Kate had to swallow a small but very unexpected lump in her throat. ‘You surprise me, too.’
‘Do I?’ Connor zipped up his jacket. ‘How so?’
‘Well… I expected you to rake me over the coals over what happened today. You had – you still have – every right to.’
Connor shrugged. ‘I suspect you’ve been doing that to yourself.’
Kate bit her lip. ‘What are you going to do about it?’
‘What would you do?’
‘Probably take the matter to a disciplinary committee,’ Kate admitted.
Connor rammed his helmet onto his head and lowered the visor. He looked far more menacing now. Big and dark and… threatening.
‘There’s another way of looking at it,’ he suggested.
‘Which is?’
‘It could be a good platform to use to make a case for getting that mini pathology lab set up in the theatre suite as soon as possible. We’ve been trying to get it established for years and the powers-that-be keep stalling. What happened today could be seen as being more about the way the whole system is failing its patients than trying to make it the fault of an individual. I’m not saying that your registrar doesn’t need a bit of up-skilling but it would be good to see something positive come out of it, wouldn’t it?’
‘Oh… yes…’ How many times was her breath going to be stolen tonight?
First by the depth of involvement and caring this man had for his patients and then by that kiss, and now by the way he could not only let go of an entirely justifiable anger but do a complete U-turn and go in a new direction.
An excellent direction.
‘I could help,’ Kate offered. ‘I could do some research and compile a list of cases where the time taken to do biopsies could have had a bearing in the patient’s outcome.’
‘Cool.’ Connor swung his leg over the bike and kicked it into life. ‘We’ll talk.’
Kate climbed on behind him. She raised her voice. ‘If Bella’s actually remembered to turn the oven on, there might be a roast chicken waiting. You could stay for dinner and we could talk about it.’
* * *
They not only talked about it; they came up with a plan of action that they got stuck into the very next day by going to see the clinical director of St Patrick’s hospital.
‘If nothing else,’ Kate finished their presentation by saying, ‘if news of this near-miss got into the media, it would be a good thing to be able to say that definitive steps were being taken to make sure it never happened again.’
Connor was impressed by her inspired addition. The clinical director looked thoughtful.
‘I still need the facts and figures to take to the funding committee. How soon can you present a report?’
Connor sounded confident. ‘The end of the week. Early next week at the latest.’ He glanced at Kate for confirmation, and she nodded.
The clinical director looked from Connor to Kate and back again. He shook his head and actually smiled.
‘I think it might work,’ he said, ‘but I have to say you two seem like a very unlikely team.’
Unlikely they may be but it became clear rapidly that they worked very well together. Connor spent more than one evening in the pathology department helping Kate locate and document cases. Not that they needed anything more than Estelle’s case but it wouldn’t hurt to strengthen it.
‘How’s Estelle doing?’ Kate asked.
‘Great. She’s up and around on her crutches. I’ll let her go home very soon.’
‘How long before she can go surfing again?’
‘I’m not sure I’m going to be able to control that one. I suspect she’ll be in the water as soon as that fracture’s healed. I’ll keep a close watch on her for the next few years, though, to make sure she doesn’t get a recurrence.’
