'I'll make the coffee,' he offered, then, stepping past her and turning to face her, he added, 'Do you have to move right now? Is Alana expecting you so soon? Couldn't we at least eat together?'
It wasn't exactly a plea, but as Alex rarely asked for anything Gabi guessed the invitation had been an effort. Coming to terms with his mother's illness must have been a strain, and he'd spent so much time with Jane over the weekend, he wouldn't have had time to contact other old friends.
Apart from Diane.
'I suppose we could,' Gabi said, then realised how grudging she'd sounded when she saw Alex's face.
Remorse struck her and she reached out and touched his arm.
'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that, but you suddenly lobbing back into my life hasn't been easy for me either.'
'Or cheap, if the number of plastic bags you're shifting to Alana's is any indication.'
Wrong thing to say! Alex realised as Gabi's eyes flashed anger as visible as lightning in a night sky.
'The clothes I bought had nothing whatsoever to do with you, Alex Graham, any more than changing my hair was prompted by your sudden return. Don't kid yourself I'd go out and get a new wardrobe to impress you. You! A man who wouldn't notice if I went to work in jungle greens or wore pyjamas out on a date.'
'I'm sure I'd notice the pyjamas,' he said, keeping his voice mild while another voice, far more strident but within him, demanded to know, if not for him, then for whom had she bought the new clothes?
Surely not for Josh Phillips, with his flashy sports car! The man's reputation with women preceded him wherever he went but he'd run a mile if things got serious. And Gabi wasn't his type. He went for obviously attractive women—
Like Gabi was now?
But Gabi wouldn't understand a man like that.
She'd be hurt.
'Possibly!' the woman he was so concerned about said dryly, and he had to think back to the original conversation to make sense of the word.
'Possibly stay to dinner?' He hazarded a guess.
'Possibly notice pyjamas,' she corrected, then she turned away, pulling packets out of the freezer, opening the pantry—getting ready to prepare their meal?
'We could go out,' he suggested. 'Down to Mickey's or somewhere else if you'd prefer.'
'Mickey's is closed on Mondays now,' she told him, her back to him as she poured rice into a colander and rinsed it under cold water. And standing there, watching her, the sense of familiarity was so acute it was as if he'd never been away.
But he had been away—even before he'd physically left the flat—and, remembering, he felt a sense of loss so strong it made him want to yell in protest.
'Could you open the packets and pop them in the microwave? They'll need ten minutes on defrost then another five to heat.'
He lifted the packets she'd pulled from the freezer. Thai food—one laksa and one curry—the brand name on the packets familiar.
'Hey, wasn't this the place where we used to eat back in our student days?'
Gabi nodded.
They've started packaging their meals for freezing and the ones I've had so far have been great.'
She spoke so calmly he realised she couldn't possibly be feeling all the convoluted emotional stuff he was suffering, and that knowledge added to his gloom because, in spite of all that had happened between them, he'd always harboured a dream that some day, somehow, Gabi would again be his.
The year apart had given him a better perspective of what had gone wrong between them. Though he hadn't realised it at the time, he'd taken his father's death so badly it had coloured all his thoughts and actions for the year that had followed it, so when his mother had started seeing another man he'd been angry for his father, and horrified for himself that women could be so fickle. Unable to handle his inner turmoil, he'd opted to go away, and specialising in Scotland had been about as far as he could get.
Then Gabi had protested, said she should have been consulted—behaved, in fact, in a most un-Gabi-like way. Or so he'd thought at the time.
Now, seeing the woman busy in the kitchen, he wondered if he'd ever really known her. Surely he had...
Gabi had realised as soon as she'd agreed to have dinner with him that it was a major mistake. Working near him, passing him in the corridors at A and E was one thing, but being back in a kitchen—their kitchen—with Alex was a very different matter!
For a start, she was remembering times they'd begun preparing a meal together, then ended up doing something entirely different. Often not eating until hours later—or next morning when, ravenous, they'd fed each other breakfast.
