Staying at Daisy's Read Free

sit down.’ Pulling a molded plastic chair up to the bed, the doctor steered her towards it. ‘Hold his hand. Talk to him. You can stay as long as you like. I’ll be back later, OK?’
    He shot off to deal with the next crisis, leaving Daisy alone with Steven. Well, not really alone. Fifteen feet away, a couple of nurses were keeping a discreet eye on her.
    She sat down on the unforgiving plastic chair and held Steven’s hand, as instructed.
    He was looking ridiculously healthy. A narrow white sheet covered his groin, otherwise he was naked. Tanned and muscular and obviously a fit chap, proud of his physique and deservedly so. All those hours in the gym had paid off. This was the body of a man in peak condition. He didn’t look injured at all.
    Daisy blinked, pulled herself together. What was it she was meant to be doing now? Oh yes, talking to him.
    But what was she supposed to say? Not ‘You lying cheating fucking bastard ,’ that was for sure. Oh no, that definitely wasn’t the kind of thing the doctor would have had in mind.
    After twenty minutes Daisy rose to leave.
    ‘You go and wait in the relatives’ room,’ urged the kindly nurse who was checking Steven’s blood pressure, ‘and I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea.’
    Daisy wondered why people always said that. It might be a truly horrible cup of tea but they’d still call it nice .
    ‘It’s OK, I’m fine. Just going outside for a bit, for some fresh air.’
    ‘Right, love, you do that. Is there anyone else you’d like us to contact?’
    ‘No thanks.’ Smiling briefly, to make up for her uncharitable thought about the tea, Daisy indicated her bag. ‘I’ve got my phone with me. I’ll go and do that now.’
    In the echoey sloping corridor outside the entrance to the ward, she had to leap out of the way as a porter whizzed past with a boy in a wheelchair. A girl in jeans and a navy Puffa jacket was studying the notice board intently. The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, accentuating her pallor. Daisy hesitated, struck by the fact that the girl had glanced at her then abruptly, almost guiltily, turned away.
    Taking her phone out of her bag, Daisy punched out a series of numbers and said, ‘Hi, it’s me. I’m leaving the hospital now. I’ll be home by five.’
    Less than a minute after pushing through the doors marked EXIT, Daisy slid back into the corridor. The girl in the Puffa was no longer loitering by the notice board.
    Peering through the glass porthole of the outer entrance to the intensive care unit, Daisy saw her standing by the second door, the one that led into the ward itself.
    She was being spoken to by the kindly nurse and sobbing as if her heart would break.
    Feeling absurdly jealous, Daisy realized that the nurse was being just as nice to Puffa girl as she’d been to her, only instead of offering a nice cup of tea she was handing her a tissue.
    There was a bandage, Daisy now saw, round the Puffa girl’s left wrist.
    Leaning against the outer door so that it opened just a fraction, Daisy heard the nurse saying in a warm, soothing voice, ‘I’m so sorry, love, but you can’t go in. It’s relatives only.’
    The girl was distraught. If she hadn’t been crying, she’d be pretty, Daisy automatically noted. Then again—and maybe it was inappropriate under the circumstances, but she still couldn’t help thinking it—the girl might be pretty, but not as pretty as her .
    Daisy eased the pressure on the door, allowing it to close once more. Now she really did need some fresh air. It was also about time she actually rang Hector, rather than just pretending to ring Hector. He’d be wondering where she’d got to by now.
    ***
    Steven’s condition deteriorated during the night. By eleven o’clock the next morning, dry-mouthed and light-headed from lack of sleep, Daisy found herself being led from the unit and ushered into the bad news office. You could tell it was the bad news office; it contained comfortable chairs.
    The