Sleigh Ride With The Single Dad. Alison Roberts

a crowded restaurant kitchen plunged into darkness. A man had suffered a heart attack while trapped in an elevator and had been close to the end of the time window for curtailing the damage to his cardiac muscle by the time he’d been rescued. A pedestrian had been badly injured when they’d made a dash to get across a busy road in the pouring rain and a woman who relied on her home oxygen supply had been brought to the ER in severe respiratory distress after it had been cut off.

      Grace was completely focused on each patient that spent time in Trauma One but Charles seemed to be everywhere, suddenly appearing where and when he was most needed. How did he do that?

      Sometimes it had to be obvious, of course. Like when the young kitchen worker arrived and his screams from the pain of his severe burns would have been heard all over the department and the general level of tension rocketed skywards. He was so distressed he was in danger of injuring himself further by fighting off staff as they attempted to restrain him enough to gain IV access and administer adequate pain relief and Grace was almost knocked off her feet by a flying fist that caught her hip.

      It was Charles who was suddenly there to steady her before she fell. Charles who positioned security personnel to restrain their patient safely. And it was Charles who spoke calmly enough to capture a terrified youth’s attention and stop the agonised cries for long enough for him to hear what was being said.

      ‘We’re going to help you,’ he said. ‘Try and hold still for just a minute. It will stop hurting very soon...’

      He stayed where he was and took over the task of sedating and intubating the young man. Like everyone else in the department, Grace breathed a sigh of relief as the terrible sounds of agony were silenced. She could assess this patient properly now, start dressing the burns that covered the lower half of his body and arrange his transfer to the specialist unit that could take over his care.

      She heard Charles on the phone as she passed the unit desk later, clearly making arrangements for a patient who’d been under someone else’s initial care.

      ‘It’s a full thickness inferior infarct. He’s been trapped in an elevator for at least four hours. I’m sending him up to the catheter laboratory, stat.’

      The hours passed swiftly and it was Charles who reminded Grace that it was time she went home.

      ‘We’re under control and the new shift is taking over. Go home and have a well-deserved rest, Grace. And thanks,’ he added, as he turned away. ‘I knew you would be an asset to this department.’

      The smile was a reward for an extraordinarily testing first day and the words of praise stayed with Grace as she made her way to the locker room to find her coat to throw on over her scrubs.

      There were new arrivals in the space, locking away their personal belongings before they started their shift. And one of them was a familiar face.

      Helena Tate was scraping auburn curls back from her face to restrain with a scrunchie but she abandoned the task as she caught sight of Grace.

      ‘I hear you’ve had quite a day.’

      Grace simply nodded.

      ‘Do you hate me—for persuading you to come back?’

      She shook her head now. ‘It’s been full on,’ she said, ‘but you know what?’

      ‘What?’

      Grace felt her mouth curving into a grin. ‘I loved it.’

      It was true, she realised. The pace of the work had left no time for first day nerves. She had done her job well enough to earn praise from the chief and, best of all, the moment she’d been dreading—seeing Charles again—had somehow morphed into something that had nothing to do with heartbreak or embarrassment or even resentment. It almost felt like a reconnection with an old friend. With a part of her life that had been so full of promise because she’d had no idea of just how tough life could become.

      ‘Really?’ Helena let out a huff of relief. ‘Oh, I’m so happy to hear that.’ She was smiling now. ‘So it wasn’t weird, finding that someone you went to med school with is your boss now?’

      Grace had never confessed the real reason it was going to be awkward seeing Charles Davenport again. She had never told anybody about that night, not even her best friend. And certainly not the man she had married. It had been a secret—a shameful one when it had become apparent that Charles had no desire to remember it.

      But today it seemed that she had finally been able to move past something that had been a mere blip of time in a now distant past life.

      ‘Not really,’ she told Helena. ‘Not that we had time to chat. I did meet his little boys, though.’

      ‘The twins? Aren’t they cute? Such a tragic story.’ Helena lowered her voice. ‘Nina was the absolute love of Charles’s life and she died minutes after they were born. Amniotic embolism. He’ll never get over it...’

      Shock made Grace speechless but Helena didn’t seem to notice. The hum of voices around them was increasing as more people came in and out of the locker room. Helena glanced up, clearly refocusing on what was around her. She pulled her hair back again and wound the elastic band around her short ponytail. ‘I’d better get in there. You can tell me all about it in the morning.’

      The door of her locker shut with a metallic clang to reveal the figure arriving beside her to open another locker. Charles Davenport glanced sideways as Helena kept talking.

      ‘Have my bed tonight,’ she told Grace. ‘I’ll be home so late, a couple of hours on that awful couch won’t make any difference.’

      And then she was gone. Grace immediately turned to look for her own locker because she didn’t want to catch Charles’s gaze and possibly reveal that she had just learned something very personal about his life. She turned back just as swiftly, however, as she heard him speak.

      ‘You’re sleeping on a couch?’

      ‘Only until I find my own place.’ Grace could see those new lines on his face in a different light now and it made something tighten in her chest. He’d suffered, hadn’t he?

      She knew what that was like...

      ‘It’s a bit of a squash,’ she added hurriedly. ‘But Helena’s an old friend. Do you remember her from Harvard?’

      Charles shook his head and Grace nodded a beat later. Why would he remember someone who was not only several years younger but, like her, had not been anywhere near the kind of elite social circles the Davenports belonged to? Her own close friendship with Helena had only come about because they’d lived in the same student accommodation block.

      ‘She was a few years behind us. We’ve kept in touch, though. It was Helena who persuaded me to apply for the job here.’

      Charles took a warm coat from its hanger and draped it over his arm. ‘I’ll have to remember to thank her for that.’ He pulled a worn-looking leather satchel from his locker before pushing the door shut. He looked like a man in a hurry. ‘I’d better go and rescue my boys. Good luck with the apartment hunting.’

      ‘Thanks. I might need it. From what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a mission to find something affordable within easy commuting of Central Manhattan.’

      ‘Hmm.’ Charles turned away, the sound no more than a sympathetic grunt. But then his head turned swiftly, his eyes narrowed, as if he’d just thought of something important. ‘Do you like dogs?’

      The random question took Grace by surprise. She blinked at Charles.

      ‘Sorry?’

      He shook his head. ‘It’s just a thought. Might come to nothing but...’ He was pulling a mobile phone from the pocket of his scrubs and then tapping on the screen. ‘Give me your phone number,’ he said. ‘Just in case...’

      * * *

      What had he been thinking?

      Was he really intending to