LITMIR.BIZ

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stand a chance with him. But her parents were in their sixties. She tended to forget that when they were both still so active.

      He chatted on about their plans for the next few days. Laura soaked it up. He’d been gone for such a short time but she missed him fiercely already.

      ‘I wish you were here, Mum.’

      ‘So do I, Isaac. So do I.’

      A tear squeezed out from under her closed lids as she swallowed a rising tide of emotion. If only he knew how much she wished she had gone with them. Then today’s unexpected meeting would never have happened. Eventually she and Jack would have run into each other but, with the hospital grapevine the way it was, she’d have known about his existence first and have been more prepared.

      ‘I’ll get Gran. Bye, Mum.’

      ‘Goodbye, Isaac,’ she said, amused by his typically abrupt farewell.

      ‘Hi, darling. How are you?’

      Her mother’s soft voice put Laura on shaky ground. ‘Fine,’ said Laura. Why did mothers have the power to reduce you to a helpless dependent child all over again, no matter what your age?

      ‘What’s the matter?’ Her mother’s voice rose an octave.

      She never could fool her mother. Suddenly Laura wished her mum was beside her. She desperately wanted to be hugged and soothed the way only mothers seem to know how.

      ‘I saw Jack today.’

      Silence as wide as the Pacific greeted her statement.

      ‘Oh.’

      ‘Yes…oh.’

      ‘Well, how…? I mean, what did you…? Did you tell him…?’

      ‘Oh, Mum. It’s a long story but…no, I didn’t tell him about Isaac.’

      ‘What are you going to do, Laura?’

      ‘I don’t know, Mum. I don’t know.’

      ‘Darling, it’s difficult to talk now. Why don’t you wait until we get home next week before you decide anything? We can have a proper talk about it then.’

      ‘That sounds sensible to me.’

      Laura was too tired and mentally exhausted to think about a solution. Her head started to throb again. What she needed was to sleep, but she was too afraid to succumb. She could control her waking thoughts but her sleeping?

      She took some tablets for her headache and drank some warm milk in her silent house. Thankfully her exhaustion helped her to a dreamless sleep.

      * * *

      It was different at Jack’s place. He tossed and turned most of the night. His mind had been alive with thoughts of Laura since meeting her again. Shock, amazement, excitement—he had felt them all. Even the bitterness that still lingered over her desertion. But above all he could not believe the overwhelming urge he had to protect her. It was as strong today as it had been ten years ago.

      No, no, no! He shook his head, trying to banish her image from his mind. He reminded himself he didn’t do involvement any more. Once you got too involved, women wanted more. Before you knew it there was talk of wedding bells and kids…that he couldn’t do. Since his marriage break-up and subsequent divorce, Jack had been determined to keep any relationship light and friendly and short.

      Anna…he groaned as he thought about his ex-wife and the total mess he’d made of their marriage. Not for the first time he found himself wishing they had never married. He thanked God there had been no children. In fact, the whole issue had been the crux of their marital problems. He could not go through that again.

      With his mind so preoccupied with Laura, it was inevitable that the dream would come again. There she lay, trapped, unhurt but unable to get out. She was reaching her hand out to him, her tear-streaked face pleading for his help. He tried to reach for her hand but the more he stretched the further away she became. Her sobs, bordering on hysteria, mocked his attempts to reach her. And then the remaining structure crumpled and…

      Jack sat bolt upright in bed. Sweat glistened on his brow and his bare chest. His heart palpated like a galloping stallion and echoed loudly in his ears. He clenched the sheets in his hands and flung himself back on the damp material.

      Dawn was breaking through his bedroom window. He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep. Maybe he would see her today.

      * * *

      The next morning Laura sat with Marie and Steve, getting handover from the night shift. They sat at the nurses’ station where a central screen displayed information relayed from the bedside monitors.

      Marie wasn’t taking a clinical load today but, as boss, she liked to keep up to date with the patients. Laura was in charge of the shift and Steve would float between the bed spaces, helping wherever he was needed.

      Staffing was a major issue for intensive care units as a one-to-one nurse-patient ratio was essential. Critically ill patients could crash in seconds, necessitating the bedside nurse to be there all the time—just in case. This meant meal breaks through to toilet stops had to be covered by another nurse.

      ‘So,’ said Marie as they finished and rose to start work, ‘what’s the story with you and Jack?’

      Even though Laura had been expecting it, she still wasn’t quite ready with an answer. Marie had been a good friend over the years, and it was only natural she would be curious.

      ‘Not much to tell really. I knew him briefly ten years ago.’ Laura shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.

      ‘Looked a bit more than that. Looked like you knew each other well.’ Marie emphasised the last word, giving it just the right amount of innuendo.

      ‘If you’re asking me if we had an affair, the answer is no. Prior to yesterday I only knew him for a handful of hours. Probably doesn’t even add up to a whole day.’

      OK, so she was being economical with the truth, but one night really didn’t count as an affair. Did it? Let’s be real, she thought, it was a one-night stand. Mindblowingly wonderful but nonetheless…

      ‘But—’

      ‘Marie,’ Laura interrupted, smiling to soften her words, ‘I really don’t want to talk about it.’

      ‘OK, OK.’ She laughed, putting up her hands in surrender. ‘None of my business.’

      Laura breathed a sigh of relief to be let off the hook. Maybe now she could get on with her day. She was here to work after all!

      Laura went from bed to bed, checking on patients and helping out where required. Mr Reid was her first port of call. She put on a gown and entered the isolation room. Mr Reid had had a bone-marrow transplant two weeks ago and had developed severe complications. In Theatre the previous day they had found a perforated bowel.

      Today the tubes and wires running all over the bed seemed to have multiplied. She helped the bedside nurse who was scrubbing up to access the central line to administer another bag of blood.

      The two drains that came from his operative site were half-full of blood. Laura looked at his lab results on the bedside computer and noted with concern the upward trend. If they continued to worsen and he went into full-blown kidney failure, dialysis would be the next step. Poor Mr Reid! He really had an uphill battle.

      Laura de-gowned and moved on to one of the two postop cardiac bypass patients.

      ‘How are you feeling, Charlie?’ she asked. Now that his breathing tube had been removed, he could talk.

      ‘Awful.’ His voice was barely more than a whisper. ‘If I had known I was going to feel this bad, I’d have never gone through with it.’

      ‘I know you feel that way now,’ Laura said, squeezing his hand, ‘but in a week’s time, when you can actually walk around without getting chest pain or feeling out of breath,

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