Chapter 10
10
EMMY
There were many reasons that Emmy loved working on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central, but one of them was the fact that she was constantly busy, so it didn’t leave any time for thinking about anything that didn’t involve her patients’ care and well-being. She always tried to have a chat to each patient while she was doing her rounds or administering their medications, and if she did have a spare minute, she’d spend it with the ones who rarely or never got visitors. Their solitude hurt her heart, and she would never understand the cases where families just didn’t bother to come. Her grandmother, Minnie, was one of her favourite people in the world, and she spoke to her every day. She usually phoned her on the way into work, but her dad’s appearance had got in the way of that, so she’d give her a call as soon as she finished work at 7p.m.
In the meantime, she focused on her shift, until it was time to stop for a tea break at 1p.m. She could count on the fingers of one hand how often they actually got a tea break, because the ward was always so busy, but today was quieter than usual because where possible, patients had been discharged or allowed out to spend time with their families over the holiday. Also, many of the patients who were still here had lunch time visitors.
Her closest friends on the ward, Charge Nurse Yvie Danton and Senior Nurse Keli Clark had their breaks at the same time. Yvie was first into the staffroom and had already put the kettle on when she got there. ‘One step ahead of me again, Miss Danton,’ Emmy teased, harping back to the fact that Yvie had got to the hospital five minutes before her this morning at the beginning of their shift. She’d commented on it because it was so unusual. Yvie was usually the one flying in at the last minute and making her start time with only moments to spare.
‘It’s my New Year’s resolution, but I’m just kicking it off a day early. My name is Yvie, and I plan to be on time every day. Although, that whole vow thing hasn’t worked with the diet, so I’m not holding out much hope,’ she added, helping herself to a slice of the yule log she’d brought in with her.
Beside her, Keli helped herself to a piece too, but when she offered it to Emmy, she shook her head.
Keli put the cake down and leaned forward, elbows on the table, towards Emmy. ‘Okay, spill. What’s wrong with you today? You’ve got the worst stoic face ever.’
Yvie swallowed a chocolate reindeer. ‘I thought that was me?’
Keli nodded, acknowledging that statement. ‘Yep, yours is rubbish too. I’m never taking either of you to a poker game. First time you lose, you’ll crumble.’
Despite her distraction and her rubbish mood, that made Emmy laugh. These two women had been an absolute joy to work with, and, in a round-about way, Yvie was one of the reasons that she was here. She was engaged to Carlo Moretti, who owned Carlo’s Cafe, the bistro just along the road from the hospital that they went to most Fridays after work. It had become a bit of a tradition and a full-circle moment because Carlo’s dad, Gino, owned the restaurant her parents used to take her to every New Year’s Eve. That was actually where she’d met Yvie. In fact… ‘I just realised we met two years ago tonight. At your father-in-law’s restaurant.’
Yvie harrumphed. ‘Not father-in-law yet. Despite years of undying love, and this little sparkler…’ She nodded to her engagement ring, a family heirloom passed down from Carlo’s grandmother. ‘He’s still dragging his heels about setting a date.’
Keli put her mug down. ‘Oh dear. Do I detect trouble in paradise?’
Yvie took another bite of chocolatey goodness before she answered. ‘Not trouble, just…’ She hesitated for a second. ‘ Impatience . I mean, honestly, it’s been years. I’m beginning to think…’ After another pause, she seemed to snap herself off that train of thought and swiftly diverted the attention. ‘Anyway, enough about me.’ She circled back to Emmy’s comment. ‘And the lest said about how you and I met the better.’
Emmy nodded silently in agreement. That had been one of the worst nights of her life. They’d all been in full-scale party mode in the early hours of the morning. It must have been after 2a.m., but Gran Minnie and Grandad Henry were still slow dancing in the corner. Mum, Auntie Gwen and Auntie Rhonda were at their long table singing along to something by Celine Dion. It was before Emmy had met Cormac, so she was happily riding solo and had been enthusiastically joining in the chorus, until she excused herself and made her way to the ‘ladies’. At that point, she hadn’t even given a thought to where her dad had disappeared to. Probably off chatting to Dario somewhere. She had got to the corridor just off the back of the restaurant, where a short, gorgeous, curvy blonde maybe a few years older than her was leaning against the wall outside the row of three bathrooms. ‘There’s a queue, I’m afraid. But feel free to go before me, if it’s urgent. I’ve been dancing for the last hour, so I’m just killing time until my feet stop aching.’
Emmy had decided right there and then that she liked her. ‘You’re Carlo’s girlfriend? We’ve been coming here for years – our families are friends. He was telling me last year that he’s off the market because of a complete babe called Yvie. I really hope that’s you or I’ve just caused a situation.’
‘Yep, that’s me,’ Yvie had said, laughing. ‘He’s a lucky man. Although, I think he’s just future proofing for his old age. I’m a nurse on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central.’
