Reunited with His Long-Lost Nurse

Was she imagining things to think that he had been more open and more honest with her during those few hours than he’d been during their entire relationship?

It had felt as though they were finally getting closer...right up until the accident had wrenched them away. After that, there had been no time to stop, with Liam even accompanying the man to the hospital to operate on him. Volunteering his time, just as Nate Edwards had always hoped his staff would do.

Talia clenched her jaw tightly, unsure how she felt about the notion. The more time she spent in his company, the harder it was becoming to keep that lid on all the emotions she’d stuffed down for the past three years.

Liam was every inch as raw and magnetic as he’d been back then. Only now there was that added factor. Something that hadn’t been there last time. It made her think that maybe, just maybe, he finally wanted to lower those barriers that had always come between them.

Or perhaps she was just being as foolish as ever and seeing what she wanted to see.

She needed some space to think. A chance to get her head straight.

So for the next few minutes Talia welcomed the distraction of Nyla entertaining her with a pile of clothes, recognisable as coming from the local markets. A veritable wardrobe of garments so tiny that the entire collection could have been kept in little more than a shoebox. Everything that a sixteen-year-old girl might need to look on trend but which a grandmother and parent would consider indecent.

‘I mean, look at this skirt.’ Nyla held up a flimsy bit of fabric that wasn’t much bigger than the head caps they wore in Theatre. ‘And what about the bikini?’

‘It looks like a handkerchief tied with dental floss.’ Talia laughed, wondering how Nyla’s granddaughter had even hoped to get away with it.

‘It will send all the boys mad.’ Nyla threw her hands up.

‘It’s sort of pretty, though.’

‘On a woman like you, perhaps,’ scoffed Nyla. ‘But not on a kid.’

‘I assume you’re taking them back to the market stall?’ Talia smiled as Nyla put the box away and sat down in front of the computer.

‘I am. Maybe between all the items, we can buy her something that she likes but won’t be giving me, or her parents, apoplexy.’

‘Good luck with that.’ She didn’t like their chances. ‘So, any changes since yesterday?’ Talia asked.

‘A couple of discharges, several more admitted.’ Nyla replied.

‘Oh, and Augustin had a pericardiocentesis.’ One of the other nurses, Mia, appeared behind her as Talia snapped up from her own notes.

‘Augustin? The eleven-year-old who was admitted for pneumonia last week?’

‘Yep.’ The nurse nodded. ‘He deteriorated rapidly last night. Thanks be that Doc Bashy was here to save him.’

‘That’s enough, Mia,’ Nyla cut in quickly.

Perhaps a little too quickly. Talia’s stomach began to tense, the way it always did when it was ready to flip-flop.

‘Doc Bashy?’ she repeated carefully.

Bashy was local slang for hot, or good looking, and while there was no reason for her to suspect Mia meant Liam, her gut was making its feelings loud and clear.

‘You haven’t met him yet?’ Mia let out a long, low whistle. ‘Girl, you haven’t lived! He’s the new surgeon taken over from Isak at The Island Clinic. Apparently, they call him the Heart Whisperer, but we decided he was Doc Bashy...because, he is F-I-N-E fine.’

‘Okay, that really is enough, Mia,’ Nyla repeated. ‘Can you go and check on Mrs Frances in bed five, please.’

‘Now?’ Mia looked surprised, but Nyla was firm.

‘Yes, please.’

Talia held herself straight, unmoving, as the younger nurse hurried away, but her mind was already racing. Liam was still here at St Vic’s Hospital? Surely he ought to have returned to The Island Clinic by now? Slowly she turned to Nyla.

‘I knew he performed a one-off surgery here the other night,’ she hazarded. ‘Now he’s volunteering for full shifts?’

‘First one last night,’ confirmed Nyla. ‘Think he prefers being here to being up there. And now practically every single nurse in this hospital is clamouring to be on his next shift. But none of them know he’s your Dr Miller.’