Tempted By Collection

Tom nodded. That was fine. They could get a blood-sugar reading for her here easily enough. ‘Sure. Any other medical history?’

‘Nothing of significance.’

‘Family?’

‘She has a daughter, but she lives over a hundred miles away. We got Tall Oaks to give her a ring and I believe she’s on her way.’

Right. So it was best to try and get Una settled and sorted before the daughter arrived and then, hopefully, he would have good news to pass on.

‘Okay, everyone, let’s have a full top-to-toe assessment, please.’

He stood back, watching, listening, assessing, as his team, including Naomi, read out test results and observations. All obvious signs pointed to a urinary tract infection, but he’d need a urine sample to confirm the diagnosis.

Naomi was trying to get the blood sugar when suddenly Una clutched Naomi’s hand.

‘Rosie?’ the elderly woman asked in a tremulous voice, staring off into the void.

‘No, Una. I’m Naomi. A nurse. I’m here to look after you.’ She gave the patient’s hand a gentle squeeze, but Una tightened her grip and wouldn’t let her go.

‘Don’t leave me, Rosie! They’re trying to kill me!’

Tom watched as Naomi glanced back at him, signalling resignedly that she couldn’t help with the assessments whilst the patient had a good firm hold of her hand.

He stepped forward. ‘Una? I’m a doctor here and you’re not in Tall Oaks any more. You’re in hospital.’

Una blinked and focused on Tom’s voice, her glazed eyes sliding from Naomi’s face to his. ‘Hospital?’

‘That’s right. You’re safe. No one here will harm you, but you’re not very well, Una. You’ve got a temperature and so we’re going to make you feel better.’

She looked back to Naomi. ‘Don’t leave me here, Rosie.’

Tom glanced at Naomi and they shared a look. Alzheimer’s was such a cruel disease, deftly taking away each and every day another small part of who someone was, often leaving them confused or frightened or, even worse, lucid, so that they had moments of knowing exactly what was happening to them. It was just as Naomi had faced with Vincent, those years and years of slowly losing someone.

Tom had also sat and watched Meredith slip away day by day. Luckily, she hadn’t known what was happening to her.

But he had. He’d sat at the side of her bed, holding her lifeless hand, begging and praying that she would come back to him, and each day the doctors had reported a drop in her condition until those final, painful reports had indicated that she was to all intents and purposes brain-dead. By the end she’d only been kept alive by the ventilator. He and Meredith’s parents had decided to turn off the machine keeping her alive, but it had been a horrible time, a horrible decision. Something he wouldn’t wish on anyone. Just as he wouldn’t wish Alzheimer’s on anyone.

Tom caught Naomi’s gaze, then spoke quietly. ‘Let her think you’re Rosie until the daughter gets here. It might make her feel better. Safer. We can get her blood sugar and urine sample from her if she’s calm and relaxed.’

Naomi nodded, understanding. ‘Okay. I’m here. It’s all right.’

‘Oh, my Rosie!’ Una held Naomi’s hand close to her chest and closed her eyes, seemingly more calm.

Naomi reached out to pull a plastic chair towards the side of the bed. Sinking into it, she smiled at Tom. ‘She’s got me held tight. I won’t be escaping soon, I don’t think.’

‘That’s okay. Hopefully the real Rosie will get here soon. Can you keep an eye on her? And note down her obs half-hourly?’

‘Only because my writing hand is still free.’ She grabbed the patient’s file, opening it and filling in what she could.

As Una’s breathing deepened and she drifted off to sleep a male nurse, Stefan, came into Resus. ‘Oh, Naomi...if only you’d hold my hand so intently!’ Stefan was a dreadful flirt who, Tom knew, tried it on with most of the women in the hospital.

His skin prickled at the way he flirted so openly with Naomi.

Why should I let it bother me?

He stood over by the desk filling in his report at the computer station, keeping a subtle eye on them both.

Naomi simply smiled. ‘I don’t think it’s your hand you want me to hold, Stefan,’ she replied calmly, staring down at Una, keeping her voice regulated and not doing anything to disturb the sleeping patient.

