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I take a deep breath but it’s hard to let it back out because I feel as if there are giant hands around my chest compressing me. ‘Thank God,’ I say. ‘I don’t know if I could handle almost poisoning a child with too much sugar.’
His eyes narrow and I realise I better explain my throwaway comment, especially since half the doctors in the hospital ate some of my muffins this morning.
‘Sorry,’ I begin. ‘That was dramatic. It’s just I’m struggling a bit with Charlotte.’
‘Kayla’s stepmother,’ he confirms.
‘Gavin’s wife. Yeah,’ I say.
‘But you said Kayla and Charlotte get along.’
‘They do.’
‘Oh,’ he says, knowingly. ‘But you don’t.’
‘It’s not actually that. Charlotte is nice. Or at least as nice as anyone can be when their husband’s ex-girlfriend moves in with them.’
I wait for him to gasp or at least raise an eyebrow but he doesn’t flinch.
‘Ah,’ I say, ‘Kayla told you, didn’t she?’
‘She mentioned you moving to Dublin and living with her dad. I guessed the rest.’
‘It’s just so damn messy,’ I say. ‘I think she was okay with me staying there. Well, okay-ish. Less okay with me taking over her kitchen. But she doesn’t really seem okay with the Molly stuff.’
‘The Molly stuff?’
‘She was barely okay with Molly coming to the hospital to visit Kayla. But we talked and I thought she was better. But now, Molly’s blood test seems to have freaked her out again.’
‘Ah,’ he finally gasps.
I wait for him to explain, the way the nurses have and the phlebotomist has, that it was just a simple test nothing invasive blah, blah. But he doesn’t. He sits silently as if he’s waiting for me to say more. Despite not really wanting to say more, the words seem to tumble from my mouth uncontrollably.
‘She says she’s just protecting Molly. But why can’t she see I’m just doing the same. I’m just protecting Kayla. If Molly is a match she can help.’
‘I see,’ he says.
‘Gavin had to put his foot down,’ I say.
‘Wait,’ Doctor Patterson says. ‘Was Charlotte in agreement? She must have signed the consent forms, surely.’
‘She did,’ I say. ‘But she really didn’t want to. I don’t understand. I know she loves Kayla to bits. Why is she so afraid of these blood tests?’
‘And if it was the other way around?’ he says. ‘If Molly was sick?—’
I cut him off before he has a chance to say another word. ‘In a heartbeat,’ I say. ‘And it wouldn’t even be my decision. Kayla would want to help her sister no matter what.’
‘Yes.’ He nods. ‘But Kayla is fifteen. She’s old enough to understand. Molly is only three. She has no idea what’s going on.’
‘Molly is four,’ I correct, as if one year makes such a huge difference.
‘Charlotte has to be Molly’s decision-maker while battling her own conscience,’ he says.
‘I can’t believe you’re taking her side,’ I say.
‘There are no sides,’ he replies.
‘It was just a simple test,’ I say. ‘It took two minutes.’
