Page 38 of Mending Hearts at the Cornish Country Hospital (The Cornish Country Hospital #6)

‘It could have been worse, it could have been WD40.’ Esther laughed.

‘And to be honest I probably haven’t got much room to talk.

I made Joe a cup of coffee last week, when I came in from a nightshift and he was just getting up, and I forgot that the packet of table salt had split the week before.

I didn’t want to throw it away, so I tipped it into a Tupperware container and put it in the cupboard.

On the morning I made Joe’s coffee, the sugar pot was almost empty, so I decided to top it up…

with salt. I didn’t realise until Joe spat the first mouthful all over the duvet.

It wasn’t quite the loving gesture I’d planned for, but it certainly woke him up! ’

‘Makes me glad I’m single.’ Eve smiled, but there was something in her tone that didn’t quite ring true.

It was either because she wasn’t as glad about that as she was making out, or maybe that she wasn’t single at all.

Eden knew she’d turned Zahir down when he’d asked her to go to the cinema with him, not long after she’d returned to work.

Aidan had overheard the conversation and discretion wasn’t exactly his strong point.

Whatever the reason, if Eve didn’t want her colleagues to know the truth about her personal life, Eden could hardly blame her.

There was plenty of stuff from her own past that she didn’t want to drag up.

‘What about you, Eden? Would you be willing to risk another relationship, even if it meant being on the receiving end of salty coffee, or pancakes soaked in soy sauce?’ Aidan gave her a questioning look.

‘Or are the rumours true that you and a certain brooding Scot are already in a relationship? Come on, spill the beans and tell us what’s been happening. ’

‘There’s really nothing to—’ Eden’s response was cut off by the sound of the red phone ringing, which meant a call from the ambulance service to warn them about the imminent arrival of the most serious category of emergency.

Esther got to the phone first, but the rest of them fell silent, as they listened to the details of what they were about to face.

Even after all this time in the job, it still made Eden’s blood run cold when there was an emergency of that type.

It meant someone was in a critical condition, and that their loved ones were about to hear terrifying news, if they hadn’t already.

She’d far rather have faced Aidan’s awkward question.

She knew plenty of staff in A she couldn’t hear Callum’s mother sobbing any more, but the pull to be there for her was overwhelming, this other mother whose pain she could already feel.

She couldn’t do anything for Callum while her colleagues fought for his life, but Rachael needed someone and Eden wanted it to be her.

Coming out of resus, she couldn’t see Callum’s mother at first, but then she spotted Isla.

‘Have you seen the woman who was out here crying? Her son’s in resus.’

‘One of the agency HCAs took her to the relatives’ room.’ Isla bit her lip. ‘It’s heartbreaking. Is there any update?’

‘Not yet, but I want to see if I can do anything to help. Although God knows what.’

‘Sometimes just being there is all you can do.’

‘It just doesn’t seem enough, does it?’ Eden tried to smile at Isla, but her face refused to comply.

Instead she raised a hand in thanks and moved off towards the relatives’ room, her mouth suddenly feeling as if it was full of sawdust. She just hoped she could find the words when she got there, but she already knew what Callum’s mother was going to ask, and there was no way she’d be able to provide the response Rachael wanted so desperately to hear.

Standing outside for a moment, Eden placed her hand against the door and looked through the pane of glass.

A woman with ash blonde hair had her head in her hands and another woman, who was wearing a health care assistant’s uniform, was sitting opposite her.

Neither of them were speaking from what Eden could see.

Pushing open the door, she introduced herself, trying to keep her tone even and her voice from shaking.

‘I’m Eden, one of the A I thought the paramedics were going to do that before they even brought him in. ’