the side of the bed.
‘I said tell me if it hurts, Nick. I’m not a mind reader.’
‘Right. Yeah, it hurts.’
‘And this?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay. What’s this scar, here? It looks as if you’ve had some surgery.’
‘I had an operation on the knee four years ago to repair torn cartilage.’
‘How did you do that?’
He managed to muster a grin and the temperature in the cubicle shot back up suddenly. ‘Put my foot through a floorboard in a burnt out building. I twisted the knee as I fell.’ Even here, even now, he was the best-looking man Abby had ever seen. Dark brown hair, cut short so that it spiked haphazardly when he ran his hand through it. A short, deep scar, running through his eyebrow, which was the one asymmetric feature of an otherwise stunningly handsome face.
‘I’ll see if I can find a record of that on our system. The operation was done here?’
He nodded, his lips quirking downwards then pressing together in a thin line.
‘Right, then.’ She scanned the notes quickly. ‘It says here that you were offered pain control in the ambulance and you turned it down. Would you like something now?’
‘No. I’m fine, thanks.’
He didn’t need to pretend he wasn’t in pain. She was a doctor, not a woman he needed to impress. ‘On a scale of one to ten…’
‘About one and a quarter.’ He didn’t even let her finish.
‘Really?’ She raised an eyebrow to make it clear that she didn’t believe him for a minute, and he ignored her. Abby had seen that kind of flat-out denial before but it was puzzling coming from Nick. She’d get back to that one later.
‘Okay, let me know if you change your mind and I can give you something that will make you much more comfortable.’ He nodded almost imperceptibly. ‘I’m going to send you for some X-rays, and I’ll come back and see you again when I’ve reviewed them.’ That would give Abby at least half an hour to gather her wits. Maybe more. Perhaps the next time she laid eyes on him, she’d be able to retain her composure a little better.
‘Thanks.’ He hesitated, as if something was bothering him. ‘I hope I’m not keeping you from going home. It must be gone seven o’clock.’
Twenty past. The charge nurse from A and E had called her just as she’d finished catching up on the week’s paperwork and had been about to leave. ‘Not a problem. That’s what I’m here for.’ It seemed that finally, despite all Abby’s promises to herself, she was going to be spending one more evening in Nick’s company.
By the time Nick’s X-rays were back, Abby had already found his notes on the computer and read them. And it gave her no pleasure whatsoever to find he was wrong. She took a deep breath before she made her way back to his bedside to deliver the bad news.
‘Hey, there.’ His smile was too broad. Slightly brittle.
‘How are you doing?’
‘Thought you might be able to tell me.’ He nodded at the large manila folder she carried.
‘Yeah.’ Abby sat down by his bedside. Whatever she felt about his behaviour towards her, she had to give him credit for his resilience. She knew how much pain he must be in, and it was searing through her. That trick of being able to insulate yourself from a patient’s pain didn’t seem to be working so well for her at the moment.
‘What’s the verdict, then?’
‘The X-rays show a hairline crack on your patella.’
He stared at her as if he didn’t understand, or perhaps he just wasn’t taking her word for it. Abby drew one of the X-rays out of the folder, holding it up to the strip light above his head. ‘Here, can you see?’
He shifted closer to her to look, and reached up, steadying her hand with his. His touch was still electric. The soft brush of his fingers against her wrist made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. ‘I can’t see anything.’
‘Right there.’ She indicated the line of the fracture, trying to ignore the fact that she was leaning over him. That she would be able to hear his heartbeat if she got any closer. ‘The good news is that it’s not displaced, so it should heal relatively quickly.’
‘I see.’ He squinted at the area she had indicated. ‘It doesn’t look too bad, then?’
Abby bit her tongue. Asking him whether that statement was based on medical knowledge or wishful thinking probably wasn’t appropriate. Neither was enjoying leaning over him. At the swimming pool it had been pretty much impossible not to notice Nick’s beautiful physique. Here it was irrelevant.
She straightened quickly. ‘Well, a fractured patella is never good. But it could have been a lot worse. From the looks of your knee there may well be some other damage, though, and I’m ordering an MRI scan to see what’s happening with the cartilage and to get a better view of the fracture.’
‘But if that’s okay…?’ He sat up straight on the trolley, as if their business was now finished and he could go. Abby fixed him with the sternest glare she could muster. This was her territory and she was in charge.
‘There’s still the matter of the crack on your patella. You’re going to need to rest it and wear a brace for four to six weeks.’
He ran his hand back through his hair in a gesture of frustration. ‘Four weeks?’
‘Four to six weeks. That’s pretty much how long a bone takes to mend.’ Abby bit her lip. Enough sarcasm. He was in pain here, and she knew how much Nick loved his job. The least she could do was show him a bit of understanding. ‘I’m sorry, but you won’t be fit enough to go back to work for a while.’
‘How long?’
‘I can’t tell for sure at this point. I’m going to refer you on for an early appointment with a colleague who specialises in injuries of this kind. By the time you see him, we should have managed to get some of this swelling down and the MRI results will be available. He’ll be able to tell you much more.’
‘Yes. Of course.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Thanks for everything, Abby. Can I go now?’
He really didn’t want to be around her. She could tell from the way he was focussing past her, on something just over her right shoulder. He’d do anything but look her in the eye.
That was fine. Abby didn’t much want to be around Nick either but that wasn’t the point of this particular exercise. She was a doctor and he was a patient. If she reminded herself of that enough times, she’d get it in the end. ‘Not yet. I need to sort out a suitable knee brace for you, along with some painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.’ She fixed him with a stern look. ‘Stay there, I’ll be back shortly.’
Abby didn’t wait for his answer. Making for the curtain, which covered the entrance to the cubicle, she yanked it firmly closed and caught the charge nurse’s eye. If he attempted
