Fizz pulled back the curtain to Cubicle Three and, for a heartbeat, her breath caught in her chest.
Cooper Sinclair was sitting on the bed. Harrison was sitting on his lap, leaning back into the crook of one of Cooper’s arms. It made him look even smaller than Fizz knew the little boy was. It also made him look as if he’d never been so well protected and Fizz could easily imagine exactly how that felt.
She knew what it was like to have this big man looking after you. Not that she’d seen Cooper since last week, when he’d insisted on taking care of her cut thumb. Part of her had been hoping she’d see him in the emergency department—part of her had been relieved that she hadn’t. She’d known what it would be like to make eye contact with Cooper again. How potentially awkward it could be if they were both thinking about the same thing. Sure enough, even the briefest contact as her gaze dropped straight from the man to the child in his arms was enough to confirm she’d been right. Laura had no idea how correct she was. There certainly was something about Cooper Sinclair.
It was still hanging there in the air.
The kiss that hadn’t happened.
‘Hey... Harry... What have you been up to?’ Fizz was smiling reassuringly but she was taking in how pale his face was and the way he was holding one arm against his chest. An arm that was buried in a cushion that had been tied around the hand and wrist.
‘I fell over,’ Harry whispered.
‘He was swinging on the gate.’ Laura moved around Fizz to stand as close as she could to Cooper. She reached out to stroke Harry’s hair. ‘It came off its hinge, didn’t it, sweetheart? And you fell onto the footpath and hurt your arm.’
‘Simple FOOSH,’ Cooper added. ‘Colles’ fracture. We improvised with a pillow splint and then it didn’t hurt so much, did it, buddy?’
‘Thank goodness Cooper was there,’ Laura said. ‘It’s funny, isn’t it? We deal with a lot worse than this in here all the time but when it’s your own kid, it’s so different.’
‘Can I have a peep?’ Fizz touched the edge of the cushion protecting the injured arm.
Harrison seemed to shrink back further into Cooper’s arms and Laura leaned in give him a kiss and reassure him.
‘It’s okay... Fizz is the doctor today and she just needs to have a look to see what to do next to fix up your arm.’
‘But it’s going to hurt...’ Harrison was clearly trying hard to be brave but tears were imminent.
‘How ’bout I undo the bandage, just a little bit?’ Cooper’s voice was a gentle rumble. ‘Just to let Fizz have a peep.’
‘You know Cooper won’t hurt you,’ Laura added. ‘He’s looking after you, isn’t he?’
Harrison nodded but his lips were wobbling.
Fizz watched Cooper very carefully start to unroll the bandage he’d used to secure the soft cushion around Harrison’s wrist. It had been the perfect splint, with the filling of the cushion moulding into the classic dinner fork shape of the Colles’ fracture and supporting the arm and hand on either side so it couldn’t move any further. Both Cooper and Laura were focused on Harrison and Fizz could feel...something. Some kind of bond... A trust between the three of them?
Cooper had only been living in the shared house for a week. Surely there couldn’t be anything going on between him and Laura already, could there?
It was an unprofessional thing to be thinking about right now. Even more unprofessional was the flash of something like envy that came as an afterthought. Jealousy, even? No...but maybe regret that she’d let an opportunity disappear. Why on earth had she waited for Cooper to kiss her that night instead of just making it happen herself? What had that been about? She might never find out what it might have been like now.
The thought was gone as instantly as it had arrived. If Cooper had wanted to kiss her, he would have. She was not about to chase someone who wasn’t interested. Or chase anyone, for that matter.
‘Can you wiggle your fingers for me, Harry?’ she asked.
‘No.’
‘Did you try, buddy?’ Cooper was stifling a smile. He held out a giant hand so that it was side by side with Harrison’s tiny one. ‘Like this...’ He wiggled those long fingers slowly, as though he was playing an imaginary piano.
Oh, help... Fizz could actually feel the tingle on her own skin, as if those fingers were touching it. This was getting ridiculous.
But Harrison was moving his fingers now. And his thumb, which was enough to reassure Fizz that his median nerve hadn’t been damaged. The colour of his hand was good, too, so there were unlikely to be any major complications from this fracture.
‘We need to take an X-ray of your arm, Harry,’ she told him. ‘It’s a special photo of the bones inside it. And then we’re going to put a cast on it, which is like a hard sleeve and it will stop your arm moving so it can get better.’
‘I know what a cast is. Sally at school had one. It was pink.’
‘Do you want a pink one?’
‘No...pink is for girls.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Fizz said firmly. ‘If you want pink then that’s cool. It won’t be a coloured one for a few days, though. We put a big, white one on first because your wrist is quite swollen and it needs time for that to go down. Now, how ’bout you and Cooper here have a chat about what colour it’s going to be later on, while I have a talk to Mummy for a minute before you go up to X-ray? Is that okay?’
Both Harrison and Cooper nodded. Laura followed Fizz through the curtains.
‘We’ll get the X-ray and, if it’s a straightforward fracture, we’ll realign it and get a cast on in no time.’
‘Pain relief?’
‘Did you give him any paracetamol?’
