‘I did a stint in a hospital in Milan,’ Luke told her. ‘I got lost one day trying to find my apartment and this ambulance pulled up beside me. Matt was driving.’
‘I’d seen him in the emergency department of the hospital,’ Matteo put in. ‘I’d stayed with a child I’d brought in who’d been hit by a car and Luke had been called for a surgical consultation.’
‘He gave me a ride home,’ Luke continued. ‘And then he said he’d pick me up again after he finished his shift because he knew where the best beer in Milan was.’
‘Italy,’ Kate breathed. ‘How exciting. Did Nadia love living there?’
Matteo was staring at Luke. ‘Who’s Nadia?’
‘My ex-wife.’
‘Ah...the cheating cow?’
‘That’s the one.’
It was Kate’s turn to stare at Luke. ‘Oh, my God...you and Nadia split up?’
Luke was eyeing Matteo’s beer as if he was regretting his decision on drinks. ‘Yep.’
‘But...’
Everybody turned to stare at her and Kate bit her lip. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘It’s just that you guys were so in love...’
Luke snorted. ‘Yeah...well, I won’t be making that mistake again, believe me.’
‘It kind of cures you,’ Matteo offered. ‘When the wife you love turns out to have been shagging every other man she met. I’m with Luke on this one. If someone cheated on me or lied to me like that, I would never let her name pass my lips again either.’
Kate wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. Poor Luke... And she’d made things worse by opening her big mouth and reminding him of something it was obvious he would rather forget. Good grief...he hadn’t even told Matteo his wife’s name? Just referred to her as ‘the cheating cow’?
And something else was trying to push its way into her consciousness.
The fact that Luke was single again?
No. She was too old and wise to allow any seed to grow in that long-ago abandoned space. She’d been romantically invisible back then. Why would that have changed?
What needed to change was the subject. Fast.
‘How long were you in Milan?’
‘Two years. And then I won a consultancy position six months ago. In Edinburgh.’
‘No way...’
Luke blinked. ‘What’s so surprising about that? Did you think I was going to stay a registrar for ever?’
Kate shook her head. ‘It’s not that. I’m a consultant too. In Glasgow.’
Luke laughed. ‘You mean we’ve been living fifty miles from each other and we had to travel halfway across Europe to catch up?’
‘Not even fifty miles. Georgia and I live in Brackenburn—halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I work in the Eastern Infirmary in Glasgow and Georgie’s a paramedic at a rescue base in Edinburgh.’
‘Do you have helicopters?’ Matteo asked Georgia.
‘Yes. Two. I don’t get to go up in them very often, though. Only when they’re short of staff. You?’
‘I’ve been a flight paramedic for eight years now. I love it...’
Kate and Luke weren’t listening to the conversation between their partners. People around them were starting to move, which meant that the time for finding out exactly what tomorrow would bring was getting close.
But they were both sitting very still. So much had happened in the years since they’d last seen each other. Kate wanted to know more and she was saddened by more than a hint of bitterness in Luke’s tone when he’d confirmed that his marriage was over. How could that have happened to one of the nicest people she had ever known?
Maybe something of what she was thinking was showing in her face.
‘What about you, Katy?’ Luke asked quietly. ‘You happily married now? Got a couple of kids at home? That was the plan, wasn’t it?’
Kate dropped her gaze. There was something a little shameful about admitting that she had failed to achieve her most important personal goals. She didn’t say anything, simply shaking her head as she reached for her glass to finish her drink.
‘We’d better get going,’ Matteo said. ‘It’s time...’
Kate stood up, more than happy to leave this conversation behind for the moment.
But Luke stayed where he was for a moment, staring up at Kate.
‘It was your birthday in March,’ he said.
‘It always is.’ Kate grinned. ‘Two weeks after yours, in fact.’
‘Yeah...so we both turned thirty-five.’
Was he trying to rub in the fact that she was still single? That parenthood was probably still years away? That she might get into her forties and get past the point where it might be even possible?
She could feel defensive hackles begin to rise. Maybe, thanks to his own unfortunate experience, Luke had changed from being the nicest person in the world.
But he was grinning. And he didn’t have to say a word for Kate to realise that he hadn’t been trying to remind her that time was ticking on.
He was reminding her of something else. Something they’d agreed on after that legendary night of celebrating their final results as they’d graduated as fully fledged doctors. Something she hadn’t thought about in at least five years.
Because it had become redundant the moment that Luke had got married.
Surely he didn’t think it could be reinstated because he was single again?
No. Kate turned away with a dismissive shake of her head.
‘The pact’ was no longer in existence.
‘I THINK WE’RE HERE.’
Kate looked at the two-storeyed village house they were parked in front of. The door was shut and there was nobody to be seen trying to flag down medical assistance. She had programmed the satellite navigation system with all the GPS coordinates of their daytime tasks herself, however, so she was confident that no mistakes had been made.
‘We’ve got ten minutes. We’ll knock on the door at precisely seven forty-five. You might want to turn off the light.’ The portable flashing light on the top of the SUV was plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter. ‘We don’t want to flatten the battery while we’re on scene.’
‘Roger that.’ Georgia pulled the plug from the socket. She smiled at Kate but then her face scrunched into a grimace. ‘First scenario. You nervous?’
‘I wish we had some idea of what we’re going to. The name doesn’t give us much of a clue, does it? “Sweetheart”?’
‘Maybe it’s got something to do with sugar. A diabetic emergency, maybe?’
‘Good thinking.’
‘Or...’ Georgia wiggled her eyebrows. ‘Maybe it’s a young couple who are madly in love and they were having morning sex in the shower and one of them has slipped over and hit their head on the side of the bath.’
Kate didn’t want to think about people who were so crazy in love they couldn’t keep their hands off each