Rising Stars & It Started With… Collections. Кейт Хьюит
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Rita’s break was soon over and word couldn’t yet have got around about the spread on in the staffroom because only Dominic and Bridgette remained. Well, she wasn’t going to give up a single minute of the precious break by going back early. Her feet were killing her and she was hungry too, and Jessica, her new patient, was progressing steadily. If Dominic wasn’t feeling awkward then why on earth should she be? And if she wanted cheese, why not?
Bridgette stood and refilled her plate with some Cheddar and Brie and a few crackers and went to sit back down, selecting a magazine to read as she did so.
‘I thought you liked blue cheese.’
‘Maybe.’ Bridgette refused to look up, just carried on reading the magazine. She was not going to jump to make conversation just because he suddenly deigned to do so.
‘How’s Maria?’
‘Marvellous.’ She refused to be chatty, just because he suddenly was.
‘The baby I saw you with yesterday…’ Still she did not fill in the spaces. ‘He’s your nephew?’ When still he was met with silence, Dominic pushed a little further. ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’
‘I don’t really see that it’s relevant,’ Bridgette answered, still reading her magazine. ‘Had our one-night stand been two years ago and you’d seen me walking out of daycare carrying a mini-Dominic, then, yes, perhaps I’d have had some explaining to do. But I don’t.’ She smirked with mild pleasure at her choice of words and looked up. She was rather surprised to see that he was smiling—not the Dr Mansfield smile that she had seen occasionally since her return to work but the Dominic smile she had once been privy to.
‘I’m sorry about yesterday. I just jumped to conclusions. I saw you with—’ he paused for a brief second ‘—Harry, and I thought that was the reason…’ He really felt awkward, Bridgette realised. Despite insisting how easy this was, Dominic seemed to be struggling.
‘The reason?’ She frowned, because he’d done this to her too, made her blush as she’d revealed that she thought about that night—but Dominic didn’t blush in the same way Bridgette had.
‘The reason that you went home that morning.’
‘Oh, I needed a reason, did I?’ She went back to her magazine.
What was it with this woman? She had made it very clear that morning that she didn’t want more than their one night. Normally it would have come as a relief to Dominic, an unusual relief because he was not the one working out how to end things.
‘Excuse me.’ Her phone buzzed in her pocket and Bridgette pulled it out, taking a deep breath before answering.
‘Hi, Mum.’
Why did he have to be here when she took this call? Hopefully he’d choose now to leave, but instead he just sat there.
‘I might need a hand a little bit later,’ she said to her mother. She’d left a message for her parents earlier in the day, when she’d realised that Harry might not last out the day in crèche and also she wanted to stay longer for Jessica. ‘There’s a chance that I won’t be able to get away for work on time and it would really help if you could pick up Harry at four for me.’ She closed her eyes as her mother gave the inevitable reply. ‘Yes, I know the crèche doesn’t close till six, but he’s a bit grizzly today and I don’t want to push things—it’s been a long day for him.’
Bridgette looked down and realised she was clicking her pen on and off as her mother reeled out her excuses. She could hear the irritation creeping into her own voice as she responded. ‘I know Dad’s got the dentist but can’t he go on his own?’ She listened to the train of excuses, to how they would love to help, but how nervous Dad got at the dentist, and if he did need anything done when they got there…‘You mean he’s just having a check-up?’ Now Bridgette couldn’t keep the exasperation from her voice. She really wanted to be there for Jessica and didn’t want to be nervously keeping one eye on the clock in case the crèche rang. With a pang that she didn’t want to examine, her heart ached for the long day Harry was having. She wanted some back-up, and despite her parents’ constant reassurances that they would help, she never seemed to ask at the right time.
‘Don’t worry about it’ Bridgette settled for, and managed a goodbye and then clicked off the phone. Then she couldn’t help it—she shot out a little of the frustration that her parents so easily provoked. ‘Why can’t he go to the dentist by himself?’ Bridgette asked as Dominic simply grinned at her exasperation. ‘They go shopping together, they do the housework together…I mean, are they joined at the hip? Honestly, they don’t do anything by themselves.’
‘Breathe.’ Dominic grinned and she did as the doctor recommended, but it didn’t help and she stamped her feet for a moment and let out a brief ‘Aagggh!’
‘Better?’ Dominic asked.
‘A bit.’
Actually, she did feel a bit better. It was nice to have a little moan, to complain, to let some of her exasperation out. Her parents had always been the same—everything revolved around dinner, everything in the house was geared towards six p.m. They were so inflexible, right down to the brand of toothpaste they used, and that was fine, that was how it was, that was how they were, but right now Bridgette needed more hands and their four seemed to make a poor two.
‘Have you got no one else who can help?’ Dominic asked.
‘I miss Jasmine for things like this,’ Bridgette admitted. It was nice that they were finally talking but of course now that they were, Rita buzzed and told her Jessica was in transition and it was time for her to go back.
‘You might be out by four,’ he said, and she shook her head, because Jessica was a first-time mum.
‘I doubt it.’
Dominic’s phone was ringing as she left, and when he saw that it was his father, he chose not to answer it. Stupid, really, because his father would just ring again in an hour, Dominic thought, and every hour after that, till he could tick it off his to-do list.
He finally took the call at three.
‘Hi.’
Dominic rolled his eyes as his father wished him a happy birthday. ‘Thanks.’ Dominic was being honest when he said that he couldn’t talk for long, because he was summoned urgently and headed down to Theatre when paged for a child who was having an allergic reaction in Recovery. There was that theatre nurse, her blue eyes waiting, when he and the anaesthetist had finished discussing the child’s care.
‘Long shift?’ Dominic asked when she yawned, because on certain occasions he did make conversation.
And today was a certain occasion.
It was, after all, his birthday.
‘It’s been busy.’ She nodded.
‘Back again in the morning?’
‘Yes…though I shouldn’t moan. My husband’s away so I can just go home and sleep.’
He was always away, Dominic thought.
‘What does he do?’ He broke one of their rules and he watched her cheeks go pink. There were colleagues around, and they were seemingly just chatting, so of course she had to answer.
‘He drives a coach,’ Blue Eyes said. ‘Overnight, Melbourne to Sydney.’
He gave a nod and walked off, felt a bit sick in the guts really, which wasn’t like him, but he thought of the poor bloke driving up and down the freeway as Dominic bonked his wife. No questions asked, no real conversation.
Maybe he was growing up, Dominic thought. He hadn’t been with anyone in weeks, not since Bridgette, in fact, though he rapidly shoved that thought out of his mind.
Well, why wouldn’t he be growing up? It was his birthday, after all.
And