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‘Charlie.’ Angela bustled into the room. ‘Your first patient’s here.’
‘Right,’ he said, still staring at Carrie. He willed her to look at him but she tapped away on her keyboard instead. ‘See you later, Carrie,’ he said.
‘Uh-uh,’ Carrie replied, staring resolutely at the screen.
Carrie dragged herself into work the next morning after a sleepless night. Every time she’d shut her eyes the kiss had replayed in her head and heat had surged through her body, making sleep impossible. And then she’d got angry with herself. She’d bet Charlie wasn’t lying awake, tortured by images of their kiss. He was, no doubt, making out with some babe he’d picked up, their intimate moment completely forgotten in his rush to get laid.
But it became apparent quite quickly that Charlie was as grumpy, if not grumpier, than her. Carrie raised an eyebrow at Joe as Charlie snapped at him over something trivial and stormed back to his office.
‘I take it no one fancied him last night?’ The idea seemed ludicrous to her but he certainly wasn’t acting like a man who’d spent a night divesting himself of a year’s worth of sexual frustration.
‘Are you kidding? They were swarming. He just wasn’t interested. If I were him, I would have been champing at the bit to clean out…’ Joe stopped in mid-sentence, realising it was hardly an appropriate thing to say in front of a lady. ‘Er…sorry, well, you get my gist.’
Carrie laughed. ‘Yes, Joe. I get your gist.’
‘I think celibacy has fried some of his brain cells.’
Carrie felt stupidly smug and surprisingly happy that Charlie hadn’t cheapened their kiss by going out and finding himself a convenient warm body the very same day. Not that the kiss had meant anything, of course. It had just been a crazy spur-of-the-moment celebratory thing. Pure reaction to good news. A release of pent-up emotions. She knew that. But still…maybe it had meant more to him?
By lunchtime the next day, however, Carrie was wishing Charlie had got laid. They all were. His mood seemed to get worse as each minute passed. Angela and Joe were ready to have him committed. Joe had decided not to even come to the clinic and play basketball at lunchtime and Angela, who usually ate in the staffroom, decided that anywhere but the centre would be a good place to eat her lunch.
Carrie was working through lunch as usual, munching on a sandwich at the front desk while she performed a data search on Angela’s computer. Two girls came rushing in the front door.
‘Help.’
Carrie looked up over the bench. One of the girls was heavily pregnant and clutching at her stomach. She didn’t look any older than sixteen and was panting furiously.
‘Charlie,’ Carrie called, raising her voice as she rushed to the girl’s aid. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘She’s having the baby.’
Charlie strode out of his office. ‘Treatment room,’ he urged.
‘What’s your name?’ Carrie asked as she ushered the girls into the room.
‘Donna,’ the pregnant one panted, sobbing and panting at the same time.
‘How pregnant are you?’ Carrie asked, helping her up onto the high bed.
The girl cried out as another contraction swept through her and clutched at Carrie’s shoulder.
‘We don’t know,’ her friend said. ‘She’s never seen a doctor.’
Charlie saw the look of surprise on Carrie’s face. It was common enough around these parts. The labouring girl looked like a street kid if her general unkempt appearance was anything to go by. Street kids rarely sought any antenatal care.
‘How long have the pains been coming for?’ Carrie kept going, her mind sorting methodically through the required information.
‘They started about half an hour ago and they’ve just been getting worse.’
‘Have her membranes ruptured?’ Carrie asked.
Both girls looked at her blankly.
‘Have your waters broken?’ Charlie intervened.
Unless you worked in this area, it was hard to remember that medical terms weren’t well understood in this neck of the woods. He’d been pleasantly surprised, though, at how Carrie had taken control. He could see her brain working behind her eyes. The brain of a doctor.
‘No,’ Donna replied.
‘I’ll call an ambulance,’ Charlie said.
He was back in two minutes and Carrie felt the tension in her shoulders ease a little. She’d delivered babies before, but never out of the comfort zone of a hospital.
‘Here,’ Charlie said, pulling a pre-packaged birthing kit out of a cupboard. ‘I’ll open this. Why don’t you do an examination?’
