Carol Marinelli – Australian Affairs: Tempted: Tempted by Dr. Morales (страница 20)
Juan woke at two.
He always did.
He moved his legs, just a little, he moved his hands and then remembered Cate’s hands on his neck and the look they had shared. He wondered if she might guess.
Asleep, she rolled into him and after a moment he put his arm around her; the luxury of that she could not know. He allowed himself the bliss of contact as he faced tomorrow—the anniversary of the wedding that hadn’t happened was the day he had dreaded the most.
He dreaded another day now, one week on Tuesday when he left Australia. It was already drawing eerily close.
Cate lay in bed, awaiting the promised coffee, but since Juan had got up his phone had rung three times and she had listened to him chatting away in the kitchen in Spanish, sounding incredibly upbeat.
Cate felt anything but.
Last night had been amazing, possibly the best night she had ever had, except she had got too close, had given away too much. Not just with words; last night had been way more intimate than she had intended.
Perhaps more intimate than Juan had intended too, for he didn’t quite meet her eyes when he walked into the bedroom and waited while she sat up in bed and then handed her a mug. ‘Sorry that the coffee took so long.’
‘Is it your birthday?’
‘No,’ Juan answered. ‘Why?’
‘All the calls?’
‘Just family.’
He wasn’t so upbeat now; if anything, things between them were back to being a touch awkward.
‘What time are you working?’ Juan asked.
‘Twelve,’ Cate said, glancing at the clock. ‘What about you?’
‘I have the rest of the week off till Friday. I have to move out of here on Tuesday.’
‘Where will you go?’
‘I am staying with a couple of nurses I met, travelling, who work at the Children’s Hospital.’
Nurse Purple Face, Cate thought. This was big-girl’s-pants time: it was time to hide the truth and lie; it was time to smile and pretend it had been good while it lasted.
Good didn’t even come close.
Cate gulped down her coffee and then climbed out of bed. ‘Well, I’m going to head home.’ She started to pull on her clothes.
‘Have a shower,’ Juan offered. ‘I’ll find a towel…’
‘I’ll get one at home.’ She didn’t want a beach towel or a Juan towel wrestled from a backpack. She wanted a cupboard with towels in it and a home that wasn’t about to be abandoned without a backward glance a couple of days from now.
Even if the views were to die for.
Even if it had been fun.
‘I’ll see you.’ He gave her a kiss and she returned it briefly, because it was very hard to not ask when, not to know if this was the last time.
‘Cate…’ He walked her to her car. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘Sure.’
His phone was ringing again and she gave a cheery wave and drove off, her hands so tight around the steering-wheel that she turned the wipers on instead of the indicators as she turned into her street. She ignored the horn and the abuse from a driver behind.
She waved to Bridgette as she climbed out of her car.
‘What time do you call this?’ Bridgette joked, and Cate gave another wave and bright smile but it died the moment the door closed.
She’d done it.
Slept with him.
Succumbed to him.
Now she just had to work out how to put together the pieces of her heart…
‘Are you even listening?’ Kelly asked as they sat in the staffroom, waiting for their shift to commence.
‘Sorry?’ Cate said. ‘I was miles away.’
‘It must be hell for those firefighters,’ Kelly said, pointing to the news. ‘Imagine having to wear all that gear in this heat and be near the fires.’
Cate couldn’t imagine it. The fires were inching closer. It took up half the news at night and everyone was just holding their breath for a change to cooler weather to arrive, but there was still no sign of it.
They headed around to work and, though it would be tempting to hide in the office she still hadn’t got around to sorting out, there were, of course, a whole heap of problems to be dealt with.
‘I’m not happy to send him home, Cate,’ Sheldon said.
There was a child, Timothy, who Sheldon had referred to the paediatricians. They had discharged the boy but Sheldon wasn’t happy and wanted a second opinion.
Cate agreed with him, except Dr Vermont had called in sick.
Again.
Which meant there was no senior doctor to call in.
‘What about Harry?’ Sheldon said, but Cate shook her head.
‘Harry needs this weekend,’ Cate said. ‘Unless there’s a serious emergency, we should try not to call him. I’ve let him know that Dr Vermont is sick but…’
‘What about Juan?’ Sheldon suggested. ‘He’s senior.’
She could
‘He’s not available today.’ Frances came off the phone and then smiled as Jane, a new ward clerk, came over. ‘I’ve got a job for you,’ Frances said. ‘Start from here and work your way down and see if you can get any of these doctors to cover from now until ten p.m. I’ve already tried the names that are ticked.’
Cate stood there as Timothy’s screams filled the department and his anxious mum came racing out.
‘Do you really think he should be going home?’ she demanded.
‘We’re just waiting for someone to come and take another look at Timothy,’ Cate said. ‘Kelly, can you go and run another set of observations on him…’ Cate let out a breath then turned to Sheldon. ‘I’ll ring Harry.’
Harry sighed into the phone when Cate called him and they briefly discussed Dr Vermont. ‘He’s never taken a day off until recently for as long as I’ve known him,’ Harry said. ‘Did he say what was wrong?’
‘No,’ Cate admitted. ‘And I didn’t really feel that it was my place to ask. I just said I hoped he got well soon and I would arrange cover.’ She gave a wry laugh. ‘Which is proving easier said than done on a Sunday afternoon. Sheldon is concerned about a two-year-old who’s really not right. They’ve diagnosed an irritable hip and the paediatricians have discharged him…’
‘Do you want me to come and have a look at him?’
‘I want you to finally have a weekend off, without being called in.’
‘Well, that’s not going to happen for a while.’ Harry let out another long sigh. ‘Have you tried Juan?’
It was a compliment indeed that Harry was thinking of asking Juan to cover for the rest of the weekend because, despite his impressive qualifications, Juan only covered as a locum resident.
‘We tried,’ Cate said. ‘He can’t.’
‘Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes but I’ll have to bring in the children.’