Chapter 3 #2
‘Shame. There’s a dance on next Saturday night that should be great fun.’ Gemma looked up at Connor. ‘I assume you’ll be going.’
‘Wasn’t planning on it.’
This was another message he wasn’t comfortable with Kate receiving. He could just imagine what she thought of him. Someone who took no notice of rules, dated everything in a skirt and couldn’t stay away from even the hint of a party. Shallow only began to describe that kind of person, didn’t it?
‘But it’s a fundraiser for Paeds. The “P” for Pool party?’ Gemma shook her head, turning to Kate. ‘The physiotherapy department is trying to raise enough money to put in a new therapeutic pool. You’ll be going, won’t you, Dr Graham?’
‘No.’
The word was final. Kate had no intention of going to this party. Or any other party judging by the echo of the word that hung over Bella’s bed.
A determined gleam came into Bella’s eyes. ‘Why not?’ she demanded. ‘Sounds fun. Except that I have no idea what a “P” party actually is. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.’
‘Fancy dress,’ Gemma explained. ‘You have to come as a character that starts with the letter “P”. You know, like a pirate?’ She eyed Connor. ‘That would be a great one for you.’
Kate was staring at her shoes. She didn’t dare look at Connor.
She could understand all too well why the girls found him so attractive with that ‘bad boy’ vibe going on. It was all too easy to imagine him dressed up as a pirate with a gold ring in his ear and a rakish hat and a king-of-the-world kind of attitude.
No wonder she found Bella’s face lighting up like a Christmas tree when she felt compelled to lift her gaze.
‘What about a princess?’ Bella exclaimed. ‘Oh, I have to go. Even if I’m on crutches. I’ve always wanted an excuse to dress up as a princess.’ She saw Kate’s expression and grinned. ‘Yeah, yeah… I know. I did it all the time when I was a kid but this would be like… legitimate.’
Kate had to smile at her excitement. She would make a perfect princess with her gorgeous long hair and those big blue eyes.
The men would be falling all over themselves wanting to find out who she was.
Maybe Connor should go as a prince instead of a pirate and stake a visible claim.
She couldn’t help her glance sliding in his direction as her brain prompted her to say something aloud, but the suggestion died on her lips at his expression.
Curious, that’s what it was.
Oh, God… she just knew they’d been talking about her when she’d gone to phone Jackie.
That conversation she’d interrupted hadn’t been about Bella’s shaky start to her new job at all.
So what had been the ‘really bad’ thing they’d been discussing?
How embarrassing it was to have a spinster aunt who hid herself away and needed to get a life?
‘We’ve still got plenty of tickets,’ Gemma said.
She was winding a bandage firmly around Bella’s foot with admirable precision.
A figure-of-eight style, with the overlapping bandage edges exactly a centimetre from the previous one.
‘There’s an inter-departmental competition for who can sell the most tickets. You should all come.’
She turned her head to glare at Connor. ‘Especially you. How could you not go when you’re so involved with everything in the kids’ wards?’
Connor was still staring at Kate. ‘I’ll go if Kate goes,’ he said.
Bella laughed aloud. ‘Yes! Me, too.’
Kate saw the look that passed between them. This was turning into a conspiracy. Not only had Bella hooked up with the hottest guy in St Pat’s in no time flat, but had they also used the few minutes they’d had alone together to make some kind of pact to see that Bella’s aunt… got a life?
‘I’m not going,’ Kate said, aware that she was failing to keep a hint of desperation from her tone. ‘Fancy dress? I don’t think so.’
‘But don’t you see?’ Bella asked. ‘It’s perfect.’
‘No, I don’t see,’ Kate muttered. She watched Gemma hook the tiny metal ‘crocodile’ clips into place to secure Bella’s bandage. Good. They could escape very soon.
‘You never go to work social events, do you.’ Bella was making a statement, not asking a question.
And it was true. Kate never did go to any social events. Not unless she absolutely had to. How embarrassing was this? Bella thought the whole world was on her side and there was no need to keep things private. She was open and honest and… everything Kate could never be.
No wonder Bella never had any trouble making friends wherever she went.
Kate had nobody she could call a real friend but she didn’t need that pointed out to the people she had to work with.
Especially to Connor Matthews. It was bad enough that he already thought of her as boring and unattractive and incapable of having fun.
