One Life-Changing Night. Louisa Heaton
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could be a wedding band, but it was on the wrong digit.
It’s none of my business.
Irritated with her own response to that thought, Naomi picked up the next card from triage and glanced at it. It was a child with a head wound. As she went to leave she heard Tom’s voice call her name.
‘Nurse Bloom?’
Turning, she looked at him, admiring the strong line of his jaw, the flicker of muscle as he clenched and unclenched it, as if he were debating with himself. ‘Yes?’
‘When you have a moment … when you have a break, would you come and find me? There’s something I’d like to run past you.’
Run past me?
‘Have I done something wrong?’ She frowned, not knowing what it could be and worried that she might be in trouble again already. Now her heart really was pounding in her chest.
‘No. Just … something personal. That’s all.’
‘Oh. Okay.’
Something personal.
That’s all.
She wondered what it could be. Maybe she’d done something she shouldn’t have done back at his flat. Had she left something out of place? Not put the lid back on the toothpaste, or something? He might be picky about things like that. It had certainly been neat. Everything in its place.
Worried, she headed back to the waiting room and called her next patient.
After she’d seen the child with the head injury, Naomi dealt with an elderly lady with a bad chest infection, then a sprained wrist and after that a young man with a buildup of blood behind his fingernail that needed releasing. Whilst she treated them all, she worried about what it was that Tom was going to ask her.
Something personal.
If it had nothing to do with work, then what could it be? He knew nothing about her, really. She’d made her bed in the flat. She’d cleaned up after herself, and been the perfect guest, hopefully. As her break time arrived she let the sister know she was going and then she began to look for Tom, her stomach in knots, her mouth dry.
She did not need complications. She’d had enough of those to last a lifetime. This was the start of her new life. She’d moved away from her old one and had come here to London, to the city, to prove to herself that she was independent and strong and could live her own life, with her own rules. This was her chance to be free of routine and stress. To only have to worry about herself.
Maybe he was going to ask her to make sure she moved out by the end of the day. She hoped not. After a full day shift until four p.m., she’d be lucky to have time to get back to her flat on St Bartholomew’s Road and then find someone to fix her door, or a locksmith to add locks. She also wondered how much it would all cost. She didn’t have bags of money and the small amount of savings she did have was meant to go towards a deposit on a better place. It wasn’t supposed to pay for repairs to an old flat she didn’t even like!
Tom was at the doctors’ desk when she finally found him.
‘Tom. I’m on my break now.’ She fidgeted with the pens in her top pocket and straightened her fob watch.
‘Let’s grab a coffee and a bite to eat.’
He walked her up to the cafeteria and bought both of them a cappuccino. He ordered a grilled breakfast for himself and when he asked her what she wanted she just shook her head. ‘You’ve got to have something.’ He placed a yoghurt and a banana onto his tray and, once he’d paid for it, they settled down at a table.
‘You’re probably wondering what this is about?’
She smiled and watched him tuck into his food with gusto. It did smell delicious and she tried to ignore the gorgeous scent of bacon and what smelt like pork and leek sausage as she opened her peach yoghurt. ‘You’ve got me curious.’
‘I want to help you.’
She sat in the seat opposite, staring at him, waiting for the axe to fall. ‘Okay.’
‘In the interests of my wanting the department to run smoothly, I’d like you to feel you could stay at my place. For an extra day or two whilst you get your flat sorted.’
‘Stay? I thought—’
‘It’s not ideal, I know, but I’ve been thinking about your situation and I would feel remiss if you felt that you had to leave when your circumstances aren’t exactly sorted.’
She blushed. Wow. She had not been expecting that. ‘That’s very generous of you, Tom. Thank you.’
He sipped his coffee. ‘Not generous. I’m just being practical.’
Practical. Right.
Tom saw her face change. The uncertainty and nervousness that had been there a moment before dissipated and surprise and relief manifested themselves instead.
He’d almost been as surprised about the offer himself. If someone had asked him yesterday whether he’d have taken in a waif or stray, he would have said no. If someone had asked him if he would then have offered that beautiful young woman the chance to stay in his own home for a few more days he would have said they were crazy.
Last night he’d felt uncomfortable with her being there. He’d made as little interaction as he could get away with without being rude. But he’d looked out for her, cooked for her, talked to her a little and had found himself intrigued. He was interested by this woman whom he’d suddenly acquired in his department and in his life.
Not that he was interested in her in that way. There was no point in pursuing that. There was only ever one true love, one true soulmate for a person, and he’d already met his, even if she had been taken from him too soon. Meredith had been killed in a tragic accident that had taken her from him before they’d even had their first full year of marriage. His heart had truly belonged to her and now he kept it locked away, safe and protected from the outside world where cruel things happened and people in love were tormented. No, there were going to be no more women for Tom Williams.
They were off-limits. Even if last night he’d been plagued with thoughts of Naomi in the next room. He’d lied to her about getting that good night’s sleep. He should have had seven hours. But instead, he’d lain in his bed, thinking about her, seeing those long legs that had emerged after her bath, gazing into those eyes of hers that he couldn’t bear to look at for longer than a second in case she saw the interest in his own eyes. Oh, and the way that she laughed. The way her whole face lit up with genuine joy when she did.
So he couldn’t allow himself to think about Naomi. She was everything that went against his self-imposed rules. But he could help her with her living situation.
‘This is so unexpected.’
He nodded. ‘Yes. But expecting you to get your place sorted in one night seems both impossible and impractical. St Bartholomew’s Road? It’s not a nice place. I’m sorry. I’m not normally judgemental, but you seem to deserve … better.’
‘And I can stay at yours for the next few days?’
‘Yes.’
‘I can’t believe it! That’s so sweet of you. Are you sure? Don’t you want to know more about me? I mean, I could be a crazy axe murderer, or something.’
‘I know enough. And if you handled an axe on a regular basis, I’m sure you’d be missing a limb or something by now, from what I’ve seen so far. My place is big enough for us both to be able to do our own thing. We won’t get in each other’s way. And then, with a few days’ grace, you can find a better flat. Something more suitable.’
‘Less rough, you mean?’
‘Less … challenging.’ He smiled at her quickly, then looked