‘Get some sleep,’ he told her, realising suddenly that she must not have slept all night, panicking before deciding to call him.
‘You know me—I don’t sleep when I’ve got something on my mind.’ Gabriel nodded, smiling to himself. He still knew her so well, even after all this time.
When they’d hung up, he reckoned it was pointless trying to go back to sleep. Besides, he couldn’t get the very intricate, highly intimate details of his dreams to leave his mind. They played on persistently as he flipped on the coffee pot, and swiped up the newspaper just as it was shoved through his letterbox. So much for his time off, he thought, dropping to the seat at the dining table and staring unseeingly at the paper. Still, at least Javi would be taken care of while he acted as locum for Ana at the new clinic. He was meant to be with Ines all week anyway—and Pedro, he thought begrudgingly, sloshing coffee into his well-loved Happy Birthday mug.
Ines and Pedro would have all kinds of adventures lined up for him already. She rarely told him what they were, exactly, until after the fact, although she frequently demanded to know exactly what he had planned for Javi’s visits with him. She’d always struggled to leave Javi with his parents and him, even though she knew he was perfectly safe and content with them. She was the doting mother he’d always known she would be, ever since she’d looked at that positive pregnancy test and had told him flat out she was keeping the baby.
Every time he thought of the day she might demand full custody of their son was enough to make him shudder. Ever since she’d blown up that time when she’d bumped into Javi with his grandparents in the toy shop, he’d been petrified of putting a foot wrong. Oh, she had not been impressed that day! But it hadn’t been his fault—it wasn’t as if he’d asked for that family’s car to crash outside the church gates...
Gabriel had been supposed to look after Javi that afternoon, and they’d been having a great time, but car crashes were the worst—not least because they always reminded him of what had happened to Ana. What was he supposed to have done except ask his parents to step in while he raced to the scene to join Bruno? His parents never minded stepping in at short notice. They lived for spending time with their grandson. But Ines hadn’t seemed to understand that. She said the boy needed stability...which was true.
Every time he thought of his sweet little son in that tight, happy, stable family unit of three, in flooded the river of remorse at not being able to offer him the same thing. Ines deserved happiness—she was a great woman and an excellent mother—but all he wanted was to be a great father too. And, right now, he couldn’t help fearing that Javi might grow up wanting to be with Ines and Pedro full-time.
At least his mind would be taken off that worry all this week working with Ana, he thought, swigging his coffee before realising with a sigh that he might have a whole new set of worries to contend with, now that Ana was back in his life. If those dreams were anything to go by, she’d stirred something up in his subconscious that was very much pleasure-related, not business.
Gabriel couldn’t read one paragraph of the newspaper now. Now that he’d entertained the notion that he found Ana attractive, it was almost impossible to stop his mind wandering. But wondering if that connection would ever make it from his dreams into reality was pointless—Ana was far too much of a free spirit ever to be with someone so tied down! He would just have to keep his dream self in check, and make sure she never got wind of this unfortunate attraction.
The clinic was buzzing with energy on the first Monday of opening, and the staff was rushed off its feet on the new, squeaky-clean floors. It was only mid-morning, but to Ana it felt as if they’d been going for hours already. Still, without Gabriel she would have been way more stressed by now, she thought, casting her eye to where he was on the phone. He’d taken a short break to answer a call. He seemed quite pleased about something, from what she could hear, and his smile was contagious.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked, intrigued.
‘Sofia and Carlos, two friends from the hospital, that’s what.’ He grinned and she cocked her head, confused. ‘Trauma loves trauma, what more can I say?’ he added with a mischievous smirk. ‘Rumour has it they got together at the carnival, but she’s not letting on to me. That’s so Fia! I’m having to hear it from Bruno. He says good luck, by the way.’
‘Good luck?’ Ana was distracted now.
He looked so cute when he was energised and excited, like the teenage Gabe who’d pushed her chair through the crowds of Defensa Street that time she’d been hell-bent on buying the perfect painting from one of her favourite street artists.
Ana was about to ask more about this rumoured new couple when an elderly man swung through the door and almost stumbled. Gabriel was there in a flash and, as she sprang into action beside him, she tried her best not to think about the way she’d felt in that medical tent, meeting Javi. She’d been almost jealous! It had stunned her, being jealous of Gabriel being a parent, of having something so wonderful, stable and joyous in his life as a much-loved child. He deserved it, but she realised she’d missed a lot while she’d been away.
Still, thank goodness he’d agreed to help out at the clinic. They would have more chances to catch up, maybe rebuild some of the friendship that had broken down. Her assistant Carla would be out for a while with her injuries, but he’d been so cool about covering. His calm, kind and compassionate assistance was a godsend in this frenetic environment, and he’d already helped quite a few patients feel more relaxed both before and during their appointments. She’d almost forgotten, until today, that he had a special ability to explain medical concepts in layman’s terms. It made even the most nervous patient feel as if they could trust him implicitly.
Just then, something caught her eye. Ana noticed a woman in her mid-twenties looking uncharacteristically anxious, biting on her nails and fidgeting in her seat. The young brunette was alone, and Ana knew she was waiting for her appointment. She quickly made her way over to her, noting she was looking so anxious, she probably wanted nothing more than to run away.
‘Are you all right?’ Ana asked gently. The woman, a local called Catalina, looked up at her with an almost desperate expression.
‘I thought I could do this,’ Catalina told her, her voice coming out choked. ‘I thought it would be easy for me to get through the check-up, but now I’m here, I think I’m too scared.’
