Tress didn’t understand what was happening, even more so when Keli, panting beside her, blurted, ‘Bloody hell, you just about gave me a heart attack, you absolute idiot,’ then, holding on to the side of Noah’s bed, began to laugh.
Tress frantically searched both of their faces for answers. ‘I don’t get it. I don’t understand.’
‘He’s fine, Tress,’ she spluttered.
‘You’re fine?’
Noah opened one eye. ‘I’m fine. Although, right now, my head doesn’t think so.’
Tress still wasn’t getting this, but Keli pointed to a board above his bed that simply said ‘OBS’. ‘He’s on observation. Suspected concussion?’
Noah winced as he nodded. ‘I had a blow-out in the car. Doing sixty or seventy when it spun out. Thankfully, there wasno one behind me, so no collision. Cracked my head against the side window when it happened but managed to steer it almost to the hard shoulder. Years of watchingFast & Furiousmovies. Anyway, the traffic cops got there pretty quick and brought me in. I’m fine though, so don’t you dare call Mum. Cheska is just being extra cautious and keeping me here for observation for a few hours. I think she’s just doing it as a punishment.’ He was obviously joking, but Tress still couldn’t wrap her head around what was going on.
‘Punishment for what?’
‘We’re not together anymore.’ This time, he managed to get both eyes open, and as they looked up at her, Tress felt her legs wobble underneath her. It was all too much. Today. The anniversary. The excitement of going on a date. The disaster it turned out to be. Rex turning out to be a narcissistic, cheating dick. Odette taking ill. The utter terror of the last ten minutes. And now seeing Noah here, and the heart-shuddering relief of knowing he was okay. It was all too much.
She slumped into the chair beside his bed.
‘I think you’re going to have to start at the beginning,’ she told him.
After reading her brother’s chart, looking at the ten perfect stitches in the wound on his head, taking his pulse, his blood pressure and sequestering a flashlight from a colleague to check his pupils, Keli had satisfied herself that Noah was fine. Possible concussion, but otherwise okay – although Cheska was right to keep him in for a few hours just to be on the safe side.
Now he was partially sitting up, his fingers intertwined with Tress’s as he recounted the story of his day and Keli decided to go and give them some space.
She had meant what she’d said in the car. Not that she held out much hope for them getting together. Both of them were too cautious, maybe too scarred, to take a leap of faith and she understood that completely. It would take her a long time before she even contemplated getting into another relationship after the mess of the last one. Compared to Tress’s marriage to Max, tonight’s disaster with Rex slash Ryan didn’t even make a blip on the radar.
She waited for a pause in the conversation before butting in. ‘Okay, not that I don’t love you, Noah, but now that I’m sure you’ll live, I’m just going to go check on Odette.’
‘Will you let me know how she is please? And, Keli, if you have a minute, will you make sure Calvin is okay? I took off and left him back there because I was too busy panicking about this one,’ she gestured to Noah.
‘You were panicking?’ Noah asked her, a smile playing on his lips.
‘You two are a nightmare,’ Keli deadpanned. ‘And I’m the youngest. I’m supposed to be the hopeless one.’
Shaking her head, she left the room, pulled the curtain behind her, ignoring the soft sound of her brother laughing in her wake.
She checked her phone and saw that there was a message from Yvie.
In the staffroom. Come find me when you’re done.
Keli occasionally popped down to have lunch with Cheska on this ward, so she knew exactly where the staffroom was. Whenshe got there, Yvie was the only one in the room, sitting at the table, nursing a mug of tea and scrolling through her phone.
‘How’s Noah? Cheska said it was a minor head wound and that they were just keeping him in for observation?’
‘Yep, I should probably have waited for that little nugget of information before Tress and I went racing off to find him. That’s one way to get my ten thousand steps in for the day.’ She flopped down on the seat opposite her friend. ‘How is Odette?’
‘They’re working on her now, but we got her here quickly, so hopefully the prognosis will be okay. We’ll know in the next couple of hours.’
Keli remembered Tress’s request. ‘And Calvin?’
‘Much better now. His husband arrived, and he’s waiting with him. The poor man is shattered.’
Keli understood the sentiment. Her fear had been way too real when she’d been told that Noah was hurt. ‘That’s good. Wow, this feels like déjà vu from this morning. You. Me. Sitting at a staffroom table.’
‘At least the pregnancy conversation is over. I still can’t believe you were shagging Rex Marino and didn’t tell me.’
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Keli said sheepishly.
