‘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 speaking. ‘Still, I will try bribing them by ordering a quick ultrasound while we wait for the bloods to come back. Hopefully I can give you something for the pain.’
It was still incredibly busy out in the department. Juan rang the surgeons and had a long discussion, then as he wrote up some analgesia he rang and arranged an ultrasound.
‘Give Reece this for the pain and vomiting,’ Juan said. ‘I’ll ring the lab and get the bloods pushed through. If we can get him round now for an ultrasound, the surgeons should be here by the time he comes back.’
‘Sure.’ Cate sorted out the drugs and then rang Chris-tine and told her that she was taking a patient for an ultrasound and would she please come out of her office and work on the floor.
‘That will go down well,’ Kelly commented, picking up the constantly ringing phone.
‘Do you know what?’ Cate answered. ‘I really don’t care.’
Kelly held out the phone for Juan. ‘A call for you.’ He went to take it. ‘Martina,’ Kelly added.
Both women shared a look as he said a few terse words in Spanish and then promptly hung up. ‘I spoke with Christine.’ Juan looked at Cate. ‘Did she not pass it on?’
‘Pass what on?’
‘I have had to speak to the nursing managers at the other hospitals where I work. Could you ask the nursing and reception staff not to put through certain personal calls for me?’
‘Certain?’ Cate checked.
‘From Martina.’
‘But if it’s your mum or the girl you met last night…’ Cate tried to keep the edge from her voice, but she felt like a secretary running his little black book when Juan was on call—women were ringing all the time ‘…then we’re to put them through?’
‘Okay, for all personal calls, just ask the staff to say they are not sure if Juan is working and that you’ll take a message and leave it for him. I am just asking if the staff can be a bit more discreet.’
‘The staff are discreet, Juan, but there’s a difference between being discreet and rude. When it’s clearly a personal call…’ She took a breath. ‘Fine, I’ll speak to everyone.’
Juan got back to his notes and did not look up. It would simply open up a can of worms if he explained things.
He didn’t want to explain things.
That was the reason he was travelling after all, no need for explanations, no past, no rules—just fun. Ex-cept Cate didn’t want fun. She’d made that clear, even if not quite from the start.
He was going to do this shift and then go home.
Juan had just over two weeks to go in the country.
Had Cate said yes when he’d first asked her out they could have had an amazing few months.
Instead, she had made it very clear she wasn’t interested in a brief fling with him.
She was interested, though.
Juan could feel it, he could smell it, he could almost taste it, but Cate refused to give in to it.
He wasn’t going to try again.
Cate was a serious thing, a curious thing, and she was quietly driving him insane.
‘Are you coming out for drinks tonight, Juan?’ Kelly asked.
‘Not tonight,’ Juan said, and he heard Cate’s small exhalation of relief.
Oh, well, Juan thought as he carried on writing up his notes.
She could relax soon.
He’d be gone.
‘HOW ARE THINGS?’ Juan came in to speak with Reece soon after he came back from ultrasound. The surgeons had examined him there and had ordered antibiotics and changed his IV regime, and Reece was now being prepared rapidly for Theatre.
‘You tell me,’ Reece said. ‘They said that appendicitis was serious in someone with my immune system.’
‘That’s why they’re starting you on all these antibiotics. We need to get you up to Theatre before it perforates,’ Juan said.
‘I shouldn’t have left it,’ Reece said. ‘I thought it was cancer.’
‘Of course you did,’ Juan said, ‘but it is an appendix flare-up nevertheless. I had a pregnant woman just last week…’ He didn’t continue, there was a lot to be done.
Cate was trying to sort out the antibiotics that the surgeons wanted. It had been incredibly tense during his ultrasound, Reece telling Amanda over and over that she should just go home. Cate had, on her way back from Ultrasound, suggested that Amanda wait in the interview room, just to have a break from the snipes from her husband.
‘Cate, can I see Reece’s IV regime?’ Juan asked, and then spoke to the patient. ‘Though you need to be operated on, I want you to have a bolus of fluids before you go up.’
He was so direct he overrode the surgeons’ IV regime with a stroke of his pen.
Juan saw Cate’s rapid blink—not many people would have changed Jeff Henderson’s plan. ‘I just spoke to him and discussed some changes,’ Juan said. ‘Reece needs to be better hydrated before he’s operated on.’
‘I bet that went down well,’ Cate said, repeating Kelly’s sentiment from a little while ago.
‘Jeff was fine.’ Juan shrugged. ‘And, like you, I really don’t care if I offend at times. This is better for the patient.’
He handed over the chart and then spoke to Reece. ‘I’m going to put another IV in you so that we can push fluids in and then I shall speak with your wife.’
‘Can you tell her that there’s no point hanging around?’
‘She’s not going to want to go home while you’re in Theatre,’ Cate pointed out as she added the medication to the flask.
‘I just don’t want her here,’ Reece snapped. ‘I don’t want to be a burden.’
‘Then stop being one,’ Cate said, and Juan’s head jerked up from the IV he was putting in. He’d heard a lot of straight talking—emergency nurses were very good at it—but hearing what Cate had to say to Reece made him falter momentarily.
‘The illness and the treatment you are on must be awful, for both of you,’ Cate continued to Reece, ‘but I can think of nothing worse than loving someone who is sick and being repeatedly told that they don’t want you there, that you’d be better off without them.’
‘I think she’d be happier—’ Reece attempted, but Cate didn’t let him finish.
‘I’m quite sure Amanda would be happier if you graciously accepted her love and affection and her need to take care of you, to help you both get through this.’
Juan headed over to the sharps box. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples, feel the roar of blood in his ears,