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‘Told you he’s a fan.’ Colleen left her to get on with cajoling Gino out of bed and onto his crutches.
‘Come on, Gino. We’re going for a walk.’
‘But it’s nearly time for the tea trolley to come round, and I can’t miss out on that,’ he griped.
‘You won’t. I’ll make you a cup myself if necessary. Have you had your blood pressure taken this morning?’
‘It was high.’
Elene had to swallow the laughter his delaying tactics brought on. She would have him up and walking before she left for the day. ‘I’ll get the monitor while you sit up and swing your legs over the side.’
The two short walks over the morning were interspersed with exercises to strengthen the damaged muscles and bed rest, which seemed to be Gino’s favourite part of the morning.
‘You know how to get them moving.’ Mattia surprised her as she helped Gino back onto the bed for the last time.
‘Aren’t you meant to be at the hospital?’ she asked.
‘Next surgery’s at two. I thought I’d come see how you were doing. And check on Gino. How’s your morning gone?’
‘I’ve been in my element.’ A glance at the wall clock showed she should’ve signed off half an hour ago. ‘No wonder my stomach’s jumping up and down.’
‘You going straight home?’
‘I should in case Aimee’s fretting.’ She’d grab a pastry at a café on the way.
‘She’s happy playing in the sandpit.’ When she raised an eyebrow at him he shrugged. ‘I rang Anna on my way here. Let’s grab that bite to eat together.’
‘Sure,’ she said to his retreating back. He just expected her to agree. So what? Her spirits were soaring. A few minutes with Mattia were always minutes to enjoy. Usually, anyway. When she came out of the changing room he was waiting at the main entrance.
Outside, they walked towards the bus station where there were many cafés. Mattia led her down an alley into a tiny, dimly lit café where the talk was all in Italian and old men were playing dama.
Elene laughed. ‘I grew up playing Italian checkers.’
‘You fit right in here,’ Mattia said. ‘What would you like to eat?’
Settling for a sandwich, Elene sat at the only vacant table, which was crammed into a corner, and watched Mattia chat casually to a couple of elderly men. His height dwarfed anyone standing, and brought the walls in even closer, making the café feel small and cosy. She’d seen his charm in action in Wellington but outright friendliness hadn’t been so apparent, though he was usually with patients when she’d been near him.
Mattia tugged his phone from his pocket, holding it to his ear. Waving to her to join him, Mattia told the girl to put their lunch in bags and cancel the coffee. ‘Gino’s fallen and possibly dislocated his hip.’
‘Not good.’ Grabbing their lunch bags, Elene hurried after him. ‘What’s the plan?’ Mattia had surgery in thirty minutes at the hospital.
‘We’ll take him into Theatre immediately. You can work with me. An anaesthetist is on her way, so it shouldn’t take long.’ He punched a number on his phone and told someone that he’d be a little late for the operation scheduled for two.
Elene ran to keep up with his long strides. ‘I’ll call Anna and explain I’ll be late. Hopefully Aimee won’t get upset.’
‘You think? When Anna spoils her rotten? Aimee never cries around her.’
‘True.’ Relief relaxed Elene.
‘Gino.’ Mattia didn’t slow down as he entered the ward. ‘What happened? Colleen, I’m back and Elene’s with me.’ He was at the bed, pulling back the cover. ‘Now, my man, I’m going to take a look at your hip. If you have dislocated it then we have to give you an epidural, numb you from the chest down, and then I can put it back in place.’
‘Will I be all right, Doctor?’ Gino was pale, and looking stunned. ‘I was only doing what Nurse Elene said. I wanted to show her I could do it on my own. Then I twisted around when someone called my name.’
Elene winced. ‘It’s all right, Gino.’ She took the man’s shaky hand and held tight. ‘Dr Ricco will have you up and about again in no time at all.’ She’d bet Gino would be afraid to get back on those crutches for a while. ‘I’ll be here to help you every day until you’ve got your confidence back.’
Mattia gently felt the muscles around Gino’s hip, but the abnormal angle of the hip joint said it all. ‘Definitely dislocated. Right, we’ll go scrub up. Colleen will bring Gino through to the prep room and we’ll do this in Theatre. It’s a safer environment. Not that we have any alternative, spare rooms being in short supply.’
