A Pup to Rescue Their Hearts

by Alison Roberts

  And, judging by the look in Dr Stanmore’s eyes, he wasn’t about to forget it, either.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he reassured the crying mother. ‘Amelia here choked on a grape but we were lucky enough to find her in time.’

  Amelia was in her mother’s arms now. ‘Oh, thank you, Doctor. I can’t thank you enough...you and...?’ She looked over her daughter’s head, her eyebrows raised.

  ‘Stephanie, isn’t it?’ Josh was smiling. ‘I need to thank you as well.’

  Oh, man...the warmth in those dark eyes was enough to be making something melt somewhere in the middle of Stevie’s chest.

  ‘I get called Stevie,’ she told him. She tried to return his smile but she had a horrible feeling that, in the emotional aftermath of a crisis averted, her lips might be too wobbly to cooperate so she broke the eye contact to turn back to Amelia and her mother. ‘I’m sure I’ll see you both again very soon.’ She stepped back, knowing that she was no longer needed in here and that she had a lot of duties to catch up on now.

  ‘We’ll need to keep Amelia with us for a little while,’ Josh added. ‘Ruby, could you sort an urgent consult with someone from ENT, please? It’s just a precaution,’ he told Amelia’s mother. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got a bit of a sore throat now.’

  ‘But what happened? What did you say she choked on?’

  Stevie held the door for Ruby and they both slipped out of the room while Josh filled the parents in on the details of the incident.

  ‘We’ll have to do a detailed report on this,’ Ruby told Stevie. ‘I need to get this consult organised right now but could you come and see me in the office before your shift finishes, please?’

  ‘Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m running a bit behind with obs on my patients now, though.’

  ‘Emergencies tend to do that.’ But Ruby was smiling. ‘But well done, Stevie. I had a feeling the first day I met you that you were going to be an asset around here.’

  Ruby’s praise was as welcome as the warmth of Josh Stanmore’s thanks had been and Stevie tackled the list of tasks associated with the four patients under her care on this shift with a growing confidence that her life was on a new track. A much, much better one than she’d been on for the last twelve years or so.

  If only...

  Between feeding and changing a baby whose mother had had to go home to her other children this afternoon, and taking a full set of observations, including an ECG on a four-year-old boy who had congenital heart disease currently complicated by a respiratory infection, Stevie snatched a moment to send a text.

  Hey, Mattie...you home yet? Hope you had a better day at school xx

  Thanks to one of the less pleasant duties of the day, getting a parent and a junior nurse to hold a wriggling, terrified toddler while Stevie got a blood sample, it was another half an hour before she noticed that her text had gone unanswered. It didn’t surprise her but it did increase the background level of tension, especially as it would be another couple of hours before she could get home and see for herself that the other half of her life—the personal and most important half—was at least getting closer to stepping on the same track as her professional one.

  She had a horrible feeling that it wasn’t...

  ‘Stevie...’

  She dropped the test tube she’d just finished labelling into a plastic bag and began pressing the seal together, turning at the sound of her name. This time she managed to find a smile for the paediatric consultant who was, by all accounts, not only the most important doctor but the most popular man in this hospital department.

  ‘Hi, Dr Stanmore. How’s Amelia?’

  ‘Call me Josh,’ he said, propping his elbow on the higher shelf in front of the reception desk. ‘And Amelia’s fine. She’s been cleared by ENT and gone home with her dad, who’s got instructions to bring her back if he has any worries about her coughing or with any change in her breathing or swallowing.’

  ‘Oh, that’s so good to hear.’ Stevie’s smile widened.

  ‘I just wanted to thank you again.’ Josh was watching Stevie’s hands as she folded the lab test request to put into the pocket on the side of the plastic bag. ‘I couldn’t have dealt with that emergency without the kind of calm, experienced assistance you were able to provide.’

