Love Affairs. Louise Allen

for babysitting for me. You’re a star.’

      She kissed her mother goodnight and escaped, closing the door of her tiny bedroom with a sigh of relief, but if she imagined she’d shut Ed out, she was wrong.

      He followed her in, his laugh, his warm, spontaneous personality, his wicked sense of fun all tormenting her. Wasn’t that the first thing always in the personal column adverts? GSOH? Well, he certainly had a good sense of humour, topped off with a lethal dose of masculine charm and looks to die for.

      It was a good job he hadn’t kissed her. Really. If he’d kissed her, it would have been a disaster. Made it impossible to work together. It was hard enough as it was, and she didn’t need to fall into the trap of succumbing to a colleague. Or anyone.

      She was rubbish at relationships, rubbish at men in general and good-looking men with smiling bedroom eyes in particular. She needed to remember that.

      She plonked down on the edge of the single bed and sighed. She was going to have to get a serious grip on herself before tomorrow.

      * * *

      ‘So how did it go last night?’

      He groaned inwardly. He’d spent the entire night thinking about Annie, and discussing it with Kate was the last thing he needed.

      ‘Fine. Very funny. It was worth going.’

      ‘I meant with Annie. Little Dr Prim, with her sweet little girls and her “don’t touch me” attitude.’

      He ground his teeth. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but we had a good time, thank you.’

      ‘Oh, come on, tell all.’

      That was another of the nurses chipping in, grinning and propping her elbows on the high desk, her chin in her hands, her eyes alight with mischief.

      ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, we went to the theatre!’ he said, totally exasperated. ‘How is this such a big deal?’

      ‘But you went with Annie, and Annie doesn’t go anywhere with anyone.’

      So now the receptionist was getting in on the act. Where the hell were the patients when you needed them?

      He sighed and rammed a hand through his hair.

      ‘Look,’ he said, hanging on to his temper with difficulty, ‘we were given two tickets by a patient and her husband, tickets they couldn’t use, for a light-hearted slapstick comedy. Annie and I were both there, they offered the tickets to us, we accepted. It would have been churlish not to. And as we were both free, we went. End of.’

      ‘And?’

      ‘And what?’ he growled.

      ‘Did you kiss her goodnight?’

      No, he hadn’t, and he’d spent the entire night regretting it. And because he was tired, and tetchy, and because his conscience was still giving him hell for bailing on his grandmother, he lost it.

      ‘No, I did not kiss her goodnight!’ he snapped. ‘I walked her home, I went to my grandparents’ house to make sure that my elderly grandmother had managed to get my incredibly frail and terminally ill grandfather into bed on her own, because I’d had the temerity to take a night off and go out and have fun, and then I walked home to my own house and went to bed. Alone. Is that what you wanted to know?’

      He glared at them all, one after the other, and they had the grace to look embarrassed. And then he turned on his heel and almost fell over Annie.

      And James Slater, the clinical lead.

      Great. Marvellous. He shut his eyes.

      ‘Problem?’ James asked mildly, and Ed swore softly but pithily under his breath and stalked off. That was the last time he took anyone from work out for any reason at all—

      ‘Ed?’

      He stopped walking, and Annie came round in front of him, her eyes troubled.

      ‘They were only teasing. Don’t you think you were a little harsh?’

      ‘They were being downright nosy—and they were really bitchy about you. Kate called you Little Dr Prim.’

      She flapped her hand dismissively. ‘They call me Dr Prim all the time. I don’t care.’

      ‘Well, I do, and I care that they think that what either of us chooses to do is in any way their business.’

      ‘You were still nasty to them.’

      ‘Nasty? Nasty? I didn’t even scratch the surface of nasty. I just told them to back off. Hopefully they’ll listen.’

      ‘Kate’s crying.’

      ‘Kate? Why on earth would she be crying?’

      ‘Because you were really mean? She’s not so bad, Ed. She’s pretty harmless.’

      He rammed a hand through his hair. ‘You reckon?’

      ‘I know. They were only teasing you. You should apologise. Bearing in mind you have to work with her.’

      He sighed and rammed the hand through his hair again. Actually, he felt like tearing it out, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Neither would putting his fist through the wall. His sexual frustration was certainly not their business!

      ‘Where is she?’ he asked wearily.

      ‘In the sluice.’

      He went and found her, standing staring at the wall and sniffing, a wad of tissues in her hand.

      ‘Kate, I’m sorry.’

      She glanced at him, then looked away, her eyes welling. ‘No, I’m sorry. I never know when to stop. It was only meant to be a joke. I didn’t know about your grandfather. I’m so sorry. It must be awful for you all.’

      ‘It is, but that’s not your fault, and it’s not your fault you didn’t know. I don’t talk about him.’ He sighed and took a step forward, relenting in the face of her abject apology. ‘Come here.’

      He pulled her into his arms, hugged her gently and then tipped her head back with a finger. ‘Forgive me?’

      She nodded, and he gave her a peck on the cheek and let her go.

      ‘I think I can hear the red phone,’ he said. ‘Don’t be long.’

      The trauma call came through the speakers at that moment, and he changed direction, heading for Resus.

      James was waiting, and he raised an eyebrow. ‘Made friends again?’

      ‘Sorry. Yes, we have.’

      ‘Good, because I don’t like playground fights in this environment and we all need to be able to work together.’

      ‘We can. It’s fine. It won’t happen again.’

      ‘Good. Right, let’s get to work.’

      * * *

      She found him at lunchtime sitting outside in the sun, staring out across the park and idly shredding a leaf into his lap. He was on their bench—their bench?—and she walked hesitantly over to him.

      ‘Mind if I join you?’

      He glanced up and shrugged. ‘Do I have a choice?’

      She froze, wondering where the man she’d laughed with last night had gone, and then she saw the haunted look in his eyes and sat down, ignoring his remark.

      ‘What’s up?’

      ‘My grandfather’s not good. Marnie was pretty stressed last night. He was a bit feisty.’

      ‘Does he get physical?’

      ‘Only as far as he can, which isn’t far. His movement’s not great, but it doesn’t stop him saying nasty things to her when he gets frustrated.’ He sighed and dropped