And right now, it was a sobering, terrifying thought that if something happened to him then he’d let Eva down in the worst way possible. Because then she’d have nobody. Nobody at all. And his heart almost broke for the little girl.
Maya and Noah headed out of the airbase at the same time after their shift. The crew was in good spirits leaving for the day but not only that, they’d got their last patient the help they needed; it was a good outcome.
Noah slung his bag into the boot of his car.
‘Here’s trouble,’ Maya grinned as a motorcyclist pulled in at the airbase. It was only when they took their helmet off that she knew which one of the Whistlestop River Freewheelers it was. ‘Dorothy, hey there!’ She waved over.
Dorothy ran a hand through grey, cropped hair a few times in quick succession to get it back to a style she’d be happy with and came over with more blood from the blood bank. ‘You both finished for the day?’
‘We are, blue team’s turn now,’ Maya smiled.
‘Well done the both of you; go take a well-earned rest.’ She smiled in Noah’s direction; they’d met before.
Maya liked the way Noah smiled back at Dorothy, familiar with her already as though he’d worked here much longer than he actually had. Over time, their clash at her sister’s wedding had been forgotten as they dug into their professional personas and did their jobs. But it wasn’t only that: Maya was beginning to enjoy Noah’s company. He seemed a genuinely nice guy and that wasn’t always guaranteed; she should know, having picked Conrad only to find out he was nothing like she thought he was.
Dorothy headed inside the Whistlestop River airbase and Maya doubted Noah had missed the none-too-subtle wink in Maya’s direction before she went.
‘She seems a character,’ said Noah. Perhaps he didn’t want to think too much about what Dorothy’s wink had meant either.
‘Definitely. And she’s lovely too. They’re all remarkable people, don’t you think? I mean, we get paid, but they do this out of the goodness of their hearts, covering miles and miles of the country day in, day out.’ And now she was babbling to mask any discomfort that Dorothy might well have seen through her, the way she was looking at her colleague.
‘Total heroes,’ he agreed.
Maya liked where his heart was at. He must be a good dad. ‘How’s your little girl?’
‘Eva’s good,’ he smiled. ‘She slept through last night. That hasn’t happened before now.’
‘How old is she?’
‘Almost twelve months.’
‘She’s very cute.’
‘When she wants to be.’
When Maya’s phone buzzed, she didn’t check it. It would likely be Conrad asking where she was. ‘I’ll see you in a couple of days then,’ she said to Noah. They were swapping to the late shift for a few days on the next rota.
‘You’re not coming to happy hour at the pub tomorrow night?’
‘Oh… I…’
‘Bess won’t be happy if you’re a no-show.’
Maya grinned. ‘You do know that it’ll be different from central London, don’t you? You could probably get away with a lot more there than you ever will here. We’re a decent sized town but just small enough that everyone knows everyone.’
‘Noted.’ His gaze held hers. ‘So, you’ll come?’
‘I’ll see.’ And as she climbed into her car, she found herself wishing she could give him a definiteyes.
11
Maya parked up outside Conrad’s place, the house she’d once called home. She knocked twice but got no answer and eventually she let herself in. He was sitting in the lounge room.
‘Didn’t you hear me knocking?’ she asked.
‘I did… but I told you, you don’t need to knock; you’re here doing me a favour so let yourself in, treat it like your home.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘It was once upon a time.’
Whatever she said in reply would be wrong, so she simply closed the door behind her and went to put the kettle on. Anything to keep busy while she was here. Last night, she’d stopped by after shift and he’d tried to tell her the same thing about letting herself into the house. She’d taken the key to keep the peace but unless she thought there was something seriously wrong, she wouldn’t be letting herself in in the future either. It would be too much like being married all over again and she wasn’t going back there with him, not ever. Unfortunately, the term and official declaration ofdivorcedidn’t seem to hold the same meaning for Conrad as other people. Most would take it as a line drawn underneath a relationship but not him. He saw it as a line he could very much climb over whenever he wanted to.
