* * *
She was the kind of person you would want right by your side in any crisis but Hugh had already known that, hadn’t he? It was one of those trustworthy things about Lisa Phillips. Like the way she had devoted herself to caring for her sister. And the way she not only always gave a hundred and ten percent in everything she did but she did it with intelligence and good-humoured grace even when she had to be rather tired by now.
Hugh was feeling a little weary himself. They’d put in quite a few miles of uphill walking today and work had been full on ever since the start of the evening surgery. They’d been kept very busy, despite calling in the extra team members, until the surgery hours were over. Now he and Lisa were alone in the medical centre and ship’s hospital. Janet had gone to bed and Peter and Tim were going to be on call for anything else that happened on board overnight.
Jim’s blood pressure had responded well to the intravenous medications and had dropped slowly enough not to cause any complications. Hugh wanted to keep him under observation till morning but he didn’t need to be wakened for another check for an hour so he was sleeping peacefully. His wife had gone back to their cabin.
Michelle’s condition had, thankfully, started to improve once the extra medications had taken effect. Hugh wasn’t going to let her go in a hurry either. He was going to keep a very careful eye on her blood oxygen levels, which meant another arterial sample needed to be taken soon and they would continue to give her both oxygen and nebuliser therapy every few hours.
The roll of the ship was more obvious now as the night wore on. It didn’t bother Hugh at all—he rather liked a bit of rough water, in fact, and he had been pleased to see that it didn’t seem to be affecting Lisa either. He was concerned about what her level of fatigue must be like by now, though, so he went to the tiny kitchen in the medical centre on the other side of the reception area and put the electric jug on to boil water so he could make Lisa a mug of coffee.
He left the door behind him ajar because this room was not much bigger than a cupboard and, as he gathered the mugs and spoons he needed, he could hear that someone had come into the reception area. He turned his head so that he could see through the crack of the door, hoping that it wasn’t a new patient arriving. It wasn’t. Lisa had obviously come out of the treatment room so as not to disturb Michelle by taking a phone call.
‘I can’t talk long,’ she was saying. ‘I’m monitoring a patient. What on earth are you doing up at this time of night anyway?’
Hugh heard the soft ping of the jug announcing that the water had boiled. He should step out of the room, he thought, and let Lisa know he was nearby. But he hesitated, probably because it was a little disturbing how much he wanted to step closer to her, having heard that note of anxiety in her voice. The urge to protect this woman and to fix things that might be a problem for her was getting steadily more pronounced.
‘I told you not to open that mail, Abby.’
There was a note of something like panic in Lisa’s voice now, even though she had lowered it, and that need to try and make things better for her was so powerful it squeezed his chest tightly enough to be a physical pain.
‘It’s not a problem, okay?’ Her voice was firm now after a short silence. ‘I’m dealing with it. That’s why this job was such a great idea.’
Hugh could feel a deep frown creasing his forehead. What wasn’t a problem? And why would being on this cruise be a way of dealing with it? Was there something she’d needed to get away from for a while? Or someone?
‘It’s only money,’ he heard her say then. ‘I’ve got this—I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry. Look, I’ll be home in just a couple of days and I’ll explain everything. Now, I’ve really got to go. Talk soon, yeah?’
Lisa had her back to the kitchen door and she walked back to the treatment room as soon as she’d ended the call so she had no idea that Hugh had been eavesdropping.
He couldn’t tell her, of course. Which meant he couldn’t ask her what kind of problem she had or what the solution she was planning was all about. If it was money she needed, he had more than enough. He could help...
Or maybe not. Maybe he shouldn’t try to find out what was going on and risk getting sucked into an even deeper involvement in Lisa’s life.
It had been the mention of money that was changing things. Setting off warning bells that he couldn’t ignore, despite the fact that they were taking him straight back to a place he had no desire to be. Back to those dismal days right before the wedding that had never happened. Back to the time when he’d lost both his fiancée and his best friend in one fell swoop.
Back to the worst moment of all. When Catherine had turned away from him to walk out of his life for ever with the words that were going to haunt him for ever.
‘I never really loved you, Hugh. I just loved your money.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE STORM BUILT through the night.
By the time daylight broke, the huge ship was riding some dramatic swells that only seemed to get bigger as the day wore on. The Lido deck was closed and the view from the windows was of a such a dark grey sea it was almost black, so the contrast of the white foam of countless breaking waves was even more breathtaking. The feeling of your stomach dropping when a swell had been crested was alarming and the crunch of the change at the bottom before another climb was also breathtaking. Wind howled through windows that weren’t closed tightly enough and people were tilted sideways as they negotiated corridors around the ship.
It was like riding a roller-coaster in very slow motion and Lisa had never wanted to ride any kind of roller-coaster. Or do any thrill seeking, for that matter. Hugh, on the other hand, was actually enjoying this.
