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Alistair nodded. ‘One of the other counsellors is sitting with her in the coffee lounge. She’s a bit shaky, but this has been a huge step forward for her. How’s Joe?’
‘Probable anterior dislocation of the shoulder, the X-rays should confirm it and whether there are any fractures. What about Stuart?’
‘He’s much calmer, now, and there are a couple of nurses with him. It looks as if this is some underlying psychiatric condition. He’s a new patient, and when he went through the screening process there was no warning of this. His wife’s on her way and we’ll decide what to do when she gets here.’
Raina nodded. ‘Are you going to let me look at that eye this time?’
Alistair grinned. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’
He sat down, and Raina carefully examined the eye. Standing between his outstretched legs, their physical closeness made it hard to keep her mind on the job. Hard not to think about how different things were between them now.
‘Okay, there’s no damage been done to your eye, just the soft tissue around it. A couple of weeks and you’ll have your flawless good looks back.’ Raina turned away smiling, as if the part about the flawless good looks was a joke. It was far from that.
‘Well, that’s good to know.’ Alistair snorted with laughter, looking up as Joe was wheeled back out of the radiography room. ‘Hey, there, Joe. How are you doing?’
‘Not so bad.’ Joe’s face was ashen with pain now.
‘Joe would like you to look at the X-rays, Alistair, and take over his treatment.’ It was natural that Joe would want that, but it still hurt a little. Being a mum was the thing that fulfilled Raina, but she still missed being a doctor.
‘Thanks, Alistair. Only the best...’ Joe murmured the words and Alistair raised his eyebrows.
‘I’m only the best when Raina’s not in the room.’ The look in his eyes told Raina that this wasn’t an empty compliment, he really meant it. And that suddenly made everything all right.
* * *
Alistair had reviewed the X-rays, and he and Raina had agreed on a course of treatment. It was Joe’s prerogative to choose who he wanted as his doctor, but Alistair’s to choose who to work with, and Raina was the best. They carried out the gentle manipulation of Joe’s arm back into the shoulder joint, working together as if the last five years had never happened.
But it had. When Joe’s arm had been immobilised in a sling, and he’d been put into the charge of one of the nurses, the distance between them seemed to grow again.
And then Raina crossed the divide. Running the cold-water tap in the basin in the corner of the consulting room, she soaked a flannel and motioned for him to sit down.
‘Ah. That feels better. Thanks.’ His eye was beginning to throb and the cold, moist flannel felt good. It felt good to have Raina there too, holding the flannel gently against his face, her fingers cool and comforting.
‘I’m going to have to go in a minute. I should take Anya home.’
‘Yeah. I should catch up with Emma.’ But Raina was here now. Just a few more moments before they left the fantasy behind and went back to reality. That what they’d once been to each other was in the past now, and couldn’t be re-created.
Raina rinsed the flannel under the cold-water tap and reapplied it to his face. It was all Alistair could do not to sigh.
‘She was so brave. Staying with Joe like that after what happened to her.’
‘Yeah. You know, the more I work here the less I feel I know. And the more I feel our patients have to teach me.’ Emma had come to terms with her past in a way that Alistair doubted he ever could.
‘I think that shows you’re doing things right, doesn’t it? Close your eye for a moment.’
It hurt to close just one eye, so Alistair closed both. He heard the sound of water running and then felt Raina’s cool fingers and the flannel on his face. If this wasn’t the time to say what he’d been feeling for the last week, then that time was never going to come.
‘Anya’s a case in point. She has no thought of being disadvantaged, she just knows that she’s a little different and compensates. I think I should follow her example.’
The flannel moved, and he felt Raina’s finger, tapping gently against the side of his face in a sign that he could open his eyes now.
‘She’s only three. I don’t want her to ever feel that she’s disadvantaged, but I have to accept that the time might come when the world tells her differently.’
‘Maybe. But if she keeps listening to her mother, she can’t go far wrong.’
Raina raised her eyebrows. ‘That wouldn’t be an admission that I’m always right, would it?’
‘Nah. I’ve got enough to do at the moment, I wouldn’t want to add you to my list, after you’ve fainted from shock.’
