Georgie's Big Greek Wedding?. Emily Forbes

a long, audible exhalation, trying to release the strain in his muscles.

      He felt Georgie’s hand on his. Her fingers entwined with his in response to his sigh. Her hand connected him to the living. He knew her gesture was meant to give comfort and the warmth of her hand did exactly that. It warmed his entire body. He hadn’t realised he was feeling cold but he was now aware of heat suffusing through him, bringing him out of his fog.

      ‘Are you okay?’ Georgie asked.

      ‘I will be.’

      ‘We did everything we could,’ she said.

      ‘Are you sure?’ Today’s events made him question his skills. He liked being in control of situations and, while he realised that was sometimes going to be difficult out in the middle of nowhere, what if things went wrong because of him? What if he didn’t have what it took to work in this environment? ‘It’s our job to save lives. I’m no good to anyone if I can’t do that.’ What if he didn’t have what it took to run an emergency department in a big city hospital?

      ‘You said it yourself,’ Georgie reminded him, ‘Gus’s injuries were too extensive. Even if we’d been able to reach him sooner, the outcome wouldn’t have been any different. There was nothing else we could do.’

      Losing a patient was never easy but Josh knew Georgie was right. He’d said those exact words to the other station hands. He and Georgie had done everything they could. But would others see it that way? He needed to prove himself. He needed to show he could handle working in this environment and losing a patient on day one wasn’t an auspicious start.

      He’d lost patients before, working in A and E it was inevitable, but today had felt very personal. He knew it was because it had been up to him and Georgie. A team of two when he was used to a team of three or four or ten or however many it took, and having greater numbers took the intimacy out of it. It didn’t remove the responsibility but it did lessen the sense of failure.

      As Pat guided the chopper down onto the landing trolley Georgie gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. ‘Today was a bad day. They’re not all like this. It’ll be all right.’

      He hoped like hell she was right.

      Pat switched the engines off. The blades continued their revolutions but even the rhythmic thump-thump of the spinning blades didn’t disguise the silence that enveloped the team within the chopper. Georgie unclipped her harness and Josh followed suit.

      Georgie leant forwards between the pilots’ seats. ‘Dinner at my place when we’re finished here?’

      Josh heard her issue an invitation to Pat and Isaac. He was strangely disappointed not to be included yet there was no rule that said he should be. He was the new kid in town.

      Their shift was over but it was their job to restock the supplies ready for the next crew and he knew following a routine would help to focus his thoughts. He got busy unloading the medical equipment they’d used and pretended he hadn’t heard Georgie’s words.

      Georgie climbed out of the chopper and then turned and reached for the kitbags, preparing to carry them back to the QMERT building. ‘The guys are coming back to my house for a feed. Would you like to join us?’