Page 9 of Anxious Hearts

Chapter Nine

It was highly unusual to be called off shift to meet with the Head of the Department, unless there had been another complaint.

But in the week since her last meeting with Michael, Kelly had been on her absolute best behaviour, painstakingly choosing every word she spoke to her colleagues.

She was certain nothing she had done could warrant disciplinary action.

But when she entered Michael’s office and saw the other two people sitting there, one either side of Michael, her conviction was shattered.

She didn’t know them, but when the non-medical suits came to town, it was never good news.

None of them was wearing a mask, which was not technically a breach given they were off the ward, but it felt unusual to be in the hospital and able to see full faces.

She removed her own mask, aware that there would be indentation lines running along her cheeks.

She wore her mask lines like a badge of honour.

These corporate wankers had no idea what she had been through since that fucking pandemic had landed a few years ago. They never would.

Michael beamed a smile at her. ‘Kelly, thanks for joining us.’ He gestured to the man and woman in seats around his desk. ‘This is Juliana, from the hospital’s communications team, and Stephen, the Society’s Director of Corporate Affairs.’

Kelly nodded politely but didn’t shake their hands.

Juliana was about Kelly’s age, black hair pulled back tight, too much makeup, a skin-tight navy dress that was totally impractical.

Stephen was older, probably mid-fifties, and still in good shape.

His full head of dark hair was streaked with grey and he had the smooth complexion of a man not given to excess.

Why were they here? What did the Society of Australian Paediatric Medicinewant with her? And why the communications manager?

‘Stephen and Juliana have been approached by a journalist,’ Michael said. ‘The weekend paper wants to run a feature on the life of a junior doctor and I thought you’d be the ideal candidate.’

Kelly blinked rapidly. ‘What?’

Stephen took over. ‘It’s a great opportunity to showcase the work of the Society in supporting our trainees.’

Juliana smiled at Kelly. ‘And it’ll also be an avenue to promote the Care for our Kids Appeal. We believe building some empathy with the staff will make the public even more likely to donate.’

Kelly swallowed hard to suppress her impulsive reaction: You’ve got to be fucking kidding me .

Stephen clasped his hands together, fingers intertwined, and leaned on the desk. ‘From what Michael tells us, yours is a terrific story.’

‘Really?’ Kelly was stunned.

Michael gave her a sly smile and she shifted uncomfortably.

Stephen continued: ‘Brilliant junior doctor studying for her exams, supported by the Society … all for the good of the children in her care. It’s a great profiling piece.’

Kelly looked at Stephen as though he was deranged. ‘Uh, right, well, thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t do that.’

‘Why not?’ Stephen said.

‘I’m too busy studying for the written exam.’

‘I’ll give you some time off for the interviews,’ Michael said.

Kelly looked at Juliana. ‘I’m a private person. I wouldn’t be comfortable talking to a journalist.’

Juliana waved the concern away. ‘Don’t worry about that. It’s strictly about life at the hospital and we’ll get a first look at the story before it runs.’

Kelly couldn’t believe they actually thought this was a good idea or that she would want anything to do with it. ‘Yeah, it’s not going to happen. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.’

Michael stood abruptly. He looked at Juliana and Stephen. ‘Would you mind giving Kelly and me a moment to talk this through?’

The suits left the room. Kelly and Michael remained standing.

‘You will do this interview, Kelly,’ Michael said. His face hardened.

Kelly felt the buzz in her muscles increase. It became more difficult to breathe. ‘Michael, please, I barely have enough capacity for work and study. I can’t do this as well.’

‘Sit down, Kelly.’

She didn’t protest.

‘I know what you’re going through. I sat the exam myself.

It may have been a lifetime ago, but I’ll never forget the pressure and the stress.

But you’ve got to have perspective, Kelly.

Your life has to be about more than just being a doctor or you’ll never cope.

The best doctors are the best humans first. And that’s the perspective you’re missing.

