‘The physiotherapist will come and have a chat with you later, discuss what happens from here.’ The surgeon had donehis bit; time to move him on to the next person on the rehabilitation conveyor belt.
By the time the doctor finished with him, Gio had been about ready to fall back to sleep but his next visitor had him more alert than he’d been since he was airlifted here what felt like aeons ago.
‘I knew you wouldn’t resist me for long,’ he grinned at the curly-haired beauty approaching his bed. Dressed not in her Skylarks uniform but in jeans and a roll-neck jumper that hugged her body in ways that had him feeling things he’d rather not be feeling in a ward filled with five other patients, Bess came over bearing a gift box.
‘You’ve still got your sense of humour, I see.’ But she was amused, he could tell.
‘That for me?’
‘Courtesy of Nadia, who has been baking again – I nabbed these brownies before the other team came on shift and she was all for me smuggling them out of there for you.’
When he opened the box, the smell confirmed that Nadia was no novice in the kitchen. ‘Want one?’
Bess hooked her bag on the back of the chair. ‘Not for me, thanks; there’s the dreaded weigh-in next shift.’
‘They weigh you? Brutal.’ Nothing wrong with her weight from where he was standing, or more accurately, lying.
‘Helicopter fuel is calculated taking into account weight on board, which includes us as well as equipment. The whole team dreads a weigh-in, especially post-Christmas. We do our best to blame it on winter jackets and layers rather than indulging – it’s usually quite amusing.’
‘Have a brownie… Go on, you know you want to.’ There was something about Bess that made him feel instantly better, like he could jump out of bed at any moment. Although on a recently damaged knee, that probably wouldn’t be the best idea he’d ever had.
She reached for one, her smile addictive. ‘Go on then. I’ll wear lighter layers at the next weigh in,’ she joked.
He liked that she savoured it and wasn’t hung up on her weight or what she ate; too many women were. He’d once dated a woman who had only ever ordered a salad when they went out but then ate half his chips when the food came.
‘The rest are for your pleasure,’ Bess told him after she’d licked her lips following the final mouthful.
But then she looked away as though her choice of words had all kinds of thoughts soaring through her mind, exactly like they were doing in his. Over the years, he’d thought about asking her out more than once but he had to admit, he wasn’t sure he was good enough for Bess. He certainly hadn’t been back in his twenties or thirties when he’d have laughed if anyone had suggested a long-term relationship. He’d thought he wasn’t built for them, he’d thought he’d never go the distance, but something about Bess had made him want to try. And yet he’d held back from making a move. Their friendship was too important to him.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asked before taking the box of brownies back and setting them on the shelf near his bed.
‘Not too bad. Thanks to The Skylarks coming to my rescue.’ He held her gaze for a moment. ‘My knee was pretty smashed up but it’s all fixed now.’
‘Might be a while until you’re on your feet. Literally.’
‘The doc says I’ll be leaving here in a couple of days, got the physio making all sorts of plans for me.’
‘That’s good.’ She flapped the front of her jumper. ‘It’s hot in here.’
‘Yeah, glad I’m not the one who has to pay the energy bill for this place.’
She didn’t seem to find that particularly funny. Perhaps he was losing his touch; usually, he could make her smile easily.
When she wriggled her jumper up and over her head, he didn’t mind the glimpse of the flesh on her tummy and her belly button. But she caught him staring.
‘What are you smiling at?’ She sat down, swept her curls from her face.
‘You have a tattoo. How did I not know that? We’re friends.’
‘I didn’t have it when we were sharing a house.’
‘But still…’
‘We’re not that close,’ she teased. She didn’t elaborate on the dolphin to the right of her belly button and, instead, changed the subject. ‘You were really lucky, Gio.’
‘So they keep telling me.’
‘You disobeyed an order. I heard it; everyone heard it.’
