Page 9 of Pyg

4

QUELLE SURPRISE

“W ell, hello again, Alice French.”

Alice’s head whipped from the man to the doorway, where Doctor Khurana stood leaning against the doorjamb.

“What are you doing here?”

“I work here.” A smile teased the corners of the doctor’s mouth. Instead of scrubs she wore grey denim jeans and a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing her toned forearms. Alice tore her eyes from the doctor and back to the man, who had resumed his regular breathing.

“So, what are you doing here?” The doctor’s eyes smiled more than her mouth, which Alice read as not being entirely displeased to see her.

“I came to sort out my car and thought I’d pop in to check on Xavier.” Alice gestured to the man.

Ash stepped into the room. “Xavier? Has he been identified?”

“No, it’s just what I decided his name was.”

“Right.” Ash shook her head and laughed, the sound of which caused Alice’s smile to stretch even wider.

“Surely you’re not starting your next shift already?” Alice twisted a finger into one of her curls and pulled it straight before letting it spring back into place.

“No, I was heading to the gym. In all last night’s excitement, I forgot my trainers.”

“Ah, okay.” Alice dropped her gaze back to the hypnotising rhythm of the man’s chest.

“So, how is he?”

Alice grinned. “I don’t know, you’re the doctor.”

Ash breathed out a laugh as she moved to the end of the bed and unhooked the metal clipboard from the frame.

“Hmm. Right. Yep. Uh-huh.”

Alice looked on as the doctor leafed through the pages, her eyes scanning the notes, about as intelligible as hieroglyphics to anyone not in the medical profession.

“So…?”

“I’m afraid there isn’t much to say at the moment. According to the notes, he was awake this morning, but very confused. He doesn’t seem to remember who he is.”

“Oh no, poor thing.”

“They did a few cognitive tests, but he became very agitated and started ranting about pigs again, so they gave him a benzo.”

“What’s a benz?—”

“Ah, it’s a sedative. It’s sent him off into a lovely deep sleep. He looks like he could do with the rest, so it isn’t a bad thing. It buys us a bit more time to try to figure out who he is and get hold of his medical records.”

Alice wrung her hands together as her eyes settled back on the man’s face. She focused on his forehead, specifically that ghastly cut above his eyebrow. “You know the injury on his head? You don’t think that has anything to do with his memory loss, do you?”

“Why do you ask?” Ash’s neat eyebrows pinched together.

“I, er…” Alice swallowed against the bilious churn in her stomach; empty, aside from that awful acidic coffee. Static fizzed in her ears.

“It’s okay, you can tell me.”

“I’m worried this is all my fault. When I found him in the road, lying there and groaning, he was conscious, you know? Incoherent but awake.” Alice paused to steady her shaking voice.

“Go on.”

“Well, I had no phone signal to call for help, so I had to get him into my car… but he’s heavy and… well, I sort of dropped him. That’s how he cut his head.” Alice blinked back the tears blurring her vision. “This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

“Oh, Alice.” The doctor moved closer and touched her hand to Alice’s back, the warmth from it radiating through her. “There’s something called the Good Samaritan Law. Basically, if you’ve stopped to help someone, you can’t be blamed if you unintentionally injure them in the process.”

“I’m not worried about being blamed. I’m worried that I’ve caused him a serious head injury and now he can’t remember who he is and that’s because of me. I’m like a disaster magnet.”

Ash peered into her face with an earnest look of reassurance. “I can’t be one hundred percent certain until we’ve done some more tests, but I doubt that little cut has caused any major issues.”

“Really?” Alice blinked, conscious of Ash’s warm hand still pressed between her shoulder blades and the subtle motion of her thumb moving in small comforting circles. Is this what they mean by bedside manner? Alice bit hard on the inside of her lip.

“Really.” Ash smiled. “It’s a flesh wound. It looks worse than it is. He’s booked in for some scans anyway, but in my professional opinion the worst you’ve done is cause him a few stitches.”

“Okay, that makes me feel a little better, I guess.”

The doctor’s hand fell away and in Alice’s unprofessional opinion, she thought she should return it immediately. But she stopped herself from saying that.

“Oh, and I found this.” Alice reached for the man’s coat. “I forgot it came off when I was pulling him into my car.”

“Have you checked the pockets?”

Alice scoffed. “No, of course not. Why would I go through his pockets?”

Ash raised an eyebrow and took the coat. “To see if he was carrying anything that will tell us who he is.”

