Page 21 of Prognosis Do Over

‘Brian, Brian, Brian.’ Will tutted, looking at the three hostile women and knowing the green young doctor didn’t stand a chance. ‘What were you thinking? The nurses here know their stuff. Trust me, you don’t want to get on their bad side. Isn’t that right, Lydia?’

Lydia gave him a grudging smile. ‘No way.’

Lou almost felt sorry for Brian now that Erica had calmed down. Everything Brian ever did from this moment forward would be treated sceptically. It was a hard way to learn a valuable lesson.

Don’t annoy the nurses.

‘If you can’t get an IV in after two goes, trust me —it’s not going to happen,’ Will said to his junior. ‘Because then you get frustrated and put yourself under all kinds of pressure. Time to take a breather after two. And always, always, wait for the magic cream to work. Are we clear?’

‘Sorry. I was just in a hurry.’

‘That’s fine,’ said Will pleasantly. ‘Why don’t you go and do what you need to do, and I’ll see to Erica in a little while?’

Brian didn’t need any further encouragement, leaving the room as fast as he could. Lydia and Kristy followed him out. Will smiled at Lou, who had managed to get Erica to sleep. She was cradling the baby close, still protecting her, as she gently rocked from side to side.

He loved how passionate Lou was when minding her charges. She took her job and her role as patient advocate very seriously indeed. Looking at her now, her cheeks still flushed from her confrontation with Brian, her belly emphasised by the way she was holding Erica, he couldn’t remember a time when she’d looked sexier.

When he had loved her more.

Loved her more?

No. No, no, no! I’m over her, damn it.

And then Erica stirred, and Lou clucked softly and kissed her little forehead gently. She looked up at him and smiled a serene, satisfied smile. And he knew with dreadful clarity that he’d been wrong.

That he wasn’t over her. That he loved her.

That he hadn’t stopped loving her.

He stared at her stupidly. How foolish had he been? Detaching himself from his true feelings to make their break easier. But he’d been lying to himself all along. His feelings hadn’t changed in the last four days. He was just finally allowing the truth to surface. He’d been living in complete denial.

Will became aware of the silence in the room, broken only by the ticking clock. Thankfully Lou was too engrossed in Erica to notice his dazed look. He had to get out of here.

‘I’m sorry...I have to go...I was in the middle of clinic,’ he muttered, his brain operating on autopilot as he opened the fridge door and found some local anaesthetic cream.

‘But I’ll be back in an hour,’ he said, inspecting the sleeping child’s foot, grateful for something to do with his hands. He found a nice blue vein and covered it with a daub of the cream.

Erica stirred a little in her sleep, but didn’t wake as Will covered the cream with a transparent sticky dressing. ‘I’ll insert the IV when I come back.’

‘I’ll be in my office. Kristy can help you,’ she said.

Kristy. Good.‘Excellent,’ he said, backing out through the door, needing to be away from her.

Too much.It was too much. He needed to get away from her. Before he said something silly. Like, I love you.

‘Thank you,’ she mouthed to him as he left the room.

Will nodded and swallowed, and shut the door behind him. Hell! Being back had been hard enough without this.

He loved her.

How could he have not known? How could he have ignored his feelings for so long? More importantly, how could he work with her for the next few weeks and not tell her? Because their circumstances still hadn’t changed. He had Candy, and a whole heap of baggage, and she had Jan’s baby.

Loving her just complicated it further.

––––––––

Will was as good ashis word, and an hour later, through the glass panel in the treatment room door, Lou watched him insert the IV into Erica’s foot. Kristy was helping him, and the whole procedure was accomplished in a few minutes.

---