here if you need me, okay?’
The thing with children, Annika was fast realising, was that they weren’t dissimilar from the residents in the nursing home. There, the residents’ tact buttons had long since been switched off—on the children’s ward they hadn’t yet been switched on.
‘My mum said you were in the paper this morning!’ A bright little five-year-old sang out as Annika did her obs.
‘What’s “allegedly” mean?’ asked another.
‘Why don’t you change your name?’ asked Luke as she took down his dressing just before she was due to finish. Ross wanted to check his leg ulcer before it was re-dressed, and Annika was pleased to see the improvement. ‘Then no one would know who you are.’
‘I’ve thought about it,’ Annika admitted. ‘But the papers would make a story out of that too. Anyway, whether I like the attention or not, it is who I am.’
His dressing down, she covered his leg with a sterile sheet and then checked off on his paperwork before the end of her shift.
‘What’s your blood sugar?’
‘Dunno.’
It had been a long day for Annika, and maybe her own tact button was on mute for now, but she was tired of reasoning with him, tired of the hourly battles when it was really simple. ‘You know what, Luke? You can argue and you can kick and scream and make it as hard as you like, but why not just surprise everyone and do it for yourself? You say you want your mum to leave you alone, to stop babying you—maybe it’s time to stop acting like one.’
It was perhaps unfortunate that Ross came in at that moment.
‘His dressing’s all down,’ Annika gulped.
‘Thanks. I’ll just have a look, and then you can redress.’
‘Actually, my shift just ended. I’ll pass it on to one of the late staff.’
She turned to go, but Ross was too quick for her.
‘If you could wait in my office when you’ve finished, Annika,’ Ross said over his shoulder. ‘I’d like a quick word.’
Oh, she was really in trouble now.
She hadn’t been being mean—or had she?
Maybe she should have been more tactful with Luke …
She couldn’t read Ross’s expression when he came in.
He was dressed in a suit, even though he hadn’t been in one this morning, and he looked stern and formidable. Unusually for Ross, he also looked tired, and he gave a grim smile when she jumped up from the chair at his desk.
‘Is Luke okay?’
‘He’s fine. I asked Cassie to do his dressing.’
‘Was he upset?’
‘Upset?’
‘Because I told him he should be taking his own blood sugars?’
‘He just took it.’
‘Oh.’
Ross frowned, and then he shook his head in bewilderment. ‘Do you think you’re here to be told off?’
‘I told him he was acting like a baby.’
‘I’ve told him the same,’ Ross said. ‘Many times. You were fine in there—would you please stop doubting yourself all the time?’
‘I’ll try.’
‘How come you’re finishing early?’
‘I worked through lunch; I’m going home at three.’ She let out a breath. ‘It’s been a long day.’
‘That offer’s still there.’ He saw her slight frown. ‘To talk.’
‘Thank you.’
And when she didn’t walk off, neither did Ross.
‘Do you want to come riding?’ There was an argument raging in his head—he was going away soon, they had promised to keep things on ice till he returned, and yet he couldn’t just leave her like this.
‘Riding?’
‘At the farm.’
‘I’ve never ridden.’
‘It’s the best thing in the world after a tough day,’ Ross said. ‘You’ll love it.’
‘How do you know?’ Annika said.
‘I just know.’ He watched her cheeks darken further. ‘Annika, I will not lay a finger on you. It’s just a chance to get away …’
‘I don’t like talking like this when I’m on duty.’
‘Then give me half an hour to call in a favour and I’ll meet you in the canteen.’
She wasn’t going back to the farm with him. Her hand was shaking as she opened her locker, and then she picked up her phone and turned it on. She saw missed calls from her mother, her family’s agent, her brother Iosef, a couple from Annie and four from Aleksi. She turned it off. Right now she was finding it very hard to breathe.
She didn’t want to go home.
Didn’t want to give a comment.
Didn’t want a spin doctor or a night out at some posh restaurant with her family just to prove they were united.
Which was why she turned left for the canteen.
He drove; she followed in her own car. He had a small flat near the hospital, Ross had explained, for nights on call, but home was further away, and by the time they got there it was coming up for five. As they slid into his long driveway, she saw the tumbled old house and sprawling grounds. For the first time since she had been awoken by a journalist at five a.m., asking her to offer a comment, Annika didn’t have to remember to breathe.
It just happened.
And when she stepped out of the car she saw all the flowers waving in the breeze—the same kind of flowers he had brought for her.
Ross had picked them.
The inside was scruffy, but nice: boots in the hallway, massive couches, and a very tidy kitchen, thanks to the cleaner who was just leaving.
‘Hungry?’ Ross asked, and she gave a small shrug.
‘A bit.’
‘I’ll pack a picnic.’
‘Am I to learn to ride in my uniform?’
He laughed and found her some jodhpurs that he said belonged