“Right. Yes, that makes sense.”

Whilst holding the furry mass of a coat by its collar, Ash patted the pockets. First, she pulled out an ancient brick of a mobile phone.

“Bloody hell, is that a Nokia? I thought they went extinct.”

Ash pressed the buttons but, much like the man, the Nokia didn’t respond. She returned to the pockets and fished out a scruffy leather wallet. “Aha!” She flipped it open and slid out a pastel-pink card.

“ Quelle surprise , he’s not called Xavier.”

Alice widened her eyes in mock-surprise. “He isn’t?”

Ash laughed and held out the man’s driving licence. “No. Here we have one Mr George Shaw.” She placed the coat over the end of the bed and waved the wallet. “I’m just going to give this to the team so they can run it through the system.” She turned to leave but looked around and grinned at Alice. “Be right back, okay?”

Alice nodded and returned her gaze to the man’s sleeping face. She touched her fingers to his warm hand resting atop the blanket.

“Hello, George. Sorry I got your name wrong, and I’m sorry again that I bashed your head.”

Ash bounced back into the room, as if unburdened by handing over the wallet. “Okay, that’s with the team now. Hopefully, in a short while, we’ll be a bit more up to speed on George here. Mystery — almost — solved.”

“We still don’t know what he was doing in the road like that, poor thing.”

“Nope, but we’re a step closer to finding out.”

Alice nodded and patted George’s hand.

“Anyway, I suppose I should get going.” Ash gestured to the door.

“Me too.” Alice bent to retrieve her fallen coffee cup before she stood.

Ash grimaced. “Oh no, that wasn’t from the vending machine, was it?”

Alice nodded with a grim smile.

Ash sucked air in through her teeth. “Blimey, and you drank it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“That stuff is like rocket fuel. I should check you over, just in case.” Ash’s cheeks coloured as she laughed.

“You can if you want,” said Alice, barely suppressing her smile.

“Hmm, well I would, but I’m not on duty, so I’d have to refer you to one of my colleagues.”

“Well, in that case… perhaps you could point me in the direction of somewhere that serves a decent cup of coffee.”

“Hmm, there’s a cute little place just up the road. They have the most amazing muffins.” Ash chef’s-kissed her fingers. “I’ll take you, then at least you’ll have a doctor on hand if you need medical assistance.”

Alice bit down on her grin. “Lead the way to the muffins, doctor.”

* * *

The sharpness of raspberry kicked against the gooey white chocolate coating Alice’s tongue. She murmured her pleasure through a mouthful of muffin and closed her eyes, savouring the first taste of something substantial since yesterday lunchtime.

“You weren’t wrong… these are delicious. Mmm.” Alice swallowed and opened her eyes to see Ash, staring at her display of unbridled pleasure. Amusement ticked up one side of Ash’s mouth in that disarming lopsided grin. Alice smiled back and Ash blushed, flicking her long dark lashes down to redirect her gaze at the giant mug of coffee she held in her hands.

“There’s a good reason they’re my favourite,” she muttered into her mug.

“Well, you have good taste.” Alice took a sip of tea, the perfect chaser to the rich muffin. She glanced around the small café with its exposed brick walls, reclaimed wooden furniture, and Edison bulbs casting a warm glow overhead. A playlist of lo-fi beats added to the hipster vibe. Fran would hate it. Alice smirked and turned her attention to the woman sitting in front of her. “So, you come here often?”

Ash’s laughter reached her eyes.

“I try not to come too often; the struggle to resist the muffins is real, and now you know why.” She gestured to the crumbs on Alice’s plate. “But it’s close to work, and it’s nice to get out of there from time to time. I used to come here a lot with… my ex.”

Alice propped her elbows on the table and leaned in. “Ooh, so this is where you bring all the women?”

“I wouldn’t say that, no.” Ash snickered. “We used to come here as it was nice to get away for a coffee together and not be surrounded by gawping colleagues.”

“Yes, I can see why that would be appealing.”

“Anyway, am I that obvious?”

With a little leap in her chest, Alice grinned because she’d guessed right. She sat back and playfully narrowed her eyes, taking Ash in.

“Let’s just say I have a good gaydar.”

Ash shrugged. “Well, that makes one of us.”

