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‘Well, you can.’
She didn’t say anything, didn’t open her eyes and reach over, scared she would cry now he was being nice to her. Really nice to her. She heard him peel off his gloves, pull a couple of tissues from the box, which he pressed into her hand, before re-sanitizing and opening up another pair of gloves.
‘Sorry!’ Annie sniffed, still refusing to cry but horribly, horribly close to it. ‘It actually doesn’t hurt that much.’
‘Can you feel that?’
‘What?’
‘The needle I am sticking into your wound.’ He caught her eyes as she startled a touch at his words, smiled at her for the very first time and waited till she managed a small watery smile back.
‘It hasn’t exactly been the best morning for you,’ Iosef said.
‘For you either,’ Annie sniffed, ‘but you’re not close to tears.’
‘Yes, but I’m an insensitive bastard—remember?’ He made her giggle—actually made her giggle—as he clipped the needle onto the suture holder. Maybe he was just being a doctor now, putting her at ease as he did all his patients. Which was as nice as it was confusing—making her like him when really she shouldn’t.
‘OK.’ He turned his attention back to her leg. ‘I’ll get started.’
It shouldn’t take long, all that was needed was a good clean-up and a couple of stitches, but he clearly planned to take his time, pulling a stool over with his foot and making himself comfortable before he started. And even though the silence was sort of comfortable, Annie still felt as if she ought to fill it with the sort of nervous chatter that always came when it wasn’t needed.
‘What was wrong with Mickey?’
‘Who?’
‘Mickey Baker, the patient you admitted to Obs on Monday.’
‘The head injury?’
‘That’s the one—there was something else going on.’
‘I can’t remember.’
‘Yes, you can.’ She saw the edge of his mouth briefly twist in a smile.
‘Check his notes.’ Iosef shrugged. ‘I really can’t—’
‘I tried to check his notes, only they’re still signed out to you.’
‘Oh.’
‘So—where did you work?’ Annie moved on, staring up at the rather dirty ceiling as she spoke, horrified at the view the patients had of the emergency Room. ‘Before you came here.’
‘Russia.’
‘Oh.’
‘Moscow.’
‘For how long?’
‘Five years.’
‘Nice?’
There was an incredibly long pause, long enough for Annie to stop looking at the ceiling and drag her eyes to him.
‘Not really.’
