Page 74 of The Night Shift
He sighed and looked down at his bleep. He’d better get back to work. There was no hope of rectifying the situation with Violet. Much as he wanted to track her down and make sure she was alright, she wouldn’t have welcomed the intrusion and he may well have made things worse by confronting Barney. Either shehadbeen snogging him and was contemplating a relationship with that scumbag, in which case Gus threatening her new boyfriend might not be ideal, or, as was more likely, Barney had tried it on with her and been given short shrift. If the latter was the case (which he truly hoped it was), then Barney would not take kindly to having his rebuttal and fall from grace witnessed, least of all by Gus. And he certainly wouldn’t have wanted the further humiliation of being spoken down to by someone with a reputation for being mild-mannered, woke and– the thought occurred to Gus suddenly– probably a bit of a coward.
Violet
Monday night
31st December– New Year’s Eve
Violet dragged Barney’s jumper over her head and shoved it in the nearest waste bin. She’d rather be chilly and unmolested, thanks. Much as the recent encounter with Barney had been horrific, she welcomed the burst of adrenalised anger and knew that it would see her through the next few hours. Being furious was certainly a more dynamic emotional state than wallowing in self-pity and she charged through her remaining ward jobs with an efficiency bordering on psychotic– she wasn’t going to allow anything else to get in the way of doing her job. She’d realised over the past week that she was actually pretty good at it. Her night shifts had proved to be the baptism of fire needed to temper her steely resolve, and she was much stronger now. She’d survived– and that was probably as much as you could hope for as a junior doctor on a tough rota.
As the hours ticked down to dawn and the list of tasks dwindled to a handful, she made her way back to ward ten to see Cindy. She wanted to talk to someone who’d known Mr Zeller as she had. She checked in on Mrs Chambers who was asleep and stuck her head around the door to the room where Mrs Jenson had been, but there was a new patient there now. Further along the ward, Mr Zeller’s bed stood empty, freshly made with clean starchy linen, and ready to welcome the next person who needed care and attention. Things moved on. As they should do.
She felt a hand on her arm and, still jumpy from Barney’s attentions, she turned abruptly. It was Cindy and she had an envelope in her hand.
‘He wanted you to have this,’ she said.
‘Mr Zeller?’
Cindy nodded. ‘Yes. He asked Dolores to buy him a nice card from the visitors shop downstairs. Something with flowers on, he said. Something pretty.’
‘But he could have given it to me himself, I only saw him last night.’
‘No– he wanted you to have it after he’d gone, he said. At the time I thought he meant once he’d been discharged from the ward but actually, looking back, I think he knew.’ Cindy smiled kindly. ‘I think he knew he was dying. He meant you to have it after he’d died.’
Violet felt a prickling of tears and pinched the bridge of her nose.
‘What you did,’ Cindy continued, her voice gentle, ‘making sure we all understood that he didn’t want unnecessary intervention– that was a good thing. You did a good thing. And that was because you knew Mr Zeller well, better than any of the rest of us.’ She patted Violet on the arm. ‘You made a big difference to his last few days. He always spoke about you. “When’s that Dr Winters coming to see me?” he’d ask every time I walked past his bed.’ She smiled. ‘Well done. It’s not easy making that kind of connection with a patient when you doctors are all so busy.’
Violet took the proffered envelope. It was addressed toDr Winterswritten in a shaky hand. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘And Cindy, thanks for everything. You’ve really looked after me this week.’
Cindy gave her a hug which was actually quite nice and made Violet suddenly miss her mum. She would give her a call today.
‘We looked after each other,’ said Cindy. ‘Now– I’ve got a few things to be getting on with before I hand over to Janine and I expect you have too. There’s a drug chart to write up for Mr Daniels for a start and Mr Patel has been complaining about his chest drain, I wonder whether we could give him something stronger for pain relief? Can’t be nice having a massive tube stuck in your ribs.’
‘Of course.’ Talk of chest injuries made Violet think about Marvin. She’d pop in and say another quick hello if she had a chance, but she knew he’d be coming home later and she felt as though she’d already bothered him with sufficient drama for one day. Maybe she’d just let Dev take him home quietly and calmly without either of them needing to worry about her on top of everything else. She tucked Mr Zeller’s card into her pocket and got on with her jobs. She’d read it once her shift was over, only two hours to go.
* * *
At eight-thirty, once Violet had handed over to the day team, wished Anjali a Happy New Year and emailed human resources with a glowing reference for Cindy, she decided to go and see Dr Corbishley. Better to bite the bullet than to dwell on the complaints against her for a moment longer than was necessary. It was early but she suspected he’d be in his office. He was a stickler for timekeeping and he’d want to be on top of his clinic list before the first patient arrived at nine. After a tentative knock at the door she heard his booming ‘Come in!’ and did as she was told.
‘Violet!’ he said, evidently surprised to see her. ‘What are you doing here? Haven’t you just finished nights?’
‘Yes. But I got your email and it said see you as soon as I could. You wanted to discuss the concerns raised by other members of staff?’
He eyed her curiously. ‘I did but it could have waited– you should be home getting some sleep.’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘I remember in my day we often used to push on through the post-take ward round, didn’t finish until after lunch. Dead on our feet we were by then. Mind you most of us lived in hospital accommodation, and things were a little easier, not quite the cooked breakfast and copy of the morning newspaper on a tray servicemyseniors had, but still.’ He mused for a moment. ‘Seems to get tougher for each generation of junior doctors, doesn’t it? We probably ought to do something about that.’
Violet wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to agree or disagree– it was usually best to let Dr Corbishley ramble on. He’d get to his point soon.
‘So, I daresay you’ve not found the past few months that easy,’ he said kindly. ‘It’s a bit of a shock to the system working on the wards.’
‘There have been a few– uhm– challenges,’ she said, taking the offered seat and wishing he’d get on with it.
‘I expect you’re wishing I’d just get on with it,’ he said, and Violet genuinely considered the possibility that she might have voiced her thoughts out loud. Her face had almost certainly broadcast them for her. She smiled politely, not trusting herself to speak.
‘No need to look so anxious Violet.’ Dr Corbishley’s voice was warm. ‘There are a couple of incidents to discuss but nothing too serious. Now– do you want the good news or the bad news first?’
‘Bad news,’ she said immediately, and he laughed.
‘Girl after my own heart,’ he said. ‘Keen to get it over and done with. Very well…’ He rummaged through the piles on his desk until he found what he was looking for: two sheets of paper each with an email printed on them. ‘Two minor issues,’ he said. ‘Firstly, a member of our occupational therapy team who was upset about the manner in which you questioned her assessment of a patient’s falls risk?’