In fact, she'd always suspected their baby had been conceived one wild night in this very kitchen—a night when wine had helped smooth the bumps they'd been experiencing, and making love had reminded them of the transcendent joy they'd shared.
She sighed, then felt Alex's arm brush against her shoulder as they passed in the narrow space. The flash of heat even such an accidental touch could generate warned her to beware. Loving Alex before had led to pain so great she'd sometimes wondered if she'd live through it.
Loving Alex again—with the totally overwhelming passion she'd once felt for him—would surely lead to more of the same.
Anyway, given what had happened on Saturday morning, loving Alex now—loving anyone now—was just not an option.
She poured the rice into boiling water and checked the time, then, as she set two plates on the divider, she knew she couldn't continue being this close to Alex unless she had something to distract her.
Anything!
Conversation?
'So how was your day? Did you do any A and E work in Scotland or go straight into an intensive care unit?'
Not a brilliant conversational gambit but better than the silence between them. Silence that seemed to have the ability to carry vibes from his body to hers and string webs of memory between them.
'I spent time in A and E, but was more called in to consult rather than doing shifts there. Depending on the level of experience of the A and E staff on duty, I'd sometimes be called to do an IV cut-down to insert a catheter into an adult or an intraosseous access line into a child. Emergency procedures rather than anything else, although we'd also advise on admission from time to time.'
Gabi was glad he'd answered her second question rather than the first, because talking about his day could lead back to the couple injured in the freeway accident, and from there it wasn't far to things she didn't want to talk about.
Determined to keep the conversation neutral, she told him of the child she'd treated who'd needed an intraosseous needle inserted so fast fluid resuscitation could be given. 'It was my first go at it, and though I knew exactly what to do—penetrate the skin and subcutaneous tissue down to the bone, then insert the needle at a ninety-degree angle— I was terrified.'
She glanced at Alex and shivered as the memory returned.
'It was the screwing motion to get it through the bone that got to me. Got to the parents too. The mother was crying and the father threw up, and I'm trying to get it in and remove the stylet and do it all properly while not losing my breakfast as well.'
Forks joined the plates on the divider, and she dug out a couple of paper napkins and then left the kitchen, because the conversation wasn't doing much to block the vibes.
She flipped through the CDs, discarding what she considered party stuff—this was definitely no party—deciding on a Macy Gray, because she liked it, then wondering if perhaps it was too romantic, but the moody Alanis Morissette CDs she'd played lately weren't what she was looking for either.
Hopefully, Alex wouldn't read anything into her choice!
Back in the kitchen, the rice was ready, the convenience food conveniently heated and all she had to do was serve it. Alex had slipped around to the far side of the divider and was opening a bottle of wine.
'It's a very light white I actually bought in France the weekend before I came back. I stuck it in my backpack beca
use I knew if I left it there, Angus, the guy I shared a house with, would knock it off without a second thought.'
Angus! What had this man been like? It seemed totally unbelievable to Gabi that there was an entire year of Alex's life about which she knew nothing. Together since they'd started their pre-med training, it seemed they'd always known each other. They'd met all each other's friends, then their new friends had been mutual. And now Alex had an Angus—and who knew how many other people?
Including women!
There'd have to have been women.
Had the weekend in France been a farewell to one of them?
Only on that last weekend he hadn't known he'd been coming back for good.
Or had he? Had talk of a quick visit to see his mother been a ploy to get him established in the flat?
And if so, why, for heaven's sake?
She finished serving the meal and pushed a plate across to him, nodding when he lifted the bottle of wine towards her.
Wasn't wine supposed to relax you?
Wine from France...
'The food's good,' he offered, and she realised she was staring into space, fork poised above her plate, while her mind roamed in realms she'd only read of or seen in movies or on television.
'You stuck it in your backpack,' she repeated. 'If you only brought the backpack you mustn't have intended staying. What made you change your mind?'
Dark brown eyes studied her across the table, but if she thought she was going to get an answer to her question she'd have to think again.
