They walked for another ten minutes and then he saw it. Deep amongst the trees, in a patch of bright sunshine, the body of a man propped up against a tree stump. They forced their way through the undergrowth and Matt felt a bramble tear at his arm, catching at the supple branch before it hit Hannah straight in the face. She ducked ahead of him, jogging towards the man and falling to her knees beside him.
Matt wasn’t sure what to expect right now. Surely they weren’t supposed to carry out resuscitation procedures on what was presumably a perfectly healthy volunteer? Then the man opened his eyes, grinning up at Hannah.
‘Hi, there. You made it, then.’ He jerked his thumb behind him. ‘Go over there.’
Hannah didn’t move. ‘Are you all right?’
The man snorted with laughter. ‘Yes, of course I am. We try to make everything as authentic as possible, but I draw the line at having a real heart attack.’
She frowned suddenly. ‘Have you got some water?’
Matt felt for the water bottle in his bag. They’d both been caught up in the illusion, but Hannah had stepped out of it for a moment and seen a real issue. The man had been sitting in full sunlight, and it was a hot day. His face was already a little red.
‘Actually, I could do with some. Looks as if I’ll be here for a while.’ He took the bottle from Matt. ‘Thanks. Now go on, will you? Five minutes in that direction.’
Hannah got to her feet, staring ahead of them. She turned questioningly to Matt and he shrugged. He couldn’t see anything either.
They walked downhill through the brush, and he saw something amongst the trees. The shape of an expertly camouflaged tent. They approached it, and Matt ducked around the tent flap, seeing a busy crew and four tables, each bearing one of the team colours. He turned to Hannah, holding the flap aside for her.
‘Great.’ A young woman approached them, beaming. ‘Go over to your table...’
‘In a minute.’ Hannah’s grim determination to get the job in hand completed seemed to have deserted her. ‘I’d like to speak to whoever’s in charge.’
‘You’re still being timed.’ The young woman frowned.
‘Then I’d like to speak to them straight away, please.’ She shot an apologetic look at Matt and he nodded. He knew now what was on her mind, and he wasn’t about to tell her to forget it and hurry her over to the table.
A man responded to the woman’s beckoning hand, and hurried over. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘Yes, there is. The man lying out there is in direct sunlight, and he’s got no water, we gave him some of ours. He’s already looking a little red in the face, and I’m hoping he doesn’t get sunstroke.’
Matt grinned. Go, Flash.
‘Um...’ The man scratched his head. ‘Did he say he felt ill?’
‘No. But prevention’s always better than cure, and I was sure you’d want to know.’ Hannah shrugged. ‘Health and safety, and all that...’
She was being nice about it, but there was a hint of firmness beneath her smile. Matt never had to explain what he wanted, he just made a decision and everyone went with it. Hannah must face this kind of situation every day, and she was clearly practised at getting her own way with the minimum of confrontation and fuss.
‘Yes, of course. Thanks for letting me know, I’ll get straight on it. If we sit him in the shade a little closer to the path, and make sure he has plenty of water, would that be okay with you?’
‘That’s fabulous. Thanks.’ Hannah flashed him a smile, and turned to make her way across to the red table.
‘That’s very sportsmanlike of you.’ Matt shot her a smile, so that Hannah would be in no doubt that he approved. ‘The other teams will be able to see him more easily if he’s closer to the path.’
She shot him a querulous look. ‘You think I should have done anything different?’
‘No. I’m just pleased to see that I have a teammate who won’t stop at nothing to win.’
Hannah flushed a little, then leaned towards him. ‘You just wait and see what I’ll do if you don’t get over to that table. Right now.’
That was almost an incentive to stay put. Hannah could do anything she wanted with him, the more up close and personal the better. The sentiment must have shown on his face, because she raised her eyebrows.
‘Since you asked so nicely...’ Matt turned and walked over to the table.
