Both Katie and Mitch jumped.
He looked at her in puzzlement. “What?”
“Don’t you dare write your name on the Star Chart!”
“But Shane and Doc-”
“Put that pen down and step away from the chart.”
“Well, that’s hardly fair, me not being allowed to when they-”
“Mitch! Now!”
“Geez.” He tucked the pen back into his top pocket. “What makes them so special?”
Katie laughed. “You’ve been told, boyo.”
Folding his arms, he leaned back against the bench. “Huh.”
“Look,” Emma explained, “that Star Chart is for well-behaved kids.”
“So not you, Mitch,” Katie added.
“For kids,” Emma stressed.
“So how come Doc and Shane have their names there? Not to mention,” he pointed at the chart, “all those big-arsed stars. Right across the page.”
“They did those themselves. I’m going to fix it.” Emma turned back to Katie. “Arm.”
Mood much improved, she obeyed.
“You can smirk,” Mitch said. “You’re the one getting stabbed.”
“Is that so?” Katie’s eyes gleamed.
“Yeah.” Pulling out a roll of peppermints, he popped one into his mouth. “Look at you sitting there getting needled, and look at me just watching and eating mints.”
“That’s a mighty big sentence for you, Mitchy.”
He just grinned lazily and looked down at his heavy work boots.
Katie flinched as Emma gave her the vaccine, but she still had that gleam in her eyes. As soon as Emma finished, she announced, “Check Mitch’s notes.”
“Why?”
“He got stuck by a rusty nail yesterday and didn’t come in for a tetanus shot.”
Mitch’s head snapped up. “What?”
“Yeah.” Katie sneered. “And your last tetanus shot was the same time as me.”
“It was not!” He straightened.
Emma pointed at him warningly. “Wait right there.”
“Now listen, lady-”
“Wait.”
He glared at Katie smugly rolling down her sleeve. “Little troublemaker. I should have left you alone. Lockjaw would fix your loose lips.”
She flipped him the bird. “Too late now, Mitchy boy.”
“There’s always later.”
“I am so scared.”
Emma finished entering the vial number, expiry date and other information into the computer then brought up Mitch’s file. “Well, look at that. Seems you’ll benefit from a booster, sunshine.”
Katie stood up and indicated the chair with a flourish. “There you go, Mitchy boy. Park your arse and prepare to be stabbed.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Trust me, this’ll hurt you more than me.”
“Yeah, well neither of you can make me so I’ll be going.” He swung around and started for the door, only to find Doc blocking his way.
“Going somewhere?” Doc asked.
“Ah…work.”
“Not until you’ve had a shot.”
“But Doc-”
“Your mother would kill me if I let her baby boy leave here without a booster.”
“But Doc-”
“Do you want me to call your mother, Mitch? Because I will.”
Emma had to struggle to hold back the laugh. She’d met Mitch’s mother and the woman was formidable. Small, slight of build, and without fear, she ruled her household with iron will. All her boys listened to her. In some things they went their own way, but none of them wanted to have her on their case about something as stupid as not having their vaccinations.
Doc pointed to the chair beside Emma’s desk. “Sit.”
Shoulders slumping, Mitch lumbered over to the chair and plopped down into it. “I hate needles.”
Doc gave Emma the thumbs-up.
“Thanks, Doc,” she said.
He took the vial from the ‘fridge, did the check and handed it to her with a wink. “My pleasure.”
When he left, she quickly did the usual pre-checks before drawing up the vaccine. “Now be a good boy, Mitch, and I just might put your name up on the Star Chart.”
Katie guffawed.
“Har-de-har.” Gloomily he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a brawny, muscled arm with a tattoo of barbed wire around the impressive bulge of his biceps and triceps.
Shane might not have the brawn that Mitch had, but as far as Emma was concerned, Shane was all man.
Not what she should have on her mind when preparing to jab a patient, however.
Mitch actually cringed when the needle went in.
