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Alice grinned and words escaped her mouth before she’d had time to vet them. “Are you flirting with me, Doctor?”

Colour rushed into Ash’s cheeks, and she stepped back from the car. “No, sorry, I, er… didn’t mean to…”

Alice smiled, but disappointment zipped through her at the confirmation Ash didn’t like her likethatand, worse, her flirting had made Ash uncomfortable.

“I was thinking about George, and trying to decide whether to pop in to see him. But if I cut the engine, this old girl might not get going again. Markus left the jump leads for me, but I’m not sure how to use them.”

“I do, so I can jump you.”

“There you go, flirting again.” Alice bit her lip to stifle a laugh.

Ash’s blush deepened, and she cleared her throat. “Come on, let’s go and see how our patient is doing.”

Alice didn’t need to be asked twice; groceries and yoga could wait. She twisted the key, silencing the ticking engine.

“How old are you?” The question popped from Alice’s mouth before she’d realised she’d said it aloud.

Ash laughed. “Why?”

“I just… wondered.”

“Thirty-seven. Rapidly sliding down that slippery slope to forty.”

Not that much younger. And very confident, but not in a Fran way; in a professional, assertive way.“Hmm.”

“What does ‘hmm’mean?” Ash stared at her, looking bemused.

Alice smiled and shook her head. “Forty-two, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t, but thank you.” Ash grinned.

As they stepped over the rippling puddles of the car park towards the hospital, Alice tried and failed not to notice the flattering way Ash’s dark jeans hugged her thighs. Flicking her gaze to the large yellow sign listing the parking rates, Alice came to a stop and puffed out her cheeks. “My parking ticket is going to cost a bloody fortune.”

Ash touched her arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll speak to Pinkie. He’ll sort it out.”

“Pinkie?” Alice laughed.

“Pinkie Pete, the security guy who looks after the parking, too. I’ll tell him why you’ve been stuck in here and he’ll sort your ticket out.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah, Pinkie owes me a favour, anyway. I saved his little finger.”

Alice blinked at Ash, who was grinning and looking proud of herself. “You what?”

“He had a bit of an accident with a mitre saw.”

Alice grimaced, and Ash’s eyes widened in relish.

“He came into A&E as white as a ghost, slipped his detached digit — sealed in a freezer bag — onto the check-in desk and then passed out. By the time he came around, I’d stitched it back on and you’d hardly even know.” Ash wiggled her little finger in the air.

“Well, there are two things I have to say about that:ew, but alsowow.”

A blast of warm air and noise hit them as they stepped through the sliding doors into the entrance of A&E. A hive of activity buzzed in the strip-lit waiting room. Alice surveyed the throng of people in their various states of triage and regretted her decision not to go kale shopping, but Ash took her arm and steered her over to a quiet corner.

“Wait here for a minute. I’ll find out where they’ve sent George.”

Alice’s eyes followed Ash as she wove through the melee with the confidence of someone who’d done it a thousand times before. The sharp smell of disinfectant stung Alice’s nostrils. She could’ve been sniffing sandalwood and doing a sun salutation,but no— she stood, trying to remind herself why she was here.