‘How old is she?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Bastian.’
‘I think she’s thirty-seven.’
It wasn’t exactly a surprise to know she was only nine years older than her, but it still felt like a welt rising on her skin as though she’d been struck. ‘Ouch,’ said Alice.
‘I know. I don’t get it either.’ Bastian topped up her coffee and poured his own, black, no sugar. This all felt comfortingly like things had way back in the beginning.
Alice looked away to where her dress hung in its bag over her bedroom door. Bastian must have picked it up from her bedroom floor while she slept. ‘I need to return my frock before work,’ she said.
‘Do you have to go to work today?’
‘I’m a GP, Bastian.’ It felt amazing to tell him that. ‘But, no, I’ve no clinic today, only paperwork and the nurse practitioner’s weekend lab samples to sort and send away.’
‘I wish we could just hang out all day,’ he said, unfolding the newspaper he’d bought himself. ‘I miss you.’
Instead of replying she drank her coffee.
‘Bastian?’ she said eventually, trying not to look at his dark lashes framing his pretty blue eyes.
‘Yeah?’ he said, absently, as he perused the headlines like he was going to make himself comfortable, like this was his place back home where she’d stay over when she wasn’t on a run of nights.
‘That night, with the thing?’ she went on.
‘Hmm?’
‘You remember the thing that happened?’
He looked squarely at her across the table. ‘I remember.’
‘You didn’t want me to tell anyone about what happened?’
‘Do we have to go over this?’ He put down the last of his sandwich and stood, leaning against the kitchen drawers.
‘I made a terrible mistake that night…’ she began.
‘Alice, forget about it. I fixed it. Nobody knew. End of.’
‘I could have easily filled in a Datix report about it.’
‘No.’ He folded his arms.
‘I could have got in big trouble if anyone found out we covered it up.’
‘I was fine,’ he said, dismissively.
‘No, I saidIcould have got in trouble.’
He looked at her like he wasn’t understanding. Alice’s brain ticked over, trying to replay how it had all unfolded.
‘Hold on, did you stop me reporting myself because of how it might reflect onyou?’
He shrugged. ‘Everyone knows we’re a couple. It’s best to appear squeaky clean, you know that. Besides, your dad would never have forgiven me if I’d let you get yourself into trouble. Finish your coffee. Then you can show me your surgery, yeah?’
Alice tipped her head, thinking she couldn’t have heard that right. ‘Dadwould never forgiveyou?Inever forgavemyself! I’ve been worrying all this time that I’m a danger to my patients. I’ve been covering up my own concerns,myfears! And all you were worried about was staying on Dad’s good side and looking squeaky clean?’
