‘Ah…that explains a lot. I think I see it all now…’ His grey gaze meshed with hers, and he nodded, as though her answer had settled a question in his mind. ‘You were hoping that you would be working with Alex, weren’t you? You always did have a soft spot for him. I remember from years back you were always hankering after him.’ He sent her a teasing smile. ‘In fact, there was a time when you two were pretty much inseparable, weren’t you? I had the impression last night that nothing much had changed on that front.’
A warning glint came into her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t go there, if I were you. Alex was always a good friend to me, and I owe him a lot. Unlike some, he knew how to tread the straight and narrow.’
‘Ouch!’ He made an exaggerated movement, jerking back in his chair and gripping his chest as though she had pierced him with a dart. ‘That was a low blow, don’t you think? We were young then. Things were different.’
‘Were they?’ From what she had seen at the party last night, nothing much had changed from her perspective. Connor was still the devil-may-care charmer he had always been, and the girls were hanging on to his every word, trying their best to get close to him. And he certainly wasn’t putting up any resistance on that score, was he?
‘Do I sense some tension here?’ Jessica was looking from one to the other, her curiosity pricked.
‘Not at all.’ Phoebe’s expression still held the faint embers of a glower. ‘We understand each other perfectly well, Connor and I. He lives his life in a whirl of reckless abandon and answers to no one, while I stick to the well-worn path and try to follow the rules. We get along fine, just as long as we remember who we are and what we’re about.’
‘Sounds like a mess of trouble to me,’ Jessica commented drily. ‘Still, I’m with Connor on the Alex front. I’ve a good mind to eat up everything in sight just to teach the man a lesson.’
‘What lesson would that be?’ Alex came into the kitchen in bright and breezy fashion, taking everything in at a glance. He was wearing dark trousers and a fresh-looking dove-grey shirt, and he was altogether easy on the eye. His black hair was peaked in spiky fashion, still damp from his shower. Phoebe gave him a beaming smile.
‘Hi, gorgeous.’ He dropped a light kiss on her forehead. ‘Wow, hot food. That looks good. Where did this come from? Shove over, Phoebe. Make room for a hungry man.’
Phoebe obliged, sliding onto the chair opposite Jessica, and Alex seated himself next to her. ‘Connor went out and bought it for us.’
Jessica sent Alex a long look. ‘If we had any sense we’d bar you from the kitchen. Do you know, somebody came in here while we were out and emptied the fridge and ransacked the cupboards? Just after you’d gone to the time and expense of restocking them yesterday.’
‘Ah…yes, I was going to do something about that,’ Alex said sheepishly, even as he eyed up a crusty baguette. ‘Only there was this meeting going on at the students’ union building, and what with the party and everything else—well, you know how it is.’
Jessica made a disgruntled sniff, and he gave her a disarming smile. ‘I’ll sort it later, I promise, on my way back from the hospital.’
She nodded, her eyes narrowing on him. ‘You’d better,’ she said tartly. ‘Or else.’
He made a mock wince, and then turned to glance at Connor. ‘Is it all right if I help myself? I’ll do the same for you some time.’
‘Go ahead.’ Connor studied Alex. ‘I hear you’ll be working in Orthopaedics—that’s not such a far cry from A and E, is it? Do you think you’ll be okay settling for that?’
‘Maybe.’ Alex made a face. ‘It all depends on whether I can manage to get on good terms with the consultant in charge. We’ve come across one another once or twice before when I was in medical school, and things didn’t always go too well.’
He frowned. ‘I had my hopes pinned on the A and E job. I need to do a stint in Emergency at some point, but now it’s been delayed for a while. I suppose it won’t matter too much…I’ve not made up my mind what kind of specialty I want to follow yet, but at least I have another eighteen months before I need to make the decision. Unlike you…You’re in your final year, aren’t you? I heard you already had the offer of a job in London when you finish here.’
‘That’s right…unless I decide to go on and take specialist exams. I’m still thinking things through.’ Connor swallowed some of his coffee. ‘This last rotation before the summer break is going to be crunch time for me.’
‘Where will you actually be working?’ Jessica wiped her hands on a piece of kitchen towel and waited expectantly. ‘You wouldn’t be coming into Cardiac Care alongside me, would you?’ she murmured in a hopeful tone, her eyes growing large. But then she was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Mind you…that might not be an altogether good move. Some of the more frail female patients might see you and go all aflutter, and that wouldn’t do them too much good, would it?’
Connor chuckled. ‘I don’t know what to make of you, Jess. Are you always like this? You’re irrepressible.’
Jessica gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘I don’t think I am, not really. I just say it how I see it, and, to be fair, I’m not alone in thinking this way. After all, you weren’t short of company last night, were you? I’m sure the word must have gone around, because there were a lot more women here than we actually invited. From what I heard, you’re the talk of the nurses’ home.’
‘I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing,’ Connor returned wryly. ‘Anyway, to go back to what you were saying, I’m actually really serious about medicine. I want to work in Accident and Emergency, and I need to cover all aspects of trauma care if I’m going to do that.’
Phoebe sent him a quick glance. ‘And has that worked out for you? Is that what you’ll be doing?’
He returned her gaze steadily. ‘Yes, as things have turned out, I’ll be doing a stint in A and E. I put in a late application, so I wasn’t too sure whether I stood a chance. There was some debate as to whether they wanted a junior or a senior to fill the vacancy, and in the end they decided that I would fit the bill.’
Phoebe’s eyes narrowed on him. Did that mean that he had taken the job Alex had been after? Was that the reason he had landed here in their patch without warning a couple of days ago? But, then, Alex still had plenty of time to do an A and E rotation. It was unfair to resent Connor for getting the placement, though that wouldn’t hurt in her attempts to keep her guard up where Connor was concerned.
She decided not to pursue the subject there and then. It wouldn’t be pleasant for Alex to hear how Connor had managed to land the job he had wanted.
Connor had always had the world at his fingertips. He’d never had to struggle for anything. Life treated him well, even when he didn’t deserve it, and yet Alex, who was sincere and dedicated, had to work doubly hard to achieve anything.
‘It’s time we were on our way,’ Jessica warned, with a glance at her watch. ‘I don’t want to be late for my induction meeting. Mr Kirk’s a stickler for timekeeping. It wouldn’t do to start off with a blot on my record.’
Phoebe nodded, and started to load the dishwasher with the plates they had used. ‘Are you ready to go, Alex?’ she asked. ‘I don’t think it will turn out to be half as difficult as you’re expecting it to be. You were always good with patients in the fracture clinic and you know a couple of the nurses in Ortho. I’m sure they’ll help you out.’
‘I’ve a feeling I’ll need all the help I can get.’ Alex grimaced. ‘Ortho’s right next to children’s A and E, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll be able to pop my head round the door and say hello—unless they decide to send you straight to Neonatal instead.’
‘Yes, I was wondering about that.’ Her mouth turned down a fraction. ‘I was hoping I could delay the neonatal side