wedding and a baby. Ruby knew one could be postponed but not the other. She hoped the baby didn’t decide to come early. They had enough going on at present.
She threw her clothes onto a couple of hangers and headed for the shower. She showered quickly and turned her back to the bathroom mirror as she dried herself. She hated looking at her reflection in the mirror. She disliked any form of self-examination or introspection.
She knew she wasn’t particularly brilliant, like Scarlett. She was smart enough but didn’t love studying and she wasn’t pretty like Rose. Her face was too round, her nose was too small and she felt that her features still looked babyish despite the fact that she had just turned twenty-seven. At five feet nine inches she was tallish and model thin with no boobs to speak of. Her shoulder-length strawberry-blond locks were currently died platinum blonde, but despite regularly changing the colour of her hair she was yet to find a colour that she thought suited her. Her eyes were her best feature, large and an unusual shade of green. The colour of an emu’s egg. The colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses.
She wasn’t dark and curvaceous like Scarlett or blonde, petite and beautiful like Rose. She didn’t have Scarlett’s lustrous mane of raven hair or accompanying thick dark eyelashes neither did she have Rose’s perfectly proportioned heart-shaped face or dimples. She and Scarlett had their mother’s long, lean legs but that was where the similarities ended.
Scarlett was the clever sister, Rose was the pretty one and Ruby was never really sure which sister she was. She knew others described her as the fun one but she also knew that she’d worked hard to cultivate that image. She wanted to be seen as the fun one, the extrovert, and she knew it was because she was scared that if she stopped and stood still she would disappear. In her mind, if people thought she was fun they would gravitate towards her and then she would know she existed and she wouldn’t be lonely.
Ruby returned to her room and swapped the bath towel for a fresh singlet top and a long skirt made of a multitude of patchwork squares. It had been hot outside, the dry Adelaide summer heat was making the day almost unpleasant, and it had been warm in the ICU too.
Scarlett had left a pile of books stacked beside the bed. Ruby flicked through them as she waited for Jake. At the bottom of the pile was a Jane Austen novel, which Ruby recognised as one of Rose’s favourites. She stashed it in her bag, deciding she’d take it to the hospital to read to Rose. It would help to pass the time.
As she followed Jake back into the ICU she couldn’t help but notice that the new guy, the motorbike accident, had been put into the cubicle next to Rose. The nurses had removed his blankets—she obviously wasn’t the only one who found ICU uncomfortably warm—and she ran her eyes over him appreciatively. His torso was bare but partly covered by his right arm, which was fixed across his chest in a blue orthopaedic sling. She could see the definition of his pectoral muscles above the sling and the ridges of his lower abdominal muscles below it. His chest was smooth and hairless and wonderfully masculine. She could feel her steps slowing as she gave herself time to appreciate his sculpted chest and arms. She couldn’t blame the nurses for exposing him—something so gorgeous shouldn’t be covered up.
His smooth, tanned skin was unmarked by any tattoos as far as she could see, but his youth, physique and the injuries she suspected he had still suggested a motorbike accident. Her eyes drifted up over the curve of his deltoid muscle to where his hair brushed his shoulder. His hair was long and brushed back from a strong forehead. The oxygen mask over his face had been replaced with tubing, exposing a square jaw and full lips. He reminded her of a fair-haired Greek god—dark blond and tanned and perfectly formed—but surely he had to be mortal. He’d been injured after all.
Too late she realised he was awake.
HE WAS AWAKE and he was watching her.
His eyes were bright blue and she could see him follow her path as she continued slowly past. Knowing she was in his sights made her blush but she managed to smile at him. There was nothing else to do. She’d been sprung admiring him. She knew it and so did he.
He grinned back, his smile full of mischief, and Ruby felt a warm glow suffuse her body and lift her spirits. She knew he’d only been in the ICU for an hour or two but already he looked far too healthy and vital for this room. Which made her wonder about his smile. She had probably imagined a connection—most likely he was still delirious and drugged and would smile at anyone.
She kept walking. Each bed was separated by a thin partition wall and at the foot of each bed was a curtain that could be pulled across for privacy. The cubicles were arranged around the outside of the room with a raised central station for the medical team. Ruby stepped into Rose’s cubicle and her neighbour disappeared from view.
It felt like it had taken her several minutes to cross the room when in reality it had probably been seconds, but even though he was now out of sight his image was burnt on her retina—bright blue eyes, a tanned and ripped torso and a roguish smile. She knew the memory of his smile would get her through the rest of the day.
‘How did the lumbar puncture go?’ Jake asked, as he greeted Scarlett with a kiss.
‘Fine, apparently. We’re just waiting for the results.’
Ruby sighed. More waiting. Being impatient wasn’t going to speed up the process but she didn’t care, she wanted answers.
She offered to sit with Rose. She would read to her to pass the time while the others stretched their legs. As they left Ruby saw the swish of the curtain in the next cubicle as the nurse pulled it closed. Voices carried to her from the other side of the partition as she pulled the novel from her handbag.
‘Is your pain relief working?’ the nurse asked. ‘You can top it up if you need to by pushing this button.’
‘I can handle the pain,’ he replied. ‘What’s the damage?’
His voice was deep and sent an unusual tremble through her chest. It reminded her of distant thunder as it rumbled through her. His voice matched his rugged, muscular and masculine physique perfectly.
‘I need to know what injuries I sustained.’
‘You have a broken collarbone, a fractured elbow and a couple of busted ribs.’
‘No serious chest injuries?’
‘No, but the list does go on. You also have a fractured femur.’
‘Dammit.’
Ruby almost burst out laughing. She wasn’t even pretending to read as she smiled to herself and continued to eavesdrop on the conversation.
‘What have they done with that?’ he asked.
‘It’s been screwed and plated.’
‘How long will I be in ICU?’
‘You’ve only just got here. What’s your hurry?’
Ruby caught herself frowning as she listened to the nurse’s flirty tones.
‘It will give me an idea how severe my injuries are.’
‘I take it you’re no stranger to hospitals?’
‘I’ve been