Once she’d finished, Emma told him to stay put while she put everything safely away. Then, getting a sticking plaster from the kids section, she stuck it over the needle site on his arm. “There you go,” she said brightly.
Mitch looked down at the sticking plaster that had puppies all over it, shook his head and stood up. “And I always thought you were such a nice girl, Em.”
She grinned.
“Come on.” Katie smacked his arm.
“Ouch! Holy heck, Katie!”
“Don’t be such a baby. It can’t have started hurting yet.”
“And it might not hurt,” Emma reminded them.
“But most of them do,” Mitch complained.
“Just remember, as you’re writhing in agony tomorrow, screaming and crying, that this is all your fault.” Katie sauntered out. “You started this shit.”
Mitch just rolled his eyes and followed her.
Still chuckling, Emma cleaned up. Her gaze fell on the Star Chart. Right, that reminded her, she needed to sort the big boys out once and for all before her next patient arrived.
An hour later she was doing an ECG on Barry Combs when she heard Doc say indignantly from the direction of the kitchen, “Hey!”
His voice was joined by Shane’s. “What the-”
“She can’t do that!”
“Just stay still, Barry,” she instructed him.
As the machine analysed, she waited. Yep, sure enough…
“She cut our names off the Star Chart, Dad!”
“And stuck us in the kitchen,” Doc said.
“Cheek of the woman,” Shane added.
Barry stared at her.
She shrugged and pressed ‘print’. The ECG print-out appeared after several seconds, she ripped it off and walked out of the room, saying as she did so, “You can take the sticky bits off now, Barry, and put your shirt back on. I’ll give this to Doc and he’ll meet you in his room.”
“She can’t do that,” Doc repeated.
Emma walked into the kitchen.
Father and son turned to eye her.
“Can do it.” She crossed to Doc and handed him the ECG read-out. “Did do it.” She pointed to the portion of the Star Chart with their names on it that she’d cut off and stuck to the ‘fridge. “Do not touch it or I’ll ring Mrs A.”
Their jaws dropped.
“You have Mitch wanting to put his name on it now. My Star Chart is for small kids, not,” she waved a hand between them, “big kids. Now Doc, you have Barry waiting for you in your room.” She smiled sweetly.
Shane and Doc looked at each other.
“Don’t look at me,” Shane said. “You hired her.”
When Doc just looked from her to the Star Chart in disappointment, Emma turned and left, silently laughing the whole way back to the treatment room.
Chapter 10
Sitting at the kitchen bench, Katie popped the tab on a tin of Diet Coke. “I can’t believe you actually cooked that for Shane.”
“I owe him.” Emma spooned the cream onto the Pavlova.
“For what?” Katie gave a sly wink. “I noticed he left really late last night.”
“Oh?” Emma scraped more cream out of the jug. Just how much could Katie guess?
“As in he left at the arse crack of dawn,” Katie said.
“Did he now?” Emma hid her
blush by turning away to wash the bowl out in the sink. “Just what were you doing out at the arse-crack of dawn to see that?”
“Never mind. Why didn’t you tell me you two had gotten so close?”
Knowing she wasn’t going to stop, Emma turned back with a knife.
“Geez, don’t be cross enough to try and stab me.” Katie looked at it. “A butter knife, in fact. That’s sad. And desperate. Desperately sad.”
“This isn’t for you, you twit.” Emma smoothed the cream across the Pavlova.
Katie rested her forearms on the bench. “You’re not going to even try and deny it?”
“Why should I? You know we’ve been going out together for awhile now.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you and he were burning up the sheets.”
Emma checked the cream was level. “I don’t have to tell you everything.”
“Yeah, you do. It’s the girlfriend code.”
Emma cast her a wry glance.
“Seriously.”
“Since when?”
“Since we became friends. After all,” Katie picked up the tin of soft drink, “I tell you everything.”
“You didn’t want to tell me it had been eleven years since you had a tetanus shot.”
“Stop splitting hairs. You and Shane.” Katie grinned. “I’m happy for you both. Really.”