Standing at a basin next to Mattia, scrubbing her hands, she couldn’t help but smile. This was like the days in Wellington when she’d worked with him, but today she was completely at ease with him, wasn’t looking for things to argue about. ‘No wonder you always look exhausted at the end of the day if this is what happens to your schedule.’
‘The life of a doctor, eh?’ He elbowed the tap off.
‘Not all doctors take on another unit on top of their regular work.’
‘Whatever.’
He’d pulled on vinyl gloves and was aiming for the door, but stopped to face her. There was an intensity in the eyes now locked on hers. But after a moment all he said was, ‘Let’s do this,’ and the door he’d elbowed open swung shut behind him.
Elene followed, and began taking obs. ‘BP one-thirty-five over eighty-five.’
A woman rushed in and introduced herself as the anaesthetist before quickly and efficiently putting Gino into La-la Land, from where he uttered tiny snores and looked as though nothing was wrong.
Elene lifted Gino’s hospital gown away from his lower body and Mattia stepped up to lift the injured leg. He was fast and strong, and it was done, the hip back in place. Mattia felt around all the muscles in the hip area. ‘He’s going to hurt for a while.’
‘This’ll set back his recovery,’ Elene agreed. ‘BP’s one-thirty-five over ninety-eight.’
Mattia nodded. ‘Don’t be too quick to get him back on crutches. Start with the walking frame tomorrow, and then only for short stints over the next couple of days.’ He looked down at his patient. ‘He didn’t want to leave the unit, but I bet he’d give anything to be heading home now.’
‘It must’ve been some fall to dislocate that hip.’
‘He twisted very abruptly,’ Colleen told them as they wheeled the bed out of Theatre. ‘I heard him cry out, then there was an almighty crash and I found him lying on the floor.’
‘Didn’t he know not to twist his body?’ Mattia asked, looking ready to tell someone off.
‘Yes, he did,’ Colleen growled. ‘But it’s one of those movements people make without thought.’
Elene smiled. Another nurse not prepared to let Mattia boss her around. ‘I’ll sit with him until he comes round.’ She could eat her sandwich there. ‘I’ll give Anna another call. I hope she doesn’t change her mind about looking after Aimee. This is day one and I haven’t been near home yet.’
‘I’ll call her,’ Mattia said. Then, ‘Home, eh?’
A blush raced up her cheeks. ‘As in the place I’m staying for a while. Home is a shorter way of saying the same thing.’
‘Here I was, thinking you were settling in.’ He didn’t sound annoyed that she might’ve been. Surely he didn’t want that? No, he was talking without thinking it through. Except Mattia never did that, always knew what he was saying.
Elene relented. ‘It’s a lovely place and I am happy to be there.’
‘Get as comfortable as you like.’
‘Careful. I mightn’t want to leave again.’
‘Exactly.’
She’d walked right into that one. ‘Are you suggesting we could continue cohabiting and sharing Aimee indefinitely?’
‘It’s one way of moving forward
.’
But what if they bumped into each other in the kitchen and it led to another kiss? Or took them down the hall to a bedroom? ‘I don’t know about that.’
‘Give it some thought.’ Then he was gone, heading out of the door and off to the hospital and the surgery he’d postponed.
She’d been daydreaming about kisses while Mattia had been getting down to the nitty-gritty of why they were even in the same space, the same town, country.
I’m not fit to be a mother if I’m that easily distracted.
Checking Gino’s pulse did nothing to help with the turmoil now erupting in her head. Her pulse was probably way higher than his. How serious was Mattia about her staying on in his house for longer than her original schedule? Had he thought it through? She’d have to find a proper job that would pay her bills—board and groceries at least. They’d be sharing so much, but everything would be on Mattia’s terms because it was his house, his territory. No, she couldn’t stay on indefinitely under the current terms.
‘Nurse?’
‘Hey, Gino, you’re awake. That’s good. You’re not going to feel anything in your lower body for a few hours. There’ll be no getting out of bed for the rest of today.’
