to stand there and press the cotton-wool swab for a full two minutes on the site where she had taken the arterial blood.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Jeremy said lightly. ‘Solitude has its virtues. I think you can stop pressing now,’ he added to Alice.
Mortified, she followed him out of the room.
‘Don’t tell them so much next time,’ Jeremy said, taking her to one side.
Alice, blushing furiously, looked down at her feet. Her tinted moisturiser had gone all blotchy. ‘I’m sorry, I know it mustn’t look very good—professionally, I mean—what with me being a single mother and all that.’
To her utter amazement Jeremy gave a small laugh. ‘We’re in the twenty-first century, Alice, for heaven’s sake, not the nineteen-fifties. Nobody gives a damn these days about pregnant women being single.’
‘Well, I do.’ Alice said curtly, though the fact he wasn’t bothered by her status was somehow strangely comforting.
‘I know,’ he said, and Alice looked up, surprised at his perception. ‘I could tell Mrs Marshall’s probing was making you uncomfortable. Next time tell them your fingers have got too fat to put your rings on, or tell them you don’t want to talk about it. Tell them what you like. You’re the doctor. It’s you holding the consultation, not the other way around.’
‘Thanks, I never thought of it like that.’
‘You’d better get those blood gases over to ICU.’
Only then did Alice remember the kidney dish she was holding. ‘I’ll take them down to the lab myself. We’re not allowed to use the ICU blood-gas machine for ward patients unless it’s a real emergency,’ she reminded him.
Jeremy screwed up his nose. ‘Since when?’
‘Since for ever—well, at least in the nine months I’ve been here.’
But Jeremy didn’t look convinced. ‘I’ve never had a problem. Maybe it’s because I’m consultant,’ he said pompously.
Well, you wouldn’t have a problem, would you? Alice thought to herself as they entered the intensive care unit. One glimpse of those impossibly blue eyes and a flash of that ready smile and everyone melted. Even Flynn, the gayest of porters, smoothed down his hair when Jeremy walked past. They were all so delighted to see him that Alice stood there awkwardly as they chatted away, greeting him like a long-lost friend. Finally Jeremy seemed to remember why they were there.
‘I’d better get these bloods done, or we’ll have to get a fresh sample.’
Far from the grumbling staff that reluctantly allowed her to do blood gases in only the most dire of emergencies, for Jeremy it seemed it was absolutely no trouble at all. They even offered to run the test for him.
‘No, but thanks anyway. I just want to have a quick look at the printout and then hopefully dash off. I’ll catch you all later.’
Alice could find neither rhyme nor reason for her indignation as she smeared a drop of blood onto the machine and punched in her request.
‘Don’t take it personally,’ Jeremy said, glancing at her sideways as she glared at the machine. ‘They probably let me use the machine because they’ve got a bit of a soft spot for me. I was a patient here for a while.’
Alice gave a cynical laugh as the printout appeared. The staff might well have a soft spot for Jeremy Foster, but it certainly wasn’t all down to the fact he had been a patient here, or even that he was a consultant.
Ripping the result off, she handed it to him.
‘Better than I thought. Good. But keep an eye on her, Alice. Given that I’ve upped her pethidine and prescribed her Valium, her respiration rate could go down. Tell the nurses to do strict one- to two-hourly obs and keep a close eye on her oxygen saturations.’
Alice nodded.
‘I’ll catch you later, then.’
As he left the tiny annexe, the baby suddenly let out a massive kick. Alice’s hands instinctively moved to her stomach and she tenderly massaged it. ‘Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you’re in there,’ she whispered, and watched out of the window as Jeremy made his way down the unit, every nurse in the place turning her head to catch a glimpse as he left. At least she didn’t have to worry about Jeremy trying his well-rehearsed lines on her. Just as well really, Alice thought to herself as she made her way back to the ward. With those blue eyes and that sultry smile she doubted whether even she would be able to offer much resistance.
Pre-op clinics always ran overtime and today was no exception, given the fact it was the intern’s first day and the consultant had only just returned from sick leave.
It was Alice’s job to clerk the patients, which involved taking a full medical history. From there she would order any test she thought necessary prior to the patient’s admission, such as ECGs and blood tests. Then the consultant would review the patient and agree or disagree with the intern’s suggestions, invariably adding or removing a test. At this point, Jeremy explained, he would like her to be present.
‘There’s not much point otherwise. At least we can both explain our thought processes behind the pre-op work-ups. The down side is it means we won’t be out of here much before six.’ He gave her a sideways look. ‘Or maybe even seven. Is that a problem?’
Alice shook her head. ‘Sounds fine to me.’
And so they battled away. Alice took excellent histories. Somehow she managed to get the patients to open up—maybe because she gave a bit of herself back. But under her steady, unaccusing gaze the ‘occasional smoker’ would admit to a twenty a day habit and even the ‘social drinker’ admitted to a few cans mid-week. She took Jeremy’s advice, though, and somehow by remembering that it was she that was holding the consultation she managed to avoid some of the more embarrassing questions that, until now, patients had assumed it was their right to ask. Not that she wasn’t personable and friendly, but Marcus’s rejection and her current circumstances were something Alice was having difficulty dealing with herself without the constant, however well meaning, advice from strangers.
Jeremy, on the other hand, seemed to be taking his own advice to the extreme. He was courteous, friendly even, yet he gave nothing away about himself. Every personal comment, every attempt by a patient to make small talk was immediately and skilfully rebuffed. So skilfully, in fact, that it took Alice the full afternoon to realise he never spoke about himself other than with reference to his work.
Jeremy didn’t seem remotely bothered by her apparent slowness. In fact, by the time the last patient had been seen and the clock was edging towards seven, he seemed more than happy to prolong the evening with a chat.
‘That’s the last, Mr Foster.’
The young nurse popped her head around the door and Alice noticed her looking pointedly at her watch.
‘Thanks, Emily, you did a great job today. I’m sorry we’ve made you so late. And, by the way, it’s Jeremy.’
Instantly the bitter expression melted.
‘No problem.’ Emily paused. ‘Jeremy. It’s nice to have you back.’
That
