Summer in Sydney. Fiona McArthur
Читать онлайн книгу.
shift.’
‘Yes,’ Ruby said because she had.
‘Was Siobhan giving you a hard time?’ Connor rolled his eyes. ‘She can be a right bitch.’ But Ruby refused to say any more about it, she just wanted it forgotten, and she did her best to just chat and be her usual happy self with the patients. She even managed not to blush, well, maybe just a little bit, when Cort came in to discharge the patients or have them moved to a ward.
He sat writing at the desk as Ruby stripped some beds and, really, they had no need to worry about gossip. For all the attention he paid her, no one could have known that just a couple of nights ago …
‘Ruby.’ Sheila’s voice came over the intercom and Ruby went over, expecting another admission. ‘Can you come to my office?’
‘She said she wouldn’t say anything about it.’ She forgot for a moment where they were.
‘What’s the problem?’ Sensing gossip, Connor bounded over.
‘Sheila wants to see me. I think it’s about my dummy spit yesterday.’
‘Then you’d better get there.’ Connor grinned. ‘I’ll have a nice coffee waiting for you afterwards.’
Ruby wanted it forgotten, wanted to get back to happy, not sit in an office and go over things.
‘I thought we’d agreed that you wouldn’t say anything.’ Ruby was shaky as she sat down.
‘I meant officially,’ Sheila said.
‘Oh.’
‘I meant if you were back at work this morning then I wasn’t going to have to go through all the official channels.’ She peered at her student. ‘Ruby, you gave no indication you were unhappy, or that the place was distressing you so much. I just thought you were avoiding work.’
‘No,’ Ruby said, because she’d take a mop now and clean the whole length of the hospital and every toilet in between rather than go through yesterday again.
‘You had every opportunity to tell me at your assessment how you were feeling. You coped marvellously with the resuscitation yesterday …’
‘I was devastated.’
‘We all were,’ Sheila said. ‘But we all got on with the job—as did you.’ Sheila paused for a moment. ‘But then suddenly you’re running off.’
‘I honestly couldn’t have gone in there.’
‘And I honestly couldn’t have known how distressed you were.’ Sheila gave an exasperated shrug. ‘There has to be communication. How can we help you if we don’t even know you’re having problems?’
‘Well, you know now,’ Ruby said.
‘Which is why I’ve given you a gentle day today. You can stay in Obs and run the clinics and I’ll bring you out to observe anything interesting … is that what you want?’
‘No,’ Ruby said. ‘Yes.’
‘You’re supposed to be on nights next week.’
‘Is it possible to stay on days?’
‘No, Ruby.’ Sheila shook her head. She glanced at the roster. ‘I don’t just give out passes—you chose a busy teaching hospital for your placements, and that means there are certain things that are expected from you. A pass from Eastern Beaches means a lot.’ She did, though, relent a touch. ‘What if I change your shifts so you’re with Connor, Siobhan and I? We’re doing nights next week, but we’re on over the weekend. It’s even crazier then.’
‘I don’t know,’ Ruby said, because night duty with Siobhan wasn’t particularly enticing, but Connor was nice and now that Sheila knew … She hesitated too long with her answer.
‘Ruby …’ Sheila was not going to spoonfeed her. ‘We’re not going to ask you to deal with things single-handed, we’ll be there with you, but you have to fulfil your placement. I’ll put you down for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’m on Saturday night as well but I think you might want to miss that one—there’s a festival on in the city and the place will be steaming. Do you want me to change you?’
Ruby nodded. ‘Thanks, Sheila. I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble, and I really am sorry for walking out yesterday.’
‘We’ve all done it,’ Sheila said, and when Ruby shot her a look of disbelief, Sheila smiled. ‘Okay, I don’t head for home, but I’ve handed over the keys more than a few times and headed to my office or just out to the car park. And,’ Sheila added, ‘there is some tentative good news on little Victoria, Violet’s sister—it’s looking more promising than it did yesterday. They’re talking about extubating her later on this afternoon.’
It was good news, far, far better than Ruby had hoped, except it didn’t take away the pain—it just didn’t.
‘How was it?’ Cort asked a little later as she took the discharge book through to the main section and asked him to write up some discharge meds. She gave a tight shrug.
‘Ruby?’
‘I have to do nights.’
‘You’ll be fine.’
‘I don’t think I can do it, Cort.’
‘Did you speak to your housemates?’
She couldn’t really talk much more because Siobhan came over, and what could Cort really have to say to a student apart from discussing the patients? He took the folder from her and skimmed through it.
‘Is everything quiet around there?’ Siobhan asked.
‘Fine,’ Ruby said. ‘One’s just waiting for a lift home. I’m just asking Mr Mason to write up some analgesia.’
He didn’t get another chance to talk to her.
At about half past three the day staff left, including Ruby, and that was that.
Some one-night stand!
For the rest of the week Cort thought about her. Once when Connor rang Psych to see if they were ready for a patient that was being admitted, Cort almost wanted to rip the phone out of his hand when he realised Connor was talking to Ruby.
‘I might just bring the patient up myself!’ Connor said, and then laughed at something Ruby had said. ‘Well, enjoy it while you can. We’ll run you ragged next week.’ And then he told her he was on a lunch break soon and then added, ‘Two sugars!’ Cort felt his jaw tighten, not jealous so much, because Connor would never be interested in Ruby in that way but, yes, jealous, because why did he get to have a drink with Ruby, why did he get to chat to her in his lunch break, why did he get to see her in an environment she loved?
‘Because,’ Elise said, when, desperate for some female insight, finally Cort cracked and told his sister just a little of what had taken place, ‘you’re not friends with her.’
‘Oh, so just because we’ve slept together we can’t be friends?’
‘Cort,’ Elise said. ‘Do you want to be just friends?’
‘No.’
‘Friends with benefits?’
‘No!’ God, no! Cort thought in horror—he really wasn’t ready for all this. ‘I’m just worried about her. She’s got a lot to deal with at the moment. I don’t know who, if anyone, she’s talking about it with. I guess I just want to be around for her and I don’t want to make things more complicated for her either.’ He was more confused about a woman than he had ever been in his life.
Ever.
‘She’s nothing like you’d expect, Elise.’
‘You mean she’s nothing like Beth.’
And did his sister always have to be so forthright?