The Single Dad's Marriage Wish (Bachelor Dads) Read Free Page A

answered her back. ‘Surely it’s way better than that awful antiseptic spray.’
    ‘This is a hospital, not a boudoir! Ooh, look at you, sitting there, putting on make-up and glamming yourself up right where the patients can see—I’m getting too old for all this.’
    ‘Rubbish.’ Charlotte gave a cheeky wink. ‘You know what they say—you’re only as old as the man you feel!’
    ‘Take it outside, Charlotte,’ Helen attempted to scold, but to Hamish’s stunned amazement she wasn’t just blushing but laughing as well. ‘You’re shocking!’
    ‘I’m out of here.’ Charlotte grinned, jumping off the stool and leaving Hamish with his question unanswered.
    ‘She’s a good girl really,’ Helen said, picking up a can of antiseptic spray and attempting to douse the area, tutting when she realised it was empty. ‘As dizzy as a spinning top and talks non-stop, mind you, but she’s a good worker—got a good few years of experience in the country behind her. They breed good nurses out there. The pan room’s never been cleaner and she’s put away all the linen. And she’s just so much fun. Did you see the notice she put up on the staff board? You should take a look! And patients love her too, she can charm anyone. I’ll go and get another can of freshener. Would you like a drink, Hamish.’
    ‘Please.’ Hamish nodded, wondering, not for the first time, why emergency nurses talked so much as he reached out for the phone when it rang.
    ‘Emergency. Hamish speaking.’
    ‘Hi, Hamish, good to have you back. It’s Rita in Pathology here. We were just sent some bloods over—urgent U and Es and triponin level on a forty-eight-year-old named Mark Fylde. I’ll give you the UR number, it’s—’
    ‘I know the patient,’ Hamish interrupted. ‘He’s the reason I was called early. What’s the results?’ He reached for a piece of scrap paper and clicked on his pen.
    ‘Sorry…’ Rita winced into the phone as she delivered her by now very familiar line. ‘We can’t run the tests till the right forms are sent up.’
    ‘The guy’s having a heart attack,’ Hamish snapped. ‘Come on, Rita—just run the tests.’
    ‘I—I really can’t,’ Rita stammered. ‘Not without first having the correct form. Did you see the new memo that just came down from Admin—?’ She didn’t get to finish, just held the phone away from her ear as, one hour back from annual leave, Hamish let rip, right in the middle of Emergency, right there where everyone could see…before slamming down the phone and reaching out for a new pad and practically gouging out his orders on the correct piece of paper.
    ‘I’ll get the porter to take it up to the lab now,’ Helen said, reaching out her arm, retrieving the form and then stepping back slowly. ‘Honestly, Hamish, I’ve had all my nurses going through every drawer and every cupboard in the place, I’ve even been through them myself…’ She paused as the phone rang, wrote down the message and handed it to Hamish. ‘That was Rita—because it’s you she’s done them, but she’s warning you it’s the very last time—I’ll page Cardiology for you.’
    ‘Got something for the lab?’ Mike, the ancient porter, came over and Hamish handed him the form, then, after a moment’s thought retrieved it, added the word ‘Thanks’ and dug out a couple of dollars from the nearly empty pockets of his white coat, which he handed to Mike.
    ‘Could you stop at the vending machine on the way and bung in a bar of chocolate for Rita?’
    ‘I’ll go and check the cubicles again for those blessed forms…’ Helen started.
    ‘It was my mistake.’ Hamish stopped her. ‘They were still in my pocket from before my annual leave.’
    ‘Well, then, you’d better get rid of them!’
    ‘Done!’
    Dragging in a deep breath to calm down, he got the last dot of Charlotte’s fragrance that was still lingering in the air and for the first time in the longest time he wasn’t thinking