“And your ex, is she…? I mean, do you…? Is it awkward now, working together and not…”

“Oh, no, Sam relocated a while ago.” Ash stared into her mug. “A job came up for her in Edinburgh and it was too good to turn down.” She took a long sip of coffee and shrugged. “Long distance wouldn’t have worked for us, so…”

“But your accent, it’s from the North, right?”

Ash’s laughter pealed out. “Yeah, but Yorkshire, not Scotland. It’d still be long distance, even if I didn’t live all the way down here.”

Alice shook her head. “Ah, that’s a shame.”

“No, not really. There were other reasons it wouldn’t have worked, but hey, I’ve moved on.” Ash gave her a small smile. “And you?”

“Me?”

“Yesterday, you said you’d just broken up with someone. Are you doing okay?”

Alice drained the tea from her cup and placed it onto the saucer. “I’ve been better, but it was time I got real.”

Ash placed a surprisingly warm hand on top of Alice’s. “If you want to talk about it, I’m a good listener.”

Alice threw her head back and drew in a deep breath. Would it be so bad to get this off my chest? She hadn’t been able to speak to anyone else about it. She’d tried several times with Maggie, but she’d gone all self-righteous when Alice let on that Fran was married, probably because of Markus and his track record… and confiding in Jeremy was out of the question, obviously. There was no one else she trusted, so why not confide in a stranger who was willing to listen?

Alice looked back to Ash, straight into those dark brown eyes, full of concern and kindness. “You really want to know?”

Ash nodded. “Hit me with it.”

Reluctantly, Alice withdrew her hand from under Ash’s. Her chair scraped across the tiled floor as she stood. “Okay, but I’ll need another pot of tea. And I think I’d better get you a muffin.”

Ash laughed. “Why?”

“You’ll need some sugar to help with the shock.”

Ash held up her hands. “In that case, who am I to argue?”

At the counter, Alice ordered another pot of English breakfast tea — ignoring her bladder’s better judgement — a large white Americano, “…and two more of those delicious muffins.” She pointed at the raspberry-topped cakes in the display and grimaced as the total tallied up on the till, but the present company was more than worth the relatively small outlay, so she tapped her credit card. Plus, a woman had to eat and drink.

As the barista prepared her order, Alice leaned against the end of the counter and glanced at her locked phone screen crowded with notifications. If only she could just block Fran. If only it were that easy. Why had she ever allowed herself to get involved in this bullshit?

She sighed and pushed her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, even though she really ought to text Maggie about the car. Later.

Alice allowed her eyes to drift over to Ash, who sat mesmerised as cherry blossom from the tree on the street corner caught in the breeze and drifted by the window like pink snow. It was funny observing the things other people noticed; almost as if seeing them for yourself through fresh eyes. Spring really was quite beautiful.

“Alice. Order for Alice.” The young barista’s voice snatched her from her daydream.

Turning to walk away, Alice almost dropped the tray when in front of her stood Fran, looking as gorgeous as ever and thoroughly pissed off. Alice swallowed hard.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ve had warmer greetings, Alice, I must say.” Fran chortled before fixing her lips into a smile. “I’ve been trying to call you, but you weren’t answering.”

Alice shook her head and Fran’s eyes travelled down to the laden tray she was struggling to balance. “You have company?”

“I… I… yes. I’m having tea with a friend.” Alice’s eyes flicked over to Ash, who was looking in their direction with a furrowed brow. Fran looked around too, her smile faltering as she returned her cold eyes to Alice.

“I see, and who is this ‘friend’?”

“No one you’d know. Look, I thought I’d made it clear last night that it’s over between us.”

Fran stepped closer, blocking Alice’s path and placing a hand on her upper arm.

“Darling, sometimes we say things we don’t mean in the heat of the moment. I just want to talk things through and see where we get to after that. Where’s the harm?” Her voice was low and steady, as if trying to coax a scared animal.

Alice bit her lip as her courage wavered in the face of the woman she worshipped. The woman she used to worship.

No, no, no. It’s over. Her thoughts must have spilled into words as Fran stepped back, shoving her hands into the pockets of her tailored trousers. She inhaled a deep breath before speaking through tight lips, an edge of impatience in her voice.

“Look now, Alice. You’re making a scene. Shall we just sit, have a nice cup of tea and talk things through?”

Alice glanced over at Ash again, who gave a concerned smile and mouthed, “Are you okay?”

Somehow bolstered by the doctor’s kind eyes, Alice felt her courage restored.

“As you already noticed, Fran, I have company, so I would appreciate it if you would let me pass.”

