Playing the Playboy's Sweetheart (8 page)

She took out the trolleys that wouldn’t be needed and then wheeled Hannah over.

‘Dad’s coming to see you,’ Laura said to her mum, and squeezed her hand. Emily just wanted to cry. Of course death happened in Theatre but Emily did her best to avoid the relative part. Here she couldn’t pass it on to anyone.

She looked up when Hugh put his head in the cubicle. ‘Is it okay to bring Ernest in?’

‘Yes.’ Emily nodded and Ernest’s trolley was wheeled in. It was heart-breaking because Ernest didn’t break down, he just kept holding his wife’s hand and kissing her face and telling her how much he loved her and what a wonderful life they’d had together.

‘How is she?’ Gina came in.

‘Comfortable,’ Emily said. ‘Though her breathing’s very rattly.’

‘I just want to have a listen to her chest,’ Gina said, and she gave Ernest a smile as she gently examined his wife. ‘I’ll get Hannah something to help make her breathing a little more comfortable.’

Beth, the ICU nurse, said she’d watch both patients and as Emily went to get the drug Gina came over and wrote Hannah up for some more morphine if needed.

To the surprise of a few onlookers Emily gave Gina a smile. ‘You’ve been off sick for a while.’

‘I’ve had the worst flu,’ Gina said.

It must have been bad because Gina had lost an awful lot of weight.

‘How come you’re in A and E?’ Gina asked.

‘Internal rotation.’

‘Oh, that sounds painful,’ Gina said, and to the ire of the onlookers Emily laughed.

Then she stopped laughing as Ernest finally broke down and the sound of his tears came from the cubicle.

Hannah had gone.

How, Emily wondered, did everyone but her seem to deal with these things? Beth was all calm and present and had her arm around Laura, Hugh was there with Ernest and Emily just felt like a spare wheel.

A spare wheel with tight lips and tears in her eyes.

‘I’m going to miss you so much,’ Ernest said, and Beth’s arm tightened around Laura as she started to break down. ‘I don’t want to go home without you being there,’ Ernest sobbed.

‘I’ll take care of you, Dad, you know that.’

And Emily stood there, wondering how everyone did it.

‘Ernest,’ Hugh finally said when his pager went off, ‘I have to go back to ICU but you stay here with Hannah as long as you need, or as long as you’re well enough.’ He glanced at Beth, who nodded.

‘I’ll stay with them,’ Beth said, to Emily’s relief, and Emily headed out at the same time as Hugh.

‘That was awful,’ she admitted, and Hugh looked at her.

‘It was nice,’ Hugh said. ‘Sad but nice that they were together.’ He glanced up as Gina joined them. ‘Hey,’ Hugh said. ‘It’s good to see you back. How are you?’

‘Better, though I don’t recommend flu as a way to diet,’ she added. ‘Are you going up to ICU?’ Gina asked Hugh, and he nodded. ‘I’ll walk with you.’

Hugh turned to Emily. ‘Thanks for all your help this morning. It was nice that they had some time together.’

It was normal.

As normal as it would have been two weeks ago.

It just didn’t feel normal now.

But then Hugh turned around.

‘Hey, Emily...’ he walked over ‘...page me when you take a lunch break. If I’m free...’

And, had they been going out, that was exactly what he’d have done.

Emily was about to make an excuse, she really didn’t want lunch with Hugh, but he spoke over her when she tried to voice one.

‘There’s something I’d like to say.’

* * *

He
was
free at lunchtime and they found themselves for the first time together in the hospital canteen.

‘How are you finding it?’ Hugh asked.

‘Just as I expected,’ Emily said.

‘You did really well this morning.’

‘I don’t know about that.’ Emily shrugged. ‘Ernest has gone back up to the ward now.’

‘Yep, I’m going to check in on him this afternoon.’ Hugh got to the reason he had asked her for lunch. ‘Look, I never realised how awkward it would be for you and I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’ve heard all the rumours flying around about Gina and I and that Saturday night.’

‘I’d heard the rumours before I offered,’ Emily said. ‘They’re having a bit of a field day with it in Emergency but I was expecting that. I think they were hoping I’d scratch Gina’s eyes out.’ She gave Hugh a smile, because when they were together she so easily did. ‘It’s fun in a way.’

It was far from fun for Hugh but he was glad to see that Emily didn’t seem upset about the gossip. ‘The thing is...’ Hugh stopped and Emily frowned because the usually laid-back Hugh for once looked tense.

‘Are you okay?’ Emily checked.