The medical centre was busier than Lisa had ever seen and, despite having only managing to catch a few hours of interrupted sleep after caring for their inpatients overnight, she and Hugh were there along with Peter, Janet and Tim, dealing with not only the normal kind of workload but minor injuries that were arriving at an increasing rate due mainly to falls caused by the ship’s rolling. They were also handing out huge quantities of anti-motion-sickness medications, trying to reassure overly anxious passengers, and they still had their inpatients.
Michelle seemed to be well over her frightening asthma attack but, for everybody’s peace of mind, they were going to keep monitoring her for a few more hours. Jim’s blood pressure was down to an acceptable level and he could be discharged as soon as a crew member was available to make sure he got back to his cabin safely.
On top of what was keeping the medical centre so busy, they were also fielding calls to various parts of the ship. Tim had just rushed off to a cabin where it sounded like an elderly person had fallen and hit their head to cause a frightening amount of bleeding when another call came in.
‘It’s in the gym,’ Hugh announced. ‘Another fall but they’re having trouble breathing so I might need a hand.’
Lisa came out from behind the desk instantly. She was on Hugh’s watch so it was obvious that she was the one to accompany Hugh.
But he wasn’t even looking in her direction. ‘Janet?’
Janet put her hands up in front of her. ‘Not unless I have to. I’m okay here but if I go forward and that high I’ll get sick.’ She was the one to turn to Lisa. ‘You’re not prone to motion sickness, are you?’
‘Haven’t noticed anything yet.’ Lisa tried to smile but there was a knot in her stomach that could turn into nausea down the track. Anxiety about the storm had just been augmented by anxiety about why Hugh had chosen Janet to go with him rather than her.
‘Be a good test for you, then.’ Hugh still wasn’t looking at Lisa as he picked up another one of their first response packs. ‘The gym’s right at the bow. And we need to cross the Lido deck if we want to get there fast. Here, put this on.’ He handed Lisa a bright yellow sou’wester. ‘Even if it’s not raining, there’s enough
spray to get you soaked almost instantly.’
They needed to get there fast if someone was having difficulty breathing and that meant running up the stairs to avoid both waiting for an elevator and the risk of getting caught if there was a power outage.
There were people pressed against windows as they reached the interior part of the Lido deck and the collective cries of mixed awe, alarm and excitement only added to Lisa’s anxiety.
‘You ready?’ Hugh had his shoulder against the door that led to the deck. ‘Brace yourself.’
They only had about twenty metres to go to get to the outside entrance of the gym on the other side of one of the swimming pools. Lisa was unprepared for the blast of wind as she went outside, however, and could feel herself losing her footing. She could get blown overboard, she thought. Or into a swimming pool that currently looked like something out of one of those horrific videos she’d seen where the grand piano was flying across a room. The water in the pool was tipping towards one end and then sloshing back to form a small tsunami that spilled out and washed across the deck with enough force to send deck chairs sliding into a heap against the railing.
For one terrible moment Lisa thought she might be going to drown and all she could think of was that she wouldn’t be there for Abby when she was needed in the future. It had been bad enough not to have been there for her sister the other day when the upsetting incident with the patient had happened but at least she’d been able to talk to her and it had been enough. Not being there in any form would be even more of a failure than having been responsible for Abby’s injuries in the first place.
How could she have been so irresponsible to have put herself in danger like this?
Except, in that same terrible moment, Hugh reached out and caught Lisa’s arm. He was leaning into the wind and she could feel how stable his body was. He’d done this before. He was, in fact—judging by the grin on his face and the sparkle in his eyes—loving every moment of it.
Nothing could have demonstrated more clearly that they were—as Hugh had commented on during that, oh, so romantic dinner when they’d decided they could be friends—total opposites when it came to their approach to life.
But... Lisa was clinging to Hugh until they reached the doors that led to the relative safety of the gym. Opposites attracted, didn’t they? Sometimes they could even make a long-term relationship work. If both sides wanted it to work, that was.
It was feeling more and more like Hugh was losing interest, however. Something was very different today but it wasn’t until they were halfway through assessing the crew member in the gym who’d lost his balance and gone rolling across the floor to land against the metal handles of a piece of equipment that Lisa realised what it was.
The feeling of connection had vanished. As suddenly as a switch being flicked off.
Ever since their first night together, they’d been playing that game when they were working together. Frequent eye contact that was held just short of being a beat too long. Accentuating the kind of situations that meant they came into physical contact with each other, like their hands brushing when Lisa helped to shift the crew member’s shirt to expose the painful area of his chest.
The tingle had gone. That awareness. Something was broken and Lisa didn’t know what it was but it scared her. Okay, she’d known that her time with Hugh was coming to an end and it would be difficult but she’d thought they would make the most of it for as long as possible and then part as close friends. That they could stay in touch and might even see each other again one day. But maybe that was breaking some unspoken rule. That what happened on board ship simply ceased to exist when the cruise was over, and perhaps Hugh was thinking it was a good idea to wind things down as preparation so he wouldn’t have to deal with tears or something when they said goodbye.
