Something like horror filled his eyes and he quickly checked his immaculate, crease-free shirt front, flicking a crumb off his tie.
She laughed. ‘Relax. You’ve managed to stay clean despite everything. Now go. I’ve got to get these two ready.’
‘Now who’s the bossy britches?’ he muttered.
‘You’re welcome to stay and help some more.’
‘I think not. You make it look so easy and I’m learning it’s not.’
‘I’ve had more practice,’ she quipped without thought to the ramifications.
‘To be sure, and whose fault is that?’
Tea splashed over her hand as she jolted from the shock of his suddenly harsh tone. So, Kieran’s good mood had been a facade. And the guilt she’d tamped down overnight swamped her again. He would never forgive her.
Abby dashed into ED, pretending to herself she wasn’t looking out for Kieran. She wanted to avoid him for a while if at all possible. For the whole day would be better but that would be asking too much. ‘Hi, Sally, sorry I’m late but it was a disaster zone at my house this morning.’
That had to be the understatement of the century. For some inexplicable reason Olivia had demanded that she stay home with Grandad instead of going to the crèche workers. Abby had delivered one very grumpy little girl to the crèche. Thank goodness Seamus seemed happy enough to be there with his little friends. At least Kieran had left before all the fuss had started. It might’ve kept him away permanently. She sighed. She was being unfair again.
All the way to work she’d thought about him, how his usual confidence had been undermined by the children. Would he have coped better if it had only been Olivia he’d had to contend with? Was it because of finding himself a father that he was outside his comfort zone?
Sally tossed a file on the desk in front of Abby. ‘I thought you might’ve given our new boss a lift to work for his first day since he’s part of your family.’
Abby dropped onto a chair. She’d given the guy dinner, a son and probably a headache. She didn’t need to give him anything else. ‘I don’t think he’d be happy squashed into my car among car seats and kids.’ Or within touching distance of her.
Sally grinned at her. ‘Here I was hoping Dr Flynn might not have gone to his new apartment last night.’
Abby snatched the file up and jerked it open. ‘I know. You only want to see me happily married.’ They’d had this conversation so often Abby knew the lines off by heart. ‘Do me a big favour, drop the whole Kieran thing. For ever.’
One thing for sure, Kieran seemed to have way too many hang-ups when it came to family and commitment for her to consider him for the role of husband. But Sally didn’t know the score and Abby just couldn’t bring herself to explain. The tension in the back of her head wound tighter.
‘For now.’ Sally looked around the department. ‘Can you give Barbara a hand?’
‘Sure.’ Something other than Kieran to focus on.
‘But where is Dr Flynn? I’d have thought he’d be the type to always be early.’ Sally flipped through some files, her gaze fixed somewhere out in the department.
Abby shook her head at her friend. This was what Kieran did so well; how he got everyone in a twitter. Then she saw Sally’s eyes widen and her mouth slide into a beautiful smile. And she knew without looking around that Kieran had arrived. If he could do this to a sane, married woman, what chance did anyone else have?
What chance did she have?
She turned and faced him, but he was too busy introducing himself to Pete and Rose to see her. The interns were drinking up every word Kieran uttered. ‘Making fools of themselves,’ she muttered.
Damn but the man knew how to work a scene. She looked to Sally for some sanity and was sadly disappointed. ‘Stop drooling, it doesn’t suit you.’
‘Why not? Everyone else is.’ Sally grinned. ‘Look at those eyes, that body. Are you sure I’m married?’ Then she nudged Abby. ‘You’ve got a patient. And if I didn’t know better I’d say you were interested in Dr Charming. Why else are you still hanging around the station?’
She wouldn’t lower herself to answer. If only Sally knew the half of it. Kieran hid so much behind those twinkling eyes. He gave away nothing of last night’s turmoil at meeting his son for the first time. Laughter carried across the department and caused Abby’s stomach to roll over agonisingly. She had to admire his nerve. His world had been rocked right off its axis and no one watching him now would ever guess how he felt about that.
‘Hey, Abby, Darren Shore’s here again. He’s had a wee disagreement with his skateboard.’ Barbara took care as she helped a lad onto the bed in a cubicle.
‘Hi, Darren, Jim.’ Abby nodded at the weary man already slouching in the chair on the other side of the bed. ‘Can’t trust those skateboards not to want to go their own way.’ Abby noted Darren’s careful movements. ‘Where does it hurt?’
‘Here.’ Darren tapped his wrist gingerly. ‘And here.’
The ulna. Two breaks? Or transferred pain? Abby carefully slid the sleeve of Darren’s shirt up and felt the swelling of his wrist. A massive bruise covered most of his arm. ‘We’ll send you for an X-ray after I get a doctor to look at you and sign a form. First we’ll clean you up, see how much skin you’ve removed. What did you crash into this time?’
‘The concrete wall by the school gates.’
‘Guess you came off worse than the wall, then.’
‘Yeah. Ouch.’ The boy sucked in a mouthful of air.
‘Let’s give you some Entonox to take away the pain and make you feel happy.’ Abby handed Darren a mouthpiece attached to tubing leading from a gas tank. ‘Take a deep breath of that every time your arm hurts. I think you need a stitch or two in your head to stop the bleeding.’ A large bruise had formed there.
Barbara slipped out of the cubicle, saying, ‘I’ll go find a doctor.’
Darren squinte
d up at Abby. ‘Is my arm really broken? I’ll still be able to ride my board, won’t I?’
‘No, you won’t.’ Darren’s father spoke for the first time. ‘That damned board can go in the rubbish. I’m tired of you coming off it and hurting yourself. There’s not a day goes by that you’re not covered in bruises.’
More bruises? Abby glanced at Darren’s legs but he wore jeans.
‘Dad, no. You can’t throw my board away.’ All pain was momentarily forgotten as Darren sat up and glared at his parent. ‘Gramps gave it to me for my birthday and he’ll go bonkers if you take it off me. It’s a really expensive one with the best wheels you can get.’
Jim growled, ‘I’ll deal with your grandfather. Believe me, that board is trash.’
Abby gently pushed Darren back against the pillow. ‘Let’s get you patched up, and worry about the board later.’
‘I’m going home to hide it.’ But Darren’s bravado quickly evaporated as pain struck again.
Abby began swabbing the cut on Darren’s head, noting an older bruise above his eye. An earlier skating accident? ‘Do you wear protective gear? Like a helmet, for starters?’
‘Yes. Dad won’t let me go out without it.’
‘He’s right. You don’t want to injure your head.’ Abby noticed purple swelling on the uninjured arm. ‘Darren, I want to remove your jeans and examine your legs.’
His father growled, ‘Spends more time falling off than actually riding the damned skateboard.’
Abby could sympathise with both of them. Darren was obviously full of spirits and not put off by his accidents, but what parent would be happy about always taking their child to get stitched up? She’d hate seeing Seamus or Olivia hurt. She might be hiding the skateboard, too, despite knowing life was about getting out there and taking risks.
Taking risks? Like she did? The biggest risk she’d taken since getting engaged to Phillip had been flying to Ireland for the funerals. Then her grief had been so crippling she hadn’t thought about dealing with Customs and Immigration and all the things people had warned her about. She’d just clung to her sisters and followed the arrows.