Emmy’s eyes had widened. ‘No way! I’m a nurse in the Emergency Department at Paisley General. I’m Emmy.’ Her extended hand was greeted with an enthusiastic shake.
If it had been left there, it might have been the loveliest of meetings that would have resulted in a passing acquaintance. Instead, it had gone on to be a ten-minute chat that had been interrupted when, a few feet away, Dario’s son, Matty, still in his chef’s whites, had opened the emergency exit door next to the kitchen, and there, standing outside in the gleam of the security light, was her father, with his arms around the waist of a thirty-something brunette whose pinched face and relentlessly moving mouth suggested she was haranguing him.
‘Ouch. Wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. She does not look happy.’ Yvie had whistled, as Matty came back in after tossing the bin bag in the skip.
‘Yeah, well, that man is about to be pretty unhappy too.’ Emmy had swerved past Matty as she walked towards the door and slammed it open. Nope, she hadn’t imagined it – they were still there. And now she could hear what the woman was saying.
‘No, Eric, I’m not waiting. I’m sick of this. If you don’t tell her now, I will.’
‘Tell her what?’ Emmy had interrupted them, and her dad’s face had twisted into an expression that could easily have come from being the victim of a drive-by shooting. Horror. Pain. Panic.
The woman had found her voice first. ‘You’re Emmy.’
‘And you’re Donna.’ Emmy had recognised her dad’s secretary from the couple of times she’d been to his office. ‘This doesn’t look like a work conversation.’
‘Emmy, let me exp?—’
‘No, let me,’ Donna had interrupted him. ‘I’m sorry, but your dad and I have been in a relationship for almost a year now. It’s better you know. Your mum too.’
Emmy couldn’t absorb what she was saying, so she’d sought clarification from the man she trusted more than any other. ‘Dad?’
‘Emmy, I… I…’ He’d run out of steam, clearly realising that there was no defence. None.
Donna had stepped back into Truth Central. ‘He’s been promising me for months that he was going to tell your mother, and he keeps backing down. I’m sorry, but I’m not waiting any longer. If he won’t do it, then I will.’
‘I think you just did,’ came a low, shockingly calm voice from behind Emmy. As she’d turned around, she saw a wide-eyed Yvie first, then, just behind her new friend, was her mum, staring straight at them. Before another word had been said, her mum had turned around, gone back inside, told Rhonda and Gwen what had just happened and they’d all left.
‘All these years and I never realised you were an asshole,’ Emmy had spat, before banging the door shut on her dad, pretty much a metaphor for what had happened in their lives. Something closed that day. Her trust in him. And maybe a bit of her trust in life too. She’d always rolled along thinking everything would always turn out for the best. Not any more. Although, the only silver lining to the adulterous cloud was that a couple of days later, Yvie had tracked her down to check on her, invited her to Carlo’s for a coffee with Keli too, and they’d all become fast friends. The following month, when a position had become available on their ward, she’d applied for it and been delighted to get it.
However, that Hogmanay was one she definitely didn’t want to dwell on right now, so she was relieved when Yvie just kept on going with, ‘Although, I’m glad that it introduced us and gave me the opportunity to persuade you to transfer to this little slice of paradise,’ she said dramatically, gesturing to the four-metre-square box containing a tiny kitchen area, a table and four chairs, a few lockers against the far wall, and a door that led through to a toilet and changing area.
‘Indeed. I’m glad you’re living the dream with us,’ Keli got in on the joke. ‘But let’s put that to one side for a moment and go back to the original question. What’s up with your face? Your frown lines have been running riot all morning.’
Emmy thought about spinning a story to brush off their concerns, but she honestly thought she was going to lose her mind if she didn’t say it all aloud.
‘I don’t know if this tea break is long enough,’ she said, ‘but I’ll give it a go. So… first of all, my dad turned up at my house this morning, saying he wanted my mother back…’
Their gasps shot right through her words. ‘Shut the front door!’ Yvie exclaimed.
Emmy nodded, the irony not lost on her. ‘I only wish I had. Instead I let him in and listened to him ranting about how he’s made a mistake and wants the love of his life back.’
‘They’re idiots. They really are,’ Keli said from experience, given that she’d very publicly caught her ex-boyfriend, an actor called Rex Marino, cheating on her the previous year. But that was yet another story.
‘No arguments here,’ Emmy concurred. ‘So yes, he wants the woman that he betrayed back, and she is, I might add, the same woman I’ve been trying to prise out of her pyjamas since their marriage fell apart. I hoped when she moved into her own place it would get better, but honestly, she still never leaves home except to go to work or see her friends. Anyway, I digress. Back to my shite day, because what does it say about my life that my dad’s adultery-remorse isn’t the biggest issue I’m dealing with today.’
‘My buttocks are actually clenching with fear,’ Yvie whispered. Emmy didn’t stop to check that statement.
