recognised the Vietnamese words instantly. ‘Your mum and dad? Duc, what’s happened? Are they hurt?’
Her stomach clenched. She’d met Khiem and Hoa on a few occasions. They were a charming couple, completely devoted to the hospitals they ran in Hanoi and two other outlying areas in Vietnam.
Silence filled her ears and an ache spread across her chest. Experience told her that silence usually meant the worst possible case.
‘Duc,’ she stumbled. ‘No.’
She couldn’t keep the emotion out of her voice or the tears from pooling in her eyes.
She heard him suck in a deep breath, it was almost like he’d flicked a switch somehow. ‘I need you,’ he repeated. ‘There was a car accident. I’ve had to fly back to Hanoi. We don’t have another obstetrician, and I don’t have any midwives. I can’t do this, Viv. I can’t do any of this. I need someone with me. I need someone to help me. Can you come?’
So many questions crowded her brain. She knew there were good, reliable medics who worked at the hospitals. Khiem and Hoa were meticulous about who they hired. But she also knew that, right now, that wasn’t what Duc needed to hear.
Officially, she should give notice to her current employer. She hated to be thought of as unreliable. But this was an emergency. A family emergency, because Duc felt like family to her.
‘I’ll sort it. I’ll get there.’ As she started pushing random clothes into a bag her heart ached for him. Last time they’d spoken, a few weeks ago, he’d been full of enthusiasm. He’d started a new job a month before—a surgical and teaching fellowship in one of big cities in the US. She’d almost been a tiny bit jealous about how happy he’d sounded. Duc had a charm about him, he was friendly and good at his job. No matter where they’d worked together in the past, she’d always ridden a little on his coattails. Duc was the one who made friends and got them invites to dinner and parties. Viv was just his plus one. It was like he’d realised early on that she struggled with forming relationships, and he would do that part for her.
‘Thank you,’ his voice croaked.
It halted her in her tracks and she dropped back down onto her knees.
‘Of course,’ she said without question. ‘I’ll go to the airport. I’ll find a flight. I’ll text you once I have the details.’
She wanted to wrap her hands around his neck right now and give him the biggest bear hug. She wanted to breathe in the, oh, so familiar aftershave that always drifted into her senses when they were close. She hated to think of her friend in pain.
‘Duc?’ she whispered, before she hung up. She looked at the crooked little finger on her right hand. Years ago they’d adopted a quirky move from a kids movie where they intertwined their pinkies and said the phrase, ‘Friends for life.’ It had become a long-standing joke between them. She licked her lips. ‘Friends for life,’ she said huskily, then her voice broke.
There was a muted pause for a few seconds. This time he sounded a little stronger. ‘Friends for life,’ he repeated, before she hung up the phone.
DESPITE LEAVING LONDON three days ago, Vivienne still wasn’t here.
It could only happen to her. There had been no direct flights available, so she’d taken a whole host of journeys that had bounced her halfway around the globe in order to reach him. She’d had delays, cancellations, engine failure and then an air traffic control strike to contend with. Duc stared at his watch, his eyes flicking back to the arrivals doors at Hanoi airport. Each text had seemed just a little more frantic than the one before.
His stomach was clenched in an uncomfortable knot. It had been this way since he’d got the initial news about his mother and father. He could barely remember packing up his rented apartment, or his flight from Philadelphia to Hanoi. By the time he’d reached the May Mắn Hospital and Lien and her new husband had rushed out to meet him, he had been numb.
There had been a string of traditions and rites around the funeral to take care of. So many people had visited that Duc felt as if he’d worn his white funeral clothes for three days straight. He knew it was because people wanted to pay their respects but keeping his expression in place had been hard.
In the meantime, the hospital had to be kept running. The staff were distraught. The leaders and motivators that they’d worked with for years were gone, and he could see everyone look at him with wariness in their eyes.
By the time he’d buried his mother and father he’d been exhausted. What he really wanted to do was climb back onto a plane and forget anything like this had ever happened. He’d spent the last week hoping someone would pinch him in an on-call room and this whole thing would just have been some kind of monumental nightmare.
Something flickered at the side of his vision. Then a sound. It started as a tinkling laugh that grew into something much deeper and heartier.
His heart gave a little leap. There was only one person who had a laugh like that.
Even though he was tall, he stood on tiptoe to try and catch his first glimpse of her in amongst the exiting crowds.
There. Vivienne was talking animatedly to a rather frail, elderly gentleman, her arm interlinked through his. Her red curls were tumbling down her back in loose waves, a white shirt knotted at her waist and a pair of cut-off denim shorts showing off her long legs.
The original pretty woman. It was what everyone said as soon as they looked at her. Only her Scottish accent betrayed her similarities to the famous actress.
He could see heads turn as she sauntered past. Her casual grace was always noticeable. There weren’t too many people here who looked like Viv.
Duc watched as she guided the man over towards his family, walking easily with him as if she had known him all her life. She was in nurse mode. He could tell. People watching would think it was a grandfather and granddaughter, not just some random Scots girl who’d befriended the elderly man on the flight to make sure he was okay. Duc couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the edges of his lips—the first time he’d smiled in days. Only Vivienne. He watched as she brought the man safely to his family, shaking hands with them all, before turning around and scanning the crowd until finally catching Duc’s gaze.
She didn’t hesitate. Her face lit up. She dropped her bags at her feet and ran over to him, jumping up and winding her legs around him. She didn’t even say a word. She just buried her face deep into his neck and held on tight.
He could see the amused glances from people close by—as if they were witnessing a pair of lovers reunited. But somehow Duc didn’t feel the urge to explain. Just the press of her body against his felt good.
He closed his eyes for a second too and just held her there, letting the heat from her body sink into his. His senses were flooded as the familiar aroma of orange blossom from her shampoo drifted around him.
For an instant in time he was in an entirely different place. One where he hadn’t received the call about his parents when he was about to walk into surgery. One where he hadn’t had to come here and bury the mother and father he’d unrealistically thought would probably
