given the competition being so poor?’
Allegra felt her stomach do a funny little flip-flop. ‘You’re asking me to dinner?’
‘You sound surprised.’
‘I am.’
‘Don’t you get dinner invitations very often?’
She gave him a rueful look. ‘Only from recently separated men who do nothing but whinge about their soon-to-be-ex-wives the whole time.’
‘Well, I can assure I’m not married or separated or involved with anyone at present, much to my mother’s ongoing disappointment.’
‘You could always try internet dating,’ she suggested with a tiny wry smile.
‘I thought I might try this way first,’ he said, and pushing out his chair got to his feet. ‘That’s if the laundromat isn’t a better offer.’
Allegra stood up as well, wondering why her legs felt so wobbly and strange all of a sudden. ‘It’s close … but I suppose as long as you don’t offer me pizza and cheap red wine, you’re a marginally better prospect than the laundromat.’
‘Marginally, eh?’ He smiled as he held the door open for her. ‘I’ll pick you up at eight or is that too early?’
‘No, but I haven’t even given you my address.’
‘Good point.’ He reached for a pen and paper and she rattled off her street and apartment block number and watched as he wrote it down in a strong forceful script which she knew her mother would have a field day interpreting.
‘See you tonight, then,’ he said, pocketing the note.
‘Yes … Thanks for the coffee.’
‘You’re welcome.’
She felt the pull of his gaze for several long seconds before she dragged hers away to walk through the door and down the corridor on legs that still felt as if someone had taken out the bones, just leaving the marrow …
Allegra checked on Tommy Lowe before she left for the evening. The neurosurgeons were planning insertion of intracranial pressure monitors on both him and his mother that night in the ICTU theatre. Susie, the ICU nurse looking after Tommy, reported all his obs stable, and the same for Kate, who she was also temporarily attending whilst Chloe, Kate’s nurse, was out at tea.
‘Poor little chap,’ Susie said. ‘How could a mother do that to an innocent child?’
Allegra wrote up the notes and handed the nurse the chart. ‘It seems unbelievable, doesn’t it? Mind you, it’s still speculation so far, so better not to spread rumours we might regret later.’
‘I hate the thought of even going near her,’ Susie confessed. ‘I can’t wait for Chloe to come back from her break.’
‘We’ve got to treat Mrs Lowe like any other patient in ICTU, Susie—we’re health professionals, not judges,’ Allegra reminded her sternly.
‘I know, but what the poor father is being put through … he’s a complete wreck,’ Susie said. ‘And you could hardly blame him for being so angry.’
‘Has he been back in?’
‘Yes, just a few minutes ago. He didn’t stay long. I had to get him a glass of water and a couple of paracetamol almost as soon as he laid eyes on Tommy. I don’t think he can handle the sight of his little boy so badly injured. He probably blames himself for not seeing it coming.’
‘Yes, I guess you’re right,’ Allegra agreed with a heavy sigh. ‘Suicide always creates such a lot of guilt. You always wonder if you could have done something to prevent it.’
Susie gave her a thoughtful look. ‘That sounds to me like the voice of experience. Someone close to you?’
Allegra was privately impressed by the nurse’s percipience but didn’t know her well enough to share what had happened to her friend Julie during their first year at medical school. She’d only shared it with Louise because Louise’s brother had made a suicide attempt a couple of years previously after a relationship break-up. He had recovered, however, and was now in a happy relationship and had dealt with the issues that had led to his attempt on his life.
Allegra’s experience with her friend had been a harrowing time and she still had nightmares about it. She still tortured herself over all the signs she’d missed, all the opportunities she could have taken to prevent a tragedy that she knew would haunt her for the rest of her life.
‘No …’ she answered, straightening the bed clothes over the child. ‘But you sort of get to know this stuff from working in a place like this.’
‘Yeah, tell me about it,’ Susie said. ‘You see it all and then have to go home and sleep.’
‘Sleep …’ Allegra forced a wry smile to her lips. ‘Now, there’s something that’d be incredibly tempting.’
‘Not as tempting as coffee with the new boss,’ Susie said with a little twinkle.
Allegra frowned. ‘Don’t you nurses have anything better to do than gossip all the time? It was just coffee, all right? It doesn’t mean a thing.’
‘What about Patrick Naylor?’
‘What about him?’ she snapped back irritably.
‘He’s not going to be too happy about you fraternising with the director when he had first call.’
‘For pity’s sake, how often do I have to tell everyone that I am not involved with Patrick Naylor?’
‘I guess the only way to do that is by making it obvious you’re dating someone else,’ Susie suggested.
‘Yeah—well, maybe I will do just that,’ Allegra said, and giving the nurse one last little hardened glare turned on her heel and left.
CHAPTER SIX
JOEL adjusted his tie for the third time and rocked back on his heels as he waited for Allegra to answer her apartment intercom. It had been so long since he’d been on a proper date he’d almost forgotten how to go about it. Not that this was a proper date. Not really. It was dinner with a colleague.
A get-to-know-you-better dinner.
Nothing else.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Allegra, it’s me, Joel. Shall I wait for you down here?’
‘No, come on up. I’m not quite ready,’ she said a little breathlessly.
He made his way to the fifth floor via the lift but before he could raise his hand to knock on her door she opened it and ushered him in.
‘Sorry,’ she said, stooping to pick an earring off the floor and inserting it in her ear lobe. ‘I got held up in traffic. I won’t be a minute. Have a seat. Would you like a drink or something?’
‘No,
