The pub regulars took Barry and his ladder home, and Noah took Georgie and Raf over to the pub to check out their bites.
An hour and a quarter later, after a lot of arguing over whether the enormous swelling and blueness of Raf’s finger and the fact that Georgie couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a tetanus jabmattered, Noah won the argument. They set off for the hospital, Noah very loudly pleased with himself about the being-able-to-drive-and-not-having-to-call-a-cab upside of his no alcohol resolution, and soon they were sitting in A&E.
‘I think we’re looking at quite a long wait,’ said Raf. ‘Like, hours. This place is full of people with much bigger problems than ours.’
‘You do need to see a doctor, though,’ Noah said.
‘Could have been worse,’ Georgie pointed out. ‘You could have fallen out of the tree and broken your neck.’
‘Could have been better,’ said Raf. ‘I could have left the bloody cat to its own devices.’
‘You were never going to do that.’ Georgie smiled at him and he rolled his eyes in response.
‘He wasn’t,’ agreed Noah. ‘He’s always had to do the hero thing. And he never hurts himself. But you should be careful, mate. You aren’t getting any younger. You’re nearly forty.’
‘Shut up,’ muttered Raf.
Forty-five minutes later, after Raf and Georgie had persuaded Noah to go home and get some sleep, the two of them were absolutely astonished. Apparently the doctors thought thattheywere the ones with the big problems. Georgie was given two stitches, a tetanus jab and a course of antibiotics. And Raf was told by a plastic surgeon that he’d need to have a one-hour operation under a general to clean out his wound, because apparently the cat’s bite had punctured his knuckles and injected bacteria straight into his bloodstream. He was going to have to stay in hospital for a few days to have the wound washed regularly with iodine, plus he needed IV antibiotics. They’d have a bed on the ward ready for him soon, and in the meantime he should wait in A&E.
‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m self-discharging.’ Raf stood up, shaking his head.
‘Fine. And I’ll see you back here in the next few days and I’ll be amputating your finger. At best.’ The consultant had a nice way with words.
‘I love your shoes,’ Georgie told the consultant before the woman left them, Raf finally having agreed, with extreme reluctance, to be admitted.
‘Thank you.’ The consultant beamed at her, looking an entirely different woman from the one who’d been so doom-mongering about the finger. ‘They’re new and you’re the first person who’s noticed them.’ She was still smiling as she pushed through the swing doors on the other side of the room.
‘Love her shoes?’ Raf was staring at Georgie. ‘The woman’s a complete tyrant and totally OTT and I’m having a general anaesthetic for probably no good reason and you love her shoes?’
‘It’s important to thank people and be nice to them. Make them feel good. Also, you heard her – you’re having a general for a very good reason.’
‘She doesn’t need to be made to feel good. She’s at work. She’s a professional. She’s an NHS consultant. She knows she’s doing an amazing job.’
‘It’s always worth being nice to people. I’ve seen you being nice. You’re very nice to lots of people.’
‘That’s different. They don’t force me to have stupid operations. But fine.ObviouslyI am in fact very grateful to the mean consultant. Anyway, you should go.’
Georgie shook her head. ‘I’m staying. You can’t just sit here by yourself.’
‘No, you should go.’
‘No.’ She smiled at him sunnily, and he laughed.
‘Okay. Thank you. I’m grateful for the company.’ He looked around. ‘I’m hungry. Shall we see if there’s any food?’
‘You can’t eat. You’re about to have a general anaesthetic, you muppet.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘Are you supposed to be going back to New York soon? Is this going to mess up your flights?’ she asked, delighted to have a natural opportunity to delve into his plans and possibly work out how to get her envelope back.
‘I have a flexible ticket. And I’m kind of flexible work-wise. So it isn’t a problem.’ He smiled at her and she was momentarily distracted from the annoyance of still not knowing about his plans by how his hospital gown actually suited him. Like, how was that possible? Maybe it was the whiteness against his olive skin and dark hair.
‘What about you?’ His eyes crinkled when he smiled. Hedidlook trustworthy. Maybe shecouldjust ask him to send her secret back. No. Insanity. That must be the painkillers talking.
‘We can stay on an extra couple of days. I’m not due back at work until Thursday and if my mother and stepfather don’t want us with them, Poppy’s parents will have us.’
‘Is…’ He looked completely serious for once. That suited him too. Georgie worried for a moment that she’d just sighed out loud at the gorgeousness of him. ‘Is everything okay with your parents?’
