Maxwell,’ Lexi said in greeting. ‘I’d recognise that bald head anywhere.’
Charlie Maxwell was in her room! Bella knew she was staring and she could hear the ‘beep beep’ of the heart-rate monitor attached to her chest escalate as her autonomic nervous system responded to his presence. Thank goodness he didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t looking at her, his attention focussed on Lexi. Bella was used to that. People always noticed Lexi and Evie before they noticed her, and even though she wished, on the odd occasion, that someone would notice her first, today she was pleased to be ignored as it gave her time to try to get her nerves under control.
‘Morning, Lexi,’ Charlie said with a grin. ‘And for your information, I’m not bald,’ he protested. ‘I do this on purpose. It stops the women from being jealous of my golden locks.’
‘You’d have to be the only bloke I know who voluntarily shaves his head,’ Lexi retorted, before Evie interrupted them.
‘Bella, you remember Charlie, don’t you?’ she asked as she handed Bella a hot chocolate.
Who could forget him? Bella thought. She knew she never would, not in a million years. He looked as fit, healthy and fabulous as always. Charlie had been a professional surfer in a past life and he certainly had the body of an athlete. Muscular, tanned and perfectly proportioned, he was wearing a white shirt and Bella could see the definition of his biceps and pectoral muscles through the thin fabric. She swallowed hard as she tried to get her mouth to work but she was short of breath and her mouth was dry and parched. Unable to form any words, she nodded instead.
‘Ciao, Bella,’ Charlie said.
He always greeted her in the same way and it never failed to make her feel special, even though she didn’t flatter herself that she was the only one on the receiving end of his charm. But therein lay even more of his appeal. He was one of the few people who didn’t treat her any differently because of her medical condition. He was a serial flirt and he gave her the same attention he gave to every woman who crossed his path, and to Bella, who was used to either being shielded or ignored, Charlie’s attention was a rare delight.
He winked at her and her heart rate jumped again. She felt herself blush and cursed her fair skin.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.
‘I’ve had better days,’ she said, finally managing to get some words out. But it wasn’t the cystic fibrosis making her short of breath, it was Charlie. She was always shy around anyone other than family and even though Charlie behaved like family he was so damn sexy she’d never managed to overcome her self-consciousness around him, especially when other people were within earshot. One on one she was more comfortable but with other ears around she always worried about making a fool of herself.
He was gorgeous and she always felt so plain by comparison. His facial features combined so perfectly together she’d never really noticed that he shaved his head. Of course she’d noticed he was bald but she’d never wondered about the reality behind it, she was too busy being mesmerised by his other physical attributes—his chocolate-brown eyes that she felt she could melt into, his smooth, tanned skin, which provided the perfect foil for straight, white teeth, even his small, neat ears all combined into an appealing package. But his best feature was his mouth. She could visualise him with sun-bleached surfie hair but it was irrelevant really because her attention was constantly drawn to his lips. They were plump and delicious, full but not hard like a collagen-injected pout, they were juicy and soft, almost too soft for such a masculine face. He was smiling at her, a gorgeous smile, full and open and honest. You’d have to be dead not to be affected by his smile and while she wasn’t feeling anywhere near one hundred per cent healthy, she wasn’t dead yet.
‘So Evie tells me,’ Charlie replied, ‘but if there’s anything you need, just ask me. I know how to make things happen around here.’
He winked at her again and Bella didn’t doubt for one minute that Charlie could get whatever he wanted both inside the hospital and out. She knew his reputation as a charmer, she’d heard the nurses talk about him during her numerous admissions, and she knew they competed for his affections and attentions. The combination of his wicked sense of humour, his infectious smile, his gentle nature and his hardened muscles had the female staff members regularly flustered, and Bella herself was no exception.
As far as she knew, only Evie seemed immune to Charlie’s charm. Their ten-year friendship had only ever been platonic and for that Bella was grateful. It meant she was free to adore him without feeling as if she was invading her sister’s territory. She knew that from the day Evie had first met Charlie she’d thought of him as the older brother she wished she’d had. But Bella’s thoughts towards Charlie were far from familial—although she’d never be brave enough to flirt with him, she knew she wasn’t experienced enough to handle Charlie Maxwell. So she just nodded dumbly in reply. She’d lost the capacity to speak again, completely tongue-tied at the thought of Charlie doing things for her. Fortunately Sam’s arrival saved her from needing to answer. He was followed by a nurse and a couple of interns and suddenly her room was overflowing with people.
A ninth person came into the room and Bella saw Evie’s double-take. It was their father.
Bella had assumed Evie had gotten in touch with him during the night, or vice versa, but looking at Evie’s expression now it was obvious she’d heard nothing back and hadn’t been expecting him.
He looked tired and drawn. Bella wished she could pretend he’d lost sleep worrying about her, his middle daughter, but she knew it was far more likely to be a result of a late night of a different kind. She waited for her father to push through the crowd gathered at the foot of her bed but of course he didn’t. He remained standing just inside the doorway, separate and apart from his family. She sighed, wishing for the thousandth time that things were different. At least he was here, which was more than Bella could say for her mother. She nodded in greeting and then proceeded to ignore him as her sisters took up positions on the bed on either side of her. She was tired of always being the one who reached out to make a connection with her father.
Evie took her hand and Bella relaxed, knowing her sisters would try to protect her from harm. Bella saw Sam acknowledge Richard’s arrival with a nod of his own before he began his consult. He checked Bella’s vital signs, checked her obs, listened to her chest and generally prodded and poked while she tried to pretend she wasn’t surrounded by people. The procedure was familiar to her but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing. Once he’d finished he spoke to Bella as though they were the only two in the room.
‘You’ve lost weight since I last examined you, that’s not what we were hoping for, your admissions are getting more frequent and your lung function tests are down.’ Sam was ticking things off on his fingers as he recited the list.
‘Is there any good news?’ Bella asked hopefully.
‘One positive note is that you’ve made some improvement overnight. You’ve rehydrated and your temperature has come down but it’s still higher than I’d like. You’re showing some resistance to the antibiotics and I’ve had to increase the dosage to try to get your chest infection under control. Individually all these things are not so concerning but combined it means I need to reassess your management.’ He paused briefly and Bella knew what he would say next. ‘It’s time for the next stage.’
Bella couldn’t speak. This wasn’t unexpected but she didn’t know what to say. Sam was watching her, waiting for her to acknowledge his words, and she thought she nodded in response but she couldn’t be sure.
Sam looked away from her now, turning to
