Her Little Secret. Carol Marinelli

his rather large throng of admirers.

      He was sitting in the staffroom as he had on the bus, with his long legs sprawled out, drinking a large mug of tea and leading the conversation as if he’d been there for years instead of one week, regaling them all with his exploits—the highlight a motorbike ride through the outback—which did nothing to impress Alison. In fact, the very thought made her shudder and prompted a question.

      ‘How is that guy from last week?’ Alison turned to Ellie. ‘Did you follow him up?’

      ‘What one?’

      ‘Just as I went off last Sunday—the young guy on the motorbike?’ And then she stopped, realising it sounded rude, perhaps a touch inappropriate given Nick’s subject matter, though she hadn’t meant it to. Nick had just reminded her to ask.

      ‘We didn’t have any ICU beds,’ one of the other staff answered, ‘so he was transferred.’

      ‘Thanks,’ Alison said, looking up at the clock, and so did everyone else, all heading out for handover.

      She really didn’t want to like him.

      He unsettled her for reasons she didn’t want to examine and she hoped he was horrible to work with—arrogant, or dismissive with the patients. Unfortunately, he was lovely.

      ‘I’m here for a good time, not a long time,’ she heard him say to some young surfer who had cut his arm on the rocks. Nick was stitching as Alison came in to give the young man his tetanus shot. ‘I want to cram in as much as I can while I’m here.’

      ‘Come down in the morning,’ surfer boy said. ‘I’ll give you some tips.’

      ‘Didn’t I just tell you to keep the wound clean and dry? ‘Nick admonished, and then grinned. ‘I guess salt water’s good for it, though. I’ll look forward to it.’

      ‘You’re going surfing with him?’ Alison blinked.

      ‘He lives near me and who better to teach me than a local?’ Nick said. ‘Do you?’

      ‘Do I what?’

      ‘Surf.’

      Alison rolled her eyes. ‘Because I’m Australian?’

      ‘No,’ he said slowly, those green eyes meeting hers. ‘Because you want to.’ And she stood there for a moment, felt her cheeks darken, felt for just a moment as if he was looking at her, not staid, sensible Alison but the woman she had once been, or rather the woman she had almost become, the woman who was in there, hiding.

      ‘If I wanted to, I would,’ Alison replied, and somehow, despite the wobble in her soul, her voice was even. ‘I’ve got a beach on my doorstep after all.’

      ‘I guess,’ Nick said, but she could almost hear his tongue in his cheek. ‘I’ll let you know what it’s like.’

      His assumption irritated her, perhaps more than it should have, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. She’d save a suitable come-back for later—perhaps this time tomorrow morning when she was stitching his forehead after his board hit him, Alison thought, taking the next patient card from the pile.

      ‘Louise Haversham?’ Alison called out to the waiting room, and when there was no answer she called the name again.

      ‘Two minutes!’ came the answer, a pretty blonde holding up her hand at Alison’s interruption and carrying on her conversation on her phone, but perhaps realising that Alison was about to call the next name on the list she concluded her call and walked with Alison to a cubicle.

      ‘How long have you had toothache for?’ Alison asked, checking Louise’s temperature and noting it on her card.

      ‘Well, it’s been niggling for a couple of weeks but it woke me up at four and I couldn’t get back to sleep.’

      ‘Have you seen your dentist?’ Alison asked, and Louise shook her head.

      ‘I’ve been too busy—I’m working two jobs.’ She glanced up at the clock. ‘How long will the doctor be? I’m supposed to be at work at nine.’

      Then Alison had better hurry the doctor along!

      ‘Who’s next?’ Nick asked cheerfully. ‘A nice motorbike crash, perhaps?’ He winked, just to show her he’d heard her in the staffroom.

      ‘I’m saving the good stuff for later,’ Alison said. ‘I’ve got a toothache.’

      ‘I’m sorry to hear it.’

      She rolled her eyes at the very old joke, but it did make her smile just a little bit and he was so easy to talk to, because somewhere between the work station and Cubicle Five she’d told him that she was going to the dentist herself next week. He opened the curtain where the very pretty blonde with a sore tooth that couldn’t possibly wait till nine a.m. for a dentist was no longer chatting on her phone but cupping her jaw in her hand and looking an absolute picture of misery.

      ‘Good morning.’ He introduced himself and Louise introduced herself and managed, Alison noted, despite her agony, to perk up just a touch and give him a very brave smile.

      ‘I’m so sorry.’ She was far nicer to Nick than she had been to Alison. ‘I just couldn’t stand it any longer. I haven’t slept all night…’

      ‘Not at all. Dental pain’s awful,’ Nick said. Warning her he wasn’t a dentist, he first had a feel of her jaw before he looked in her mouth, then long brown fingers examined her jaw again and felt around her neck. ‘What was her temperature?’ Nick asked, and Alison told him it was normal. ‘There’s no swelling. Still, I think we should give you something for the pain and a poultice for the tooth, but you really do need to see your dentist.’ He turned round. ‘Alison, do we have any oil of cloves?’

      Right at the back of the treatment cupboard.

      ‘Busy?’ her friend Moira asked minutes later as she watched Alison curiously.

      ‘Frantic!’ She rolled her eyes to show that she wasn’t in the least. ‘I’m making an oil-of-cloves poultice,’ Alison said, her own teeth slightly gritted.

      ‘A what?’ Moira frowned. ‘What’s that?’

      ‘Some old English treatment. Actually, I remember my mum giving this to me once. I’ve never been asked for it.’

      ‘Nick?’ Moira checked and gave a little sigh. ‘He asked me for some gentian violet yesterday.’ She held up her palms to show the evidence. ‘He dishes out the TLC, wish he’d dish some out in my direction!’ Moira was Irish, just passing through Coogee too as she nursed and travelled her way around the world. She was fun and flirty and just…fun!

      ‘Is he always so nice to everyone? It’s like a social club in Section B.’

      ‘Always,’ Moira said cheerfully.

      Returning to Cubicle Five, Alison wondered if he’d still be so nice when the place was frantic, but for now he was taking his time with his patient.

      ‘Okay, Louise, I’ve given you a note for the dentist—you need to get that seen to this morning.’

      Louise, once she’d bitten down on her cotton bud soaked in oil of cloves, managed to rally enough to tell him the name of the bar she worked at in the city, and that she was on at the weekend if he wanted to stop by for a drink on the house.

      ‘I’m working…’ Nick grinned ‘…but that’s terribly kind of you.’

      ‘He’s worth getting toothache for,’ Louise commented as he swept out and only the fresh scent of him lingered. They shared a little smile. ‘If I suddenly come over all dizzy, will you call him back for me?’

      ‘I’ll get Amy, the other registrar.’ Alison winked. ‘She’s good with dizzy females.’

      ‘Shame.’

      Nick changed