Allegra gasped. ‘That’s not true! I only went out with him as he seemed so down. It was more of a goodwill gesture. I was worried about him. He told me his wife had left him and he started to cry. I’m hopeless when men do that, it really gets to me. I just can’t help going into rescue mode.’
‘Uh-oh,’ Kellie said, glancing towards the bar. ‘Don’t look now but guess who just walked in?’
Allegra groaned and put her head in her hands. ‘Please, don’t let it be Patrick Naylor. I just couldn’t bear it.’
‘It’s not Patrick.’
Allegra lifted her head out of her hands and swivelled in her chair to see Joel looking straight at her. She turned back to her drink, her face feeling hot all of a sudden.
‘Guess who’s blushing,’ Kellie teased, and, leaning closer, whispered, ‘Go on, admit it, Allegra, he’s hot. Look at those biceps—he must be lifting bulldozers in the gym.’
‘Shut up—he’ll hear you,’ she muttered hoarsely.
‘He’s coming over,’ Kellie said. ‘Hello, Dr Addison. There’s a spare seat over here opposite Allegra.’
Allegra stifled a groan and sent her friend a blistering glare.
‘Thanks,’ Joel said, taking the seat facing Allegra. ‘Can I get anyone a fresh drink?’
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ Margaret said with a friendly smile.
‘Me, too,’ Kellie said. Giving Margaret a surreptitious nudge, she got to her feet. ‘We’re calling it a night anyway. We’re on early, aren’t we, Margi?’
‘Are we? Oh, yes … silly me.’ Margaret grinned sheepishly and wriggled out of the booth. ‘See you later.’
Allegra would have sent another scorching glare her friend’s way but Joel’s dark gaze had already searched for and located hers.
‘What about you, Dr Tallis?’ he asked, once the girls had left. ‘What’s your poison?’
‘I’m only drinking soft this evening,’ she said, her eyes falling away from his.
‘On call?’
‘No.’
A small silence tightened the air.
‘I hope I didn’t frighten your friends away,’ he said after a moment. ‘They seemed in a hurry to leave once I arrived.’
Her eyes came back to his, her expression taut with resentment. ‘They were trying to set us up. Surely you could see that?’
He frowned in puzzlement. ‘Set us up? What do you mean?’
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What planet had he just come down from?
‘Set up as in matchmake,’ she explained with a disapproving grimace. ‘Kellie does it all the time. It drives me nuts.’
Joel took a leisurely sip of his lime and soda as he studied her expression. She had a wry twist to her mouth, as if the thought of being connected to him in any way was impossible.
‘I take it she doesn’t approve of your relationship with the CEO?’ he inserted into the silence.
‘I am not having a relationship with the CEO.’ She bit out each word with determination.
‘So that little tableau I witnessed earlier today was an aberration of some sort?’
‘Patrick and I are friends … sort of …’ she said. ‘He’s going through a particularly acrimonious separation. I found myself lending an ear one day and now it seems the hospital is rife with the rumours of us being involved. Nothing could be further from the truth.’
‘Hospitals are like that. Members of staff have only to stop and talk in the corridor and everyone thinks something’s going on,’ he commented. ‘But perhaps you should be straight with him. He seems to think you’re his for the taking.’
Allegra frowned. ‘I know … but I don’t know how to avoid hurting his feelings.’
Joel finished his drink. ‘He’ll get over it. Tell him you’re involved with someone else.’
‘Yeah, right, like who?’ she said, with another rueful twist to her mouth. ‘I work thirteen-hour shifts. I don’t even have time to do my own laundry and shopping, let alone find a date.’
‘I know what you mean,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘I haven’t had a date in a year and a half. My mother is threatening to register me on an internet dating service.’
Allegra stared at him.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘What did I say?’
She gave her head a little shake and picked up her almost empty glass for something to do to occupy her hands. ‘Nothing … It’s just that Kellie was suggesting I do the same.’
‘When you think about it, it sounds good in theory.’
She scrunched up her face in scepticism. ‘You think so?’
‘Yeah.’ He leaned back in his seat, one arm lying casually along the back of the booth. ‘It cuts the chaff from the wheat, if you know what I mean.’
Allegra couldn’t stop a bubble of laughter escaping her lips. ‘Chaff and wheat? Is that how guys these days refer to women?’
He gave her an answering smile. ‘I guess it’s not the best metaphor, but I thought sheep and goats would probably be worse.’
‘You could be right,’ she said, still smiling.
Joel ran his eyes over her features, taking in the light brown slightly wavy hair that seemed to be protesting about being restrained at the back of her head with a clip of some sort; loose tendrils were falling out around her small ears, and one long strand was over one of her rainforest green eyes. He watched as she tucked it behind her ear with her small slim fingers, her nails short but neat. Her face was faintly shadowed with residual tiredness but he knew if he looked in a mirror right now, his would look very much the same. Her mouth was soft and full, and her skin creamy white, as if she hadn’t seen much of Melbourne’s hot summer.
She looked like she worked hard and he felt a little uncomfortable with how he had spoken to her earlier. She had a good reputation among the staff, everyone spoke highly of her dedication to patients, but he couldn’t help feeling her project had all the potential to provoke criticism and crackpot commentary as the new ICTU was evaluated by those who had backed its funding and those who had lost out on their own funding as a result. From what he’d heard so far, her study was time-consuming, had little theoretical basis and it would be hard to show results. And he of all people knew how important results were. His parents’ situation was living proof of how the wrong results could change everything—for ever.
‘So …’Allegra said, moistening her lips as she searched for something to fill the silence. ‘How are you enjoying things so far at Melbourne Memorial?’
‘It’s
