Gus
‘Nice work, Dr Winters,’ he’d said as Violet taped the tubing into place. ‘Looks perfect.’
‘Why, thank you, Dr Jovic,’ She had given him a meaningful stare. ‘You’re not looking too shabby yourself.’
He smiled at the idea while he waited for her in the mess, the myriad of hilarious things that came out of Violet’s mouth at any given moment, the way she was so unpredictable with her absolute candour and where and when she chose to make her opinions known.
Although thinking about her discussing him with Anjali was a reminder he needed to start alerting colleagues to the fact he was no longer engaged– otherwise people might judge Violet’s behaviour as even less appropriate than usual.
As if she’d known he was thinking of her, Violet chose that moment to enter the mess, tripping over the threshold in her inimitable style and clutching at the doorframe to break her fall.
She glared accusatively at the carpet and by the time she looked up he’d stopped laughing and was instead concentrating on a casual expression that he hoped said I’m pleased to see you but don’t think for one minute that I’ve spent the whole of the past few hours thinking about you .
He took one look at her face and realised that she’d seen straight through his attempt to look cool.
‘Hi,’ she said.
He tried not to read too much into the one word.
How her mouth moved around the syllable, whether her tone was wary or her expression clouded with regret.
He didn’t need to. This was Violet– hi meant hello, nothing more.
He had to keep reminding himself just how pleasingly straightforward she was.
Amelia would have easily loaded the two-letter greeting with hidden meaning. Violet wouldn’t even know how.
‘Hi,’ he said. He felt shy all of a sudden.
Despite having seen Violet in an altogether compromising position, several compromising positions in fact, over the past twenty-four hours, he felt peculiarly exposed under her direct gaze.
And then her face opened up into a beaming smile and his heart lifted.
‘I missed you,’ she said simply, and she walked over and took his hand in hers as if the physical distance created by the mess was too much to be borne.
They agreed that she would stop by his flat during the early evening.
He’d cook again and they could both walk over to the hospital to start their final night shift.
It would mean that she wouldn’t have time for a swim this morning as they both needed to get some sleep but she had obviously decided he was worth the sacrifice.
Being ranked above a trip to the frozen swimming pool made him unspeakably happy and as he walked her out through the back of the hospital to where her bike was secured, he risked putting his arm around her and pulling her close to him.
So what if his colleagues saw them. They had nothing to hide.
He kissed her as she pulled on her cycling helmet, laughing against her mouth as the reinforced plastic bopped him on the forehead.
‘I’ll see– you– later,’ he said, punctuating his speech with kisses to her chin, her nose and finally her lips until she pulled away, grinning.
Her cheeks were pink in the frosty air, her breath warm against his face, and the grey of her eyes appeared greener today, the aquamarine flecks sparkling in the light of a new morning.
As he watched her swing her leg over the bike and push steadily off down the hill he felt a warm throb of happiness in his chest and stomach.
A sensation that had been absent for so long he could have mistaken it for indigestion.
He didn’t know what the next few days or weeks had in store but, for the first time in ages, he was really looking forward to finding out.
Whether it was genuine happiness or gastric irritation causing this unfamiliar feeling, he knew he had to get home and rest, just as soon as he’d visited the supermarket for ingredients for tonight’s meal.
He’d keep it simple. Save the big culinary gestures for New Year’s Day maybe?
Neither of them had spoken about their plans for the New Year but he felt sure that they would see each other one way or another.
Tomorrow would be New Year’s Eve. Marvin would hopefully be discharged from hospital at some point during the day so Violet might be busy helping Dev look after him.
Or she might have plans for a big party or be going home to see her family, now that her week of nights was over.
He could ask her tonight, casually– nothing too heavy.
He didn’t want to scare her away with his enthusiasm, she might find it a bit stifling.
But then if she did, she’d tell him, wouldn’t she?
He sighed as he paid for his groceries and the cashier looked at him with concern.
‘Don’t mind me,’ he said. ‘Overthinking. As usual.’ The cashier nodded as if she heard this all the time.
She was probably very familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the great British public he thought, much as he was, much as Violet was, despite the fact that she felt herself to be on an entirely different wavelength to most people.
He’d seen how she was with patients and her fears that she was tactless or had a poor bedside manner were unfounded in the main.
She was a much better doctor than she thought she was.
Patients valued her honesty. He was struck by a desire to tell her this at the earliest available opportunity but she was probably asleep by now. He’d tell her later, when he saw her.
Distracted by the prospect of being in Violet’s company again he didn’t notice the waft of familiar perfume in the hallway and it wasn’t until he was through the front door and confronted by the sight of two designer holdalls in the hallway, that he realised what was going on.
Amelia was back.