“Cheeky.” Hel pushed him gently on his shoulder as he threw his backpack over the seat and lowered himself in.
Frost grinned, which faltered when he felt the cold sweep through him when she took her hand away. What was that? He didn’t have that with Patricia. He had enjoyed her touches, but to feel physically cold when they were gone. That was new.
She waited until he was in and shut the door. Walking around, Hel opened the boot and shoved the crutches inside. Frost used the time to peer into the back seat and frowned when he saw all her bags were still piled up there.
When she climbed into the car, he said, “You should bring your stuff in.”
Hel flushed. “Oh. Yeah. It’s super kind of you, but I really don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
“I said it was fine.”
“I know. But this way, if you get annoyed with me. It’s easy for you to tell me to leave. You won’t feel like I’m settled, and you can’t ask me.” Hel shrugged.
“I’m not going to ask you to leave,” Frost denied.
“You say that now. But you haven’t seen me after I eat beans.”
Frost glanced sharply at her. Her face was totally straight, but there was mischief around her eyes as if she was about to say something a bit outrageous.
“Oh yeah. What happens?” he asked.
Hel pulled up at a red traffic light, then leaned over and stage-whispered. “I get the most terrible gas,” she said seriously and leaned back to drive.
Frost barked loudly with laughter. He had not expected her to say that. “Good to know. I’ll make sure beans aren’t on the menu. Or if they are, we’ll ensure it’s good weather, and we can have the windows open.”
“Very wise.” Hel agreed, with a straight face.
For the rest of the drive home, they chatted easily about their days. Hel, at one point, had him laughing so hard he cried when she told him about a particularly difficult patient she had treated at work.
CHAPTER 20
HEL
“Who'sgoingtobethere tonight?” Frost asked Hel as she drove them to her regular Wednesday night pub quiz.
“Clara, Taylor and Sadie, who you’ve met before. Gloria, who is Taylor’s mum and an absolute riot. Mike and Andre, who are both general surgeons. Then there’s Lily. She’s an O and G surgeon.”
“Sorry, what’s that?” Frost interrupted.
“Obstetrics and gynaecology.” She waited a beat for Frost to respond, and when he didn’t, she added, “You know, a vagina and baby surgeon. In case you don’t know what a vagina is, it’s the lady parts. People have given it a lot of different names over the years. Like vajayjay, and punani. Do you need me to give you some other examples?” Hel kept her voice innocent and smiled sweetly as she said the words she knew would make him laugh.
“Oh my god, no.” Frost shook his head, chuckling so hard tears collected in the corner of his eyes. “You take things too far.”
“What? Is there something wrong with the word vagina, or vajayjay or punani?” she enquired.
“No. It’s how you say it.” Frost wiped at his eyes.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” Hel began to giggle.
“Who else?” Frost tried to manoeuvre the conversation back on track.
“Jackie. She’s a Urologist. That’s a pe—“
Frost broke in before she could complete her sentence. “I know what that is.”
“You definitely do?” She kept her voice innocent but didn’t wait for him to confirm before she continued. “Because it’s a penis doctor.”
Frost started laughing again. “Oh, no, stop.”