Stefan laughed, collected the sterile pack he’d come in for and then headed back to the double doors. ‘Ah, you know me too well, sweet girl. But I guess I can’t compete with Dr Williams here. My pigeon chest can’t outdo his six pack, can it? Must be nice seeing that in the morning, eh?’

As Stefan pushed through the doors, leaving them swinging back and forth, Tom looked to Naomi in shock.

Were they the subject of gossip already? How on earth had that happened? Naomi had been staying at his place for less than a week and he hadn’t told anyone. He wondered if she had. Maybe they had simply been spotted leaving and arriving together on the few days they’d worked the same hours.

A surge of irritability flooded through him and he almost snapped his pen in half. He hated gossip. It distorted everything. The grapevine probably had blown the whole innocent affair out of proportion. God only knew what they were saying!

But what he really didn’t like was the idea that his reputation was being run through the mud. Or Naomi’s for that matter. They were just flatmates. Plain and simple. And it was only a temporary arrangement, which should be ending soon. Her old flat was practically sorted anyway and she would be able to start looking for a new place in earnest.

‘Naomi...have you told anyone about our arrangement?’

She shook her head, looking just as shocked as he felt. ‘No.’

‘Two plus two is going to equal five unless we put a lid on this.’

‘It’s just gossip. They’ll soon get bored.’

‘Will they? I think you’re more optimistic than I am.’

Tom looked at Naomi, her hand still in the patient’s tight grasp. She had a simple beauty, an elegant face with regal features. Tom wondered if she knew she could probably be a model if she wanted to be. She didn’t seem to be aware of her looks. Her long brown hair was always loosely gathered up into a clip and it never looked as if she’d spent hours styling it, but still it always looked amazing, soft and silken, deftly pulled this way and that, held in place by a pin or two. She wore no jewellery that he’d noticed, but she didn’t need it. There was enough sparkle and colour in her eyes alone. Those deep chocolate pools captured him every time she looked at him. She had a very small beauty mark on her right cheek and soft, full pink lips. When she smiled, the effect it had on his insides was, simply put, devastating. He hated to admit it to himself but he was being pulled in by her lure.

Stefan and any of the other gossipmongers would have a field day with their idle rumours. It just wouldn’t occur to them that the relationship he had with Naomi was completely innocent and above board. Surely anyone would take one look at Naomi’s gorgeous good looks and assume that he would be trying to seduce her. They wouldn’t assume anything else.

And I don’t want to enforce their rumours.

He needed to try and create some space away from her and stop the rumour mill in its tracks. Asking her to stay had been a terrible decision.

‘Any luck with flat-hunting?’ He knew it was an abrupt change of subject and in direct contradiction of what he’d said to her the other day. Maybe he’d made a mistake. Maybe he shouldn’t have encouraged her to get comfy and put her feet beneath his table. He really ought to be helping her to find a place to live. Then he could have his sanctuary back. His private place. His home. A place only for him and his memories.

‘Um...no, nothing suitable yet.’ She looked a little stunned by his change of topic and, although he felt guilty for making her feel that maybe she wasn’t as welcome as she’d previously thought, he reminded himself that this was about self-preservation.

He didn’t need complications in his life. Work was where he came to forget. It was the place where he thrived, where he felt safe, and if he couldn’t feel that in the hospital, if it became yet another place where he felt uncomfortable, then he had no idea how he would survive.

‘You might be needed in Majors, Nurse Bloom. Release yourself from the patient and go and check with them next door, please.’ He knew he was being abrupt and he hated himself for it.

She looked up at him as if puzzled, but then she nodded and turned back to Una to see if she could slip her hand away, unnoticed.

She finally managed it. Stepping away, she quietly slid Una’s file into the space at the bottom of her bed. ‘Who’ll do her obs?’

‘I will.’

‘Okay. If you’re sure.’ When she disappeared through the doors, leaving him alone in Resus, he ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation and let out a heavy sigh.

What on earth was going on inside his head?

Majors had enough staff, but just as she was about to go back to Resus, Naomi saw a middle-aged woman walking through the department, looking lost and confused.

‘Can I help you?’ she asked.

The woman suddenly looked relieved to be able to share her burden. ‘Yes! Please. I got called by my mother’s care home to say she’d been brought here. Una Barrow? I asked at Reception and they sent me in here, but I think I’ve got a little lost.’