Alex shrugged his solid shoulders, then shook his head as if to emphasise there was no answer.
'Seeing Mum was the main reason for coming, but I did pack all my stuff back at the house and leave Angus with instructions for forwarding it if necessary, so staying must always have been an option in my mind.'
Which sounded reasonable enough to Alex, but Gabi was frowning over it, as if some flaw made it less than believable. The truth was, he wasn't sure himself what had changed his mind. Seeing his mother had been part of it. And knowing she'd not be able to travel to Scotland to see him, and that as his work grew more demanding he'd have little time to make the long trip home, had added more pressure.
But before that there'd been a sense of homecoming as the cab had driven from the airport to the apartment building, and though Gabi's behaviour had done much to shake the foundations of that feeling, something of it remained.
Something of his feelings for his ex-wife also remained, and though he told himself it was the sense of unfinished business, he wondered if it wasn't more than that. After all, there'd been other women in his life in the interim—Diane Kennedy for one wouldn't have knocked back a physical relationship had he wanted it—but none of them had appealed the way Gabi always had. None of them had stirred something deep within him.
It was probably just a physical thing. After all, there was hardly a square inch of this flat that didn't hold some sexual memory. Gabi moving into Alana's flat might at least put a damper on his less honourable urges.
He sipped his wine, hoping it might relax him, and asked about Alana's course, then about her current pets.
'Does she still have the snake?'
Gabi shuddered.
'Fortunately, no. It must have recovered enough to be set free. The only time I had to caretake while it was there it was hibernating, so I didn't have to look at it, let alone consider feeding it.'
'That terrible bird's still there,' Alex said, and Gabi found a smile.
'I know—it is terrible, isn't it? But only because it's about four hundred years old and has lost all its feathers. It looks worse now because it's started shredding the little vests Alana knits for it. At first she thought it might have an allergy to wool, but she's tried every available synthetic as well, and it still unravels them so its grey-blue carcass is on view to the world.'
'And what else? I saw a pouch over one of her kitchen chairs. Is she still taking in orphaned wallabies?'
'Only the very, very tiny ones,' Gabi told him. 'And Madeleine's become interested enough in the Wildlife Rescue Service to volunteer to feed them during the day.'
The doorbell rang before Gabi finished her sentence, and Alex, either because he was closer or from habit, stood up and crossed the living room to answer it.
. As if conjured up by the conversation, Madeleine stood there.
'Oh, Alex, I'm so glad someone's here. Ingrid's cut herself and I can't stop the bleeding, and Graham's never at home when he's needed.'
'Grab our first-aid kit, Gabi,' Alex responded, taking control as if he'd never been away, assuming she'd still have the carefully stocked kit he'd put together when they'd first moved in together.
Then, no doubt knowing Gabi would follow, he hustled Madeleine across the foyer towards the stairs. Walking up to the Frosts' flat would take less time than summoning the lift.
Gabi hauled the hefty case out of the hall cupboard and followed, arriving in time to see the beautiful Swede clutching Alex's shoulder, and to hear his next order.
'Phone an ambulance, Gabi. I could suture it here, but it's deep and best done under sterile conditions.'
'It'd be quicker if I drove her over to Royal Westside,' Gabi pointed out, but Alex shook his head.
'We need to keep her leg elevated, and we can't do that without a stretcher.'
He was applying pressure to a towel held high up on Ingrid's inner thigh, and as Gabi dialled the emergency number and waited for a response, she wondered how such an accident could have happened.
And whether Ingrid had to lean quite that close to the man administering first aid!
Ignoring the unworthy thoughts—she no longer had any right to be jealous where Alex was concerned—Gabi gave the necessary instructions to the emergency control room and hung up. Alex must have been watching her, for she'd no sooner released the receiver than he was giving more orders.
'Roll a bandage into a pressure pad and we'll tie that onto her leg.'
