Simon leaned forward. ‘Peanut butter and mustard.’
Beth almost choked with relief and Kat came to the rescue. ‘Ew. That’s horrible. Did you eat any?’
‘No. Josh’s Mum wouldn’t let us in the kitchen and then we had to go inside with the others and play a stupid game.’
Beth reckoned she had enough of the story to risk a few straight questions. ‘So did you eat any berries at all, Simon?’
He shook his head. ‘No, that was Josh’s dare.’
‘And how many berries did Josh eat for his dare?’
‘Only two. I dared him to eat three but he wouldn’t.’
Kat rose quietly from her seat and slipped out of the room, leaving Beth to continue talking to Simon, sleepy, inconsequential talk, just to comfort a small boy in a strange place. Before long, the A and E doctor returned with Simon’s mother, who looked as if she had been crying. She flew to the boy’s side and hugged him, choosing to ignore Beth completely.
Whatever. Beth didn’t much care, she’d done what she set out to do. She slipped out of the room, leaving them alone with the doctor.
Matt wasn’t in the waiting room and she found him outside, leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky. The night was clear and cold, stars winking down at them. As the swing doors flapped shut behind her, he roused himself from his reverie.
‘You were amazing tonight, Beth.’
His hand reached out for her, and she took a step back. Not now. Not any more. Now that the only thing left to do with the night was to go home, she’d be lost if she let him touch her. The delicate threads of their truce snapped.
‘It was a team effort. Everyone played their part.’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, they did. But you did something special. You made the link, found the source of the poison.’
‘Thank goodness it’s over, Matt. That everyone’s all right.’
He nodded, his eyes glinting in the darkness. ‘Yeah. It’s over.’
That was the problem. Now that the emergency was over, the kiss hung in the air between them, refusing to be ignored. She’d told Matt that she wouldn’t think about it any more, but now she couldn’t help it.
‘What happened, Matt. Tonight at the party. The, um…you know.’
‘You mean when I kissed you.’ He’d obviously been thinking about it, too.
‘Yes.’ Why couldn’t she have just come out and said it, instead of beating around the bush like a teenager? ‘It was just…well, these things happen at parties. They don’t necessarily mean that there’s…anything.’
‘Yes. I’m sorry. Shall we put it down to the heat of the moment?’
‘That’s right. It was the heat of the moment. Thanks, Matt—for understanding.’ She wrapped her arms around her body, trying not to think about the almost unbearable sense of loss that was pushing down on her. But this was how it had to be. She couldn’t let her heart rule her head, not any more. She had to be strong.
‘Come inside now, Beth, it’s cold out here.’ He pushed himself away from the wall, keeping his distance as they walked, as if he, too, knew the danger of a touch right now. He swung the doors into the building open and ushered her through, and the familiar, slightly antiseptic smell of the hospital hit her.
‘Who did you get, then?’ Perhaps if she talked about something else, her legs might regain a little of their strength.
‘Eh?’
‘Who did you get? Simon’s mother or his father?’ It was standard practice to separate people involved in arguments in A and E, so as to get them calmed down as quickly as possible.
‘The mother.’ Matt opened the doors to Casualty and scanned the waiting room. ‘I think Kat’s around somewhere, I’m sure she could do with a lift home.’
Beth nodded in assent, following Matt to the corridor that led to his office, while he flipped open his phone and briefly spoke to Kat. ‘So what happened? Why did it take so long to find them?’
Matt rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, apparently the parents had a row on the way home and she insisted he drop her and Simon at her mother’s place. He went on home, but didn’t answer the phone because he reckoned it was his wife calling and thought he’d let her stew for the night. Of course, Kat ringing repeatedly only made him more determined not to answer and so he pulled the jack out of the socket and went to bed to get some sleep.’
‘No! So what about the mother?’