‘I’m going to ring Stella and let her know what’s going on. She can get them…’
‘Just go home, will you?’ Reece snapped.
Cate looked over at Amanda and saw that she was close to tears.
‘Just leave,’ Reece said.
‘Oh, I might just do that!’ Amanda’s voice held a challenge and Cate guessed this wasn’t the first time they’d had this row. ‘I’m going to ring Stella and ask her to pick them up.’
Amanda walked out of the cubicle and Reece rested back on the pillows as Cate took his baseline observations. ‘I can’t believe I’m back in hospital. Amanda should be sorting out the children, not me.’
Cate didn’t comment; instead, she headed out and had a brief word with Harry, who was working with Kelly on a critical patient who had just arrived. He said he would get there just as soon as he could but, given how long the wait might be, Harry asked if Cate could take some bloods and start an IV.
Reece was pretty uncommunicative throughout but, as she went to leave, finally he asked a question. ‘Do you think it’s the cancer spreading?’
‘I think it’s far too early to be speculating about anything,’ Cate said. ‘We’ll get these bloods off and a doctor will be in just as soon as possible.’
While she had sympathy for Reece and could guess how scared he must be, Cate’s heart went out to Amanda when she found her crying by the vending machine.
‘Come in here,’ Cate offered, opening up an interview room to give Amanda some privacy. The interview rooms were beyond dreary, painted brown and with hard seats and a plastic table, but at least they were private. ‘I know you must be very worried but it’s far too early to know what’s going on.’
‘I can deal with whatever’s going on health-wise,’ Amanda said. ‘We’ve been dealing with it for months now. It’s Reece that I can’t handle—his moods and constantly telling me to leave him alone.’
‘It must be terribly hard,’ Cate offered, wishing she could say more.
‘It’s nearly impossible.’ Amanda shook her head with hopelessness. ‘I’m starting to think that maybe he really doesn’t want me around.’
‘I doubt that,’ Cate replied.
‘So do I.’ Amanda took a drink of coffee and slowly started to calm down—all she had needed was a short reprieve. ‘You know, if that really is what he wants, then tough! I’m not going to walk away,’ Amanda said, draining her drink and screwing up the cup as she threw it into the bin. ‘Like it or not, I’m not going anywhere.’ Amanda wiped her eyes and blew her nose then walked back to be with her husband.
Cate was wondering if she should try and find the intern to see Reece, though she did want someone more senior; then she considered calling in a favour from one of the surgical team and asking them to come down without an emergency doctor’s referral, but then she saw Juan walk in.
He really was the most striking man Cate had ever seen. His tall, muscular frame was enhanced by the black Cuban-heeled boots that he wore. Today he was wearing black jeans with a heavily buckled belt and a grey and black shirt that was crumpled. His black hair was long enough that it could easily be tied back, but instead it fell onto his broad shoulders and, fresh from the shower, his hair left a slight damp patch on his shirt.
Cate’s first thought on seeing him wasn’t relief that finally there was an extra pair of hands and she could get Reece seen quickly.
Instead, as always, he begged the question—how on earth did she manage to say no to that? He was sex on long legs certainly, but more than that he made her smile, made her laugh. Juan just changed the whole dynamics of the place.
‘You made good time!’ Cate said, as he came over and she caught the heady whiff of Juan fresh from the shower.
‘I got a lift.’
Ah, yes, Cate reminded herself, he’d had company when she’d called. Juan didn’t have a car, he wasn’t in any one place long enough for that, so instead he used public transport or, more often than not, he ran to work and treated everyone to the delicious sight of him breathless and sweaty before he headed for the staff shower.
‘Where would you like me to start?’ he asked. Juan was always ready to jump straight into work.
‘Cubicle four,’ Cate said, giving him a brief background on the way. She saw Reece’s and Amanda’s eyes widen just a fraction as a very foreign, rather uncon-ventional-looking doctor entered the cubicle, yet Juan was so good with patients that within a moment he had Reece at ease.
Juan put one long, booted foot on the lower frame of the gurney and leant in and chatted with Reece about his medical history and symptoms before standing up straight.
‘Can I borrow your stethoscope?’ he asked Cate.
‘There’s one on the wall,’ Cate said. There usually wasn’t but the rather meticulous Cate had prepared the cubicle herself.
‘I can’t hear very well with them,’ Juan said. ‘I prefer yours.’
‘I know! You took it home with you last time you borrowed it.’
‘I brought it back,’ he pointed out, but he took down one of the cheap hospital-issue ones and started listening to Reece’s chest.
He cursed in Spanish and even Reece gave a small smile. ‘They are useless. I should have brought mine but you said it was so busy that I was rushing to get here…’ He winked at his patient and then Juan’s full lips twitched into a small smile of triumph as Cate handed over her stethoscope.
‘That’s better,’ Juan said.
Reece was soon back to feeling miserable as Juan examined him. He reduced Amanda to tears again when she tried to answer a question for him. ‘I can speak for myself.’
‘Okay,’ Juan said, ‘I am going lay you down and examine your stomach.’ He turned and smiled at Amanda. ‘Could you excuse us, please?’
Juan carefully examined his patient’s abdomen as Reece tried to hide his grimaces.
‘Reece…’ Juan looked down. ‘How long have you been sitting on this?’
‘Since this morning.’
‘Reece?’ The doubt was obvious in Juan’s voice.
‘Last night…’ Juan raised his eyebrows but said nothing, simply waited until Reece changed his story again. ‘I woke up in pain the night before.’
‘Is that one true?’ Juan checked, and Reece nodded. ‘Okay, I have to do a rectal examination.’ As Cate helped Reece roll to his side, he was weary and close to crying. ‘I’m sorry, Reece,’ Juan said. ‘I know it must be awful. It won’t take long.’
He was so good with the patients. He never told them not to feel embarrassed, or that he’d done it a thousand times before; he just quickly examined him and as Reece was rolled onto his back again, Juan thanked him for his co-operation.
‘Good man,’ he said, and Reece nodded.
‘What do you think is going on?’ Reece asked, and this was where Juan was different from most doctors. This was where he was clearly senior because he gave Reece his tentative diagnosis.
‘Your history makes things more complicated, of course…’ Juan said. ‘But I think you have appendicitis. I am going to ring the surgeons and get you seen as a priority.’
‘Can I have something for the pain?’
‘They don’t like to give analgesia without first seeing the patient for themselves so they can get a clear picture.’ Juan repeated what Cate had heard many times before, but again he showed just how experienced and confident he was as he continued