Gabi opened the first-aid case and found a square of material which she obediently fashioned into a solid pad, but it wasn't until Alex removed the towel to put the pad in place, and blood spurted out, that Gabi realised why he'd insisted on an ambulance. His talk of stitching under sterile conditions had been to calm Ingrid, and possibly Madeleine—though she was somewhere else in the flat, no doubt calming the twins. Ingrid's wound had gone deep, rupturing a blood vessel, which would need microsurgery for an effective repair.
As the pad quickly reddened with escaping blood, Alex cursed and used his hand once again to clamp the damaged vessel more tightly closed.
'I'll go down and wait for the ambulance,' Gabi offered, when she was satisfied there was nothing more she could do to help Alex, who'd need to hold his hand where it was until they reached the hospital. 'I suggested they drive into the basement car park and I'll need to open the doors.'
The ambulance arrived far sooner than she'd expected and, knowing there'd be enough people to squash around the stretcher in the lift, she directed them to the fifth floor and stayed in the basement.
But Alex was the only one accompanying Ingrid when the lift doors slid open on the return trip. Accompanying and comforting if the way she was clinging to his free hand was any indication.
Gabi quelled the urge to demand that the woman unhand her husband—after all, it would sound unnecessarily dramatic, and on top of that she was reasonably sure he was no longer her husband. She'd signed papers ages ago, but hadn't read the reams of accompanying instructions so hadn't a clue what happened next as far as divorces were concerned.
'Did you hear me?'
Alex's cross demand made her flinch—he was still a grouch after all!
'No, I didn't, as it happens,' she snapped right back. 'What orders are you issuing now?'
He frowned at her, then shook his head as if her behaviour was beyond his understanding.
'Madeleine wondered if you'd sit with the twins for a while. I'll go in the ambulance with I
ngrid and walk back when they take her to Theatre, but Madeleine feels she should be there while they operate, so she knows exactly what's happening and can let Ingrid's parents know.'
Gabi sighed but didn't bother answering, merely walking into the still open lift and pressing the button for the fifth floor.
Would Alex have accompanied Ingrid to the hospital if she'd been overweight, worn glasses and had a face like a horse? Especially when an ambulance attendant could have applied pressure to the wound?
Probably, honesty forced her to concede.
But you wouldn't be feeling so unsettled by his actions, now, would you? Gabi demanded of herself. So now who's a grouch?
Up on the fifth floor the identical twin boys were bathed, pyjama-clad and ready for bed. With their blond hair and shining blue eyes, they gave the impression of being a couple of angels, just dropped down to earth from a soft fluffy cloud. But Gabi knew better. She'd helped out with the holy terrors before. Though tonight they were both sitting in front of the television, watching quietly, so maybe they'd improved.
Madeleine explained the nightly routine—really tough stuff: a story, then bed—and was about to leave when Gabi knew she had to ask.
'How did Ingrid cut herself so badly in such an awkward place?'
Madeleine shrugged.
'Working in A and E, you probably see more stupid accidents than most, but I'd think this one beats them all. She was carving a pumpkin. She spent a year as a nanny in the United States and now has the idea of spreading Halloween far and wide throughout Australia.'
'As if we don't have enough commercialised holidays!' Gabi groaned. 'Though it's already begun out here. I know of kids going trick-or-treating, though I don't know about the pumpkins.'
'Well, we won't have a pumpkin—I threw it away,' Madeleine said, then she showed Gabi the list of phone numbers she'd left. Both her own and Graham's mobiles were on it, as well as the hospital number, in case it had slipped Gabi's mind.
Assuring the agitated woman she'd manage, Gabi almost thrust her out the door.
Which was when the twins gave up the angel act and reverted to their normal devilish selves. First Shaun—or was it Ewan?—pushed Ewan—or was it Shaun?—off his little chair, and within minutes it was full-scale war. Gabi was attempting to negotiate a peace deal and wondering if the UN had people who could help when the phone rang. Knowing she'd not hear a word, she lifted the closest twin, tucked him under her arm and threatened the other with immediate banishment to bed if he so much as breathed. Then she grabbed the receiver and muttered a grating hello.
Dr Graham's Marriage Page 8