  The glow of pride was giving Stevie that melting sensation again and, as her gaze lifted to meet a pair of eyes that were dark enough to make it difficult to distinguish the pupil, she could feel something else contributing to that tingling in her gut. Attraction was the last thing she’d expected—or wanted—to ambush her like this but there was no mistaking that shaft of whatever it was a mixture of. Desire? Anticipation? Longing? Hope...?

  ‘So...’ Josh’s smile was a bit lopsided now and one eyebrow had moved closer to the tumble of rather charmingly unkempt hair that was almost as curly as her own. ‘I owe you a drink. What are you doing after work?’

  ‘Sorry?’ Stevie could feel her smile fading. That internal fizzing sensation was fading even faster.

  ‘After work? Can I buy you a drink?’ Josh’s smile had also disappeared and that raised eyebrow now made him look a little puzzled. ‘Doesn’t have to be a wine. How ’bout a coffee?’

  ‘You’re...asking me out? For a drink?’ Stevie spoke carefully. Slowly enunciating each syllable, which was the complete opposite of the way her brain was firing very rapid messages. Images of another attractive man. Another paediatric consultant, in fact. Echoes of a day that had changed her life for ever.

  ‘Come for a drink with me, after work. And I’m not going to take “no” as an answer...’

  ‘Just to say thanks for your help today.’ Josh took his elbow off the shelf and straightened up. ‘And to say welcome, of course. You’re our newest staff member, after all.’

  The new girl. Fresh meat...

  ‘I do hope you’re not hitting on me, Dr Stanmore.’ Stevie dropped the plastic bag into the out tray for urgent lab tests and took a step back. ‘I was just doing my job in helping you with that emergency and a simple “thank you” is more than enough.’ There were more echoes in the back of her head and what she could feel roiling in her gut now was nothing like the pleasurable tickle of attraction.

  ‘I’m your HOD. It’s my duty to make my new staff members feel as welcome as possible. You’re not going to say “no” to your boss on your first day at work, are you, Stephanie?’

  Stevie swallowed hard but the internal knot of something unpleasant, like anger, or possibly fear, was rapidly growing. She knew she shouldn’t say anything more than offering a polite refusal of his invitation but, when she opened her mouth, something very different came out.

  ‘Maybe in the old days it was generally accepted that a new nurse was fair game for every male in the vicinity.’ Her tone was clipped. Controlled. Bordering on icy. ‘I would hope we’ve all become a bit more enlightened these days when it comes to things like sexual harassment. Excuse me...’ Stevie turned her back on her boss. ‘I’ve got work to do.’

  She didn’t actually have to go into the supply room a little further down the corridor from the reception desk but it was the quickest way to escape the deathly silence behind her and the feeling of Josh Stanmore’s gaze fixed on the back of her head as if it was the bullseye of a target. Stevie shoved open the door, let it swing shut behind her and then buried her face in her hands.

  Oh... God... So much for her wonderful new start in life. She’d just ruined everything, hadn’t she?

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘I MEAN...WHAT’S her problem?’ Josh tipped back the wooden chair he was sitting on so it was balancing on two legs. He tipped his head back as well, closing his eyes and letting his breath out in a long, weary sigh. ‘I only offered to buy her a coffee, for heaven’s sake, and she practically bit my head off. Even said something about sexual harassment, would you believe? I mean
...really?’

  ‘Hmm...’ Nurse Manager Ruby’s tone was noncommittal. She was still reading over what Josh had written in a section of her Critical Incident Report form. ‘So your first attempt with the Magill’s forceps failed?’

  ‘Yes. It’s remarkable how slippery a grape can be when it’s coated with saliva. It was a delay in dealing with the obstructed airway of no more than twenty to thirty seconds and there’s no sign of any injury from oxygen deprivation. She’s a lucky kid.’

  ‘She sure is,’ Ruby agreed. ‘We can be very grateful that you spotted her. Who knows how long it might have been before someone had found her if you hadn’t happened to walk past and look through that window?’

  ‘Oh...crazy new nurse would have found her at almost the same time. She was carrying a bunch of toys back to the playroom.’ It was why he’d stopped, after all, because he’d wanted the chance to talk to her. Not that he would have done that if he’d had any idea how prickly she was.

