‘I hope she’ll be okay,’ Ana murmured behind him.
Gabriel put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, then removed it quickly. ‘We did everything we could. She’ll get the care she needs now. As for you, I think you need a new coffee!’
He went for their coffees in the adrenaline-charged aftermath, his mind racing, remembering the look on Bruno’s face just now, and the tone of Ana’s voice that first day: we’re just friends.
She’d spoken so loudly to Maria that the whole waiting room could have heard, if they’d been interested. Thankfully they hadn’t been; he was quite sure of that. No one had ever been as interested in Ana and him as he had, not that anything had ever happened. She’d always been so invested in her career and maintaining her fierce independence, and she was no different now. He’d always been the guy who’d never leave the city, who’d never crave adventure the way she did, who was happy to stay close in the loving embrace of his happy family circle.
Then he’d grown the biggest roots of all, stronger roots than his family had ever given him: he’d become a dad.
Stopping for their coffees at his usual street vendor, he couldn’t help thinking about how Javi had reacted to Ana the first time he’d met her. He had asked about her since, on last night’s video call: ‘Where’s that nice lady in the wheelchair?’
Funny, he had never really focused on Ana’s chair at all, maybe because he’d known her before her accident, but even afterwards, when she’d become the bubbly, popular kid in the barrio, always dancing round the tables with him at the endless asados.
Back at the clinic, Gabriel watched her for a moment through the glass doors, noting the way her red flowery headband caught the sun, like her matching flats, as she busied herself with rearranging the leaves on a fern on a shelf and adjusting a chair in alignment with the rest. She looked anxious now. Maybe she was waiting for the next patient, or thinking about something else.
Spotting him, she waved and he stepped inside. ‘Hi,’ he said, handing over one of the café con leches.
‘You’re so thoughtful,’ she said with a broad smile, though he could tell she was still a little anxious about something—most likely Melissa, he thought. He pulled out a bag of sweet alfajors next—a crumbly cookie made with flour, oozing dulce de leche—and watched her eyes widen as he gave her one in a napkin.
‘This is new,’ she said, eyebrows raised at the offering.
‘Well, it’s Friday,’ he reasoned.
She cocked her head and studied him a moment as he stood in front of her, and he felt her weighing something up. ‘I can’t thank you enough for helping me out this week. I know you probably had other things to do, places to be.’
He shrugged, walking past her to drop his bag behind Reception. He’d used some of his holiday allowance to be here, not that he’d told her that. She might not have allowed him to come otherwise. ‘You know Bruno didn’t need me this week; he has that whole new intake of paramedics to order around. I thought it might be nice for you to order me around instead.’
‘It was. It is,’ she said, and she laughed nervously. ‘Can you spare some more time for me?’ she asked.
Aha! So that was it....
‘My assistant is still out injured, and we don’t know when she’ll be able to return. I’m looking for another locum but...’
‘I can stay a little longer,’ he said, probably too quickly, now that he thought about it. What was a few more leave days anyway? He had loads of them to use up, and he’d still have plenty left to spend with Javi another time. It wasn’t as though he ever went very far.
‘You’re a life saver. Literally.’
‘I know you’ll make it up to me.’ He watched her smile, just as he smirked, remembering his dream. She was still making it up to him at times in their nightly rendezvous! What would she say if he told her?
For a second he wanted to tell her, to see if she’d laugh and call him an idiot, or remind him tartly that he was her friend, and now colleague, and that he shouldn’t go there. Instead he just watched her rosy-red lips as she took a small, bird-like bite of the alfajor. In his dreams he had nibbled her bottom lip and woken up still tasting it...wanting it for real. Wanting her, all of her.
Suddenly having the reception desk between them felt safer. Ana seemed to sense the tension that he felt rising and she put down her alfajor, patting at her lips self-consciously.
‘So, how’s Javi doing?’ she asked, glancing at the clock. Trust it to be a quiet morning, now that the action of their earlier shock patient was over. He squared his shoulders, still fighting off the desire to lick the taste of alfajor from her bottom lip.
‘He’s great. He’s been with Ines and his stepdad all week, and he will be most of next week too.’ As he said it, the familiar twinge of annoyance took hold. Their home had become Javi’s base instead of his. He had him tomorrow, though, which he told Ana.
‘Does Javi call Ines’s partner his stepdad?’ Ana asked curiously.
Gabriel studied her a moment. That red headband really suited her. ‘I don’t think Javi refers to him as that, no,’ he admitted. ‘But that’s what Pedro is—they’re married, after all. And Javi spends a lot of time with them.’
‘More than with you?’
He shuffled on his feet. ‘Some weeks, yes. Pedro works from home as a software engineer, so he can be a lot more flexible with his schedule than me. He’s building Javi a treehouse in the yard.’
Ana chewed her lip, staring at him. Gabriel realised a little bitterness might have escaped with his words. He probably wouldn’t know the first thing about building a treehouse. He used his hands to help sick people, which he’d take over having carpentry skills any day, but it didn’t exactly do much to excite a little boy.
Thankfully the door opened behind him then. In walked their first official patient of the day, a girl who looked about ten years old, accompanied by her worried-looking mother. They learned her name was Lily, and her eyes and nose held the tell-tale redness indicative of a cold.
‘Hello, Lily,’ Gabriel said, offering a warm smile as Ana welcomed them straight into the consultation room, discreetly placing her alfajor behind the reception desk on the way past.
In the room, Lily sniffed and looked up at them both, while her mother took the comfy leather chair by the window. Her head was haloed immediately by a vase of fresh marigolds.
‘She says her throat hurts, and she can’t stop coughing,’ the woman explained. At that, the young girl started hacking wildly, banging on her chest.
‘It’s like there’s something stuck in there,’ she gasped between coughs.
Ana, with her usual comforting presence, pulled up beside Lily and pressed the stethoscope to her chest. Gabriel itched to swipe an illicit crumb that had landed quietly on the lapel of her white coat. ‘We’re here to help you, sweetie. How long has this been bothering you?’
Lily started to speak, but her voice was raspy and her mother cut in again. ‘I had a fever last week, then her brother got sick; it’s been going around their school.’
Ana threw him a look over the girl’s head. He could tell she was thinking, if that was the case, they might soon have quite a few sick children coming in. Already his mind was churning. If Javi caught it, would he even be able to see him at the weekend, or would Ines keep him with her, as she’d tried to the last time he’d got sick? Javi had asked for his papa, but apparently Ines had told the little boy that he had to stay put with Pedro and her until he was better. Gabriel had felt so guilty for not being able to offer him the same amount of creature comforts, that he’d shown up unannounced with a toy robot. Ines had let him in, of course, albeit reluctantly.
‘My chest feels so tight,’ Lily managed. Gabriel could relate. If Javi was ever sick again he’d want to be there, but would he even be told about it? Ines wasn’t cruel but she just wouldn’t think to involve him. She would probably assume he was too busy, that she and Pedro could manage, and that was what bothered him the most.
Ana was still holding the stethoscope to Lily’s chest, assessing her shallow breaths. ‘Well, I can tell there’s some congestion in your lungs,’ she said, her soft hand resting on Lily’s shoulder. ‘Gabriel here will do a throat swab, and we’ll run some tests to confirm, but it seems like you have a respiratory infection. It’s nothing to worry about.’
As Lily coughed and winced, Ana exchanged another glance with Gabriel before he turned to prepare the swab, accidentally knocking a file to the floor. Swiping it up, he could feel her eyes on him, even as she talked with Lily’s mother. Did she know something was bothering him? Maybe he’d opened up too much before about Ines and Pedro. It wasn’t her problem—she had enough going on her own life.
