‘You bet I will.’ Full of resolve, Vanessa whirled to her feet. ‘Are you off home?’ She gave Andrew a pert look and a very warm smile.
‘Think I’d better. I’m back on a late tomorrow.’
‘Oh, me too.’ Vanessa grabbed her bag. ‘Let’s share a cab. I’ll put the ten bucks I owe you towards the fare. Deal?’
‘Deal.’ Andrew’s white smile gleamed. The two took a few steps away then turned and chorused, ‘’Night, Lins.’
Lindsey dredged up a smile and fluttered a wave. Ten minutes later her eyes did another tour of the lounge. Still no Dan. Inwardly, she gave a philosophic little shrug. She’d invited him and he hadn’t shown. And yet he’d seemed keen enough. Perhaps he’d thought better of it. Her mouth turned down. And perhaps she’d come across as being too pushy. Well, whatever, she wasn’t going to hang about, wondering.
Outside, the night was clear and crisp. Lindsey looked up. The moon looked so pretty, hanging there like...a silvery seahorse...
‘Lindsey!’
She spun round. She’d know that voice anywhere. Her heart jagged into overdrive. ‘Dan?’
Dan emerged out of the shadows and into the filtered lighting at the pub’s perimeter. ‘You waited,’ he said, and looked at her. ‘I got caught up.’ Briefly he filled her in.
‘When will kids realise speed can be a potential killer?’ Lindsey shook her head. ‘They’ll all be OK, though?’
‘Should be, in time,’ Dan replied, fisting his hands into the side pockets of his bomber jacket. ‘I’m whacked,’ he admitted frankly. ‘Are they still serving meals here?’
‘Long finished,’ Lindsey said. ‘The club scene’s taken over now.’
‘Uh, OK. Thanks for hanging about,’ he said, hunching his shoulders in a shrug. ‘I thought my not turning up might have ticked you off. I didn’t want that.’
‘I guessed you’d had an emergency,’ Lindsey said, forgiving herself the small untruth. ‘It’s a bummer when that happens right at the end of a shift, isn’t it?’
His blue eyes regarded her levelly. ‘Well, this time it certainly was. I had no way of letting you know.’
Lindsey flipped a hand dismissively. ‘We can fix that now, if you like.’ She reached into her bag and pulled out her mobile and in a few seconds they’d exchanged numbers.
‘So, we’re good, then?’ Dan’s head came up in query and he returned his phone to his back pocket.
Lindsey swallowed unevenly. Running into him like this had been unexpected. And now it all seemed a bit surreal. And why on earth were they standing here? It was freezing. ‘What are you going to do about some food?’
‘I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to get a takeaway if I look hard enough.’
Lindsey bit the edge of her bottom lip. She had the sudden vision of him going back to his place, sitting alone, eating alone. After the kind of brutal day he’d appeared to have had, the mental picture was awful. The fact that it bothered her so much took her by surprise. She lived only a few minutes away. She could offer to feed him. An invitation hovered on the tip of her tongue...
‘Do you have the weekend off?’ Dan asked.
Lindsey snapped her thoughts back to reality. ‘Yes. You?’
‘Back on an early tomorrow.’
Lindsey made a face. ‘Make sure you eat, then.’ She cringed inwardly. She’d sounded like his grandmother.
‘Thanks for caring.’ His eyes held a penetratingly blue honesty.
‘Mmm...’ Lindsey’s mouth went dry.
‘I haven’t exactly been fun to work with.’ Half turning, he dragged a hand through his hair, leaving a few dark strands drifting across his forehead. It gave him a faintly dissolute air.
Lindsey scrunched her fingers through the folds of her scarf, suddenly shaken by the intensity of emotion that just standing next to Dan generated throughout her entire body. ‘Maybe we should appoint a laughter coach for the ED.’
Dan felt disconcerted for a second. Her mouth was smiling. Just. More a tiny upward flick at the corners. He smiled back and, for just a moment, a blink of time, there was a connection of shared awareness. Sharp. Intense. And then it was gone, retracting like the sun under cloud. ‘Take that idea to the board.’
‘Would I have your backing?’
Was she serious? ‘You bet. Laughter in the ED sounds...remedial.’ And ridiculous. In fact, the whole conversation was verging on the ridiculous. Which only went to prove how out of touch he was with the ordinary stuff, like social interaction. Especially with beautiful women. The atmosphere was fraught again.
‘If you’re looking for a takeaway, the Chinese should still be open,’ Lindsey offered.
He gave a one-shouldered shrug, moving restively as though he wanted to be away. ‘Maybe I won’t bother after all. I’ve food at home. I can whip up something.’ Or I could ask you to come and have a coffee with me. His thoughts churned with indecision. He took the easy way out and said, ‘You’re OK getting home, then?’
‘I’m parked just over there.’ Lindsey indicated the small sedan the same make as a dozen others in the car park. ‘Where are you?’
‘Near the exit.’
Lindsey burrowed her chin more deeply into the roll collar of her fleece. This was bordering on crazy, standing here like two puppets waiting for someone to pull their strings and activate their mouths. She felt like chucking all her doubts and insisting he come home with her for a meal. Instead, she lowered her head and began fishing for her car keys in her bag.
Dan’s jaw tightened as her hair fell forward in a shimmering curtain and it was all he could do not to reach out and draw it back and hold it while he pressed a slow, lingering kiss on her mouth...
‘Got them.’ Lindsey held up the keys triumphantly. Her gaze held his for a long moment. Expectant. Something... ‘I guess I’ll see you at work, then.’
Dan managed a nod. Whatever chance he’d had to further their...friendship outside the hospital had gone now. He’d stuffed it. ‘Guess so.’
‘Make sure you eat,’ she reinforced, and they both took off in different directions.
‘Hey, Lindsey!’
She turned. He was walking backwards and smiling. ‘In case you were wondering, I can cook.’
‘Never doubted it.’ Lindsey’s own smile carried her all the way home.
Wednesday, the following week...
‘Told you he’d shape up.’ Vanessa’s voice held vindication, as they completed handover for the late shift.
‘Andrew?’ Lindsey feigned mild interest.
Vanessa gave an eye-roll. ‘Our Dr Rossi. He’s been exceptionally co-operative and I detected quite a nice sense of humour lurking somewhere there.’
‘I’ve hardly seen him this week.’ Lindsey made a pretence of checking the list of patients waiting in cubicles. ‘His shifts have obviously been all over the place.’ And she’d noticed his absence. Oh, boy, had she noticed.
‘Well, if you’re happy with everything, I’m out of here.’ Vanessa hauled off her lanyard and scattered a handful of pens into a nearby tray. ‘Andrew and I are going to a movie.’
‘Well, fancy that...’ Lindsey drawled. ‘He’s finally asked you out on a date.’
‘Well, actually, I asked him. But he was all for it,’ Vanessa added quickly.