‘I’ve got some things on my mind,’ Hugh admitted. ‘Can you accept that there are some things I can’t tell you?’

‘Yep.’

And that short answer was the reason he persisted with Emily. Hugh could think of few women who would not ask for more information, few who would not press him to reveal when he’d said that he couldn’t.

God, they could be so good.

He watched as she gave a small wave when someone called her name and Hugh glanced over and saw Marcus, Emily’s ex, who was lunching with Heidi, who was now his wife.

‘How can you be so friendly with your ex?’ Hugh asked. ‘Olivia ducks into doorways if she sees me and then rings me up crying the same night.’

‘Is she still calling you?’ Emily said.

‘Now and then.’

‘Good God!’

‘Haven’t you ever got upset and rung an ex and begged to give it another go?’ He watched as she laughed at the very idea and a small smile played on his lips as another piece of the Emily jigsaw slotted into place.

‘Seriously, Em, when Marcus got off with Heidi, weren’t you upset?’

‘A bit at first,’ Emily admitted, ‘but then I thought about it and if Marcus was so taken with Heidi that he’d go off for a quickie in the radiology department then clearly he wasn’t the guy for me.’

‘What if Marcus had wanted a quickie with you in the radiology department?’

Emily laughed again at the very thought. ‘Then I’d be the very wrong girl for him.’

Hugh picked up a random piece of the jigsaw and decided to try and see if it fitted, if his theory about Emily was possibly correct. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘You can believe whatever you want, Hugh.’

There was the Emily who looked him right in the eye and denied them and then there was the Emily he was sure was there beneath.

‘Why don’t we go to the on-call room now? I’ve got the key.’

‘Not a chance.’

‘Come on, Em...’ He had never spoken like this to her, but the burn on her cheeks made him push on. ‘I am so turned on...’

‘Then you’ve got a problem.’ Emily smiled.

‘Em...’ He took her hand and she went to pull back but then she remembered that to the rest of the canteen they were supposed to be more than friends. Even so, she was the least touchy-feely person she knew!

‘I don’t hold hands.’ Emily went to pull hers back but his grip on her fingers tightened. ‘Hugh.’ She just looked at him. ‘What are you doing? Even if we were together, there is no way I’d...’ The ridiculous thing was that his thumb in the palm of her hand seemed to have a direct route to the top of her thighs and she kept having images of being taken against the wall in the on-call room.

This was what he did to her and this was why she didn’t want to pursue things.

‘I need to get back.’

Hugh just dropped her hand and smiled at a suddenly flustered Emily. ‘I’ll walk with you.’

She’d have preferred that he didn’t but he had a patient in Emergency to see.

‘So, we’re on for your dad’s wedding tomorrow.’

‘Yes, I’ve said that I’m bringing you. Thankfully it’s just a small one this time, I was a bridesmaid at the last one.’ Emily was actually glad that Hugh was coming with her. She found these things excruciating and at least Hugh always made her laugh and he was doing so now as they passed the on-call room and he nudged her.

‘Last chance,’ Hugh said.

‘No chance!’ Emily laughed.

They walked back into A and E and Emily rolled her eyes. ‘Back to it.’

Finally he got her words, finally the jigsaw was starting to take shape.

That morning with Emily she had only been on loan to him.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘T
HIRD
TIME
LUCKY
.
’

Hugh turned and looked at Emily as her father delivered the opening line of his wedding speech.

She didn’t smile or laugh, as the rest of the room did.

Yes, third time lucky perhaps, Hugh thought, but at what cost?

Cathy, his bride, was around Emily’s age and Hugh watched a little while later as Emily smiled and congratulated her father’s new wife.

‘So when are you due?’ Emily asked, when Cathy said how excited she was to be having a baby.

‘Christmas!’ Cathy beamed and Emily duly smiled back.

He knew that smile well, for it had been used regularly on him.

It was a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes, a smile that, to the untrained in Emily, might look wide, rather than guarded.

He wanted the smile of that morning in the holiday cottage, yet it was gone for now.

‘Are you happy for your dad?’ Hugh asked, as they danced.

‘I don’t know,’ Emily said. ‘I got off that roller-coaster a long time ago.’

‘They look happy and it was a really nice service,’ Hugh said. ‘You really don’t cry at weddings, do you?’

‘Nope, I save it for the decree nisi.’

‘Ah, so cynical, Emily.’

‘It means nothing,’ Emily said, ‘it’s just an excuse for a party...’

Hugh shook his head. ‘Marriage means a lot to a lot of people.’

‘Well, it means nothing to me.’

