That was true—she’d never seen steaks as thick or melt in your mouth as the ones at the Coach House. ‘Maybe the boss needs to give a refresher course on safety.’
‘It’s sorted,’ Nick said. ‘The kid only started his apprenticeship last week. I’m no expert, but those injuries didn’t look too promising for him to have much use of his hand.’
‘It’s bad,’ Jenny agreed. ‘But with a good enough surgeon, and a lot of rehab, it’s surprising how well people can recover.’
‘You think he’ll be okay?’
‘I think the fact he got this far means he’s got every chance to make it. They’ll put him straight into surgery as soon as he lands. You were able to stem that blood loss and that was my major concern. There was nothing we could do for him here except stabilise and get him to an operating theatre.’
‘Do you get much excitement like that here?’ he asked, watching her over his coffee cup.
‘Thankfully not much. But we get the occasional farm or car accident—sometimes a little too frequently,’ she said recalling the last occasion where a local farmer had beentrapped under his tractor. She shrugged. ‘Mostly, though, we like things nice and calm.’
‘Here’s to that,’ he said, lifting his cup in mock salute.
‘Are you doing okay?’ she asked after a few moments of silence.
‘Me?’ He seemed surprised by the question.
‘Yeah, you.’ She smiled. ‘You’ve been through a pretty harrowing experience. I don’t imagine today is something you deal with every shift.’
‘Nah, I’m fine.’
‘It’s just that you didn’t look fine at one point, and if you want someone to talk to, or you’d rather talk to someone else, I can arrange some counselling or support.’
‘I’m fine,’ he said with a lot more emphasis, draining the remaining coffee before placing the empty cup on the table and standing up.
‘It’s not some kind of weakness, you know,’ she said gently.
‘Thanks. I’ll remember that.’
His unexpected sarcasm caught Jenny by surprise and she took a moment to pull back her initial hurt. This wasn’t personal, she reminded herself, slipping back into professional mode. ‘Trauma can trigger things. All I’m saying is, if at some point over the next few days you find yourself needing to talk about it, I’m more than happy to help you do that.’
‘Like I said, I’m fine. I have to get back to work.’
‘I’m sure your boss wouldn’t object to you taking the rest of the day off.’
‘We’re already short-staffed. Thanks again.’
He turned and strode from the room before she could say goodbye, leaving her staring at the doorway. She hadn’t imagined the moment he’d looked almost blank or the beads of sweat on his forehead. She made a note to follow it up later, but for now, she had to get back to work—today’s excitement meant there’d be a stack of paperwork a mile high she needed to complete.
