Page 26 of Prognosis Do Over

She sniffed. ‘Money is not an issue.’

Will reached into the top drawer for a writing pad and scribbled a quick note to a private gastroenterologist. He put it in an envelope and handed it to Bailey’s mother.

‘Thank you...Doctor,’ she said, gathering her stuff. ‘Come along, Bailey.’

Will watched as the poor kid sighed and rose with slumped shoulders. ‘Hey, Bailey, what does a skeleton order at a restaurant?’

Bailey grinned and straightened up, a twinkle entering his eye. ‘I don’t know,’ he said.

‘Spare ribs,’ said Will, and was rewarded with a giggle.

‘I said come along, Bailey,’ his mother said, grabbing her son by the arm and pulling him out of the room — but not before he gave Will a little wave, and Will winked back at him.

Will looked at Lou and narrowed his eyes. ‘You could have warned me she was MFH.’

‘And ruin the surprise?’

‘Lydia always warns me about the mothers from hell.’

‘Well, I’m not Lydia, and that’s what you get for being in a crank for weeks.’

‘So Mrs Hillgate was payback?’

‘Mrs Hillgate was just the beginning,’ she said, giving him a saccharine smile.

He looked at her assessingly. Oh, great, he’d violated the most important rule, learnt very quickly by newbie doctors everywhere — except Brian.

Don’t annoy the nurses.

Fortunately, Lou Marsden didn’t scare him. ‘Well, bring it on, Lou. I can hardly wait.’

‘That’s Sister Marsden to you,’ she said, turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Her long plait swished behind her, and he’d never been more tempted to give it a good hard yank and lay her across his knees and spank her bottom. Didn’t she realise her being so near and his not being able to touch was torture?

That he was grumpy because being around her constantly reminded him of things he couldn’t have?

‘Sarah Montgomery, Dr Galligher,’ said Lou.

‘Thank you, Sister Marsden.’

And so the afternoon progressed, in polite formality. Lou saw the patients in, but refused to hold his hand like most nurses would normally do in a clinic situation.

‘Can you get me the tendon hammer please, Sister Marsden?’ Will asked at one stage.

‘Bottom right-hand drawer,’ she said, smiling serenely at him as she left the room.

Will sighed, stopped his neuro assessment and swivelled on his chair to retrieve it.

‘I need a ward test urine,’ he said to her a little later.

Lou pulled a packaged sterile urine bag out of her pocket and slapped it in his hand. ‘All yours,’ she said, with another deceptively nice smile.

‘Right,’ said Will watching her go, her plait swishing.

By the time the last patient was leaving he had a headache, and his mood was not good. Between her unhelpfulness, glimpses of her cleavage and that damn tempting flick of her plait as she turned her back on him, he was ready to throttle her.

Lydia hadn’t ever been this hard on him, and at least she brought him a cup of coffee between patients. He hadn’t dared even ask Lou, for fear he would end up with third-degree burns in a very delicate area of his body.

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