Emily looked as the twins, her half-brothers, chased each other around the room. Donna hadn’t come, of course—apparently she would collect them later. And, of course, her father was too busy to keep a proper eye on them.

She’d cried so many tears over the twins.

There were parts of her heart scattered all across the dance floor and parts of her heart that were absent today too.

She thought about Jessica and, as she did so, Hugh actually felt the tension rip through her body.

‘It’s my family tomorrow,’ Hugh said.

‘I bet they’re pretty tame compared to my lot.’

‘Every family has its things. My sister is the perfect wife and mum but you should have seen her as a teenager!’ Hugh rolled his eyes. ‘Now she’s all butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.’

‘How old’s the baby?’

‘Five months,’ Hugh said. ‘He freaks me out a bit, he’s the absolute image of me...’

‘A mini-Hugh.’ Emily smiled.

‘The twins look like you.’

‘I know,’ Emily said. ‘Come on, let’s go and say hello properly, I didn’t get a chance to at the registry office.’

They were very cute, very naughty, and Hugh actually winced for Emily when it was clear that they had no idea who she was.

‘Can you watch them?’ her dad said to Emily when they ran off as she tried to pick one up. ‘They’re getting into everything.’

Hugh could happily have knocked the groom out for his insensitivity but instead they did their best to police the twins until late in the evening when Donna texted her ex-husband to say that she was in the car outside.

Yes, it was Hugh and Emily who took the terrible two out to the car to where Donna was waiting.

‘I was wondering,’ Emily attempted, after Donna had strapped them into their seats and was about to get into the car. ‘Now that they’re a bit older, do you think maybe I could see the twins now and then?’

‘Oh, I’m sure you’ll see them again,’ Donna said with malice that should have been aimed at their father. ‘At his
next
wedding.’

As Donna drove off, Emily stood there. She actually felt like an ATM machine, though not for money.

An ATM machine that had just run out.

‘I’m going to say goodbye to Dad and go home.’

‘Fair enough,’ Hugh said, silently appalled at the way she was treated but knowing it could only make it worse if he pointed it out.

‘Or should I stay for a bit longer?’ It was the first time he had heard her sound unsure.

‘Do what’s right for you.’

* * *

Home.

Hugh pulled up outside her place and for once he didn’t know what to do or say. She was close to tears, he knew, and he guessed, rightly, that she just wanted to get inside.

He’d have loved to be invited in, not just her home but her mind.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Emily said.

‘I’ll be here at ten,’ Hugh said. ‘Emily...’ His hand went to her cheek. ‘I’m sorry tonight was tough on you.’

‘Thanks.’ She moved her cheek from his hand. ‘I’m going to go in. I’ll post some of the wedding photos onto Facebook tomorrow, I’m too tired tonight.’

I get the message, Em, Hugh thought as she walked up the path.

Why couldn’t he accept it, though?

* * *

Emily let herself into the home that was her haven.

Flat shares had felt as chaotic as her childhood and though the rent was at times a struggle, from the second she had moved in here it had been bliss to have her own space, one room, one wardrobe.

It felt lonely tonight, though.

By her own choosing.

Emily kicked off her shoes and lay on the sofa—tonight had been far better for having Hugh there.

Maybe she should give them a chance?

Just one chance and if it didn’t work out she’d survive.

Tomorrow, after the christening of mini-Hugh...

Emily smiled at their conversation, remembering the bliss of dancing and talking with him before the debacle with the twins.

Then she suddenly stopped smiling as she thought of mini-Hughs and tried to do the maths as to when her last period had been.

No.

She was on the Pill.

Lackadaisically, though, Emily thought as she remembered lying in bed, eating toast and sorting out the upcoming weeks, when usually she’d have been up.

Surely one lie-in wasn’t going to change both their lives.

CHAPTER NINE

H
UGH
ARRIVED
FIFTEEN
minutes early but he held up two coffees so was forgiven.

Emily smiled as she let him in.

‘I’m just finishing my make-up.’

‘Sure.’

‘I’ve put the photos up on Facebook,’ Emily called, as she headed upstairs. ‘Have a look and then put a couple of them on yours.’

Hugh didn’t peek at her friends or anything, he’d done all that before. He ‘shared’ a couple of photos but did startle a bit when a friend request from Donna came in.

He was very tempted to decline the witch on Emily’s behalf but he breathed his way through it and smiled when Emily came down, her hair worn down, and dressed in suitable Sunday best. ‘You look lovely.’

‘So do you.’ Emily came and looked over his shoulder and rolled her eyes at the picture of Hugh and herself standing next to the bride and groom. ‘Surely Alex must believe us now.’