“That’s nice. Thanks.”
“We all are. Me and the boys.”
Emma stopped spreading the cream to gape in horror at her. “They know? They know that Shane and I are sleeping together?”
“Well, yeah, I guess so.” Katie shrugged. “So what? It’s not earth-shaking news.”
Emma pointed the butter knife at her. “Did you tell them?”
“Me? No.” When Emma narrowed her eyes, Katie drew back indignantly. “What?”
“Did you tell them?”
“No. Why would you think such a thing? That goes against the girlfriend code.”
“Girlfriend code? Where did that code go when you blabbed to the blokes that Shane had cooked the chook for CK?”
“Ah yes.” Katie thoughtfully tapped a finger against her bottom lip. “That wasn’t part of the girlfriend code.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because.”
“Because? I think you and this girlfriend code is a load of crap.”
“I’m injured.” Katie placed a hand against her chest. “Plus in all fairness, I didn’t willingly give up that info.”
“You trying to tell me someone tortured it out of you?”
“Yeah.”
Emma looked at Katie’s innocent face. “Butter wouldn’t melt in that mouth.”
Katie batted her eyelashes.
“Anyway, the point is you told the boys, who blabbed it to Shane.”
“Shane’s a big boy, he can take it.”
“Beside the point. You can’t bag on girlfriends sharing everything then proceed to blab around something like that.”
Katie took a thoughtful sip of Diet Coke. “You do know you didn’t make me promise not to tell, right?”
Tossing the knife into the sink, Emma started hulling strawberries. “You said you wouldn’t tell.”
Katie sighed. “All right, all right. I’m sorry. But really, can you blame me for letting it slip to Mitch in a weak moment?”
Rolling her eyes, Emma continued hulling. Personally, she was happy that Katie had spilt the beans, it had led to that first hot interlude between her and Shane, and from there their relationship had grown quickly. But it amused her to put Katie on the spot and watch her squirm.
Unfortunately, Katie wasn’t the squirming type.
“Mitch can be persuasive,” Katie continued, completely unperturbed. “It’s all his fault.”
“Are you for real? You’re actually blaming Mitch?”
“Listen, the blokes were around at Danny’s when Shane came over with this stupid excuse as to why he wanted to learn to roast a chook. I mean, seriously, why would you ask Danny to teach you to roast a chook and then say it’s for yourself?” Katie laughed. “They knew he was out to impress you, but they thought the chook was for you not CK. Idiots,” she added. “As if someone would roast a chook for the woman they’re trying to impress and then bike it over to her house.”
Emma washed the strawberries. “You know a lot about this.”
“Hey, he had no idea that Hank saw him arrive here and told me. It was only you who told me he’d cooked it for CK, which, by the way, he only did to impress you.”
“Hang on, where does Mitch fit in?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“But you blamed Mitch and-”
“In fact,” Katie interrupted with supreme satisfaction, “you’re the one who broke your promise to Shane and look what that got you? Pounded into the mattress.”
Emma nearly choked. Turning to face Katie, she stared at her. “Oh my God, are you saying this is my fault?”
“Hey, you can’t blame me for breaking a promise when you broke it first. Right?” Katie raised the tin of Diet Coke in a salute to CK, who was lying unashamedly on the kitchen table. “That’s known as being a hypocrite, right, CK?”
Emma started cutting the strawberries in halves. “You are a wonder, Katie Boyd. I still have no idea how this is all my fault. Just tell me, how did you do that?”
“It’s a gift.”
“It’s bullshit.”
Katie laughed.
Emma grinned. “But it worked, you know. Shane cooked for CK to impress me, then I broke my promise and he found out, and then…” She stopped. “Yes, well…”
“Oh ho!” Delighted, Katie leaned forward. “So this bed hopping all started right after the fete a month ago? Emma, you little devil!”
The blush in her cheeks was a dead giveaway.