CHAPTER FOUR
THEY’D SPENT ALMOST an hour going through what they’d brought in their bags, and how they would have treated their patient, with two of the judges. About halfway through, the yellow team had turned up, but there was no sign of the blues or the greens. Finally they were allowed to go, walking with one of the production assistants along a path that led to the perimeter of the park, and then being ferried back to the visitors’ centre by car.
Matt got into the red car, feeling his back pull as he did so. He reached for the ignition, and Hannah stopped him.
‘Your arm’s bleeding.’ She reached under her T-shirt and into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a packet of antiseptic wipes that she must have saved from the medical bag she’d been carrying.
Matt was vaguely aware that thorns had ripped through both the fabric of his T-shirt and his flesh at some point, and that his shoulder was stinging. Now that he looked, he could see a trickle of partly coagulated blood.
‘It’s okay.’
She gave him the look that she probably saved for any of her patients who proved intractable. Half smiling, half determined.
‘Okay, so you want to be a man about it. I won’t tell anyone. I find that it’s in my own interest to keep you as healthy as possible over the next four weeks, so you’ll just have to take a hit for the team.’
The stinging felt a little too close for comfort to the scar on his shoulder, which he kept hidden from everyone. But he did what he imagined everyone else doing in the face of Hannah’s charm. He pulled the sleeve of his T-shirt up, gratified to find that if he held it in place the dark red mark wasn’t visible.
‘Oh. Nasty.’ Hannah squinted at the gash on his arm. ‘Hold on a minute. Sharp scratch.’
‘Ow! That’s not a sharp scratch. What did you do?’ If he was going to forgo being a man about it, then he may as well go the whole hog.
‘You had a thorn still in there.’ Hannah held up a vicious-looking spike. ‘I think there’s another one. That might be a slightly sharper scratch...’
It was. But this time it didn’t take Matt so much by surprise, and he kept quiet about it. Hannah wiped the wound carefully, and then applied a plaster from her pocket. ‘That should hold it. Although—’
‘Give it a good wash when I get back? I’ve got that part...’ Matt pulled the sleeve of his T-shirt back down again.
‘Yes, of course. Sorry, force of habit.’
She leaned back in her seat, staring out at the sun-dappled grass in front of them. Suddenly Matt didn’t want to start driving again. He was used to knowing people in terms of the way they did their jobs, and it didn’t usually occur to him to make small-talk about his colleagues’ lives. But Hannah was different.
‘You know this place pretty well?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. We used to come here on Sunday afternoons when I was little. My dad taught me how to fly a kite here.’
It must be nice to have those memories. To be able to access them whenever you wanted and smile.
‘You’ve never thought of moving away?’ He was interested. It was an experience that was so very different from his.
‘Not really. After my dad died my mum was just...lost. I was away for a while, and by the time I managed to get back, my dad was already gone. I couldn’t leave her again.’
‘I’m sorry. That must have been very difficult.’
‘It was for Mum.’ Hannah shrugged off whatever regrets she had of her own. ‘He knew that I was com
ing back for him, he just couldn’t wait.’
A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away impatiently. Matt wanted very badly to comfort her, but wasn’t sure whether she’d accept it.
‘I imagine that there isn’t much you can tell people that you love that they don’t already know.’
She nodded. ‘That’s what I think as well. I hope so, anyway. My biggest regret is that I never got to tell Dad that he wasn’t to worry about Mum, because I’d look after her.’
‘I dare say that you know what your son’s capable of, even better than he does, at times.’ Matt really wasn’t qualified to give advice on families. But maybe all that time when he was a kid, spent watching other people’s families, studying them carefully from the outside, gave him a slightly different perspective.
Hannah laughed suddenly. ‘Yes, you’ve got that right. It’s just as well that I can out-think him a bit, or I’d never manage to keep up with him.’
‘I guess that having a child puts things into perspective. You get to understand your own parents a little better.’
‘Yes, it puts a lot of things into perspective. I wish that Sam could have known my dad, he would have adored him.’