That being a great doctor is about more than passing an exam. ’

Kelly’s jaw tensed. ‘But I can’t be a great doctor unless I pass the exam. And I don’t just want to pass it. I want to come first in the cohort. I want the gold medal.’

Michael rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. Back and forth, back and forth, as though he was trying to sharpen it to a point.

He eventually stopped rubbing and wagged his finger at Kelly. ‘You know, Kelly. This article could do just as much for you as the gold medal.’

Kelly opened her mouth to speak, but Michael raised a hand to stop her.

This was becoming their routine. ‘Wait, wait. Hear me out. If you’re portrayed as the professional, empathetic, brilliant doctor that you are, your profile will skyrocket and you’ll have the pick of jobs as an Advanced Trainee. ’

Kelly narrowed her eyes. She could see where this was going. ‘Professional, empathetic, brilliant doctor?’

Michael smiled like he knew she was on to him.

‘And the only way that will work is if I’m on my best behaviour, right?’

‘Well, I guess so.’ Michael shrugged as though he hadn’t thought of that. ‘And it also means you’ll have a reputation to uphold.’

‘Ensuring my best behaviour for all eternity.’

‘I like where you’re going with this, Kelly. I think we can both benefit from your proposal.’

Kelly couldn’t help but laugh. Michael played the docile and caring department head well, but he was as shrewd and calculating as any corporate CEO. ‘I’ll get veto on the final story?’

‘Juliana will assure it.’

‘And you’ll give me time off for the interview?’

‘As much as you need.’

Kelly sucked in a deep breath. ‘All right. Let them do their worst.’

***

‘This is seriously where you’re taking me?’ Kelly said.

Eli grinned. ‘Are you too cultured, too old or too scared to play mini golf?’

‘Too bored, actually.’

Eli laughed. ‘Ah, well, this isn’t just any old game of mini golf.’

Kelly looked over the eighteen-hole course with its windmills, ramps and oversized plastic reptiles set among fake grass and undesirable patrons. ‘Looks like every mini-golf course I’ve ever been to.’

Eli ignored her, walked to the counter and exchanged a few words with the guy taking cash and handing out putters.

Kelly wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Eli taking her to mini golf on their first date was going to make it incredibly easy to turn down a second.

And surely Eli wasn’t hoping to have sex with her tonight?

That would always have been a no, but this farcical attempt at romance suggested he was aiming pretty low in the physical engagement department.

Eli seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to pay for their round. He was leaning on the counter towards the putter guy and speaking softly, like he was in the middle of a drug deal. When he handed over an envelope, Kelly grew suspicious and just a little curious.

She greeted his return with folded arms and the hint of a smile. ‘What was all that about?’

Eli feigned exaggerated surprise. ‘What?’

‘Friend of yours, is he?’

‘No, I’m just a really friendly guy. Hey, listen, I left something in the car. Can you come back with me and grab it?’

‘You don’t want to do that. Dangerous neighbourhood.’

Before Kelly had a chance to object, Eli hooked his arm in her own and took his first step.

She contemplated pulling her arm away and telling him that if he ever touched her again without her permission, she’d castrate him.

But that seemed a little over the top, even for her.

So, she allowed him to lead her back to the car, chalking this up as another excellent reason why there would never be a second date and she could spend her evenings doing something productive, like studying.

Studying. That’s what she should be doing now. She wished she hadn’t made that stupid deal with Finn, but it was worth it if he was going to take Ashley out. He really needed a distraction.

At the car, Eli leaned through the passenger side door and opened the glove box. He did have a pretty cute butt, even if he was the world’s worst first date.

‘Eureka!’ Eli said. He backed out of the car and held up his prized item: a golf glove. Was he trying to make her dislike him?

‘You’re kidding me,’ Kelly said.

‘I kid you not, Kelly, my dear. Very important to have the right equipment when you’re trying to sink a hole in one.’

His dopey smile made him look innocent enough, but Kelly wondered if there was a double entendre in there.

Or did she just have an oversexed imagination?