  Ruby’s glance, over her half-moon reading glasses, was exasperated. ‘So now she’s crazy just because she didn’t want to go on a date with you?’

  ‘It wasn’t a date.’

  ‘What was it, then?’

  Josh resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘It was supposed to be a “thank you” for assisting me in an emergency. And a “welcome to GG’s paediatric ward”.’

  ‘Ah...’ Ruby nodded sagely. ‘And the fact that she’s young and gorgeous with that wild, red hair and those big, brown eyes had nothing to do with it? Tell me, Josh—if she was as old and ugly as me, would you have been so quick to offer to buy her a coffee?’

  Josh grinned at Ruby. Okay, his most senior nurse was more than old enough to be his mother and she’d probably never had a particularly healthy BMI but she was not only one of the best nurses he’d ever worked with, she had a warmth that made it a real pleasure to be near her and a smile that could light up a room.

  She was a wise old bird, too, and he had to admit there was some truth in what she was saying. He hadn’t just been impressed with Stevie’s professional skills this afternoon. At some level he’d also been perfectly well aware of exactly how attractive she was. He had not been hitting on her, however. He wouldn’t think of doing that when he didn’t even know if someone was single.

  The errant thought that immediately followed—that he would quite like to know if Stevie was single—was easy to squash. His relationship with that new staff member was never going to be anything other than purely professional from now on. She hadn’t quite slapped his face in public but it kind of felt like she had and he wasn’t about to offer her an opportunity to repeat the put-down.

  He let his chair thump back to the floor in time to see the mischievous tilt to Ruby’s lips, which was enough to make him smile himself.

  ‘I’ll never understand women,’ he admitted. ‘Is that all you need from me for now, Ruby?’

  Her face was deadpan now. ‘Wouldn’t mind a coffee,’ she said. ‘Milk and two sugars, thanks.’

  ‘Ha...’ As he stood up, the sleeve of his white coat knocked some papers from the corner of Ruby’s desk. ‘Sorry...’ Josh bent to pick up the glossy pamphlets and, as he put them back on the desk, the picture on the front—a back view of a man and a boy walking in a park—caught his attention.

  ‘What’s this about?’

  ‘Oh...’ Ruby glanced up. ‘Someone from the social services team left those with me today. It’s about the Big Brother programme where men volunteer to be a kind of role model to young boys who don’t have a father figure at home. Someone safe, like an uncle or a big brother—for tweens and teens, mostly, when they’re more likely to go off the rails or be giving their family a hard time. We get quite a few solo mums through here and it’s always good to be able to let them know what kind of community resources there are for getting support.’

  She reached for a pen. ‘I need to get you to sign this form before you rush off to get my coffee. Right there...’

  He made two mugs of coffee in the staffroom and carried them back to Ruby’s office a few minutes later. Her smile was a reward all by itself.

  ‘You did get me a coffee. Always knew you were a good lad, Josh Stanmore.’

  ‘You should have gone home a long time ago,’ he told her. ‘It’s way past dinner time.’

  ‘Oh, what’s that?’ Ruby tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling. ‘Yeah...it’s the pot calling the kettle black.’ She closed her eyes as she took an appreciative sip of her hot drink.

  ‘I’m going.’ But Josh sat down on the wooden chair again. ‘As soon as I’ve had this coffee, that is. I’ve been trying to get a chance to make it ever since that exciting little interruption we had this afternoon.’

  Stevie would have gone home as least an hour ago, Josh thought. And then he gave himself a mental slap for even letting her enter his head. Needing distraction, he focused on the neat pile that those pamphlets were now in.

  ‘Could have done with one of those,’ he murmured.

  ‘Oh?’ Ruby was instantly alert. ‘For a parent of one of our patients? You know something I don’t know?’