‘It’s a big department. It happens all the time. But follow me—I know where your mum is.’

‘How is she?’

‘Stable at the moment. We think she may have a urinary tract infection.’

‘Oh, not again! But she’s all right?’

‘She’s sleeping at the moment.’ Naomi led the way into Resus, catching Tom’s shocked expression at her returning so soon, but then his face registered relief when he saw she was with someone else. ‘Tom? This is Una’s daughter.’

‘Rosie?’ He came over to shake the woman’s hand.

‘Yes. Rosemary Sanders.’

‘She’s been asking for you.’ He walked with her over to the patient and watched as she took her mother’s hand. ‘Your mother was brought into us with a high temperature, which we’re slowly getting down. We’ve given her a paracetamol IV as well as a standard drip to keep her hydrated and to give the trimethoprim.’

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s an antibiotic. It works in about eighty per cent of these sorts of cases.’

‘And what if that doesn’t work?’

‘We’ll try a cephalosporin treatment.’

‘Well, you sound like you know what you’re doing.’ She smiled at her mother. Una stirred and opened her eyes, spotting her daughter. ‘Rosie...’

‘Hello, Mum.’

Naomi stepped away to stand with Tom. ‘Are you okay?’

He looked down, pulling a pen from his pocket and scribbling something on a scrap piece of paper. ‘I’m fine. Why do you ask?’

She shrugged. ‘You seem...upset.’ She held his gaze and though he wished to tear his eyes away, he found, yet again, that he couldn’t. ‘If it’s because I’m still at yours, it’s just because I haven’t found anywhere I can afford yet, and—’

‘Would you check the stocks in the trolleys, please?’ He could feel his heart pounding heavily in his chest and so he sat down to catch his breath. He suddenly wished she would move away from him, so he could think straight. He cursed himself for being horrible once again, but he didn’t know what else he could do.

‘Certainly. But only if you’re all right.’

He laughed—a cynical, forced laugh. ‘Why wouldn’t I be all right?’

‘I don’t know.’

She looked at him, her face a mask of concern, and it was all he could do to ignore it. How did she have such an ability to affect him? It wasn’t as if he’d been stranded in the desert, where there were no women, and she’d been the first one he’d seen when he got back to civilisation. He was surrounded by women all of the time. Why was she any different and how could she make him feel like his insides were all twisted? Like his blood were running hotter than normal? And those rumours... He couldn’t stand people talking about him. He’d been the subject of gossip once before when Meredith had died and he’d come straight back into work the next day. People had gossiped then, whispering in corners, making judgements.

It irritated him. He was used to being calm and in control. Even when there was a dramatic event in Resus he could stay calm and focused.

But he couldn’t with her around. Perhaps he could help her find somewhere. He could look a little harder. He’d really not done anything to help her find a new flat. Apart from providing a roof over her head whilst she looked. She’d had work to do and her old flat to sort out, so she could get her deposit back and...

He sighed. She was more in his space than he’d realised. And he wasn’t ready for that. Not now. Not ever. He had to stop feeling this attraction to Naomi.

There couldn’t be a future in it.

Naomi was in the staffroom on her morning break, feeling content. The days had flown by. She’d been living with Tom for a few weeks now, trying and failing to find her feet and a new flat. Although there’d been a few awkward moments between them since that day when Stefan had alerted them to the hospital gossip, it seemed to be going quite well. As colleagues, they’d worked together, mostly like a finely tuned engine. As flatmates, she had mostly felt welcome, and only on occasion had she got the feeling Tom was uncomfortable with her being there.

Valentine’s Day, for instance, had been odd. With both of them single, both of them trying not to reference the day, or the fact that they were both alone. She’d considered, briefly, sending him a joke card but common sense had told her that it wouldn’t go down well, so they had both just worked as late as they could and grabbed a takeaway on the way home that night.

There were a few others in the staffroom, Stefan included, who sat chatting with his mates, laughing over a celebrity gossip magazine, whilst Naomi sat with a coffee and her new friend, Jackie.

