Straying in the City

By Zola Joyce

When you save a life the first day on the job, your new boss is bound to love you, right?
Wrong.
Who knew you needed a license to save a life?

With her hands tied, and her IQ racing, Magda Lane must find a way to navigate the suffocating bureaucracy of modern-day city living. All while hiding an almost boyfriend from her well-meaning father. When a kid needs her help - off the books - should she risk a steady paycheck and a standup guy?

Bending the rules was never a temptation for Officer Kelly. Until Magda Lane tumbled into his life. Smart, funny, and brash, the right job just might convince her to stick around the city - and him - for a while. Using his connections to get her a respectable job was sure to earn points with the most intriguing woman he’d met in years.

Things were looking up, until the chaperone arrived with a tracking device and 12-guage. With a suspicious father camped out on her hand-me-down sleeper sofa, would the odds ever turn in his favor?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zola Joyce
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005208585

Zola Joyce

Zola Joyce writes both modern-day romantic comedies and action-packed historical westerns. All her stories guarantee lots of action, a heroine and hero with a backbone, and a happy ending!In past lives, she's studied in Brazil, taught ESL in Budapest, and dabbled in hazmat cleanup. She currently develops software in the great state of Texas, with an amazing husband and two wonderful kids.

Book preview

Straying In the City

In the City Series: Book Two

by

ZOLA JOYCE

Cover Illustration and Design by Vesle

Copyright © 2022 Zola Joyce

All rights reserved.

First Published February 2022

ISBN: 9798767301171

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 | You must be the New Guy

Chapter 2 | I Need a License to Save a Life?

Chapter 3 | I Need a Warrant for that?

Chapter 4 | Never Give yourself Admin Privileges

Chapter 5 | Stick to the Cookies

Chapter 6 | I Gave your Number to THE most Eligible Man

Chapter 7 | Are you the Man Shacking up with my Daughter?

Chapter 8 | It’s Never too Late to Join the Fire Department

Chapter 9 | That Shirt is for Girls

Chapter 10 | My Five O’Clock Shadow

Chapter 11 | The Havendash Funeral Home

Chapter 12 | I just about had a Heart Attack

Chapter 13 | The Man Bun and a Pile of Cash

Chapter 14 | Amor con Queso

Chapter 15 | Loose Women and Crooked Cops

Chapter 16 | A Kid and his Mother

Chapter 17 | We are NOT Eloping

Chapter 18 | Cybercrime versus Old School

Chapter 19 | If you Save that Kiss ‘til Next Tuesday

Chapter 20 | I’m Kinda New at this Forgery Business

Other Books by this Author

Chapter 1 | You must be the New Guy

You must be the new hire.

Magda Lane opened her mouth to correct the man, but he kept talking.

You’re late. Could have used you twenty minutes ago when they called this in.

She watched the man tap one lingering air bubble out of a syringe, with biceps that could surely win the caber toss at next year’s Scottish championships.

Sorry, she replied. It’s my first day. No one told me where I should check in and this was the only unlocked entrance --

I need a pair of hands now, so consider yourself checked. All doors but this one close from 7pm to 7am.

The large man handed Magda a pair of latex gloves, and an IV starter kit. I’m giving the bimbo up in HR the benefit of the doubt, and assuming you know which end to poke where?

She nodded and her training kicked in. I started my first IV at age eight. WWII contraption with re-usable rubber hoses.

No kidding? A slight raise in the eyebrows, and a second IV were passed her way. Take care of that woman on gurney three when you’re done here. She had one liter on the ride in, and should be running on empty about now. There was a seventeen-car pileup on the 101. The damn highway is closed for a two mile stretch between the crash site and the nearest hospital. The victims are being re-directed here.

Can you hand me that roll of tape? Magda asked.

He tossed the roll one handed. The name’s Mac, by the way. You do good work. Who taught you at the ripe old age of eight?

My great grandfather.

Army vet?

Nah. Conscientious Objector. He volunteered with the Red Cross and drove an ambulance.

The orderly grabbed the clipboard off the gurney hook. He read the notes out loud as he inspected her work on the first patient. Male, late fifties, thrown from SUV as it rolled. Found approximately ten feet from his vehicle. His blood pressure is low and there’s bruising around his abdomen.

He checked a box, and hooked the clipboard onto the gurney.

I need to get this one in front of a doctor, Ms.--?

Lane. But call me Magda.

He could have internal bleeding. Go check on that female in the corner. She was mumbling a few minutes ago, but looks pretty beat up. Kid seems to be okay, but we should have him checked. He hasn’t let go of her hand since we put her on the gurney.