  ‘Doubt it. No... I was thinking of my own childhood. I got brought up by my grandmother. I could have done with someone like a big brother.’ Not that he was about to tell Ruby, but he’d been one of those problem kids. He could have easily gone completely off the rails. ‘Instead, I buried myself in my room and spent far too much time watching medical documentaries and crime shows. I was determined to be the world’s best forensic pathologist.’

  Ruby laughed. ‘And you end up working with kids who never stop letting you know how alive they are by their screaming and kicking, filling their pants and throwing up on you? What went wrong there?’

  Josh shrugged. ‘They smile sometimes. And give you cuddles. Guess I just love kids. Maybe they make us feel more alive.’

  Ruby’s face softened. ‘You’re not wrong there. You should have some of your own one of these days.’

  ‘Nah...’ Josh drained his mug. ‘Not going to happen. I’ve got more than enough of them here at work.’

  He could feel Ruby’s gaze following him as he left her office, though. He could almost hear her thinking that it was a shame he was going to miss out on so much by not wanting to have a family of his own but he wasn’t about to tell anyone the reasons why he was never going to become a father.

  The idea of being a ‘big brother’ was a new concept, however. How different would that be, to have a relationship with a child who wasn’t sick? A child who might be living a life that was a very long way from being in one of those perfect, nuclear families? Or any kind of ‘real’ family?

  He’d been that child once. And maybe that was at the core of the reasons he never wanted to try and create his own family but that was no excuse not to try and help another kid. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have plenty of spare time when he wasn’t at work and he didn’t even have a girlfriend making any demands on that spare time at the moment.

  Charlotte from Radiology had crossed the line a few weeks ago when she’d given him the tearful ultimatum of either declaring his long-term commitment or admitting that their relationship was going nowhere. He’d been as kind as possible in making that admission but that particular scenario wasn’t getting any easier to deal with due to familiarity. Why was it that women seemed to be so happy to sign up to a ‘friendship with benefits’ only to completely forget the clearly explained ground rules of a month or three later?

  Oddly, he couldn’t help wondering how Stevie would react to those ground rules and Josh found himself smiling wryly as he walked out of the front doors of Gloucester General Hospital. She wouldn’t be reacting to any rules, would she? She’d be setting them all herself, like some sort of fierce headmistress in an exclusive school. Even more oddly, he had to admit that he admired that kind of ferocity enough for it to ramp up how attra
ctive she was.

  Josh shook his head, fishing in his pocket for his car keys. How immature was that? Hadn’t he just been thinking he’d make a good role model as a big brother? This new nurse seemed to be creating unwanted ripples in his life—like a large stone being thrown into a pond he happened to be standing in for some inexplicable reason. He needed to get out of water, obviously.

  And stay out...

  * * *

  ‘Stay here for the moment, please, Mrs Hawkesbury. Someone will be in to talk to you very soon.’

  ‘It’s Ms. I’m not married.’

  ‘My apologies. It’s not easy to—’

  ‘I need to see my son.’ Stevie interrupted the junior police officer who looked like he should still be in a school uniform rather than the one he was wearing. ‘Please...’

  To her horror, she could hear the wobble in her voice and realised she was so wound up that it was quite possible she might burst into tears at any moment. Fifteen minutes ago, Ruby had taken one look at her face after the phone call she’d received and told her to leave work early without even asking for any explanation after hearing that it was a family problem.

  ‘Go,’ she’d told Stevie. ‘I’ll cover for you.’

  Her nurse manager was one in a million, that was for sure, but she’d already known that. When she’d confessed that she’d been rather rude to the head of their department, Ruby had actually chuckled.

  ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ she’d said. ‘He knows how well you do your job and it won’t hurt him one little bit to get turned down for once.’

  ‘Matthew’s fine.’ The baby police officer gave her a reassuring smile. ‘We don’t make a habit of locking eleven-year-old boys up around here. He’s actually having a game of snooker in our staffroom with one of our social workers, Tim. He’ll bring him here as soon as you’ve had a chat with his boss, Angela. Ah...here she is. I’ll leave you to it.’