big.”
    “Any blood in the whites?”
    “No, I don’t think so.”
    “Okay, he needs some pins in this leg. Bone shattered more than broke. Once that’s done I’ll close it. Then we’ll set the leg.”
    “Is he going to be all right?”
    “He’s healthy.” Wade used his forearm to wipe his brow. “And he’s young. He’s got a good chance to keep the leg.”
    He worried about the bone chips. Had he gotten them all? There’d been muscle damage, some badly ripped tendons, but he felt confident he’d repaired the worst of it.
    All this ran through one part of his mind while the rest was focused on securing bone with steel.
    “I’ll know better in a day or two. I need gauze and tape. That cabinet there.”
    Once he’d closed the wound, Wade bandaged and set the leg, then checked the dog’s vitals himself. He treated the raw scrape on the muzzle, behind the left ear. “He held up,” Wade murmured, then for the first time in over an hour, looked directly at Faith. “So did you.”
    “Yeah, well, I was a little queasy at first, then …” She lifted her hands, started to gesture. They were streaked with blood, as was her blouse. “Oh. Oh my” was all she managed before her eyes rolled back.
    He caught her, barely, then stretched her out on the floor. She was already coming around when he lifted her head and brought a paper cup of water to her lips.
    “What happened?”
    “You fainted, gracefully and at a convenient moment.” He brushed his lips over her cheek. “I’ll take you upstairs. You can clean up and lie down for a bit.”
    “I’m all right.” But when he helped her stand, her legs wobbled. “Okay, maybe not. I might be better off flat out for a while longer.”
    She dropped her head on his shoulder, half floating as he carried her up. “I don’t think I’m cut out to be a nurse.”
    “You did great.”
    “No, you did. I never thought, never understood why you do what you do. Always figured it as giving out shots and cleaning up dog poop.”
    “There’s a lot of that.”
    He carried her into the bathroom where he could brace her on the sink and run warm water in the bowl. “Just put your hands in here. You’ll feel better when they’re clean.”
    “There’s a lot more, Wade, to what you do. And to you.” Her eyes met his in the mirror. “I haven’t been paying attention, haven’t bothered to look close enough. You saved a life today. You’re a hero.”
    “I did what I was trained to do.”
    “I know what I saw, and what I saw was heroic.” She turned, kissed him. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to strip to the skin and get in the shower.”
    “You steady enough?”
    “Yeah, I’m fine. You go check on your patient.”
    “I love you, Faith.”
    “I think you do,” she said quietly. “And it’s nicer than I expected. Go on now, my head’s still light enough for me to say something I’ll regret later.”
    “I’ll be back up when I can.”
    He checked on Mongo first, then cleaned up before stepping out into the examining room. Piney was still in the chair, and now Bee was curled sleeping in his lap.
    Wade had forgotten about both of them.
    “That dog gonna make it?”
    “It looks good.”
    “Oh Jesus, Wade. I’m just sick about it. I’ve been going over it in my head, and if I’d been paying more attention. I was just driving along and my mind was wandering, and next thing I knew that dog jumped right out