‘That’s totally understandable,’ said Gabriel, appearing behind her with a smile, a clipboard tucked under his arm. ‘It can be hard when you don’t know what to expect.’
Ana released a breath. His deep voice had a soothing quality that not only calmed her on the spot, it instantly seemed to put Catalina at ease too.
Ana’s receptionist, Maria, called her to tend to another patient, but she couldn’t help glancing over in admiration as Gabriel began talking to Catalina in earnest about her worries, asking what he could do to help alleviate all her concerns about having her first set of tests done at the clinic. She was here to see if they could determine what was causing her excruciating stomach pains, and she’d already self-diagnosed herself on the Internet, which had only ended up exacerbating her anxiety.
He was listening attentively without judgement or criticism, nodding encouragingly when Catalina shared what Ana knew must have been uncomfortable thoughts or feelings about being there. Eventually, she wheeled back over, just in time to hear him conclude their conversation with one final, friendly remark. ‘Remember—we are here for you, all of us, no matter what happens.’
‘I’m so glad I was referred to this clinic,’ Catalina told him warmly in response. ‘I can tell you have an amazing team.’
Ana felt her heart swell and her cheeks flushed when Gabriel caught her watching him. It was just that he was so handsome, and even more so now that his gentle manner seemed to have erased any doubt from this patient’s panicked mind. Even later in the private consultation room, when Ana informed her that it looked like endometriosis and further tests from a specialist would confirm it, Catalina seemed calm and in control, and accepting of the fact that she was in good hands, no matter what.
The afternoon went by quickly, and Ana found herself looking forward to the times she and Gabriel were alone with the patients. He was proving himself to be just as helpful as she’d initially suspected he would be, but she was a little annoyed at how her heart seemed to beat just that little bit faster every time he walked by or threw a smile her way. Cut out this crush—nothing can come of it, she reminded herself sternly for what felt like the hundredth time that very hour. Gabriel was out of her league. He went for artistic, designer-clothes-clad women like Ines...or at least, he used to, she thought now. Something hadn’t worked out between them or they’d still be together, raising Javi.
Javi was everything to him, she thought as she welcomed a male patient in his sixties into the consultation room. Gabriel was already there, studying the man’s medical chart, just transferred over from his last clinic.
Gabriel had a lot going on, juggling his career with being Javi’s doting dad, and he didn’t need a romance complicating his life, especially not with her. He needed a friend, not some busy woman with a demanding new position in the community, with barely enough time to do her laundry, let alone arrange a date. They had always been just friends anyway, she thought sadly, remembering Ines’s hands in his hair on that car ride to the beach. Ana was his friend—that was all he’d ever seen her as.
Ana steered her chair behind the desk. Gabriel helped her adjust it quietly, then stepped back quickly, as if he’d intruded. ‘It’s OK,’ she mouthed at him, touched as their patient looked between them for a moment with a wry smile on his thin lips. What were these feelings?
Suddenly the man bent over in obvious pain, and Gabriel hurried to help him into a chair.
‘Mr Hernandez,’ she began gently, once he was settled in the char, still wincing almost apologetically, ‘I can see you’re in a lot of discomfort; does your back hurt?’
‘A lot...’ The poor man breathed, producing a polka-dotted handkerchief from his pocket and mopping his brow with it.
‘We’re here to help you, and we’ll do our best to find out what’s going on,’ she said.
Mr Hernandez nodded, his face etched with pain. ‘It’s my age, doctor, that’s what’s going on,’ he mumbled, and she ordered him to lie down so Gabriel could examine him. She watched his warm, brown eyes crinkle at the edges. Javi had exactly the same eyes.
‘Let’s work out what’s causing this pain, shall we, sir?’ he said now, and Ana couldn’t help but steal more than a few glances at him as he ran the stethoscope over the older man’s chest and felt about his lower abdomen for any swellings. Whenever their eyes briefly locked, the flutter in her chest took her by surprise again, a sensation she did her best to try and ignore, but totally failed to. This was already getting uncomfortable. Where was the off button for this attraction?
‘Based on your symptoms,’ he continued minutes later, ‘It seems likely that your pain is musculoskeletal, particularly related to your lower back muscles. Doctor, what do you think?’
Ana nodded. ‘Small, specific exercises will help, and we can certainly have our expert put a programme together.’
Ana wheeled to the store cabinet she had ensured was at just the right height to enable her to reach everything alone from her wheelchair. ‘We’ll start you on a physical therapy regimen, Mr Hernandez,’ she said as Gabriel offered his assistance to her. She brushed him off, gathering some pain medication, letting him know she didn’t need his help. ‘Our nurse will provide you with exercises to do at home. In the meantime, we’ll give you something to alleviate your pain, how about that?’
When she turned, Gabriel was standing back again, as if he was wholly embarrassed to have tried to help her. She apologised by way of a look and he sighed, frowning to himself. Shoot, had she just been too defensive? He knew she hated people feeling that they had to help her, but the tension between them was palpable now. What was happening? This was in no way an emergency case, the likes of which he dealt with every day on paramedic duty, but her heart continued to thrash at her ribs like a wind-ravaged branch as she explained the kind of low-key physical exercises the nurse was likely to suggest, and she could’ve sworn Gabriel could hear it.
He saw Mr Hernandez out while she swept the sheet from the bed, ready to replace it for the next patient. She mumbled softly to herself the whole time, ‘What is wrong with you, Ana?’ This was so confusing. Moments later, Gabriel was back in the room, closing the door behind him softly. Her chest heaved with the sudden wild dance of her heart.