Jackie was a healthcare assistant and they’d hit it off from day one. Naomi had immediately liked her because of her work ethic and ready smile. It seemed she knew everything about the department and she was always happy to point Naomi in the right direction if she needed it. But right now, Jackie was explaining to her about the Spring Ball.

‘Are you going to go?’

Naomi shook her head. ‘No.’

‘You should. It’s fabulous. Better than the Christmas party!’

‘I wouldn’t know. I probably won’t go to that either.’

‘Oh, you must go! It’s fabulous. You get to dress up like a princess and dance with a handsome man. You could bring Dr Williams!’

Naomi tried to act confused. ‘Why would I bring Dr Williams?’

‘Because you’re sleeping with him.’

What? ‘No, I’m not! Is that what everyone’s saying?’ She felt her cheeks flame with heat.

Jackie leant in closer, lowering her voice. ‘You’ve been leaving together. You arrive together. Everyone assumed—’

‘They assumed wrong!’ She got up and stormed over to the sink, unable to sit still for a moment longer. ‘I got burgled. My place was trashed and Tom offered me a place to stay until I could arrange something else!’

Jackie held up her hands as if in surrender. ‘Okay! I believe you! Whoa, calm down, woman. I’m only telling you what everyone is saying. We just thought... I mean, come on, he is delish!’

‘He’s a friend. A work colleague. My boss! Tom and I will be nothing more,’ she said firmly and loudly, just as Tom walked in, holding his coffee mug.

He paused, glancing at her, his face impassive. He looked around at Jackie and the others all staring at him, waiting for him to say something, but he just went to the coffee pot and poured himself a refill and left again.

Naomi didn’t realise she’d been holding her breath. She let it out, wondering how she would ever apologise to him for making them both the subject of so much gossip. Perhaps it would be wise to find a flat sooner, rather than later?

She sank down in the chair next to Jackie. ‘Know anywhere I could live?’

Her friend stared back at her and shook her head. ‘Sorry.’

She let out a sigh, wondering if everyone else’s attempts at being strong and independent in the world came crashing down as badly as hers.

Tom stood outside the hospital clutching his mug of coffee and fighting the urge to march back into the staffroom.

He knew he wouldn’t. He wasn’t a violent man, or the confrontational type. But the urge to give everyone a piece of his mind had suddenly soared out of nowhere. Being the subject of idle gossip wasn’t helping. He’d thought everyone had forgotten about all of that nonsense.

It was enough to make any man’s blood boil.

I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up about this!

She was just a work colleague. A tenant. A friend. An employee. Nothing more than that. And he didn’t need her to be anything more than that, he reminded himself.

Naomi Bloom.

It all kept coming back to her! Nothing had been right in his life ever since she’d fallen from that stupid ladder into his arms.

Tom sat down on one of the benches and sipped his coffee. It wasn’t too cold out. It was one of those rare February days when the sun shone brightly and there was no breeze, so it actually felt quite spring-like. Daffodils were coming up early and, above the light morning traffic, he could hear birdsong. It was almost a pleasant day, except...

It had been a day like this when Meredith had been hit by the car. The driver had been drinking and over the limit, but he’d also said the low sun had blinded him, blocking his view of another vehicle, causing him to swerve suddenly, mount the kerb and...hit Meredith.

She’d been jogging along the road, with her headphones in, music playing, and she’d not heard the rev of the engine, or the squeal of brakes before it was too late. Much too late.

He let out a heavy sigh. He had to be more vigilant. He couldn’t involve himself with Naomi. Since her arrival in his life, he’d been disturbed, unable to concentrate, unable to sleep knowing that she was just in the next room. Now everyone was talking about them.

He didn’t need that kind of reputation. He wanted everyone to think of him as a damned fine doctor and nothing else!

In the evening, Naomi was just starting to put together a quick meal. She’d put some pasta on to boil, had—admittedly—opened a carton of fresh tomato and basil sauce and was busy chopping up a fresh green salad. You couldn’t burn salad. And she never went wrong with pasta. This was a good way to apologise to Tom for the day’s events.

The radio was on and as she chopped she sang along to the music, not caring that she was off-key or didn’t know half the words.

She had just reached for a handful of fresh herbs, when she noticed Tom had silently emerged from his room and was watching her dance and bop to the music. She blushed. ‘Hi.’

