CHAPTER SIX
THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN Hannah and her new teammate had undeniably been growing, and even though she’d tried to ignore it, Hannah had to admit to herself that she enjoyed it. Maybe that, along with a fierce desire to keep up with whatever pace Matt set, was why she’d fought so hard when he’d suggested he examine her knee.
But as soon as he’d walked into the consulting room, he’d changed. No less confronting, but he was cool and professional. Hannah let Matt place the ice on her knee, and sat patiently until he told her that would do for the time being. Then he wrapped a soft support around her leg, checking that it didn’t hamper her movement but that it was tight enough to aid the healing process.
‘I thought I’d go along to the orthopaedic ward and see Mia. You want to come?’
‘Yes. They won’t mind that we’re not their team?’
‘We’re on their team, in every way that counts. There are a lot of ambitions in that ward, and we’re the ones who are working to help them achieve those ambitions.’
It was a nice way of putting it. ‘That’s what makes you want to win?’
‘One of the things.’
He led the way to the ward, and when he and Hannah entered there was a small murmur of excitement. She saw Mia waving from the far end, and when the ward sister nodded in response to Matt’s request that they might spend some time here, she walked over to her.
‘How did you do?’
‘Hmm. Not sure. We did our best.’
‘That’s all you can do.’ Mia spoke with a wisdom beyond her years and Hannah suspected that it was what Matt and the rehab specialists had told her.
‘Would you like to hear about it? We had a rescue situation, a bit like the ones that you can come across, working as ambulance crew. We had to deal with it on our own, though usually an ambulance crew has back-up from the other rescue services.’
‘You bet I want to hear about it.’ Mia’s eyes were shining.
Hannah heard Matt’s quiet chuckle behind her. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Would you ladies like some juice?’
Mia nodded, and Hannah grinned at him. ‘Hey, we’re not ladies. What are we, Mia?’ She turned to Mia, mouthing the answer.
‘We’re ambos!’
‘My mistake. I’ll get you two ambos some juice.’
* * *
Matt had left her with Mia while he worked his way around the ward, talking to the other kids. He had a nice way with them, and they were obviously relaxed and confident in his company. Hannah reckoned he must spend a lot more time here on the ward than his job required.
She ended up talking to Mia for over an hour, answering her questions, without being too blunt about the distressing parts of her job. It was clear that this was part of the dream that kept Mia going through all of the pain and the distress of her condition.
‘We have to get going now. Sorry, Mia.’ Matt returned, shooting Mia an apologetic look.
‘That’s okay. Thanks, Hannah.’
‘My pleasure. I’ll pop in again, and let you know what other scrapes Dr Matt has got himself into.’
‘Oh, really?’ Matt feigned outrage and Mia giggled. ‘Next time Hannah gets herself into a scrape, I’ll make sure to take a picture and send it to you...’
They walked out of the ward together, and back down to the area where the outside broadcast trucks were parked. It felt as if it would have been almost natural to take Matt’s hand. As if they were close, in a way they hadn’t been when they’d arrived back here. That wasn’t appropriate, though, or wise. The alternate reality, where she and Matt could be that close, didn’t exist. There was only this world, and in this world Hannah didn’t take chances.
They waited, and Hannah went across to greet Sam when he
arrived with Sophie. The crowd grew, along with the obvious tension amongst the contestants, all waiting to see who was going to be the winner.
‘I reckon they dug their way through...’ Matt nudged her, nodding towards the green team, whose T-shirts were covered in grime.
‘Maybe that’s what we were all supposed to do.’ Hannah turned the corners of her mouth down. They’d solved the problem, making use of the resources at their disposal. In the real world you didn’t question your luck, or the presence of the right person at the right time.