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Darren rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t like it here.’
‘Your mum will be here soon. Will that make you feel a bit better?’
‘No. They’re only going to go home again, and I’ll be on my own.’
Jamie considered the matter carefully. Anna liked the way he always took the youngsters in his care at their word, listening carefully to their concerns and never dismissing them.
‘You’ve got a point. So if I tell you that I’ll do something about that, will you let Anna take a look at your skin graft?’
‘You have to do something.’ Darren was obviously upset, and he wasn’t going to let this go.
‘I’ll sort things out. You have my word on that.’
Jamie’s word was clearly enough for Darren. That kind of trust took a lot of work to build, and Anna watched as Jamie took his phone out of his pocket, handing it over to the boy. He brightened instantly.
‘You’ve got the new game!’
‘Yeah, I thought you’d like it. You can show me how to play it.’
Darren was losing no time. As Anna carefully removed the outer dressings on his leg and examined the skin graft, he was already tapping on Jamie’s phone, wrinkling his nose when something went wrong.
‘Darren, stay still for me...’ The boy nodded in response to Anna, his concentration on the phone. Her observations told her that the graft she’d transplanted the day before was in good condition.
‘That looks really good, Darren...’ Jamie had to nudge him before he responded. When he did, he gave Anna one of the bright smiles that he’d given her yesterday.
‘Thank you, Anna.’
‘You’re very welcome. Now I want you to do something for me.’
She leaned towards him, and Darren momentarily lost interest in the phone. It slid from his fingers, and Jamie caught it before it fell onto the floor.
‘I’ve got some things to do now.’ Nothing was as important as Darren at the moment, but she would find something to occupy her time. ‘Jamie’s going to ask you what we can do to make you feel a bit happier here. I want you to tell him, because I really want you to be happy.’
Darren nodded, and Anna glanced at Jamie. She’d relied on him before to talk to their young patients, and find out what was bothering them, but this time there was no trace of the customary adversarial looks that fla
shed between them. Just warmth. A warmth that made her heart beat a little faster and tingles run down her spine.
‘And Anna will sort everything out for you.’ Jamie flashed her a delicious smile.
‘Will you make me a list?’ Anna tore a piece of paper from the notepad that she carried with her, and laid it on the bed. ‘Maybe different colours...?’
‘That sounds like a plan. We’ll colour code it, shall we? Red for the things you really don’t like, eh?’ Jamie took a red pen from his pocket. ‘We’ll do those first.’
* * *
Anna wasn’t sure what to expect when she made her way back to Darren’s room. But the boy seemed cheerful and Jamie rose, patting his pocket and giving him a conspiratorial smile. Leaving him to play with his phone, he ushered Anna outside.
‘All right. Let’s have it.’ She held out her hand, and Jamie gave her the folded paper.
‘It’s... This is what he said.’
The paper was divided into three. At the top, written in red, were the things that were really bothering Darren. Anna scanned Jamie’s neat, clear handwriting.
‘Custard. Okay that’s easy enough. No more custard.’ Anna read the next entry and frowned. ‘Really? There’s a ghost in his room...?’
‘That’s what he said.’
And that was what Jamie had written down. Of course he had, he always took what his young charges said seriously.