Tom stood there, a slight smile of amusement on his face. ‘Cooking again?’

Self-consciously, she patted her hair, realising the wispy loose bun was still held in place by the pencil she’d used earlier. She pulled it out, shaking her hair loose with her fingers as her cheeks coloured. She glanced down at the chopped salad leaves, the mix of rocket, radicchio and watercress. ‘Erm, yes. But I’m certain we’ll get through this one with the minimum amount of fuss.’

‘No fire trucks?’

She laughed. ‘No. Well... I hope not. Look, about today, Tom, I’m really sorry—’

‘There’s no need.’ He held up his hands. ‘It’s fine. I should have known. I reacted badly to it, too. I was rude ignoring you and that was very wrong of me. I’m sorry.’

He looked it, too. She found herself feeling odd about it. Discomfited. When she’d had fallings-out with Vincent, they would apologise and she would hug him, gently, so as not to cause him injury. Injury only turned to more bone, but she had never stopped giving him hugs. She was that kind of person.

But to hug Tom? That wouldn’t feel right. She didn’t feel that she had the right to do that yet.

‘I’m sorry, too. All you’ve done is look out for me since you’ve known me and now I’m dragging your name through the mud.’

‘I’ve been in worse. Mud is nothing, compared to some places you could be.’

She thought maybe he was referring to her experience with Vincent. Yes, that had been tough, watching someone die and not being able to do a thing about it. She’d felt the same sadness with the elderly patients with Alzheimer’s. She understood how horrible it was to see a disease slowly picking away at a person, like a vulture, feeding on their soul, feeding on who they were. ‘I agree.’

‘I hope I haven’t made you feel that you have to find another place sooner, rather than later.’

‘I did feel that a little.’

‘I’m sorry. But when Jackie implied today that we were...’ he swallowed ‘...sleeping together, I just felt like they were all disregarding the feelings I had for my wife. I loved her so much and to lose her like that, in such a terrible accident... There should never be rumours like that about us. About me. I won’t ever date. Not again.’

‘Never?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve had my one true love. You don’t get that a second time.’

She looked at him carefully. ‘You believe there’s only ever one true love for a person? That out of all the billions of people on this planet, we only ever have one person who could be our soulmate?’

He considered her words. ‘It would be a miracle if there were another.’

‘But in believing that, you’re tying yourself to a lonely future. I loved Vincent, but I don’t think he’ll be my only love. I have to believe that there’s more.’

‘Maybe we’re both right. But I won’t have gossip about us. We have to set everyone straight.’

‘All right.’

‘And I’d like to help you look for a place. A good place. I can use my contacts.’

Clearly he still wanted to get rid of her. Disappointment filled her. ‘I appreciate that, Tom.’

He looked as if he was going to say something else, but then he seemed to think better of it. Instead, he just smiled and went over to sit on the sofa.

The pasta was about to boil over. She caught it just in time and turned down the heat.

Disaster averted.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE DOORS FLEW open as the paramedics wheeled in their next patient. Tom, Naomi and the rest of the team all took a grip and helped transfer the patient from the trolley onto the flat bed.

Tom and Naomi had spent the last week or so flat-hunting but it hadn’t gone well. Places had been either too small, or too far from work, bearing in mind that she would have to use buses or trains to get to Welbeck and the London traffic was notoriously bad.

They’d gotten into a routine. Work, eat, flat-hunt, sleep. It was a routine. A safe routine. Tom knew that just by concentrating on those few things, he could keep the topic of conversation away from the more dangerous areas. He didn’t want to reveal too much of himself and he frequently felt that he was constantly warding Naomi off from asking personal questions.

The paramedic handed Tom the job notes.

‘This is Derek, forty-two, he was involved in a car-versus-lamp-post incident approximately thirty minutes ago. The car was travelling at an estimated forty miles an hour and he swerved and hit the lamppost head-on. The airbag was deployed. Head to toe, he has a scalp laceration above his left eye, bruising and pain to the right shoulder and a query right broken wrist. Patient has admitted that he’d consumed a considerable amount of alcohol and police have done a breath test, which was positive.’