‘You’d think so.’

‘Do you think you’re going to get the job?’

‘I hope so,’ Hugh said, ‘because if I don’t then I’ll be resigning.’

‘Hugh?’

‘Come on, Emily, we’ve worked together for years, it would be a pretty big vote of no-confidence if he doesn’t give it to me.’ Hugh realised then he had lost his audience because Emily had seen her message.

‘What does she want?’ Emily said, then corrected herself. ‘Sorry...’

‘It’s fine. It’s just come in. I was wondering the same. Are you going to respond?’

‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Er, the way she spoke to you last night, for starters,’ Hugh pointed out.

Emily said, ‘Hugh, I can’t stand Donna, not that she’ll ever know it. I’ll be friendly and polite if it means I get to see my brothers and I’ll be the same with Cathy.’ Emily let out a tense breath and then clicked off the computer. ‘Yes, I’ll friend her but not now. I don’t want to think about last night.’

She didn’t want to think about any part of last night, especially about the realisation of her late period.

Surely not, Emily told herself on the drive to the church.

Why so sure? the sensible part of her checked.

‘Are you okay?’ Hugh asked as they pulled up.

‘I’m fine.’

‘It won’t be a long day.’

* * *

Billy really was a mini-Hugh!

Blond, long-limbed, he looked as ridiculous in a dress as Hugh would, and Emily smothered a laugh as he nearly head-butted the vicar, while Edward ran amok in the pews.

Hugh did all his godfather duties and he did them well, but as they headed out of the church he let out a breath. ‘Remind me not to have children for the next decade.’

Then keep your condoms within arm’s reach, Emily was tempted to say, but she knew it wasn’t his fault.

The christening party headed to a gorgeous restaurant, where she met his far more normal family and they were all very friendly.

After the meal they cut the cake and Emily watched as Hugh posed for the photos. It was all very low key and casual and over with by three. As they drove home, Emily truly didn’t get why Kate couldn’t have accommodated Hugh’s schedule and they discussed it a bit on the car ride home.

‘Is it hard to get a booking at the church?’

‘Maybe,’ Hugh said. ‘Anyway, it’s done now, without anyone getting upset.’

‘Upset?’

‘If I’d not been able to make it or had asked her to move the date.’

‘It looks like the two of you get on.’

‘We do,’ Hugh said. ‘Or I think we do...’ He knew he wasn’t making much sense. ‘When I started at medical school I got a phone call to come home.’ Hugh carried on driving as he spoke. ‘Kate had broken up with her boyfriend and had made an attempt on her life. Thankfully she’d told a friend how she was feeling and she’d gone to check on her. Otherwise...’

‘How awful.’

‘Do you know the awful part, for me anyway?’ Hugh said. ‘I always thought we were close. I honestly thought if she was having problems she could talk to me. Thank God she had a friend looking out for her.’

He fell silent. Part of the reason that he looked out for Gina so much and worried so much for her was because of the friend who had saved his sister’s life.

‘You still worry about her?’

‘Not as much now,’ Hugh admitted. ‘She went very dark after she had Edward but she’s done well with Billy and, look, I just have to hope that if there are issues she has someone she can talk to.’

‘And maybe learn to say no to her a few times,’ Emily nudged.

‘Yep, that too.’ He turned and gave Emily a brief smile. ‘Thanks for being there today.’

‘No problem.’

‘Well, you’ve got a week off from pretending about us now as I’ve got my conference tomorrow, so just the Lake District next weekend,’ Hugh said as they pulled up at her home. ‘‘Do you want to drive up Friday night?’

‘I’m on a late shift.’ Emily shook her head. ‘Saturday morning would be better.’

Hugh gave a tight smile, because he knew she’d do anything to avoid two nights with him. ‘Then, after that, it’s my interview with Alex.’

‘Are you serious about quitting if you don’t get the role?’

‘I am,’ Hugh said. ‘I’ve already started looking about. There’s a position in York that I’ve applied for. I’ve got an interview in a fortnight.’

‘York?’ Emily’s heart started to beat faster, not just at the thought of Hugh so far away but if,
if
she was pregnant...

Oh, God.

‘If I get another no, I’m gone.’ Hugh turned and looked at her then and she was sure he was talking about them.

He was.

* * *

‘I’ll see you on Saturday bright and early,’ Hugh said.

‘You shall.’

He didn’t make a move so Emily let herself out of the car, her heart pounding.

No, he’d said not a word but Emily knew, she simply knew, that Saturday was going to be her very last chance with him.