‘Because… because…’ Was she actually going to say this out loud? ‘Because I think Cormac is having an affair.’
It was just as well that she was sitting back in her chair, because Yvie almost spat her tea out. In the end, she managed to control it, swallow, and go with, ‘What? No. No way. Why would you think that? Not Cormac. He wouldn’t do that.’
Emmy wondered if her friend was okay, because she suddenly looked a bit flushed.
‘I don’t think he would either,’ Keli offered, but Emmy spotted the slight lack of conviction in her tone.
‘But?’ Emmy challenged.
‘But then, I’m the worst person to give an opinion because I never thought Rex would be unfaithful and then I found out he’d been living a double life and shacked up with someone else for the last three years.’
Yvie gave Keli a murderous glare. ‘You’re not helping.’
‘Sorry,’ Keli said, with a resigned shrug. ‘All I’m saying is that if your gut is telling you something, it’s worth checking it out.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Yvie blurted. ‘If your gut is telling you something, it’s because we’re human and prone to insecurities. Most of the time, those doubts have no basis in fact whatsoever.’
Both Emmy and Keli were now facing her with the same curious expressions. Yvie responded by lifting her mug and taking a big slurp of her tea.
Keli turned back to Emmy, checking her watch as she did so. ‘Okay, we’ve got seven minutes left, so we’ll need to be quick. Tell us what’s making you suspicious and what are you going to do?’
Emmy ran through the list of factors that had contributed to her growing fears. His distance. His jumpiness when he was on his phone. The coming home late. The oh-so-clichéd smell of perfume. Changing his passwords. She ended the laundry list of weirdness with, ‘Am I being crazy?’
Yvie spat out, ‘Yes’, at the same time as Keli countered with, ‘No.’
‘I’ve never seen you two disagree on anything,’ Emmy grumbled. ‘I’m sorry. My relationship quandaries have exposed a big glaring hole in your friendship.’
Emmy’s attempt to lighten the mood didn’t fool anyone. And they only had about two minutes of tea break left.
‘What am I going to do? I’ve no idea.’
‘Why don’t you talk to him about it?’ Keli came in with the obvious suggestion.
‘Because if this is all in my head, that’ll make him think I don’t trust him and then that’ll expose a big glaring hole in our relationship too.’
‘You’re right. I think speaking to him about it would be a mistake,’ Yvie agreed. ‘There’s no point questioning him when you don’t know anything for sure. That could be really hurtful.’
Emmy nodded. Yvie was right. Best let it be. Maybe this was just a phase and it would all get better.
‘Nope, I think it’s the only way you’re going to get answers,’ Keli argued. ‘And you’re entitled to have your voice heard. Look, if it’s upsetting you so much, you could always nip over to the station to speak to him.’
Emmy bit her bottom lip, trying to buy time. She hadn’t told them the worst of it because she didn’t want her darkest fear to be confirmed. But now… well, she had nothing to lose.
‘There’s something else. He’s supposed to be at work today…’ She was starting to get hot under the heat of her friends’ gazes. ‘But I’m sure I saw him driving past me when I was coming into work. How could that be?’
Their ability to answer was delayed because Yvie began to choke on her tea and Keli had to get up to thump her on the back.
One minute left of the tea break.
That’s when Keli came out with the zinger of a solution. ‘Do you have him on Find My Friends? Could you see where he is? If he’s at work, then that at least solves that mystery.’
Emmy jumped from her seat. Of course! She should have thought of that, but she’d been so harassed with all the dad stuff and then as soon as she came into work her phone had gone into her locker.
She grabbed it out, switched it on, put it in the centre of the table while it was booting up. The other two watched intently. When the screen came fully alive, she tapped her Find My Friends icon and then searched for his name. There he was. Cormac Sweeney. She clicked on it and waited for what seemed like forever until she got her answer…
Cormac Sweeney was no longer sharing his location with her.
‘Crap,’ Keli groaned.
Emmy’s stomach sank. Why? Why would he switch that off? There was only one feasible reason that he didn’t want her to know where he was. He was hiding something. Or someone.
‘What are you going to do? Can we help?’ Keli asked, sympathy oozing from her words.
Emmy shook her head. ‘No. I think I have to do this myself. And soon, because I can’t stand feeling this way.’ She wasn’t lying. All the stuff with her parents, the way her dad had acted, the chaos he’d caused. It had pushed her to the absolute certainty that if someone ever cheated on her, it would be over, no questions asked.
A plan began to form in her mind. She had an hour-long break later. Cormac wouldn’t for a second expect her to be anywhere else than at the hospital, so his guard would be down. The station he worked at was only a mile away, so she could be there and back in ten minutes. If he was there, she’d come up with some reason for dropping by.
If he wasn’t… well, then at least she’d know if she was going to start the new year off as someone who was very definitely single.