have taken more notice of that toothache he’d mentioned? What if Pip had left him under observation while he was busy having a heart attack? She should have ordered a twelve-lead ECG and some bloods rather than more routine vital sign observations.
She and Alice were ushered into a small room with three chairs in a triangle on one side of a desk and a couch against the opposite wall. The nurse deposited a plain manila folder with Alice’s name on the front onto the desk.
‘Have a seat,’ she invited. ‘Dr Costa won’t be long.’
Alice raised her eyebrows. ‘Funny name, isn’t it?’
‘It’s Italian.’
‘Why can’t I just go back to Dr Gillies?’
‘Dr Gillies is our family doctor. Part of his job is to get someone else to see his patients if he’s not sure what’s wrong. It’s called referral.’
Alice absorbed the information with a small frown. Then her face brightened.
‘Knock, knock,’ she said.
‘Who’s there?’ Pip responded obligingly.
‘Dr Costa.’
‘Dr Costa who?’
‘Dr Costa lotta money.’
Pip’s grin faded with astonishing rapidity as she realised she wasn’t the only one to have heard Alice’s joke, but the tall, dark man, whose sudden presence seemed overwhelming in the small consulting room, was smiling.
‘I don’t really cost much at all,’ he said to Alice as he eased his long frame into the remaining empty chair and leaned forward slightly. ‘I’m free…and I’m all yours.’
Alice was staring, open-mouthed, and Pip could sympathise with the embarrassed flush creeping into the girl’s cheeks. She would have been thoroughly disconcerted to have a dose of masculine charm like that directed at her. Poor Alice would have no idea how to respond.
The soon-to-be-teenage girl was currently the sole focus of attention from a man who had to be far more attractive than any one of the pictures of the movie-star and pop idols that Alice and her friends already enjoyed discussing at length.
With hair and eyes as dark as sin, a killer smile and that intriguing accent, it was no wonder that one of the senior ED nurses had sighed longingly when Pip had explained the necessity of accompanying Alice to this appointment.
‘I wouldn’t miss that opportunity myself.’ Suzie had laughed. ‘In fact, I wonder if I could borrow someone’s kid?’
‘It’s only because my mother’s got some kind of horrible virus that’s making her vomit and Alice is too young to go by herself.’
‘It’s not a problem,’ Suzie had assured her. ‘Your voluble Mr Symes has probably only got a virus as well. I’ll keep a close eye on him while you’re gone.’ She waved Pip towards where Alice was waiting patiently on a chair near the door. ‘Go. Enjoy!’
And with that smile from Dr Costa now coming in her own direction, it was impossible not to feel a curl of very feminine pleasure. Philippa could hear an echo of Suzie’s sigh somewhere in the back of her head as she returned the smile.
‘And you must be Alice’s…sister?’
The noticeable hesitation was accompanied by a spark of curiosity in those dark eyes, but who wouldn’t wonder about such an obvious age gap between siblings? There was also a subtle frown that suggested the doctor was puzzled by the somewhat unorthodox situation of a sibling accompanying a new patient to a medical consultation.
That inward curl shrivelled so fast it was a flinch, but Pip managed to keep her smile in place for another heartbeat. About to correct his assumption, she was interrupted by Alice.
‘Mum’s sick,’ Alice informed Dr Costa. ‘Isn’t she, Pip? She couldn’t come with me today ’cos she’s got some horrible bug that’s making her throw up all the time.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that!’
He really sounded sorry, too. Pip took a deep breath.
‘We didn’t want to miss this appointment.’ She didn’t need to catch the meaningful glance from Alice that pleaded with her not to make any corrections. It could be their secret, couldn’t it? Dr Costa wasn’t the first person to assume they were sisters and it was much cooler than reality as far as Alice was concerned.
It seemed perfectly reasonable. Secrets were fun after all, and if they were harmless, they only added to bonds between people.
‘There’s quite a waiting list to get into one of your clinics, Dr Costa,’ Pip added calmly, as she shot Alice just the ghost of a conspiratorial wink.
‘Call me Toni. Please.’ He was eyeing her white coat. ‘You’re on staff here, Pippa?’
‘It’s Pip. Short for Philippa.’ Though she liked Pippa rather a lot more, especially delivered with that accent. ‘And, yes, I’ve just taken up a registrar position here. I’m a month into my run in the emergency department.’
Alice was watching the exchange with keen interest.
‘I thought you were supposed to be Italian,’ she said to her doctor.
‘I am. I come from Sardinia, which is a big island off mainland Italy.’
‘Tony doesn’t sound very Italian.’
‘It’s Toni with an “i”,’ she was told. ‘Short for Antonio. Will that do?’
Alice returned the smile cautiously. ‘I guess.’
It was Pip’s turn to receive another smile. ‘Thank goodness for that. What would I have done if I couldn’t have established my credentials? Now…’ He reached for the manila folder on the desk. ‘Tell me, Alice, how is it that you’ve come to see me today?’
Alice looked puzzled. ‘I came on the bus from school. I often do that now so that Pip can give me a ride home in her car. I used to have to catch two buses.’
Pip caught the unspoken appeal as the paediatrician opened the file. He wasn’t getting the short cut he might have hoped for in this consultation.
‘Alice’s GP made the referral,’ she said helpfully. ‘He’s been trying to find a cause for recurrent abdominal pain with associated nausea and vomiting and some general malaise that’s been ongoing for several months now.’
Toni Costa was nodding as he skimmed the referral letter. ‘No evidence of any urinary tract infections,’ he noted aloud, ‘but your doctor’s not happy to settle for a diagnosis of childhood migraine or irritable bowel syndrome.’
‘Mmm.’ Actually, it had been Pip who hadn’t been happy to settle for an umbrella diagnosis, but she didn’t want to have anyone else thinking she was interfering because of her training.
The swift glance she received from her senior colleague conveyed a comprehension of her thought that was instant enough to be unsettling,
