Reunited with His Long-Lost Nurse

What if she’d missed something? What if it recurred? Augustin was just a kid; only eleven years old. But cardiac tamponade meant extreme pressure on his heart, preventing it from functioning properly, and next time, if his heart couldn’t pump enough blood to the rest of his body, it could result in Augustin going into organ failure, and dying.

‘You couldn’t have seen it. And let’s wait for the results before we assume the worst, shall we?’ Liam’s voice cut into her thoughts, as though he was reading her mind.

‘How long will that take?’ She didn’t meant to snap at him.

But even though he hadn’t levelled any criticism at her, she felt responsible that she had missed something that Liam had so easily picked up on.

In typical Liam manner, however, he didn’t seem perturbed and was as cool and controlled as ever.

‘Long enough for them to see whether the fluid we yielded grows mycobacteria or reveals malignant cells.’

It wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. Then again, she wasn’t sure what she did want to hear. She felt itchy, somehow, and unsettled. Like her own skin was too small for her.

‘You can’t heal everyone with a wave of a magic wand, Talia.’

‘I never thought that I could,’ she scoffed, but she heard the tremor in her voice, and she knew that Liam heard it, too.

His gaze narrowed, too sharp, too astute.

‘What is it?’

‘Nothing,’ she lied unconvincingly. Frustration bubbled through her. ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s because Augustin is one of my kid brother’s friends. They’re in the same class. And his mother and mine used to be such good friends.’

‘Used to be?’ His forehead knitted together. ‘Has Augustin lost his mother recently?’

If she could have snatched the words back and thrown them over the harbour wall and into the ocean beyond, she would have. But she’d had to open her big mouth, hadn’t she? And now Liam had her pinned down with that all-seeing gaze of his.

She hated it.

Hated.

‘Forget it, it isn’t like that.’ It took everything she had to force her legs into something resembling a forward motion. Faster, and faster, as she began to hurry down the corridor and away from the man who seemed to crawl under her skin no matter how tightly she’d thought she’d stitched it back up.

‘Talia...?’

‘I have work to do, and your shift must be over,’ she ground out. ‘I’m glad you were there for Augustin. I have to go.’

‘Talia, wait,’ he called her back and, to her eternal shame, she obeyed.

As if compelled to do exactly as he commanded.

At least she could take some comfort from the fact that he strode up the corridor towards her, meeting her halfway. But that no doubt held more significance to her than to him.

‘What is it?’ She forced a professional smile. At least, she hoped it was professional.

Yet when he took her arm and steered her into an empty side room, she was powerless to stop the blood from racing through her. The door closed and she looked up at him expectantly.

She certainly wasn’t prepared for the unreadable expression in his eyes.

‘I was sorry to hear about your mama,’ he told her quietly. Sincerely.

Talia froze, all the same.

‘How did you find out about that?’ she managed to ask.

‘It’s a hospital, you know how people talk,’ he replied with a half-smile. Not exactly an apology, but closer than not.

‘What did you hear?’ She didn’t really want to know the answer, but she felt compelled to ask all the same.