"Yeah, who’s it going to be…Danni…me…"
"Whoa, whatever you heard, it wasn’t meant like that." Karen felt like she was backpedaling in a plot of quagmire. She’d seen the wrath of the surgeon first hand and wanted no parts of it. "I…we…"
"Hey, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you." Rosie turned the corner in the hall and stood next to Garrett. "Did you to hear about the ski trip?" She looked directly at Danni. "I know how much fun you had on that outing last year with David," she teased.
Whew! Karen breathed a sigh of relief. ‘That’s what she meant by an outing.’
The tall woman noticed the slightly upturned corners to Danni’s mouth as her eyes began to twinkle. Garrett’s mind thought back to the look on Danni’s face when she had walked in on her reading that card the night she made dinner for the two of them. ‘Wasn’t that Christmas card from someone by the same name…David?’
"We’re booking the lodge for the Saturday before Valentine’s Day, February tenth to be exact." Rosie looked hopefully from Danni to Garrett. "You, two will be able to come, won’t you?"
The petite nurse’s face became sullen as she slowly shook her head. "Sorry Rosie, but we’re on call every weekend. I don’t think you’ll see us there."
Rosie turned to the surgeon. The thoughtful look in Garrett’s eye seemed disjointed from her speech. "She’s right, Rosie. I guess you’ll just have to have this outing without us." ‘But maybe there’s something that we can do about that. McMurray, I think you owe us a little R & R.’
It was back to the usual day-to-day activities for the two women. As they waited to respond to calls for the Flight Surgeon Team, they pushed the Lone Survivor Group along, and kept plugging along at a thing called friendship, each one taking turns at being either teacher or student.
The ride home that evening was uneventful, with each of the women lost in their own worlds of thought. Garrett had stolen glimpses of her friend whenever she could. The young blonde seemed pensive. The only discussion that the two held was a brief decision on what to have for dinner. Once that was made, they each became bastions of their own making.
Garrett thought of how she could approach the Ol’ Cutter to let them join in the much needed fun and socialization that she knew Danni craved. She hated to see the lively woman looking so forlorn and withdrawn. The surgeon’s mind raced with ideas and possibilities until she finally devised a plan of action. As she maneuvered the Blazer to the drive-thru window, a smile came to her face. ‘I’ve got it. He’ll never refuse a good PR run…now would he?’ Her mind was made up. She’d talk to McMurray in the morning, without Danni present.
Garrett quickly ordered and waited for the food to be packaged up. She found it hard to keep from smiling as she turned to face her friend. The surgeon was new at this side of the conversation, but heck, Danni was her friend and she’d try to do what she thought was right. "You…you want to talk about it?" Her heart skipped a beat as the words came out of her mouth. ‘I hope I know what I’m doing here.’ The tall woman gulped hoping that maybe Danni hadn’t heard her.
The green eyes lifted and looked over to her friend, slightly amused. "What?"
"You know, talk about it." Garrett looked out through the windshield trying hard not to lose her nerve. "The ski trip last year, you and David."
"Oh, that!" Danni let her eyes roll, relieved that it was something else that the surgeon wanted to talk about. "David was one of the Chief Residents last year. We just had a good time trying to learn how to ski, that’s all." A pleasant smile crossed her lips as she reminisced. "Neither one of us were any good, seems that we just kept falling into one another."
Garrett tried to imagine the petite nurse on skis that were probably longer than she was tall. Somehow, a long trailing scarf just seemed to fit the blonde along with a wildly designed knit hat, complete with a yarn tassel at the top. ‘I bet she looked cute.’
"Yeah, if you ask Rosie, she’ll tell you that David had more time with me in his arms trying to get ourselves upright than he did holding on the ski poles." She laughed. "All that I know is that after a while, sitting in that snow can sure get cold."
The surgeon didn’t understand why, but suddenly she had this feeling of jealousy when Danni mentioned being held by David. It caught her off guard, just like the food service worker that was holding out the bag and calling her.
"Ma’am…ma’am your food?"
"Ah…oh, thanks." Garrett took the bags and handed them over to Danni.
The blonde woman had noticed the abrupt change in her friend’s attitude. She wasn’t quite sure what exactly had set it off but she knew that something had changed. The surgeon had resumed her role as chief stoic and chauffeur as the Blazer once again pulled out into traffic. Each one was once again immersed in their own thoughts.
Garrett considered her own skiing ability and how she might be able to teach the woman in the passenger seat how to stay on her feet and out of the cold. It was all a matter of balance and timing. Once that was learned, there was little more to do than enjoy the scenery. It was just like anything else in life, it would take time and a good teacher to get through it. The surgeon stole a glance at Danni. ‘Boy, am I glad that I have a good teacher.’
The services of Cowboy were enlisted as Garrett plotted her appeal to McMurray. Being in the business for fifteen years, Cowboy had connections in just about every hospital and clinic that the medivac helicopters flew in and out of in the tri-state area. Once the surgeon had mentioned her plan, the pilot took care of the rest. It was easy to get McMurray to allow a PR flight up to Seven Springs under the guise that the Resort itself had requested it to coincide with the big holiday weekend. Besides, if anything were to happen, they were just a short flight away. Now, all that Garrett and Cowboy had to do was to sit back and wait until the pieces were in place.
Through Cowboy’s connections, the two soon learned that the educational PR trip was granted and would be scheduled for early in the afternoon on Saturday, February 10. Each one of them beamed with the excitement of their scheme, and hiding it from the petite blonde was becoming something of a chore.
The blonde had a way of sneaking up on them when they were talking, causing them to suddenly abort their conversation and go off on some military past life that one of them had lived through. Their tight-lipped grimaces seemed to be the only thing that didn’t let them burst right out, telling her of the plan.
It was Friday afternoon, February ninth when they got the page from McMurray. They had been summoned to his office for a special meeting. Nothing more was said by the secretary, just that they needed to be seen. Once they arrived, Garrett and Danni were ushered into the office and offered a seat. The older woman left without saying another word.
The team members looked at one another and shrugged in response to the questioning look that each one was wearing. Garrett had thought that she knew what the meeting was going to be about, but right now, she wasn’t so sure.
"Gar, did we do anything wrong lately?"
The surgeon racked her mind for a moment, "No, can’t think of anything."