Accidental Reunion by Carol Marinelli Read Free Book Online Page A

chest.’
    ‘Fine,’ Lila replied crisply, though her heart sank. It had been hard enough putting on a façade of friendliness, but even that had been so much easier than this obvious animosity.
    All that was put aside, though, as they entered the cubicle to examine the patient. Ellen Whiting was a tiny, frail lady, barely conscious.
    ‘Mrs Whiting, I am Dr Declan Haversham and I’m going to examine you and see if we can’t make you a bit more comfortable.’
    The genuine tenderness in his voice, the gentle way he examined the frail lady came as a surprise to Lila. She had never for a moment expected him to be brusque, but the compassion he showed the elderly woman as he gently probed her abdomen and listened to her chest was another painful glimpse of the man she had lost.
    ‘Could you help me to lift her forward so that I can listen to the back of her chest?’
    Between them they gently sat Ellen forward and Lila pulled up her nightgown to enable Declan to listen with his stethoscope.
    ‘She’ll need a chest X-ray,’ he said once he had finished listening. ‘I’m going to put in an IV and get some fluids started. And then take some bloods and we’ll get some antibiotics going.’
    He scribbled his orders on the casualty card and handed it to Lila without looking up.
    ‘I’ll get the IV trolley,’ Lila suggested helpfully, but Declan shook his head.
    ‘No problem. I can manage. If you can just get the antibiotics drawn up, that would be good.’
    Standing at the drug cupboard, she knew he was near before she saw him.
    ‘Have you seen my tourniquet?’ Declan asked finally, when it was obvious he couldn’t find it anywhere.
    ‘No. Here, use mine.’ But as she pulled it out of her pocket Declan shook his head.
    ‘It’s all right, it must be around somewhere.’
    Lila pursed her lips. ‘Would you like me to pull the drugs up in another room while you look?’
    His brow furrowed at the sarcasm in her voice. ‘Sorry? What are you going on about?’
    ‘I can pull the drugs up elsewhere if it makes you so uncomfortable—being in the same room as me, I mean.’
    Declan gave a weary sigh. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lila.’
    ‘Oh, I think you do, Dr Haversham. Just remember, while you’re spending so much time trying to avoid me, it was you that suggested we be friends, at least at work. You were the one who said you didn’t want me feeling uncomfortable.’
    ‘And are you?’
    Lila took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘And it’s not only me. All the staff know there’s an atmosphere, they have no idea why.’
    Declan shrugged, looking up as she caught her breath in irritation. ‘What have I done wrong now?’
    ‘I’d forgotten how much that irritated me. The wayyou shrug things off, the way you just dismiss what I’m saying.’
    ‘Poor Lila,’ he said slowly. ‘Poor, hard-done-by Lila. I’ve treated you so badly, haven’t I?’
    Suddenly the keys in her hand came under close scrutiny as she avoided his searing gaze.
    ‘Not only did I laugh at the wrong moment eight years ago, but I had the audacity to accept a promotion in my home town without checking whether you’d had a career change and might possibly be on the staff. I’m just so thoughtless sometimes.’
    His sarcasm bit through her.
    ‘And then,’ he continued, ‘when I try to discuss things with you, check things are all right with you, like a fool I believe you when you say things are fine, that we’ll put the past behind us and be friends. Now, Lila, if my memory serves me correctly, you then suddenly decided that, no, we can’t be friends any more, so, like an idiot, I try not to exacerbate things by backing off a bit. Hell, I’m such a bastard sometimes.’
    Holding the syringe of antibiotics in front of her eyes, she flicked the tiny air bubbles out with her fingers, biting back tears.
    ‘Have you finished?’
    ‘Oh, I’m finished all right,’ he said wearily. ‘I’m finished trying to