‘That sounds good.’
And Ruby waited and waited for her patient’s decision, except she didn’t seem to be waiting, just pausing, and Cort found himself wanting to know what the woman would choose, to prod her in the back and say, ‘Just have the rice, for God’s sake.’ Because, yes, there were some jobs that not everyone could do.
‘Here we are, Cort.’ The largest bacon sandwich ever came over the counter and for the first time since he’d been a teenager, Cort thought he might blush as he took the plate, headed over to Sheila and sat down.
‘I’ve had a word with some of the staff,’ Sheila said, because it was easier to talk away from the ward. ‘As you know, I’m going to do a stint on nights and see how it’s all going on there.’
Cort took a sip of his coffee and nodded.
‘How’s Jamelia?’
‘She’s doing better,’ Cort admitted, though his eyes kept wandering to where Ruby was warming her patient’s meal in the microwave. ‘She just needs someone to shadow her and I’ve spoken with Doug about it—we’ll get there,’ he said, because they would.
‘I’ve got a good team, Cort,’ Sheila said. ‘I know they can go a bit far at times, but they have to deal with a lot.’
‘I’m aware of that.’ He was more than aware of that.
‘We just need to remember we are a team,’ Sheila said. ‘And that sometimes we struggle. All of us do, Cort.’ He glanced up at her, because for a moment there he thought she was referring to him. ‘It’s good to hear you went out last week.’
Cort rolled his eyes and took a large bite of his sandwich.
‘It really is,’ Sheila said. ‘You want teamwork, Cort, well, you have to be a part of it.’
And his eyes roamed the canteen as he went to take another bite and then he saw where she was sitting and Ruby looked over at him and somehow the sandwich didn’t taste quite so nice. Part of him wanted to take another bite, a really big one, but instead he put the sandwich down and then he was rewarded with a very private smile, and that did it.
He would go there tonight, Cort decided.
He would go over, because he knew that she was struggling and he didn’t know if she’d told her friends, and, he admitted to himself, if he was going to be there at any point in the future, then he ought to be there for her now.
‘Not hungry?’ Sheila frowned at his discarded sandwich.
‘Not as much as I thought I was.’
‘Is that Ruby?’ Sheila asked, knowing full well that it was. ‘Doing an agency shift?’
Cort said nothing, just as he usually would.
‘She finishes soon,’ Sheila said, which she never usually would either. ‘I’m having a lot of trouble getting that one through.’ She picked up the untouched half of Cort’s sandwich and took a bite. ‘She’s like Lila …’
‘Your daughter?’
‘Both vegetarians, both live on another planet.’
Cort drained his coffee and still said nothing, but for the second time in fifteen minutes or so he was blushing.
‘I still don’t know if she’ll turn up for her shift. What is it with these girls? My daughter just dropped out of maths—two years of study gone, just like that.’
‘Sheila,’ Cort asked, ‘what if your pager went and they asked you to go and work on Ophthalmology?’
‘They wouldn’t.’ Sheila flushed, because she could not stand eyes—they were her thing, the one thing she ran from—she didn’t even like putting in eyedrops.
‘If they did, though?’ Cort said. ‘If they told you that you had to spend six weeks there—and in the ophthalmic theatre too.’
‘I’d say no,’ Sheila said. ‘Because I’m allowed to. Emergency is an essential part of her course. Anyway …’ Sheila met him with a firm gaze ‘… let’s hope she turns up and that we can keep things uneventful for her.’ And that was all she did say, but he took the warning, because in three years he’d never so much as looked at anyone and, yep, Emergency could be a horrible place to work at times and he didn’t want any more of the spotlight falling on Ruby.
‘Cort?’ Sheila checked, and he nodded. Nothing more was said, but both fully understood.
As he headed back to work, deliberately he avoided Ruby’s table, and deliberately he didn’t glance back.
It hurt not to be acknowledged, though Ruby did her best not to let it show, just concentrated on her patient, the aim to keep things light and uneventful, because Louise hated eating in public.
‘Can we go now?’ Louise said, for perhaps the fiftieth time.
‘Soon,’ Ruby said, gently but firmly, deliberately eating her salad as slowly as she could. ‘I want to finish my lunch, I won’t get another break.’ Though as Sheila walked directly towards them, Ruby was rather tempted to take the easy option and tell Louise they were heading back to the unit.
‘Hi, there, Ruby.’ She gave a brief smile to Louise too.
‘Hi, Sheila.’ Ruby wasn’t too embarrassed to be seen working. As a third-year student, she was able to practise as a division-two nurse and a lot of the students crammed in as many shifts as they could. Still, it was just a little awkward given she was due to be on night shift tomorrow.
‘Are you doing some agency?’
‘Hospital bank.’ Ruby gave a sweet smile and then pointedly turned her attention back to her patient. When Sheila continued to hover, Ruby extended the conversation a touch. ‘It’s my last one for this week.’
‘Good,’ Sheila said, ‘because you’ll need all your wits about you for night duty. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Looking forward to it,’ Ruby said as Sheila finally left.
‘Who was that?’ Louise asked.
‘The A and E NUM.’ Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘She’s not too bad really, but she runs a tight ship.’
‘She reminds me of my mother.’ Louise gave a wry smile and Ruby was delighted to see that now the conversation was rather more normal, without thinking, Louise took another mouthful of food.
‘Funny you say that!’ Ruby grinned. ‘I remind her of her daughter apparently.’
It was a slow walk back to the unit, deliberately so, because Louise would have happily run all the way back, just to burn up a few extra calories, but Ruby deliberately ambled, and never in a million years would Sheila, or even Jess, Ellie or Tilly, realise that as she stopped by the guest shop and chatted about some flowers, her mind really was on the patient, that this was, in fact, a deliberate action and part of her job.
Doing this, she was happy, Ruby realised, then tried to push away that thought, although it was occurring all too frequently lately. She could stay a div two if she didn’t complete Emergency, or Sheila insisted that she repeat, but Ruby didn’t have to—she could still work in her beloved psych. Okay, she might not be able to go as far in her career as she would like, but she could still do the job she loved.
As she swiped her ID card and they entered the unit that actually felt like home, Ruby had no intention of not showing up tomorrow.
It was just nice to have options, that was all.
HE SAW her again, walking down the hill towards her