Magda grabbed a pair of clean gloves and wove her way between fully packed seats in the waiting area. She approached a woman in the corner with a black eye and a gash on the side of her head. As Magda drew closer, what she thought was a hospital issued ice pack took on a decidedly homemade level of cleanliness.

Ma’am, I’m here to help you. Can you tell me your name?

The woman’s visible eye blinked at the sound of her voice, but remained turned away, and Magda was met with silence.

You do not look like a doctor, a quiet voice spoke up from behind the cowering woman.

I’m not. But I can help your mom get one. Were you in the car with her?

The child didn’t answer right away, glancing at the line of gurneys parked against the far wall of the waiting room. He whispered something in rapid Spanish to his mother before answering Magda’s question. I’m okay. You need to get my mother a real doctor. She hit her head. On the car. It is hurting her very bad.

Magda reached for the woman’s wrist to take a pulse, but she jerked back, moaning, and throwing herself off balance. Magda caught the woman under the elbow, barely stopping her fall. Magda noticed for the first time that the woman was not strapped to the gurney.

Ma’am, it’s okay, I just want to take your pulse. Please, stay still, and tell me where it hurts.

She does not speak English. She needs a doctor to sew up her head, and we can go.

She’ll need stitches for sure, but if she hit her head, I need to check for a possible concussion. She might have to stay the night in the hospital. I need to look at her eyes with this special light. Ask her to follow the light.

The woman’s whispering became frantic, and she clutched at the sleeve of the boy’s worn shirt. The kid shook his head. She says she cannot stay here. We only have money for one doctor.

Magda could see the flow of blood growing worse, and the jacket she had wadded up over her eye was dropped in agitation. It’s okay. This is an emergency. The hospital must help you. The government will pay if you cannot.

The woman tried to sit up, mumbling in too rapid Spanish for Magda to follow. Her eyes crossed and she fell back to the gurney.

Help her, please. Mamá, estás bien? Estás bien?

The boy gently shook her when she didn’t respond.

Let me help her. Magda took the boy’s hands and laid them on her arm. Hold her gently, so she knows you’re here.

Magda pulled back the lid on the good eye.

She tore open a clean gauze pad, and applied pressure to the fresh blood welling out over the woman’s right eye. I need help here. Magda raised her voice over the general din in the room, but no one could hear but the waiting patients nearby.

Kid, buckle this strap.

Magda held up one end, her other hand still maintaining pressure. The kid picked up the other strap, but only stared at her with narrowed eyes.

We need to push her over to where the doctors are. We can’t risk her falling off and getting hurt again. Buckle the strap. You can stay right by her side.

He buckled the strap and grabbed his mother’s hand.

Which way? he asked.

Clear a path please. Magda had to raise her voice to make space in the aisle. Every chair and adult lap were occupied, and it was standing room only in the aisles as more sirens drew closer.

She bullied the gurney through the crowd, until she spotted a familiar face. Mac, I have an unconscious patient. I need your help.

The orderly only glanced her way, until the doctor on his left released him.

Mac lumbered over, followed closely by a white-haired woman with a tablet and a badge identifying her as Karen Barnes, RN, Head of Nursing.

Aimee Brown?

Uh, no, I’m Magda. Magda Lane.

What happened here?

The orderly inserted an IV in under thirty seconds, hooking the saline bag over a wheeled pole.

She was awake when I came over, bleeding from the left side of her head and mouth. She got upset and tried to sit up, then I think she passed out. She doesn’t speak English, so I don’t really know if it was from pain or loss of blood.

Any signs of troubled breathing? Mac asked. He efficiently strapped a portable oxygen mask to the patient, working carefully around the kid glaring at him from his mother’s side.

What happened to Aimee? the head nurse demanded. The temp agency sent me her name and paperwork last night. I don’t have any record of a Magda Lane.

Can’t this wait, Ms. Barnes? the orderly snapped. We’re trying to stabilize this patient, and my waiting room looks like Disneyland the first day of Spring Break.

The administrator gave no indication she’d heard the orderly, as she scrolled through her tablet. The agency must have botched the paperwork, and sent our temp God-only-knows where. At least I seem to have received a competent alternative. You didn’t faint, throw up, or freeze up. And today was one of the worst we’ve had in a while. Since I have no information on you, give me a run down. Name, social, where you last worked, and for how long?

"Umm, I don’t have that social security number memorized. I left the card in my backpack which I