Fran fixed Alice with a steely stare before stepping aside.

Surely, it wouldn’t be that easy.

With her heartbeat drumming in her ears, Alice placed the tray on the table and composed herself as she set the drinks and cakes in place.

“There we go,” she said, retaking her seat.

Ash looked at her with a worry-filled face. “Alice, are you okay? You’ve gone as white as?—”

Alice waved her hand. “I’m fine… I mean, that was my ex.”

Ash’s eyes popped, and she leaned forward. “Whoa, you mean your ex as of yesterday?” She side-glanced at the other woman, who was now giving a detailed drink order at the counter.

“Yup, that’s the one.”

Ash released a breathy laugh and sat back with her hands on her head. “Shit!”

Alice focused her eyes on the knotty reclaimed wood of the tabletop, not wanting to look at Ash or over at Fran. Adrenaline pulsed through her, making her hands shake so much the lid of the pot rattled when she poured her tea.

Ash leaned in and whispered, “How did she know you were here?”

The question caused Alice to sit up straight, her eyes searching for an answer. “I’ve, maybe… I really don’t?—”

Before she had any longer to think, Fran strode toward them with a mug in her hands. “Ladies, mind if I join you?” She placed the mug on the table without waiting for an answer and shoved a hand out to Ash. “Francesca Dalton, and you are?”

Alice’s mouth hung open in shock as Ash clasped Fran’s hand in an uncertain handshake. “Asha.”

“And tell me, Asha,” Fran carefully pronounced the name as if it were a foreign word her tongue might trip over, “how do you two know each other?”

“I, er… we don’t really… we met last night. I mean…”

“Oh, I see.” Fran’s eyes swivelled back to Alice. “So, this is why you haven’t been answering my texts and calls?”

Alice said nothing, but her cheeks flamed. She looked at Ash with pleading eyes and mouthed, “Sorry.” Fran leaned across them for the sugar sachets and continued her rampage whilst stirring white granules into her mug.

“Tinder, was it? Or some other pathetic little dating app for lesbians.”

Ash held up her hands. “Whoa, okay.” Shaking her head as she stood, she glanced from Alice to Fran. “You’re clearly upset and catching the wrong end of the stick, so I’m just going to?—”

“Leave? Yes, that would be best.” Fran pursed her lips.

“Ash, please don’t.” Alice’s voice came out tiny and too late as Ash turned to go.

She looked back to Alice and said, “You know where I am, okay?”

Alice nodded, her eyes following Ash as she left. The café door closed, and Alice’s shoulders slumped.

“There, that’s better. Now we can talk.” Fran sat back and cupped her mug.

Alice narrowed her eyes. “How did you know?”

Fran shook her head, a smug smile plastered to her lips. “Know what?”

“Where to find me?”

“Oh, you really do focus on all the wrong things, Alice.”

“How did you know I was here?”

Fran tutted and set her mug down on the table. “If you must know, I tracked your phone.”

Alice’s mouth fell open. “You tracked my phone?”

“Quite right. I like to keep tabs on you. It comforts me to know where you are and that you’re keeping out of mischief.” Fran chortled, as if it were a cute and perfectly normal thing to do. Alice’s jaw clenched as she stared at Fran, brushing this off like it was nothing. Fran slid the plate with Ash’s untouched muffin across the table.

“You had no right, Fran.” Alice’s voice came out in a low growl.

“Come off it. It’s only a muffin, Alice. Your little friend has gone, and I don’t want it to go to waste.” She shrugged and smiled at Alice, then between her manicured finger and thumb she plucked the raspberry from the top and popped it in her mouth.

“Not the muffin. My phone. You had no right to track my phone.”

“Shh, keep your voice down.” Fran glanced around.

Alice stood, her chair screeching across the tiled floor.

“No, I won’t. It’s stalking. You’re so controlling. I’m done with this, Fran. Leave me alone or else?—”

“Or else, what?”

“I’ll tell Jeremy about us. I’ll tell him everything.”

Fran laughed. She fucking laughed. The clipped, nasal sound sliced through the air. Has she always had such an ugly laugh?

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Try me.”

“You’ll lose your job, and then where will you be?” Fran sat back with a shit-eating grin.

“I don’t care any more.” Alice snatched the muffin out of Fran’s hand, grabbed the one from her own plate, and left with Francesca-fucking-Dalton gawping behind her.