Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“No, seriously, it’s not at all. She’s really pretty by all accounts. And she’s a doctor. You can talk shop. She’s at Tommy’s, I think. New to London or something. Her friend said something about it. I can’t quite remember. I can’t go because . . .” He started to laugh. “You’re not going to believe it, but I’m in hospital. I think I’ve broken my nose.”
“What?” Why was he laughing?
“Had rugby practice this afternoon. Took an elbow to the face.”
Only Beau could laugh about getting his nose broken.
“Is it going to affect your trip?” He was due to fly out in a week.
“No idea,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to see if it’s broken first. But no way I’m going to be out of hospital in time to make the date.”
“The date is tonight?”
“Yes, why do you think I’ve been calling you non-stop for an hour?”
Shit, I had just finished my shift. I was exhausted. I just wanted to check in on one patient then head home and go to bed. “Can’t you ask Zach?”
“He’s in Norfolk.”
I’d forgotten he was spending the weekend with our parents.
“One of your mates then?”
“Like I’d trust any of them.”
It was a good point. I sighed, finally accepting I wasn’t going to get the early night I’d been hoping for. “You’re going to owe me big for this.”
“You’re the best big brother I could wish for. You’re meeting her at the top of the NatWest Tower. Her name’s Sutton. Eight forty-five. Anyway, it’s all on me. I’ve given the restaurant my credit card. If it were any other brother, I’d tell them not to do anything I wouldn’t do, but for you that’s a given. Go wild.”
Before I had a chance to ask for Sutton’s last name, he hung up. I’d kill him when I next saw him.
“You heading home?” a woman asked from behind me.
Dina appeared from nowhere and I pulled my mouth into a smile. “No such luck.”
She tilted her head. “Shame. I need a lift.”
“Good luck. I have to see a patient.”
I hated being late but there was no way I wasn’t going to stop to see Barnaby. He’d been an inpatient for nearly two months now and was the oldest of five children. His parents didn’t have time for daily visits.
I turned into ward six and saw Barnaby staring out the window. I leaned across the nurses’ desk. “Anyone been in to see Barnaby today?”
Annette, the nurse in charge, shook her head and scrunched up her nose. No one liked it when the kids didn’t have visitors.
He wasn’t my patient, but Barnaby had been on the ward for so long that it was impossible not to notice him as I came in to check on my own patients.
From my back pocket, I pulled out a credit token for the vending machine. I’d put twenty quid on it before I’d picked up the call from Beau.
“Barnaby, mate,” I said, striding over to the end bed. “I found something with your name on it.” I wafted the credit token in his direction.
Barnaby scowled back at me. “What is it?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Try it in the vending machine.”
“It can’t be mine. I didn’t have one.” I was pretty sure Barnaby’s parents didn’t have much money.
“You’re right. It’s mine, but I need to give up junk food—you know how it is, old man that I am. So . . . have it.”
He glanced at me and then the card. I tossed it on his table.
He nodded. “Thanks.”
“What have you been watching?” I nodded toward the TV.
“Nothing,” he said.
I glanced at the clock over the nurses’ station. It would probably take me over half an hour to get to Tower 42 and it was nearly ten past eight now. Why did Beau have to choose a restaurant in the City to take his date when the West End was so much closer?
“Don’t tell anyone I told you, but Peaky Blinders is on BBC iPlayer and it’s good. Trust me.”
“I don’t have any headphones,” he said. “I couldn’t watch it if I wanted to.”
Poor kid.
“Oh, let me get you some. We have plenty of spares.” I turned. I wasn’t sure where I’d find any headphones at all, especially not in the forty seconds I had before I needed to leave. I sped down the corridor toward the supplies cupboard. Maybe there’d be some lost property. Angie, a healthcare assistant coming off shift overtook me. She smiled and waved her hand, the tinny tick, tick, tick from the earbud waving loosely by her waist catching my attention.
“Hey, Angie?” She stopped and turned around. “Can I buy your headphones?”
She pulled out the ear bud that was in her ear. “What?”
“Your headphones. How much?” I grabbed my wallet from my back pocket.
Angie frowned at me. “They’re not special. They cost me about five pounds. Why do you want them?”