Or maybe what was really scaring her was being out in the open sea in weather like this. She could understand now why Janet had wanted to stay in the centre of the ship. Right up at the bow like this made the falling into the trough of a swell even more stomach-dropping and she could see the impressive wall of spray that came up to flood a lower deck when they hit the bottom of the dip between waves.
‘Try and take a deep breath for me,’ Hugh told their patient as he gently palpated an area where bruising was already becoming evident.
‘Can’t.’ The young man’s voice was strained. ‘Hurts... Ow...’
‘Sorry, mate. I think you might have cracked a rib or two. Let me listen to your chest and then we’ll give you something for the pain and get you down to the clinic so we can so some X-rays.’ He unhooked the stethoscope from around his neck. ‘You didn’t hit your head as well, did you?’ He looked up at another member of the gym staff. ‘Was he knocked out?’
The other personal trainer shook his head. ‘He just went flying, along with a bunch of gear. We’ve closed the gym now, which is a shame, because we’re going to be stuck at sea for an extra day. Have you heard that Sardinia’s been cancelled? We’re heading straight back to Malaga.’
* * *
What a way to end a cruise.
You had to feel sorry for the passengers but, for Hugh, it was a blessing. He loved being flat out like this, facing a challenge that threatened to tip them past the point of being able to cope. He loved the thrill of riding waves like this but, best of all, it was the perfect excuse to totally ignore the mixed messages in his head concerning Lisa.
He was being given the chance to step right back and see what was going on from a perspective that wasn’t getting sabotaged by spending personal time with her. Just being alone with Lisa was enough to make him want to trust her. Enough to make it preferable to block his ears to any alarm bells ringing. It was a bonus that fate was going to ensure they didn’t get a chance to make love again because that would be even harder to resist and might make him want really stupid things, like being able to wake up with her in his bed for the rest of his life.
How could you feel so strongly about someone you’d only met a couple of weeks ago? He didn’t really know Lisa at all, did he? Not that it probably made much difference in the long run. He’d known Catherine for two years, for heaven’s sake.
As another bonus, there were the other medical staff around. It was Tim who helped Hugh glue the scalp wound that he’d found on the patient who’d been bleeding in her cabin. Peter took the X-rays that confirmed the broken ribs that the personal trainer had suffered but had also been reassuring that there was no underlying injury like a punctured lung.
He also X-rayed a Colles’ wrist fracture that came in a little later and Lisa was tasked with helping splint the arm with a plaster slab underneath which kept her well out of Hugh’s way for some time.
He hadn’t missed the occasional puzzled glance that came his way from her from time to time but it was as though he wasn’t actually in control of the growing distance between them. It was simply happening and he wasn’t exactly enjoying the process himself.
He was missing Lisa already.
The medical staff took turns to have meal breaks by themselves or had food delivered by room service to ensure that they were caring for their inpatients, that someone was available at all times to see people that turned up at the clinic and that they had enough staff to respond to calls from other parts of the ship as well.
That would need to continue overnight, although the forecast was that the weather would have settled by the time they were due to dock in Malaga tomorrow morning. Even if that was the case, however, everybody was going to be exhausted by the time they reached their final port but at least Hugh and the rest of the team would have a couple of days off before a new cruise began—a three-week one next time—and Lisa would be heading home and would no doubt have plenty of time to rest before going back to her real job.
And her real life that didn’t include him. Maybe it couldn’t include any permanent relationship given that her sister was
her first priority. Ironically, that was one of the things he loved about Lisa. The thing that made him feel like she was completely trustworthy and that was what was doing his head in enough to make it impossible to sleep when he was given a break in the early hours of the morning.
Instead, he went walking around the ship because, finally, the seas around them were subsiding. He might as well get a coffee, Hugh decided, because there was little point in trying to sleep for what was left of the night. They would be busy as soon as they docked as well, making arrangements for transport for the people who needed hospital care, like the woman who’d broken her wrist.
There were staff in the bar on the Lido deck that was now open again and it seemed like something was drawing Hugh into it.
‘Just a coffee, thanks, mate.’
‘Bet you’ve been busy, Doc. It’s been kind of a wild ride, hasn’t it?’
‘You’re not wrong there. Just as well you were closed for the day, I think. You’ve had enough drama in this bar for one cruise.’
Hugh took the coffee but decided not to stay on the bar stool to drink it. The reminder of the drama in this bar early on in this cruise was a reminder of something else and he was too weary to cope with any addition to the confusion he had going on in his head. It had been right here when he’d first properly worked with Lisa Phillips as they’d responded to the crisis of Alex’s anaphylactic reaction. He’d never be able to come into this bar again without thinking of her, would he?
Awakening the Shy Nurse Page 12