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‘There. He’ll be getting that right about now. I’m going to go back tell him to look on his phone.’ Just in case the nursing staff had found Tommy’s phone and managed to persuade him to switch it off.
Gemma’s hand found hers and squeezed it.
‘Hang on in there, Gemma. Your husband will be here soon.’ For the life of her Jess couldn’t remember Gemma’s husband’s name, but Gemma was bound to know who she meant.
Another squeeze.
‘Is there anything else I can get you?’
Gemma’s finger pointed towards Jess and then her thumb jerked towards the door.
‘You want me out of here and go to see Tommy?’
Gemma patted her hand then squeezed it once.
‘Okay. I’ll come back and see you again. In the meantime, just hang in there. I’ve spoken to the doctor who’s looking after you and you’re going to be okay.’
Gemma’s eyes filled with tears and Jess dabbed at them with a tissue. Her thumb jerked again, towards the door.
‘Okay, I’m going.’ Jess’s eyes misted with tears. She knew that Gemma would rather be with strangers if it meant that Tommy had a friend with him. She would do the same for her own child. Suddenly she wanted more than almost anything to go and find Greg, to tell him.
A quick thumb’s-up from Gemma and Jess turned and made for the door, scanning the space outside for Greg. A rattle from the bed behind her made her turn. Gemma’s arm was flailing back and forth in a repeating arc, banging against the bed rail.
‘Greg. In here,’ she called to him, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn. She didn’t need to question whether he’d come or not, and she ducked back inside the cubicle.
Gemma’s eyelids were fluttering and she was groaning. Jess hurried over to her, checking quickly that her breathing was unobstructed.
She felt, rather than saw, Greg enter the cubicle. ‘She’s having a seizure.’
‘Okay.’ Greg was at Gemma’s side, steadying her gently so that a sudden movement wouldn’t pitch her off the bed. ‘How long?’
‘Thirty seconds. A minute tops.’
The motion of Gemma’s hand began to slow. ‘Good. She’s coming out of it now.’ He bent over her. ‘Okay, Gemma. You’re all right. Try to relax.’
Gemma was slowly coming back. Greg was there, and however much it pained her to leave, Jess had somewhere else to be. ‘Do you need me any more?’
‘No, I think we’re good.’ Greg was smiling at Gemma, his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. ‘Could you ask Steve to come in here, though? And if you see the husband when he arrives, find out if there’s any history of seizures… ’
He looked up from Gemma for a moment and their eyes connected. Just for a moment, but that was all it needed. After weeks of feeling that Greg was slipping away from her, that even when he was right there with her he was somewhere else, suddenly he was here. They were together.
‘Anything else?’
‘Go and check on Tommy.’ He was grinning.
‘Yeah.’
‘Get me a cup of tea?’
‘Sorry didn’t quite catch that one.’ She heard his exclamation of mock dismay as she turned on her heel and didn’t need to look back to know that he was smiling.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IT WAS COLD up here. Jess wrapped her hands around her mug of tea.
‘This is… ’ Greg shrugged. ‘I don’t really know how to describe it.’
‘No, me neither.’