‘Yes...after Cooper suggested it. Honestly, my brain turned to mush.’
‘I think we’ll use some intranasal fentanyl for the realignment. It’s fast acting, lasts long enough and you’ll only have to wait another thirty minutes or so afterwards before you can take him home.’
‘That’s a relief. Poor Cooper’s not getting much of a free evening. I don’t like imposing on him but Maggie and Jack were both out.’
‘He looks happy enough.’
‘And he’s so good with Harry. I can’t believe how lucky we are to have got him as a flatmate.’ Laura’s eyebrows rose as she took in the expression on Fizz’s face. ‘What?’
‘Nothing... I was just thinking about how good he is with Harry.’
If Fizz was honest, she was really thinking about what he’d be like as a partner. As a father, even.
He’d be perfect, probably.
Every woman’s dream. Every woman other than herself, that is. Someone like Laura, perhaps?
Laura was still staring at her and comprehension flooded her face. ‘Oh, no...it’s nothing like that... Good grief, Fizz. How could you even think of something like that? Not in a million years...’
Fizz’s smile was apologetic. She knew that Laura’s relationship with Harrison’s father had been traumatic enough to have made her shy away from any relationships with men.
‘I have no idea.’ She sighed. ‘Ignore me. It’s just that...like you said, there’s something about him...’
Laura’s expression had changed. A corner of her mouth curved upwards. ‘You like him, don’t you, Fizz?’
Fizz shook her head. ‘Not like that. Any more than you do. Now...let’s get this show on the road, shall we? If Cooper’s happy to stay, he could carry Harry up to X-ray, otherwise let’s find a wheelchair. The sooner we get onto it, the sooner we can all get home.’
There was no question of abandoning Laura and Harrison in the emergency department, even though Cooper knew they would be extremely well looked after. They even had a personal physician who was a family friend. It had been evident from the moment he’d come in here with the child in his arms that Harrison was nervous of strangers so it
was amazing that he’d accepted him into his life so willingly over the last week.
It felt like a privilege to be trusted more than other people and Cooper wasn’t about to break that trust by leaving his new flatmate and her kid here by themselves. So he carried Harrison to X-ray and back to the fracture clinic and he helped Laura reassure him that it would be no time at all until his arm was comfy in its new cast. The pain relief was effective and the procedure to straighten the small arm was straightforward, and then it was just a matter of observing him until the cast had dried enough to be solid and for the sedation to wear off.
‘You stayed late for us,’ Laura said to Fizz. ‘Thank you so much.’
‘It was my pleasure.’
‘And you gave up half your evening,’ she said to Cooper. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’
‘It was no problem.’
‘You must be starving. How ’bout I cook something when we get home? For you, too, Fizz. I owe you both.’
‘You don’t want to be cooking,’ Fizz said firmly. ‘Harrison’s going to need all your attention when you get home and you’ll be wanting to get him settled. I’ll bet you’re exhausted after all this.’
‘But...’
‘I’ll drive you home,’ Cooper offered. ‘We could pick up some takeout food on the way.’
Laura looked at Cooper and then at Fizz, her expression thoughtful. ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ she said. ‘I’ll drive myself and Harry home and you two can go and get some dinner. My treat.’
‘Oh, no... I’m sure Cooper’s got better things to do with the rest of his evening.’
Fizz was giving Laura an odd look and, for a moment, Cooper was bemused. Was there something going on here that he wasn’t privy to? The way Fizz was avoiding his gaze and looking slightly flustered reminded him of when he’d seen her in the locker room at the base the first day they had been there together. When he had thought it interesting that his presence seemed to be unsettling for her for some reason.
That thought morphed instantly into remembering the end of that day. When he’d been putting pressure on that cut on her thumb. When he’d come within a heartbeat of kissing her. He could have sworn that she’d wanted him to but something didn’t quite fit. It just seemed out of character for this strong, confident woman, in the same way that being flustered seemed unlikely. If Felicity Wilson wanted to be kissed, Cooper was quite sure that she was more than capable of initiating that herself. He also had the impression that a simple kiss would not be enough for someone who thrived on the thrill of adventure. She would probably want more. A lot more.
That thought was enough to send a spear of sensation through Cooper’s body and drive most coherent thought away. He knew this was probably not sensible but there was an opportunity here, if he was game enough to throw caution to the wind and take it.
‘Actually, I don’t,’ he found himself saying aloud. ‘I’d love to get some dinner and I’m sure you know the restaurants around here a lot better than I do.’
‘Go down the waterfront,’ Laura encouraged. ‘There’s lots of awesome places and it’s not far to walk from here.’
Fizz caught Cooper’s gaze, finally, and it looked like she was trying to decide whether to accept some kind of challenge.
He could understand that. For himself, this felt like he was holding a match and contemplating striking it against the side of the box but knowing, at the same time, that this particular match had the ability to self-ignite. Also knowing that the ensuing conflagration held the possibility of getting dangerously out of control.
The eye contact went on for a split second too long. Long enough for Cooper to know they were both thinking of the same thing.
That almost kiss...
