I got a smile.
“What’s Mummy doing?”
“She’s giving them your name so the doctor knows what to call you.” I saw her eye lids starting to close. “She’ll be here in a minute.”
It was less than a minute. Georgia came back over looking exhausted and sat down next to us. I handed Rose over and stood up. “I’m going to park the car up and then I’ll come back.”
“You don’t need to do that, Seph. We’ll be fine. I can call a taxi to get home and I don’t know how long it’ll be.” Rose buried into her and I wondered for how long it’d been just the two of them.
I wondered how any man could leave Georgia and his daughter and not do anything to stay with them.
Her red hair hung straight and messy, framing her and her daughter, and I itched to brush it out of the way, sit back next to her and pull her into my chest like she’d done with Rose.
“I’m going to park the car.” My tone dared her to argue.
She didn’t. She smiled instead, her eyes softening. “You’re bossy. Did anyone ever tell you that?”
I laughed, because they hadn’t really.
“I’ll bring you back some tea or water. And water for Rose.”
“Thank you.”
I took her thanks as a victory.
I messagedShay on the way back into the waiting room, letting him know I was there and if he was free to come see us. When I got back in, Georgia had a book out and was reading to Rose. For a moment, I stood and watched, trying to peel my eyes away from Georgia and failing miserably.
“Put your tongue back in your mouth.” Shay’s voice came from nowhere. “And if that’s your new colleague, I’m calling dibs.”
“Fuck. You.” I knew exactly what that was going to tell him.
There was a laugh and a rough hand slapped me on the back. “You can explain why you’ve just called dibs later, although I can see it. She’s hot.”
I was practiced in resisting the urge to punch family members, which was a good job, else Shay would’ve been being treated here instead of working.
“She also has a daughter who’s just seriously banged her head. Stop objectifying and go help.” I elbowed him in the ribs.
Shay gave his blinding smile and walked over to Georgia. He’d finished surgery for the day and was actually down to help out triaging patients for a couple of hours where they were short staffed.
I followed, wanting to hear what patter came out of his mouth. He bent down, crouching in front of Georgia and Rose, his eyes on the little girl who nestled in further to her mum.
“Is your name Rose?”
She nodded, her thumb in her mouth
“I’m Doctor Shay. My cousin is Seph – I think he drove you here.”
She nodded again.
“He’s told me you’ve banged your head. I’m going to check it and help make it feel better. Is that okay?”
Her thumb came out of her mouth and she nodded again, looking slightly less shy.
“Have we jumped the queue?” Georgia said the words quietly enough so that just Shay and I could hear.
“No. It’s a head injury. I just need to let Erica on reception know which room we’re going in. I’ll let Seph take care of you for a minute.” He shot me a grin that was all charm and knowing.
“Thank you.” Her gaze fell on me and the rest of the room morphed into nothingness.
