‘The doctor won’t tell me anything,’ Katie replied flatly.
‘I’d rather explain to Mum.’ Anouk bit back her irritation as Katie and Sol exchanged a glance, hating the feeling that she was missing a vital piece of information.
‘Bad day?’ he asked Katie simply.
She bit her lip. ‘She can’t even get up today. But she was resting so I thought Izzy and I could have an hour at the park before we went back and started our chores. There’s no way she will be able to get here on her own.’
‘I’m on call so I can’t leave.’ He rubbed his face thoughtfully. ‘But I could call Malachi. He can help if she’d be happy about that?’
‘Yes.’ Katie’s relief was evident. ‘Please call him. I’ll text Mum.’
Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Anouk tried to control her heart, which had decided to pick up its pace as she listened to the conversation. It was aggravating feeling as though she wasn’t entirely following, but the tone of it seemed all too painfully familiar. Or was she just reading too much into it?
Still, she had nowhere else to be for the moment; a nurse was with Isobel and they were waiting on a few results before they could move her to CT.
‘In the meantime,’ Sol’s voice dragged her back to the moment, ‘let me try to explain to Dr Anouk here why she can speak to you.’
Katie narrowed her eyes uncertainly.
‘You’re going to have to trust her,’ Sol cajoled. ‘I do.’
They were just words to ease the concerns of a kid, Anouk knew that, and yet she was helpless to stop a burst of...something from going off inside her chest.
‘The more I understand, Katie, the more I can help.’ She fixed her gaze on the young girl, whose penetrating stare was unsettling.
‘Okay,’ Katie conceded at last, before turning back to Sol. ‘But you’ll call Malachi?’
‘Right now,’ Sol confirmed.
For a moment it looked as though her face was about to crumple, the pressure of the decisions clearly getting to her. But then she pulled herself together, sinking down onto her chair and fishing out a mobile phone to begin texting. As if there wasn’t time for self-indulgent emotions.
As if she was a lot older than her years with far too much adult responsibility.
Anouk fought back the wave of grief that swelled inside her. All too familiar. All too unwelcome. Coming out of nowhere.
‘Anouk.’
She snapped her head up to find that Sol was beckoning her, his eyes on Katie to ensure she was preoccupied as he moved across the room.
Wordlessly, Anouk followed, letting him lead her around the curtain and into the central area, keeping his voice low.
‘Katie and Isobel are young carers. They look after their mum, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Some days are good, some not so good. Today, unfortunately, is a bad day, which means Michelle can’t even get out of bed without their help.’
‘I see.’ Anouk breathed in as deeply and as unobtrusively as she could and tried to fight back the sense of nausea that rushed her. Her own situation had been vastly different from the girls’, but the similarities were there. ‘Dad?’
‘Died in an RTA two years ago. He’d just popped out to get cough mixture.’
She exhaled sharply, the injustice of it scraping at her.
‘Who’s Malachi?’
‘My brother. He’ll go round and help Michelle. See if there’s anything he can do to get her here. Otherwise you keep me informed throughout and we’ll agree as much as we can tell Katie. She’s mature, but she’s still only eleven and she has enough to deal with.’
‘Isn’t there anyone else?’ She already knew the answer, but she still had to ask. ‘Any other family member?’
‘No. Let me see what I can do but there are a few people I could call as a last resort. They’re from the centre and they can at least sit with Katie so that she isn’t alone until my shift finishes or I can get someone to cover for me.’
‘Why would you do that?’ She folded her arms across her chest as though the action could somehow contain the churn of...feelings that were swirling inside her, so close to the surface that she was afraid they might spill out.
She wanted to pretend that it was just empathy for Katie, the familiarity of a young girl who had far too much responsibility for her tender age. But she had a feeling it was also to do with Sol. His obvious concern and care for the young girl and her sister and mother was irritatingly touching.
She was ashamed to admit that she’d been attracted enough to the man when she’d thought he was just a decent doctor but also a gargantuan playboy. Seeing this softer side to him was only making the attraction that much stronger.
‘Why not do it?’ He shrugged and the fact that he was clearly hiding something only made Anouk want to get to know him that much more.
It was galling, really.
Checking on little Isobel and consulting with her team was the opportunity Anouk needed to regroup, and as she worked she let the questions about Sol fall from her head, even as he worked alongside her. Her patient was her priority, as always. Soon enough it was time to take the girl to CT to scan her head and neck.
‘Can I go with her and hold her hand?’ asked Katie, the concern etched over her face jabbing into Anouk’s heart.
She usually let parents go in to be with their child, but unnecessarily exposing an eleven-year-old to ionising radiation, however short a burst, was different.
‘How about if I go in?’ Sol announced over her shoulder. ‘You can wait outside but I’ll hold Izzy’s hand for you?’
Katie eyed him slowly for a moment.
‘Okay, thank you,’ she conceded at length.
‘Great, you walk with Anouk here and your sister. Okay?’
Something jolted in Anouk’s chest at the weight of Sol’s gaze on her.
‘Fine with me. You’re going to get leaded?’
‘I thought I might. They probably won’t let me in the room otherwise.’
He made it out to be a light-hearted joke, but Anouk knew better. Usually only parents were allowed to accompany their younger children into the room when the imaging was in progress.
‘You don’t have any patients up on Neurology?’
‘I’ll sort it. The only one I’m worried about right now is a Mrs Bowman, but I’ll deal with that.’
The fact that Sol was putting himself into that position in lieu of the girls’ mother said a lot more about him than Anouk expected.
She couldn’t shake the impression that it was also more than he would normally like a colleague to know about him. Why did she feel compelled to suddenly test him?
‘Boost your reputation around here to compassionate hero as well as playboy, huh?’ she murmured discreetly, so only Sol heard.
He glanced at her sharply, then formed his mouth into something that most people might take to be a smile. She knew better.
‘Something like that,’ he agreed with deliberate cheerfulness that instantly revealed to Anouk that this was the last stunt he wanted to be pulling.
He didn’t fool her. She couldn’t have said how she knew it, but Sol was doing this for Isobel and for Katie, despite the fact that it was going to make him all the more eligible within the hospital’s pool of