He hung up and opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet. He took out the file that contained the names of all the staff who were designated to work during a major incident and handed it to Gary.
‘Check who’s already here then make a list of the others so the switchboard can contact them, will you? I’ll go and tell everyone what’s happened and start winding things down in here. The last thing we need is a waiting room full of patients if we end up with a major emergency on our hands.’
‘What about the air ambulance service?’ Gary asked hurriedly as Seb made for the door. ‘Do I need to get in touch with them, too?’
‘You may as well, although they probably know about it by now.’ Seb turned and stared out of the window, sighing when he saw the black clouds that were massing overhead. ‘It looks as though it’s going to be a very long night.’
Friday: 4 p.m.
THE storm broke just as Libby was turning in through the gates of the hospital. Raindrops as big as golf balls struck the windscreen, forcing her to slow down to a crawl. She switched on the wipers to their fastest setting but even then they couldn’t cope with the deluge.
Rubbing the back of her hand over the glass to clear away the condensation that was forming on it, she peered out. There was a sign up ahead, directing her to the car park, so she cautiously headed in that direction, surprised by the size of the hospital complex. Seb had told her that a whole new wing had been built to house the trauma unit during the recent renovations but she’d not realised before just how impressive it was.
No wonder he’d wanted to work here, she thought as she searched for a parking place. He had always enjoyed being in the thick of things and thrived in a crowd, whereas she preferred to be with a small group of people whom she knew well. She frowned as she manoeuvred the car into an empty space. She’d never realised before how different they were in that respect.
She switched off the engine then found her umbrella. Opening the car door, she stepped out and gasped when the wind immediately tore the umbrella from her hand as soon as she tried to open it. It went bouncing across the car park, its spokes getting battered and broken as it was tumbled around. She sighed as she locked the car doors. There was no point going after it so she would just have to get soaked, although it was annoying when she’d wanted to appear totally in control when she saw Seb.
She made her way from the car park and followed the signs directing her to the trauma unit. Even though it was barely four o’clock, the light was fading fast. The storm was gathering momentum and she was relieved when she spotted the entrance up ahead. If the wind got any stronger, she doubted if she’d be able to stay on her feet and that would be the last straw—to turn up at Seb’s place of work covered in mud!
Libby hurried inside the building then paused to get her bearings. The reception desk was straight ahead with a large waiting area to the right. Rows of chairs were neatly lined up in there and there was a drinks machine in the corner next to a rack of magazines. The place looked exactly as she had expected it would do, apart from one major omission: there were no people.
Where were all the patients? she wondered, looking around. The walking wounded as well as the seriously injured who filled up every accident and emergency department in the country? She couldn’t believe this was a normal Friday afternoon. Seb had told her several times how busy he was and that there weren’t enough hours in the day to see all the people who turned up. Obviously, something must have happened…
‘I’m afraid the emergency department is closed at the moment.’
Libby swung round when a nurse suddenly appeared. ‘I’m not a patient,’ she explained hurriedly. ‘I’m here to see Dr Bridges.’
‘Dr Bridges is too busy to see anyone at the moment,’ the nurse said firmly. ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’
‘Libby!’
They both turned when they heard Seb’s voice. Libby summoned a smile but she could see the shock on his face as he moved towards her. ‘Hello, Seb. I seem to have chosen a bad time to arrive. Sorry.’
‘There’s no need to apologise. You weren’t to know that we were in the middle of a major incident alert.’
He returned her smile but she could hear the tension in his deep voice. Was he wondering why she had turned up like this, out of the blue? It was three months since they’d seen each other, and that meeting couldn’t be classed as a success by any stretch of the imagination. The weekend had been a strain for both of them; they’d found it difficult to think of anything to say most of the time. They had drifted so far apart now that they seemed to have no common ground any more.
She’d been relieved when Seb had decided to cut short his visit and return to the north-east. However, it had been that meeting which had helped her make up her mind about what she wanted to do. It had proved once and for all that their marriage was dead and that the best thing would be to end it rather than allow it to drag on.
Now here she was, about to do that very thing, yet she couldn’t just baldly announce her decision. She and Seb needed to sit down and work out the details, like who should have which items of furniture, for instance. However, the likelihood of them being able to do that now seemed extremely remote.
‘Sorry. I’m forgetting my manners. I should have introduced you two. Cathy, I’d like you to meet my wife, Libby. Or Dr Olivia Bridges, if you’d prefer her official title.’
Libby summoned a smile as Seb introduced her to the other woman but she could see the wariness in his eyes when he turned to her and knew that she was right. He had guessed why she’d come and she wasn’t sure if that made the situation better or worse.
‘Libby, this is Cathy Watts, the senior charge nurse on the unit. This place would grind to a halt without her!’
‘It’s good to meet you, Cathy,’ she said quietly, offering the other woman her hand.
‘You too, Dr Bridges.’
The nurse shook her hand but Libby detected a definite coolness about her manner, which surprised her. Although Cathy had gone through the motions, she didn’t appear to be exactly enthusiastic about meeting her and, frankly, Libby couldn’t understand why…Unless Cathy had more than a professional interest in Seb, in which case she would hardly be thrilled to see her there, would she?
The thought that Seb might be seeing another woman was one that had crossed her mind several times in the past year, although she had always dismissed it before. He had never done or said anything to suggest that he was having an affair so she had given him the benefit of the doubt. However, she realised all of a sudden it would be naïve to imagine that a man like Seb would be on his own for very long.
Her gaze skimmed up the long, powerful lines of his body and she felt a little shiver run through her. He’d always had a huge physical impact on her from the first moment they’d met. Tall and dark with the kind of leanly hewn good looks that appealed to so many women, Seb had been her first and her only lover. That he’d had other relationships before he’d met her had never bothered her. It had been enough to know that she had been the one he’d wanted and chosen to marry.
Now everything had changed and it was too much to expect that a man as attractive and virile as her husband would have been content to live the life of a monk these past months. Had he been seeing Cathy, or someone else? Maybe it wasn’t her business any more, but she was only human. She couldn’t help wanting to know the answer.
Seb could feel the shock waves spreading through his entire body. Seeing Libby standing there had knocked him for six. He’d physically had to restrain himself when what he’d wanted to do had been to sweep her into his arms and kiss her until every doubt that had plagued him since their last meeting had been erased for good.