‘You’ve taught him how to fly a kite?’
Hannah laughed. ‘No, actually, I haven’t. That’s a very good idea, though. Maybe I’ll wait for a windy day and bring him up here.’
The question was on the tip of his tongue. Whether Hannah might wait for that windy day, and call him to see if he might come along. He had no idea how to fly a kite and it seemed suddenly as if it was something he’d be interested in learning about.
He didn’t ask. Hannah’s was one of those families that had fascinated him as a child, stable and loving, the exact opposite of his own. But they were unknown territory and he’d kept his distance. And anyway, Hannah was really just an acquaintance. One who he felt suddenly very close to, after working through the challenges they’d been set for today, but still just an acquaintance.
He jumped as someone rapped on the car window, and Hannah pressed the control to wind it down. The yellow team had been dropped off in the car park now, and were making their way to their car.
‘Guys, we need you back at the hospital. We’re doing a few interviews there, and when the other teams get back we’ll be announcing the winners.’
‘I don’t suppose you know where the other teams are, do you?’ Hannah’s competitive spirit emerged suddenly and the young woman shook her head.
‘Sorry...’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Hannah wound the window back up. ‘Can’t say or won’t say, I wonder.’
Matt chuckled, reaching for the ignition. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’
* * *
Hannah had stepped over the line a little. She usually gave the sanitised version of what had happened when her father had died, just that she’d been out of the country and got back as soon as she could.
She didn’t tell anyone about the clawing guilt. About how she’d left, accompanying her boyfriend on travels that were his dream, not hers. John had been her dream, and she’d followed him.
Her father had asked her what she really wanted, and she’d told him it was this. She wanted to see the world. He hadn’t believed her, and he and her mother had obviously been worried for her, but they’d let her go without any more argument, waving her off at the airport with fixed smiles on their faces.
And that was the last time she’d seen him. When the telegram had got through, routed through various different post offices, she’d called her mother and found that her father was dying. John had waved her off at the airport rather more cheerfully than her parents had, and she hadn’t seen him again either. By the time she’d arrived home, her father had died, and she’d never had the chance to tell him that she was sorry.
The car turned into the road that ran through to the back of the hospital and she saw her mother with Sam. He was standing right at the front of the spectator area, waving the red flag that she’d helped him make. Matt stopped the car, right in front of him.
‘Mum... Mum!’ Sam was hallooing at the top of his voice. Hannah shot Matt a smile and got out of the car.
‘Mum... Did you win?’
‘We’ll have to wait for the judges to say.’ Hannah stroked her son’s cheek as his face fell. ‘But we did the best we could, and that’s what matters.’
What seemed to matter now was winning, but Sam accepted the thought without question, jumping up and down and waving his flag. Hannah gave him a hug and Sam craned around as Matt got out of the car. He gave Sam a wave and the little boy pretended not to notice, suddenly shy.
Hannah beckoned Matt over, and he walked towards them. ‘Sam, this is Matt.’
‘Hi, Sam.’ Matt squatted down on his heels in front of the boy, giving him his space and smiling quietly as he waited for Sam to get over his attack of nerves. ‘That’s a great flag.’
‘I made it.’ Sam gave the flag another wave, and Matt nodded solemnly.
‘I can see that. It’s better than all the others.’ He grinned when Sam waved the flag more vigorously. ‘It was the first thing we saw when we got to the hospital.’
Sam liked that. He began to chatter excitedly as Matt got to his feet and introduced himself to Hannah’s mum. His quiet manner, and the way he held his hand out to shake hers, elicited a glance in Hannah’s direction from her mother. No doubt about the meaning—Mum liked the strong silent type, and good manners always impressed her.
The home crowd had seen them, and people were beginning to cheer, the banner with the name of the hospital lifted aloft after what must have been a long wait to greet them. Hannah lifted Sam over the barrier, feeling her fatigued muscles protest at his weight, and he waved his flag wildly.