Starvation will do that to you. She hadn’t had sex in so long, she might have to consult her textbooks to remember how it’s done.

But that didn’t stop her longing to be touched. Cared for. Loved.

Just not by a tall, skinny, reasonably handsome goofball wearing a single golf glove and a ridiculous smile.

When they returned to the start of the mini golf course, there was a small commotion.

Would-be players were lined up at the entrance to the first hole like expectant shoppers at the Boxing Day sales.

Their excitement was quickly turning to rage at being denied access to the course by a barricade that had been placed on the first tee bearing a sign that read Course temporarily closed .

‘Come on, mate, how much longer is this going to take?’ yelled a man in his thirties with an astonishingly unkempt mullet.

The putter guy came running back along the course, dodging the obstacles and skipping across holes. ‘Sorry, folks,’ he announced. ‘Just about ready to go. But we have to let you back on in order and these guys were next.’

To Kelly’s immense shock and embarrassment, he pointed to her and Eli.

‘They just turned up!’ the mullet man said.

The putter guy ushered Kelly and Eli to the first hole. He obviously realised there was no reasoning with the angry mob, so he didn’t even try.

Kelly felt the eyes of the impatient gallery on her as she and Eli moved up to the tee.But Eli appeared totally unaffected by the near riot he had caused. He handed Kelly a putter and a golf ball.

‘Age before beauty,’ he said.

‘Are you trying to get us killed?’

‘Aim for the tip of the crocodile’s tail. If you hit it in the right spot, you can get a good deflection towards the hole.’

Kelly studied the angles. She didn’t know what kind of conspiracy Eli was involved in with the putter guy, but she wasn’t going to let that distract her from winning. Losing was not an option. She wasn’t wasting a night away from studying by going home a loser.

She gripped the putter just the way her dad had taught her, brought it back about a foot from the ball, kept her arms straight and swung through the shot.

The ball went exactly where she wanted, but the pressure was a touch soft, so when it hit the tip of the crocodile’s tail and deflected towards the hole, it fell short by about ten centimetres.

‘Wow,’ Eli said. ‘Not your first rodeo.’

Kelly swung her putter up and placed it across her shoulder. ‘Let’s see what you’ve got, glove man.’

Eli putted well. Not as well as Kelly, but not bad.

She finished an easy second shot and reached into the hole to take out her ball.

It was sitting unusually high and she found a folded card beneath it.

Puzzled, she took the card out and opened it up.

It was about the size of her palm and lined on both sides – the same type they used to make flash cards in their study group. The handwriting was familiar:

Other than molecular size, which property affects filtration of substances by the glomerular basement membrane? A. Antigenicity B. Concentration C. Electrical charge D. Lipophilicity E. Solubility

Kelly’s skin tingled and she laughed. ‘You put a study question in the hole?’

Eli was smiling as though he’d just passed the exam. ‘Well, technically, Miles put the question in the hole. But I wrote it.’

‘Who’s Miles?’

Eli pointed back to the putter guy. ‘He also held the crowd back so we wouldn’t scare the other players with questions about gene mutation and Chron’s disease. That’s a real mood killer if you’re not studying to be a paediatrician.’

Kelly laughed again. ‘So that whole glove routine was a ruse to buy us time?’

‘Absolutely not. This glove will be an essential feature of my victory tonight.’ Eli putted his ball into the hole. ‘I believe that puts us at two strokes each.’ He pulled the scorecard from his back pocket, marked down their numbers and pointed to the second tee. ‘Shall we?’

Kelly walked slowly towards him on her way to the next hole. She drew so close she could smell his aftershave and whatever it was he put in that wild mop of curls he called a hairstyle. His lip quivered ever so slightly and his eyes widened.

‘E,’ she said.

‘What?’ he gasped, as though he was about to pass out.

‘The answer’s E. Solubility.’ She stood on her tiptoes, brushed her lips delicately on his cheek and sashayed to the next hole.

‘Wow,’ he whispered.

Kelly smiled. Maybe having a doofus for a date wasn’t so bad, after all.