He saw the movement of Fizz’s throat as she swallowed. Then her chin tilted as if she was confident of coping with whatever challenge she might choose to take and one corner of her mouth curved into a half-smile.
‘I am starving,’ she said. ‘And I could show you one of my favourite restaurants if you like pub grub, Coop.’
‘My all-time favourite.’
The smile widened. ‘Give me five minutes. I’ll just get changed out of my scrubs.’
Five minutes was enough to carry a still drowsy Harrison back to Laura’s car and strap him into his car seat.
‘You sure you don’t want me to come with you?’
‘I’m sure. Go and have a lovely dinner with Fizz.’
Laura reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out her wallet but Cooper shook his head.
‘Don’t be daft. You’re not paying for my dinner.’
‘It’s just to say thank you.’
‘There’s no need,’ Cooper said firmly. He was smiling as he turned away before Laura could protest any further. Whether she’d intended to or not, his new flatmate had pretty much set him up on a date with Fizz, hadn’t she? Maybe it was him who should be thanking her...
* * *
Fizz drank beer rather than wine and somehow that didn’t surprise Cooper.
She also chose a meal that needed to be eaten without cutlery and would, no doubt, get messy.
Cooper found himself grinning as he ordered the spare ribs as well. This was already more interesting than any date he’d been on in a very long time.
Not that either of them were admitting this was anything more than a meal between colleagues and potential friends, mind you. The conversation as they’d walked from the hospital to the section of the city near the harbourside that was brimming with restaurants, cafés and nightclubs had been no more than the polite sort of ‘getting to know someone’ queries and responses.
Cooper had told Fizz he’d been born and raised in Edinburgh, had gone to an English university and had never had any ambition to be anything other than a paramedic after he’d given up his small-boy dream of being an astronaut. He had learned that Fizz was a fifth-generation New Zealander and that it was a percentage of Maori and not Mediterranean blood that had given her that amazing olive skin and those dark eyes. She had grown up in a small, rural town not far from Wellington but was now loving her waterfront apartment that was close to this restaurant. She also told him that she had gone to medical school in the south island city of Dunedin, which she said had the reputation of being the most Scottish city in the world outside Scotland.
‘You really should visit Dunedin one day,’ she said, as she clinked her tall glass of lager against his. They had found a quiet corner in this quirky gastro pub and were perched on stools on either side of a small butcher’s block table. ‘Especially if you start getting homesick for Edinburgh.’
‘I won’t get homesick,’ he assured her. ‘I’m loving being on this side of the world.’
‘It’s a long way to have come for a new job.’ Fizz wiped a streak of foam off her top lip as she gave Cooper a curious glance. ‘Why here and not somewhere in Europe or America or Australia, even?’ There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. ‘Are you running away from an ex-wife?’
‘Nope.’ Cooper held her gaze. They were moving onto much more personal ground, apparently. ‘I just came for the adventure. Never been married. How ’bout you?’
‘Yep. I got married.’ Her tone was offhand. And then she shrugged. ‘Once was enough.’
Cooper’s glass of lager stopped halfway between the table and his mouth. He really hadn’t expected to hear that. And, to be honest, he was a bit shocked as well. What kind of bastard had she been married to that would make her dismiss the possibility of ever going down that road again?
‘How long did it last?’ he asked.
‘Two days,’ Fizz responded.
Cooper’s glass hit the table at the same time as his bark of laughter emerged. He opened his mouth to make some quip about not having given it much of a go but then he saw the way Fizz’s face had suddenly stilled and he actually felt a chill rippl
e down his spine.
‘Oh, my God...’ he said slowly. ‘What happened?’
Fizz was silent for another long moment and then she spoke without looking up. ‘It was the second day of our honeymoon. We were on an island off Fiji and Hamish decided he was going to try parasailing. Off the back of a jet boat, you know?’
Cooper nodded but said nothing. He was still reeling from realising just how far he’d managed to put his foot in his mouth.
‘They hadn’t done the harness up properly. I was sitting on the beach and trying to take photographs when he fell. They reckon he broke his neck as he hit the water.’
‘I’m so sorry... That’s...just horrible.’
‘Yeah...’ Fizz turned her head. Was she hoping their food would arrive quickly so that she could change the subject? ‘Well, ten years is a long time. I learned how to manage alone and I got my life back together.’
‘More than back together from what I can see,’ Cooper told her. ‘I found out that you’re a legend amongst the emergency services here even before I got into town properly. And I’ve seen you in action and I know how good you are at your job.’
‘It’s everything to me,’ Fizz said quietly. ‘My career.’
‘Me, too.’
The moment of silence between them this time acknowledged a shared passion. A connection. But Cooper could feel the frown on his face and Fizz noticed it at the same time.
‘What?’
‘You surprise me, that’s all.’
‘In what way?’
‘Having a tragedy like that would make a lot of people more cautious.’ Like he had become himself? ‘Unless you were even wilder ten years ago than you are now?’
Fizz’s lips quirked. ‘You think I’m wild?’
‘You take risks. I’m not sure that you take enough time to assess how dangerous something is before you decide to do it.’
Resisting Her Rescue Doc Page 7