Bella didn’t wait for a response. ‘With a costume party you get to go as someone else. In a disguise. It doesn’t really have to be you going at all.’ She grinned at Connor. ‘Hey, you could go as a priest.’
Gemma snorted. Even Kate felt her lips twitch.
Connor had spotted her amusement. ‘Pollyanna starts with “P”,’ he muttered.
‘You wouldn’t need to dress up,’ Gemma said kindly. ‘Pathologist starts with “P”. You could wear your white coat maybe.’
The one that she wore all buttoned up, like she buttoned up her life?
Prim was a ‘P’ word. So was prude. Kate felt the stirrings of real annoyance.
She felt she was being put under pressure to prove she wasn’t that person.
Which she could, if she wanted to. With bells on.
Prostitute started with ‘P’. She could borrow that scrap of fabric Bella called a skirt and put some bright red lipstick on and leave her hair loose and nobody would recognise her.
Good grief… the prospect was disturbingly attractive.
Except that Connor would recognise her because he’d seen her with her hair down. He might think she was trying to send the message that she was up for it. Desperate, even.
It was a relief when the ED consultant breezed in to talk to Bella and broke the negative spin her thoughts were taking. He had a pair of elbow crutches with him and advised Bella to use them for the next day or so until she could bear weight without pain.
And then it was finally time to go home and get to their long-delayed dinner. Thankfully, Connor was preparing to disappear into the night, after saying he was glad things had turned out okay so that he wouldn’t have to cope with long-winded serious accident investigations.
But he waited to hold the door open for Bella, who was hopping slowly as she got used to the crutches, and Gemma came rushing up with a bunch of tickets in her hand.
‘So… three tickets for you guys, then?’ she asked brightly.
Connor eyed Kate. ‘I will if you will,’ he said.
‘I can’t go if neither of you go,’ Bella said. ‘I don’t know anybody else here well enough yet.’ She also eyed Kate. ‘Please? Please, please, please, Auntie Katie?’
Auntie Katie? Kate stifled a groan. That took her back to the days when her niece had been a small child and Kate had had something that Bella had wanted very badly.
Kate shook her head, realising that defeat was looming. ‘We’ll see.’
‘That always means yes.’
‘No,’ Kate said faintly. ‘It doesn’t. But we’ll buy the tickets anyway seeing it’s for such a good cause.’
Bella somehow got a hand free to give Connor a high five. ‘We’ll see you there.’
She was here.
Connor hadn’t really expected Kate to turn up but his reaction should have been no more than surprise, surely? Why was he feeling so pleased?
Just to be on the safe side, he avoided her for the first hour or two of the party but even when he was in the middle of the dance floor, he couldn’t help spotting her at regular intervals.
What on earth was she wearing? A long black dress that had wide strips of white material pinned across it at regular intervals. Was she supposed to be… a prisoner?
That would be a bit Freudian, wouldn’t it?
And didn’t convicts have arrows rather than stripes?
He could ask Bella but she was floating around in a pretty, puffy pink dress and a sparkly tiara and was never short of a dance or conversational partner. Kate always seemed to have someone to talk to as well. Who was that guy in the panda suit?
Oh, yes… Lewis Blackman, head of the pathology department.
Not that it was any of his business but Connor noted that they seemed to be getting on very well and he found himself frowning.
For goodness’ sake, Lewis was far too old for Kate.
He was at least sixty and Kate couldn’t be any more than around his own age.
He didn’t see Kate dancing. Not even once.
Bella must have noticed her aunt’s lack of participation as well because when Connor finally had the opportunity to dance with the best-looking princess of the night, she turned him down.
‘Ask Kate,’ she urged.
Connor was about to say ‘No way’ but something in Bella’s gaze stopped the words emerging.
‘Please?’ Bella added. She twinkled at him, rather like the imitation diamonds in her tiara.
‘Fine,’ Connor growled reluctantly. ‘I’ll dance with the prisoner.’
‘Prisoner?’
‘That’s what her costume is, isn’t it?’
Bella laughed. ‘No! She’s being a pedestrian crossing.’
Connor was still grinning as he made his way to where Kate was still talking to Lewis. A pedestrian crossing. Smart. Different.
He liked that.
He extended a hand as he got closer. ‘May I have the pleasure…?’
Kate shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I don’t dance.’
No surprises there.
What was surprising was that Lewis Blackman made a growling sound that Connor could have easily produced himself.
‘Go on, Kate,’ Lewis urged. ‘Let your hair down for once.’