“A little. But you had to carry on after I left. And your bit was far more important than mine.”
“Not in the eyes of that little girl,” he said.
Kate shifted her feet uncomfortably and blushed. “Well, let’s not disillusion her too quickly, eh?” She smiled, and for a moment she could swear she saw a trace of a smile on his lips too. A cough came through the curtains from her patient within and Kate excused herself politely and returned to her work.
Seeing Sasha so much better at lunch time put a spring in Kate’s step, despite the mountains of bandaging and tubes surrounding her. She was comfortable now and her mother was with her.
“Thank you so much for what you did the other day,” her mum had said, after Kate had been introduced to Sasha again.
“Not at all. I was just doing my job. I’m just sorry I ended up having to yell at you,” she said. “I felt awful doing that, but it had just gone a bit mad at the time.”
“It doesn’t matter. I quite understand. Sasha’s in one piece, that’s what’s important.”
The father walked in just then.
“Mark, this is Kate, the nurse from casualty Sasha was telling us about,” the mother said.
The gentleman shook Kate’s hand firmly. “Thank you for everything you did,” he said.
“But I was just saying, I didn’t really do much,” she told him. “It was Fiona Phillips, the paediatrician, who saved the day. She’s great, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s lovely, but the surgeon who saw her in A&E came up this morning too and he was very complimentary about you. He told us you were amazing, getting Sasha to stay calm and quiet so that they could deal with her as quickly as possible. And you stayed with her, reassuring her when all the other doctors and nurses were scaring her to death with their questions. She thought you were an angel.”
From the bed, Sasha groaned with embarrassment and Kate smiled at her and winked. “Not quite, but I’m very flattered.” Then she whispered a loud aside to the girl, “Blame the strong pain killers, I would,” and Sasha giggled. “Anyway, I’d better be getting back to work. I’m glad you’re on the mend, though.”
It was always nice to get good news and for the rest of the day, Kate breezed along with a contented smile on her lips.
On the last day before her long awaited days off, Kate came across Mr Elliott in the corridor. He was talking with another consultant. She caught his eye as he walked past.
“Kate,” he called out. He put a hand out to stop her and excused himself from the other consultant. “You went to see Sasha then?” he asked.
“Yes. She’s looking much happier. Thank you.”
“You know she’s determined to be a nurse like you when she’s older now.”
Kate smiled. “I’ll have to have a long talk with her, then, won’t I?” she said. She wrestled with the idea of apologising for her behaviour the other week, or should she just leave it to blow over? Their gazes held, as words, waiting to be spoken, lost their moment and went unsaid and then he nodded slightly, turned away and continued to talk to the other consultant.
Kate walked back down to A&E. “What are you looking so happy about?” Gloria asked her. Gloria always seemed to know when something was bothering them. It was like having your own mother around. Kate smiled to herself but quickly straightened her face. A few minutes later Gloria walked past again, carrying a suture pack and dressings.
“Well?” she asked.
“Nothing," Kate replied, her cheeks flushing with the fib.
“Hmmm, looks like it,” and she walked on, calling back over her shoulder. “I’ll get it out of you, Katy Heath, don’t you worry.”
Kate rolled her eyes and picked up the next card in the box, calling out the name to a sea of expectant faces sitting in the waiting room.
Returning home that night, Kate collapsed into the armchair. Sophie was on a day off and was already in the party mood. “You’re home. Come on, Mr Crickland from orthopaedics is having a house warming and we’re all invited,” she said.
“But I’ve just worked twelve days straight,” Kate said. “I’m exhausted. Besides, I barely know him.”
“But I do and I’m allowed to bring a friend and I’ve been waiting for you to get home to go.”
“Oh, Soph. Don’t make me go, please. I’m done in.”
Sophie gave her a stern look and then sighed in resignation. “Go on then. I’ve put some lasagne in the fridge. You can bung it in the microwave when you’re ready. Don’t wait up.”
Kate looked around the room. Two whole days off. She really wanted to get out of her uniform, but she just didn’t have the energy to move.
Sophie sauntered down the stairs around ten o’clock the following morning and found Kate sitting in the front room, cuddled up under a blanket, watching some of the TV she’d missed out on across the previous two weeks. Sophie yawned and Kate looked round. “Morning, you dirty stop out. Sleep well?”
“Eventually,” Sophie croaked.
Kate studied the smug expression on Sophie’s face. “Go on, give us the dirt, then,” she said. “You know you want to.”
Sophie grinned. “It was good. You would have liked it. Great house. It was one of those refurbished barns outside town. The carpets are going down today, so they decided to have the party last night in case anybody spilled their drink. And they did. Jenny tipped a whole glass of wine down some poor guy. He was very good about it. Probably one of her stupid stunts to get attention.”
“Did it work?” Kate asked.
“I guess so, yes.”
Kate shook her head. “That girl’s incorrigible. Who was it, do you know?”
“No. It might be one of your lot, though. Medium height, brown hair, got a mole by his right eye.”
“Oh, Carl. Dr Penn. Really? Well, it takes all sorts, I suppose.”
“Was Jolly there?” she asked.
“Jolly? At a party? Are you mad? No he was probably at home devising new tortures for A&E nurses. Or maybe he was at a gay bar?”
“I never said he was gay!” Kate snapped. “That was Kirsty.”
Sophie looked at her. “Okay.”
There was a pause in the conversation as Kate wondered why she had reacted so sharply. “I was just angry at him that day,” she said.
“Really?”
Kate shot her friend a look. “I wish I’d never told you all,” she said sagging. “I was just as bad as him, wasn’t I?”
“Ooh. I bet that hurt to say, didn’t it?” Sophie said. “You mean you may actually have been in a bit of a bad mood that day, having just buried your granddad and all, and it’s possible you might have shot your mouth off at him because he caught you slagging him off behind his back?”
Kate winced. “You didn’t have to put it quite like that. You’re meant to be on my side.”
Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Don’t worry. Consultants never listen to gossip and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him… or you for that matter. Have you managed to swap a few hours next Saturday night so we can go to the ball?”
“Yes. Gloria said she’d cover for me. She reckons she’s too old to be out partying till all hours anyway.”
~~~
“She is,” Lena