Anxious to get as good a view as possible, Sam reached for Matt’s taller frame. Hannah saw Matt hesitate, and then he smiled. As she delivered Sam into his arms, the brush of Matt’s skin against hers was suddenly all she could feel. He hoisted the boy onto his shoulders, holding him carefully so that he didn’t fall, and Sam howled with delight.
‘He’s not too heavy for you, is he?’ Matt grinned a no, and Hannah tapped Sam’s knee to get his attention. ‘Don’t wriggle so much. Matt won’t be able to hold you.’
‘I won’t let him go.’
This. This was what it would be like if Sam had a father. If John had responded to the news that she was pregnant by wanting anything to do with his child. But he hadn’t. He had been too busy with his own life to bother with hers or the one they’d unwittingly created together. Hannah felt a lump rise in her throat, and realised that her mother was staring at her.
‘Do you mind staying here with Sam for a moment? I’ll go and park the car up...’ She wanted to get away from here before the picture of a complete family formed too clearly in her mind.
‘Um... Yeah. Sure.’ Matt clearly wasn’t used to being around kids, and he was taking the responsibility seriously, but he was grinning from ear to ear. If he wanted to let Sam down, then her mum was there to take him.
‘Keys...?’
‘In my pocket.’ Matt didn’t seem at all disposed to let go of Sam, although one hand was probably quite enough to keep him from falling from his perch. Hannah saw the outline of the keys under the heavy material of his trousers, and felt her mouth go dry.
She was even thinking twice about this? She should be pleased that Matt was so careful, and that he was taking extra care that Sam didn’t fall.
‘Okay. Sharp...um...scratch.’ The joke dried in her throat. It wasn’t really necessary to warn Matt every time she went near him.
His momentary, heavy-lidded look told Hannah that he noticed her touch as much as she did his. She reached forward, fishing the keys from his pocket with two fingers, stepping back as soon as she had them, feeling the metal dig into her hand as she held them a lit
tle too tightly.
‘I’m just going to park the car, Sam. You’ll stay here with Matt and Grandma?’ Sam gave her a cursory nod, concentrating on waving his flag.
Sophie caught up with her in the car park, flinging her arm around her shoulders as they walked back together.
‘I see he’s made friends with Sam. How was he?’
Beautiful. Challenging. ‘Um...he’s got good stamina.’
‘I like a man with good stamina.’ Sophie laughed and Hannah dug her elbow into her ribs.
‘I meant for climbing hills. He’s a good problem-solver as well.’
‘Yeah? I love a good problem-solver...’
‘Shush. If you’re so keen on stamina and problem-solving, why don’t you try him out for yourself?’ Now she’d said it, Hannah wished she hadn’t. Sophie had better not try Matt out for herself.
‘Nah. He’s all yours...’ Sophie ended the conversation abruptly, jogging forward to greet Sam. ‘Hey, there, Sam. You’re very tall all of a sudden!’
Sam leaned over, tapping the top of Sophie’s head, and she laughed.
‘We’d better go and sign in. Are you going to join us, Sophie?’
Recognising that Sophie had played a part in their efforts today, and wanting her to share in the credit, was a nice gesture on Matt’s part. The walk between here and the awning that covered the reception area was lined with people and they were all cheering.
‘No, that’s okay.’ Sophie grinned conspiratorially at Hannah’s mother. ‘You take Sam.’
As they started to walk, she heard Sophie’s voice behind her. Then the people lining their way started a Mexican wave, cheering and shouting. She heard Matt chuckle as Sam screamed with glee.
‘Oh! She didn’t...’
‘I think she did.’ Matt’s voice seemed very close all of a sudden. ‘One last push and we’re home...’
The embarrassment, and the thought that there were so many expectations on her shoulders, made this walk seem harder, and longer than all the rest put together. Sam waved his flag, as people ducked and straightened in a new ripple that followed them all the way to the reception area. Matt lifted Sam down, and Hannah hugged him.
Winning the Surgeon's Heart Page 4