Nurse In Need. Alison Roberts

glanced around them. Several nearby people had fallen silent and were pretending not to be watching. She gave an apologetic laugh. ‘Really, Amy. I think you might be overreacting.’

      ‘You would think that,’ Amy agreed. ‘But you’re just as bad as he is. You’ve even got my wedding all planned and you didn’t bother talking to me about it, did you?’

      More people were listening. The first group had given up any pretence of not being fascinated. They had been joined by Jennifer and the stranger in the leather jacket.

      ‘I have an announcement to make.’ Amy took a breath, hoping that the loud buzzing in her head might dissipate. She handed her glass to Noel who looked like he was trying his best not to smile.

      ‘I’m not going to marry you, Nigel,’ Amy said loudly. ‘I’d rather…’ She paused as a wave of dizziness threatened her upright posture.

      ‘Go, Amy!’ Jen crowed.

      Amy smiled lopsidedly. ‘I’d rather go home and stick needles in my eyes,’ she told Nigel.

      ‘Definitely preferable,’ the stranger agreed. He and Jen exchanged a grin.

      ‘Going home is certainly a good idea,’ Nigel said coldly. ‘I’ll drive you myself.’

      ‘No way!’ Amy wagged a finger at Nigel. ‘You’re not doing anything for me, Nigel Wesley.’ She could feel herself swaying. ‘You know what I think you should do, Nigel?’ Amy didn’t wait for a response. Her voice rose triumphantly and she enunciated with dramatic deliberation. ‘I think you should marry your mother!’

      Only Amy seemed to find this funny. The silence in the room was now absolute. Even the string quartet in the conservatory had stopped providing any background music. Jennifer and her companion exchanged another glance. Then the man stepped forward.

      ‘Time to go, Amy,’ he suggested firmly.

      Before she could make any kind of protest, Amy found herself swept up in the man’s arms. He turned and strode out of the room. For the first time Amy became aware of the amount of attention she had drawn to herself. Shocked and disapproving faces seemed to be turned on her from every direction.

      ‘Oh, no!’ Amy moaned. She buried her face in the leather-covered shoulder, wrapping her arms around the man’s neck to make her defensive position more secure.

      ‘What have I done?’

       CHAPTER THREE

      AMY BROOKS had ruined her life, that’s what she’d done.

      It took until Sunday evening for the physical aftermath of the party to abate completely. By then it was only too clear that the emotional damage was irreparable. While Jennifer had been sympathetic enough concerning Amy’s physical woes, she was demonstrating a sad lack of empathy for Amy’s state of personal anguish. Admittedly, it was fair enough that Jennifer had escaped by working her rostered day shifts on Saturday and Sunday. As far as Amy was concerned, it hadn’t been a matter of vital necessity that Jennifer had accepted the date with Noel Fenton on the Saturday night. And she really didn’t need to look quite so cheerful as she tackled her pile of ironing on Sunday evening.

      ‘Do you want me to iron a uniform for you as well?’

      ‘I don’t need one,’ Amy said gloomily. ‘I’m not going to work tomorrow.’

      ‘Yes, you are,’ Jennifer contradicted. ‘You have to help me pay the rent.’

      ‘I’ll get another job. I’ll become a photographer’s assistant and spend my days locked in a darkroom.’

      ‘You love your job.’

      ‘Not any more, I don’t. How can I even show my face at work? The entire hospital must be talking about me.’

      ‘Not so far.’ Jennifer was pulling a pair of black tights from the washing basket. ‘These are yours,’ she announced, rolling them up and throwing them to where Amy was sitting, curled up on the end of the couch. Amy caught the tights and dumped them on the pile of unfolded underwear she was accumulating beside her.

      ‘I’ve ruined my life,’ she said mournfully. ‘Nigel will never speak to me again.’

      ‘Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess.’ Jennifer was unsympathetic. ‘Here, is this your uniform?’ She held up a crumpled white smock.

      Amy nodded. ‘You can have it.’

      ‘It wouldn’t fit me. Anyway, you’ll need it tomorrow morning.’

      ‘No, I won’t. I’ll call in sick.’

      ‘I’ll tell them,’ Jennifer threatened. ‘For God’s sake, Amy. If people do hear about the party they’ll think you’re a hero. Nobody really likes Nigel Wesley.’ Jennifer spread the uniform over the board. ‘Except maybe his mother,’ she added thoughtfully. The iron was picked up but then thumped back onto its holder. ‘He’s the one who should feel embarrassed. He’s the one who got dumped.’

      ‘I didn’t dump him,’ Amy wailed. ‘It was just a misunderstanding.’

      Jennifer began ironing again. ‘I suspect that telling Nigel you’d rather stick needles in your eyes than marry him might just have given him the impression he was being dumped,’ she suggested wickedly.

      Amy groaned.

      ‘Especially when it was done in front of about a hundred people,’ Jennifer continued remorselessly.

      Amy closed her eyes. Jennifer ironed in silence for a minute and then sighed with what sounded suspiciously like pleasure. Amy cracked one eye open cautiously. Yes, her flatmate was smiling.

      ‘It was really quite romantic, you know. It’s a shame you weren’t conscious enough to appreciate it.’ Jennifer sighed again. ‘It was just like that scene in An Officer And A Gentleman. You know, the one where he sweeps his girlfriend into his arms and carries her off through all the people in the factory?’

      ‘I’m not his girlfriend. I don’t even know the man.’

      ‘Yes, you do,’ Jennifer said reproachfully. ‘I told you all about him yesterday.’ She eased Amy’s uniform onto a hanger. ‘His name’s Tom Barlow and he’s our new locum emergency department consultant. He’s come from a specialist trauma team in Chicago.’ Jennifer hung the uniform from the top of the door. ‘Let’s hope he doesn’t miss all those gunshot and stabbing injuries too much.’

      ‘Let’s hope he does,’ Amy muttered. ‘He might go away again.’

      ‘He grew up here. He wanted to come home.’

      ‘You seem to know an awful lot about him.’

      ‘He was very helpful when Noel was driving us all home from the party. After we’d poured you into bed, we had a coffee. Tom wanted to know all about you.’

      ‘And you told him?’ Amy squeaked with indignation as she sat bolt upright on the couch for the first time that evening.

      ‘Not everything,’ Jennifer said soothingly. ‘In fact, not much at all, really. It was more your relationship with Nigel Wesley he was interested in.’

      ‘What relationship?’ Amy groaned.

      ‘Exactly. He seemed very pleased that you’d ended it.’

      ‘I haven’t ended it,’ Amy protested wearily. ‘At least, I didn’t mean to.’

      ‘Tom said the bit he liked the best was when you told Nigel he should marry his mother.’

      ‘Oh, God,’ Amy breathed. ‘Did I really say that?’

      ‘You did.’ Jennifer nodded seriously. ‘I was so proud of you.