Chapter 9
‘What’s the weirdest reason you’ve had someone come into A a side where he was forced to admit that sometimes things were rubbish and that sometimes no matter how hard you tried, things couldn’t be made right.
He must have needed to acknowledge that in order to be able to do his job, but when he’d decided to move on from St James’s Hospital, so that he could specialise in paediatric surgery at the Leeds Children’s Hospital, it was a great fit for his personality.
He even insisted the kids all called him Dr Max, instead of using his surname.
He was a wonderful man and it hurt Eve’s heart that he wouldn’t even have recognised himself these days.
She’d have given anything to have that relentless sunshine back, but by the time he’d been at Oakwood for six months, she’d been forced to accept it was never going to happen.
It had been almost two years since the assault and Annie still hadn’t got there, maybe that’s where Max had got his eternal optimism from.
Whatever the reason, Eve had needed this coffee with colleagues, on the bistro tables outside the Friends of St Piran’s Hospital shop, and she knew the old Max wouldn’t have begrudged her that for a second.
‘I don’t think it would take you long to guess the reason.’ Isla turned towards Eden and waited for her to respond.
‘Her ring was too tight?’ Eden asked.
‘Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner!’ Isla held up a hand.
‘But it’s the reason she’d put the ring on in the first place that was interesting.
Her best friend, who was also her flatmate, had got engaged, but the ring needed resizing to fit her properly, so she was keeping it in a drawer in her bedroom.
What the newly engaged woman didn’t know was that her so-called best friend was also sleeping with her fiancé.
The girl with the massive purple finger, let’s call her Emma, had decided that it should have been her he proposed to, so she’d swiped the ring and had worn it to get…
well, down and dirty, I suppose, with the fiancé, as a kind of slap in the face to her friend, who was away at her parents’ place for the weekend.
Emma had fallen asleep in the fiancé’s arms, only to wake up with what looked like one of those foam fingers they use at sporting events.
When she told him what had happened, he tried to wrench it off her finger, but it only caused more damage.
She completely freaked out when we told her we were going to have to cut it off. ’
‘Her finger?’ Eve nearly choked on the coffee she was drinking.
‘No, the ring, you eejit!’ Aidan started laughing and, as everyone else joined in, it felt so normal, so much like the old days in Leeds, but for once it didn’t hurt as much to make the comparison.
There would always be an ache for everything and everyone she’d lost, but time was finally dulling the pain of leaving that part of her life behind and it felt as if she’d begun to reach the acceptance stage in grieving for what had happened to Max, at last. She just wished Annie could reach the same point.
‘So, what happened to Emma? Did she have to confess to her friend?’ Eden leant forward in her seat as she spoke, but Isla just shrugged.
‘That’s the worst part of working in A&E.
Amy and I were desperate to know what the fallout of it all was, and Amy even did a bit of internet stalking after Emma left to see if she could find anything out, but there was nothing.
No viral social media posts or articles in Chat magazine or Take a Break.
Nothing!’ Isla shook her head. ‘Ames and I had to make up our own scenario instead. I just hope the girl who got cheated on had the last laugh one way or another.’
‘I miss Amy so much,’ Gwen said, as she came to join them at the table. She’d told them she was closing the shop after she’d served them and she was never one to pass up the chance of a coffee and a chat. ‘How is she enjoying life as a popstar’s girlfriend?’
‘She’s having a great time.’ Isla smiled.
‘You know her and Lijah, they act more like the couple next door than my actual neighbours, and they like keeping things low key rather than living any kind of celebrity lifestyle, but she’s getting to see so many amazing places.
Despite all of that she keeps claiming she misses hospital life and she’s still insistent she’ll be working some shifts as bank staff when they finally get back to Cornwall, but I’ll believe it when I see it. ’
‘Oh, I can easily believe she misses all of this. There’s never a dull moment, is there?’ Gwen paused for a moment. ‘Although after almost fifty years as a midwife, I reckon I’ve got more funny stories then you lot put together.’
‘Treat us to one, Gwen. You know we love it when you’re gloriously indiscreet.’ Aidan gave her a gentle nudge and it was all the encouragement she needed.
‘Let me think… okay, how about this one, from when I was working at a hospital. I won’t say which one, but it was before the midwifery unit in Port Agnes opened.
I told the father-to-be to put scrubs on and he didn’t realise they were meant to go over his clothes, I turned away for a moment to check the foetal monitor and, when I looked back, he’d stripped everything off and was just pulling the top of the scrubs over his head. ’
‘So, you got an eyeful, Gwen. I bet it wasn’t the first time or the last?’ Aidan waggled his eyebrows at her. ‘Although that’s a bit tamer than I was expecting if I’m honest.’
‘That’s because I haven’t finished yet.’ Gwen wagged a finger at him. ‘His pubic hair had been sprayed green and shaved into what was apparently supposed to be a four-leaf clover, although it looked more like wispy grass that could do with a good drink of water.’
This time Eve really did choke on her coffee and Isla had to pat her on the back as Gwen continued the story.