was a massive Christmas tree at either end of the skating rink, both of them covered in twinkling lights. Spotlights dappled the surface of the rink with different colours, and the rink was already packed with people, some looking nervous and sticking very close to the edge where they could grab the sides for safety, and others almost dancing on the ice. There was a pop-up Christmas shop selling gifts, and a stall selling hot drinks and snacks.
The music was all modern and Christmassy, and Anna could see that Jamie looked antsy; she remembered him telling her that he found Christmas music difficult.
‘If you’d rather not do this, we don’t have to,’ she said.
Jamie looked awkward. ‘But we’re here now and you’ve already bought the tickets. It’d be a waste not to use them. Which reminds me, I still owe you the money for my ticket.’
‘We’ll sort that out later. Let’s just go round the rink for one song,’ she said. ‘Then we can review the situation and see if it’s too much or if you want to keep going for a bit longer.’
‘OK.’ He took her hand and squeezed it briefly. ‘Thank you. You’re being very patient with me.’
‘I’m a doctor, not a patient,’ she quipped lightly. ‘And, for that matter, so are you.’
He groaned. ‘That’s terrible, but you know what I meant. I appreciate what you’re doing for me.’
‘You’re doing just as much for me, actually. This means I have someone different to drag out to all the Christmassy things I love doing and my family and friends have had more than enough of,’ she said with a smile. ‘Plus I have my eye on the big prize.’
‘What prize?’ He looked mystified.
‘You wearing that red suit on Christmas Day—because, apart from the fact that I haven’t managed to source a voice-changer yet, what if it fell off while I was walking through the ward, or my beard fell off to reveal it? I really don’t want to be responsible for making a whole ward of sick children find out the hard way that Father Christmas isn’t real.’
And then she regretted it when he looked even more panicky.
‘Sorry. I’m bulldozing you again. Ignore me. Let’s skate.’
They queued up to hire skates, changed into them, and started to make their way round the rink.
‘You’re much better at skating than you are at bowling,’ Jamie said to her.
She laughed. ‘That’s not exactly hard! But skating is just sliding one foot in front of the other. It’s easier than having to aim for something and trying to hit it. And if you think I’m bad at bowling, you should see me at archery. Everyone dives for cover.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘So are you going to start doing all these spins and jumps and things?’
‘Two letters. That’s N and O, in exactly that order,’ he said.
But at least he was smiling and starting to relax, she thought.
Skating on an ice rink.
Jamie hadn’t done this in years. Hestia had always avoided skating, not wanting to risk slipping over on the ice and breaking an ankle; teaching ballet wasn’t exactly something you could do easily while wearing a fracture boot. So he hadn’t bothered either. But once he was used to the motion again, he found himself enjoying it.
Part of him was on edge, waiting for Hestia’s favourite song to start playing and haunt him, but he forced himself to smile because he didn’t want Anna to feel bad. She was trying so hard to help him, and he appreciated that she was trying to take the sting out of the festive season for him. And she clearly loved being out here on the rink, in the middle of the crowd among all the lights and with cheerful Christmas pop songs belting out.
All they needed now was for it to snow. Not the stuff that would settle and make all the pavements slippery enough to cause mayhem, but a few light, fluffy flakes that melted when they touched the ground, making the rink magical. And how weird was it that the idea actually appealed to him?
Then he realised that a child just in front of them was down on the ice, crying. He took Anna’s hand and gestured over to the little boy. ‘I think we should go and offer some help.’
She nodded, and they skated over.
‘I’m Jamie and this is Anna. Can we help?’ Jamie asked the little boy’s mother.
She looked grateful. ‘Thank you. I need to get him back on his feet before someone skates into him.’
Jamie helped her pick him up, but the little boy wouldn’t stop crying. He was holding his arm, not letting anyone touch it. And Jamie had the strongest feeling he knew what had just happened.
‘I’m a doctor,’ he said gently. ‘Can I have a look at your arm?’
The little boy shook his head.
‘What’s his name?’ Anna asked.
‘Adeoye—Ade for short,’ the boy’s mum said.
‘Ade, does it hurt here?’ Jamie asked, pointing to his own wrist.
Ade nodded, still sobbing.
‘When you slipped over,’ Jamie said, ‘did you put your hands down first to stop yourself falling flat on your face?’
Ade nodded, but this time he spoke, his voice almost hiccupping through the tears. ‘It really hurts.’
Jamie could see that the boy’s wrist was an odd shape and, given what Ade had just told him, he was pretty sure it was a Colles’ fracture. ‘Does it feel tingly or numb?
Ade shook his head.
That was a good sign. ‘Do you feel dizzy or sick?’
‘A bit,’ Ade admitted.
‘OK. That’s probably the shock of falling.’ Jamie turned to Ade’s mother. ‘I think he’s broken his wrist—it’s a special kind of fracture called a Colles’ fracture.’
‘It’s really common when someone falls over onto an outstretched hand,’ Anna said. ‘We see a lot of them at the hospital when it’s icy.’
‘I can’t do anything to help you here, because Ade will need an X-ray to check whether any of the bones need manipulating back into place before they put the cast on,’ Jamie said. ‘If you take him to the emergency department now, they’ll do an X-ray and put a back slab on to keep his wrist stable overnight, then they’ll probably put a lightweight cast on tomorrow morning.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’m an orthopaedic surgeon, for children, so I do a lot of this sort of thing.’
Ade’s mother bit her lip. ‘Will he be in a cast for long? He’s got the school Christmas concert in a couple of weeks.’
‘I’m sure they won’t mind him being in a cast,’ Anna said, ‘and at least you’ll have time to alter any costumes around the cast, if you need to.’
‘If
