LITMIR.BIZ

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with the anaesthetist and the OR team and checked in on PICU. Paulo had been admitted there last night so he would be used to it when he came around and also to have some medications administered overnight.

      ‘Hello, you.’ He smiled at his little friend.

      ‘Zack!’

      He was groggy from light sedation but Paulo smiled at his big friend. Zack looked over at Maria and could see she was about to crumble. ‘Not now,’ Zack warned, and Maria nodded, remembering the long talk they’d had yesterday.

      ‘I’ll see you in pre-op,’ he said to Paulo, ruffled his hair and walked off.

      He made his last checks and then he was told that Paulo and his mother were there and Zack went through.

      ‘Did you just get more handsome?’ Zack asked, and Paulo grinned his gappy blue-lipped grin.

      ‘He’s my handsome man,’ Maria said. ‘I love you, baby,’ she said to her son. ‘Te amo...’

      ‘Te amo, Mamma,’ Paulo said.

      Maria gave him a kiss and Zack watched as she cuddled him tight while the anaesthetist started to give the medicines and then, as Maria had tried so hard not to do, once he was safely under she broke down.

      ‘Well done,’ Zack said, and he gave her a hug. ‘I will do all I can, Maria. You were wonderful with him.’

      That was the hard part over with, thought Zack as he headed off to scrub.

      Now came the harder part, eight hours of surgery.

      He just hoped that today he didn’t get to the hardest part—telling Maria that her beautiful son was dead.

      * * *

      The whole clinic was on tenterhooks throughout a very long day.

      The estimated operating time of eight hours became nine.

      Nine became ten and as it did so Freya’s phone went again. She knew, even without looking, that it would be Mila.

      She was right.

      ‘I know you said you’d call with any updates but I’m going crazy here.’

      ‘I’ve heard nothing,’ Freya said. ‘I’ll be the very last to know if Zack has his way. He doesn’t consider PR a high priority.’

      ‘I know,’ Mila said.

      ‘It’s been more than ten hours now. Is that good?’ Freya asked.

      ‘I hope so,’ Mila sighed, and they chatted for ten as they hung out, waiting for news on Paulo. ‘How are you and James doing now?’

      ‘We’re still not talking,’ Freya admitted. ‘He’s been in, observing the operation.’ Then she heard familiar footsteps and knew it was James heading for his office and Freya put the phone down on her desk and ran out.

      ‘James?’

      ‘I was just coming in to tell you. Paulo’s in Recovery and Zack is, basically, amazing,’ James said, and the animosity between him and Freya was temporarily cast aside for a moment just to breathe in the relief. ‘It’s still very early days, of course. I can see why no one wanted to touch that heart.’ James shook his head. ‘It was a mess, yet it was like watching a miracle to see him operate. Zack must have nerves of steel.’

      And then he seemed to remember that they weren’t talking and James gave her a nod and Freya went back to the phone.

      ‘James said—’

      ‘I heard,’ Mila interrupted, and Freya sat silent as Mila started to cry. She truly didn’t know if Mila was crying with relief over Paulo or hearing James’s voice, or both.

      God, James! Freya thought.

      Why did you have to do what you did?

      He had caused so much pain and though she loved her brother very much, it didn’t take away her anger for all the hurt that he had caused to her friend. And the worst part of all was that Freya simply didn’t know why James had decided to end things with Mila on their wedding day.

      Freya sat there listening as her friend tried to pull things together.

      ‘I have to go,’ Mila said. ‘Sorry to cry.’

      ‘It’s an emotional time.’

      ‘Well, you’ve had plenty of them and yet you never cry,’ Mila snapped. She knew how closed off Freya was and she could sense something was wrong. ‘Freya, is everything okay? Apart from James and things.’

      ‘Everything’s...’ Freya didn’t even know where to start. Zack had made it very clear that the two of them were not to be discussed and she guessed there would be plenty of time for introspection once he had gone. ‘I’ll bring you up to speed soon enough.’

      ‘I’m going to keep you to that,’ Mila said. ‘Can you keep me up to date with any news about Paulo?’

      ‘Of course I shall.’

      ‘What time are you going home?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Freya admitted.

      It was the oddest night.

      As the clock hit ten, Abi Thompson, a reconstructive surgeon who had viewed some of the operation from the gallery, stopped by for a chat.

      ‘Zack was awesome,’ Abi said. ‘There was no music, no chatter. Zack just stopped for water and half a banana a couple of times. It was so intense in there, there were a couple of near misses—not that you’d have known from watching Zack.’

      Oh, Zack knew all about the misses.

      He stood at the end of Paulo’s bed and checked all the charts with Sonia, the PICU nurse. He knew exactly how close Paulo had come to death and the surgery would certainly have turned that way if he hadn’t had such state-of-the-art equipment.

      Maybe he should put himself out there a bit more, if it meant more funds.

      ‘He’s going to be a doctor when he grows up,’ Maria said, holding her son’s hand. ‘You wait, he’s going to make you proud.’

      Zack nodded. Maria didn’t need to know that those were the words he dreaded, and why he didn’t have pictures of smiling children lining a regular office.

      He didn’t want the strain on a teenager’s face as their father shook Zack’s hand and said a similar thing.

      Paulo owed him nothing.

      Not even a good life.

      It was up to Paulo.

      His life was his to live.

      ‘Shouldn’t you get something to eat?’ Sonia broke into his thoughts. ‘I could be calling on you a lot throughout the night.’

      Zack nodded. ‘I just rang down and asked for a meal to be left in my office.’ Sonia was right, he had done all he could, and for now Paulo was critical but stable and there was a whole team starting to take over his care. ‘I’m going to try and grab an hour of sleep,’ he said. ‘Page me for anything. Don’t wait.’

      ‘Sure.’

      He headed down and just nodded to James, who was speaking with Stephanie at Reception. Zack was thankful that James understood he wasn’t in the mood to speak and just gave him an appreciative nod back.

      He walked past Freya’s open door and she saw that but then Zack turned around.

      ‘I’m not ignoring you,’ he said. ‘I just can’t talk to anyone right now.’

      ‘Fair enough.’ Freya smiled. She was prickly about last night but wasn’t selfish enough to address that now.

      ‘I’ve spoken with Maria and she says you can release the news that he’s out of Theatre.’

      ‘Thanks.’

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