Katie smiled. “I’m really happy for you, Emma. You deserve a nice bloke like Shane, and he deserves a sweet girl like you.”
Expecting more teasing, she looked up in surprise.
“I’m serious.” Katie set the tin on the bench. “Shane is easy-going, an honest bloke with a good heart. You’re the perfect match for him, Em. You’re sweet, easy-going, and you have a good heart, too.”
“Wow. I…I don’t know what to say.” Emma was genuinely touched.
“You don’t have to anything. Just take the compliment and give me some of that Pavlova.”
“Can’t. This is for Shane.”
“Why? You didn’t tell me yet.” Katie winked. “Did you do something wrong and now you’re trying to worm your way into his good books again?”
“No. I owe him for CK scratching him not long after we first met.”
“Bugger. Can’t you just make him another one?” Katie was practically salivating as Emma opened a can of passionfruit and started to spoon it over the cream.
“Tell you what, I’ll make you one tomorrow, all right?”
“I really think you should let me taste-test this one.” Katie reached out to swipe her finger through the cream, only to jump when Emma lightly smacked her hand with the spoon. “Hey!”
“You can wait for tomorrow, young lady.” Emma waved the spoon threateningly.
CK looked over and meowed.
“Your mother is a tyrant,” Katie informed the ginger cat. “Everyone thinks she’s so sweet but they have no idea.”
“You said so yourself.” Emma smirked. “Too late to take it back now.”
“Fine.” Katie checked her watch and slid off the stool. “Oops, gotta go.”
“Fun afternoon planned?”
“For a Saturday, I wish. No, I promised Mum I’d help her clean out the garden shed.”
“Won’t your Dad do it?”
“He’s away fishing.”
“Hence the hurry to get it done before he gets back and finds his garden tools tossed?”
“Dad garden?” Katie snorted. “Not in this lifetime. It’s Mum who gardens. She wants to clean the shed out and I told her I’d h
elp. Weak moment on my part, I’d rather be watching a horror movie with my feet up, but there you have it. We all have our sweet sides.”
“Right.”
“You say that with such sarcasm. I’m having second thoughts about you.” Katie looked at CK again. “Your mother has a dark side, CK. I reckon beneath that sweet exterior she’s fooled us and there’s a seething secret boiling away, ready to be revealed, showing her to be a wicked woman with devious intentions.” With a laugh, she saluted Emma. “Gotta go. Catch you later!” She left the kitchen, leaving Emma staring after her.
After several seconds, Emma looked down at the Pavlova. What would Katie say if she knew that Emma was keeping a secret? And more…what would Shane say?
Placing the tin back on the bench, she braced both hands on the smooth surface and leaned on outstretched arms.
How long could she let this go? How far? The relationship between her and Shane just kept getting better. Stronger. Friends and lovers, she couldn’t recall ever being so happy, so content with her life, with the direction their relationship was heading. Yes, it was early days still, but they were so happy together, got on so well. Not every minute was spent in the sack, they talked, they watched movies, they walked, they helped each other do things around their homes. They even sat in contented silence sometimes, just watching the late summer evenings come in and give way to night. At work they maintained a professional appearance, but it was so easy, aware of each other as friends and lovers but also as nurse and doctor, employee and boss. Neither stepped over the line at work.
But relationships couldn’t thrive when one had a secret.
Maybe it wasn’t bad, but how would Shane view it? This could go very unfavourably.
For the first time Emma wished she’d told him at the very beginning, that Doc had told him, that he’d known about it right back then.
“Argh.” She closed her eyes. “I’m going to have to tell him sometime, aren’t I, CK?”
CK meowed.
“Yeah, you’re right. I can’t let this go on.” Dropping her forehead onto her upper arm, she blew out a long breath. “I’m going to have to do it.”
Before things got too entangled between them.
It would be terrible if he found out from someone else. No, it had to be from her. But when she did tell him, what would he do or say?
In fact, what would her friends say? Did she need to tell them, too?
Secrets (Hope Bay) Page 25