Page 18 of The Wish

Dean kneels and attempts to pull Sam into an embrace. ‘Jesse doesn’t need him, she’s got us.’

Sam pulls free from his father and runs towards Jesse’s room.

Staff, patients and visitors look on with concern.

Dean goes after Sam, Mandy hurries after them both.

Alex hesitates before slowly following them.

As he passes the nurses’ station Sandy mouths a ‘sorry’ as she picks up the phone, dialling.

Alex pauses at the entrance to Jesse’s room. Her parents watch on as Amy comes over to him and gently takes one of his arms. Together they look into the room. Sam is cuddled up with Jesse, her mother sitting on her bed, stroking Sam’s hair. Dean stands apart looking out the window.

‘Show me, come on,’ Jesse says tenderly to Sam.

From inside his jacket, Sam produces several drawings which Alex and Amy struggle to see from their position. As Jesse looks at each one, she places them on the bed.

‘You did all these today?’

‘Yep,’ Sam says.

‘They’re great, Sammy, really great. What else did you do today?’

Sam looks over at his father.

‘It’s all right, Sam, we both know Dad loves us.’ She looks over at her father and sees him flinch. ‘He just has trouble sometimes knowing what’s right for us.’ She looks down at Sam. ‘Don’t you agree?’

Sam shrugs a maybe. Jesse looks up and sees Alex and Amy standing in the doorway.

‘I’ll sort things out with Dad later and don’t worry, Alex will still help me with my wish.’ She looks directly at Alex.

‘But I heard Dad tell him to go away,’ Sam says.

‘I probably shouldn’t have asked him to come back tonight. This is our time, family time, right?’

‘But you need him,’ Sam tells her.

‘I need you, and Mum and Dad more,’ she tells him. Alex glances at Mandy, who is wiping away a tear. When he looks at Dean, the pain that is written all over his face is so clear to see. This is a man who loves his family, Alex realises, even if he doesn’t know how to help them.

Alex startles as Kelly taps him on the shoulder. She indicates for him to follow her.

Alex follows Kelly to a far corner of the hospital cafeteria. ‘Coffee? Tea?’ she asks.

‘I’ll take a coffee. Long black.’

Kelly nods and heads over to order. The barista makes a joke and Kelly laughs – Alex can’t help but notice what a pretty smile she has.

As he waits, he looks around the café. Families and friends sit with patients, many in pyjamas and gowns, several have IV poles beside them, watching their visitors drink and eat, envy on many of their faces.

Kelly places the coffee on the table and throws two sachets of sugar at him, for which he’s grateful.

‘How old is she again?’ Alex asks, dumping both sachets of sugar into his coffee.

‘Fifteen.’

‘She puts most adults to shame. Did you see the way she was with Sam?’

Kelly nods.

‘She’d just heard that her father’s not going to let me make the one thing she wants happen, and she’s comforting Sam.’

‘Maturity and wisdom don’t necessarily come with age, Alex. That’s one of the first things you learn here, it’s life experiences that make us who we are, not years lived.’

In silence they drink their coffee, Kelly watching him go through a range of emotions, contemplating what to do next, what to say to her, to Jesse, to Ian.

‘Is this too much for you, Alex?’ Kelly asks finally.

He glances up at her words, but he sees no judgement there, just concern.

‘This is hard stuff, and it’s going to get harder,’ Kelly continues. ‘There is no shame in walking away at this point. You have to take care of yourself too.’

‘Yeah, it’s a lot, but no, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stop when Jesse says stop.’

Kelly nods, as if this is what she expected Alex to say. ‘I’m happy to hear that. But we need to factor in Dean. Saying that, I know how difficult he can be.’

‘At what age can a patient make their own decisions?’

‘That would be eighteen, unless there are exceptional circumstances. But don’t forget, Jesse has two parents, and Mandy is on board.’

‘I’ve met Mandy, she’s really nice.’

‘Mandy is a very special person. She’s doing the best she can, in the circumstances,’ Kelly says.

‘So, what do we do from here?’ Alex asks.

‘We just have to hope that Jesse and Mandy will be able to talk Dean round, I guess. But I’d just get on with it, if I were you. Don’t stop until Jesse says you can stop.’

Alex looks at Kelly, seeing her for the first time as someone other than a social worker. Maybe she’s not so bad after all.

Finishing his coffee he stands. ‘Thank you for the coffee and the chat. I better get back to it.’

Offering a smile, Kelly says, ‘Goodnight, Alex.’

At the doors to the cafeteria, Alex looks back to see that Kelly is watching him. He raises his hand goodbye.

And thinks of her smile all the way home.

In the dimly lit room he calls his office, Alex runs the two sets of filming he and Steve shot earlier in the day.

On a third screen he cuts and pastes a portion of the long-range scene, splicing it with the up-close video he filmed under the trees.

Repeating this process, he settles on one scene combining the two.

Adjacent to the scenes he makes system notes: insert a Sam drawing, merge it into video; talk to Sarah to help with special effects, possibly change the seasons to show multiple visits.

‘Aw, Max, what have I got myself into?’ he murmurs.

Max rises and places his two front paws on Alex’s lap. He’s rewarded with an intense rub behind the ears.

‘Fancy a late-night run?’

Before Alex can get out of his chair Max has bolted for the front door. By the time Alex gets there he is holding his lead in his mouth, ready to go.

‘Slow down, boy. How would you like a ride in the car?’

Alex and Max drive to a park Alex has spotted near the hospital which is sign-posted as dog friendly. He’s decided his buddy should try a new place to roam free.

Leaving the car in a suburban street across the road from the floodlit park, Alex and Max spend the next hour walking, running and playing.

Alex can’t help thinking of Jesse, her family and the playground he and Steve filmed earlier that day.

It’s well into the evening when Alex hooks up Max’s lead and together, they cross the street and walk towards the car.

Night revellers walk around them, several of whom pat Max, and he obliges with a wag of his tail and a friendly lick.

‘Alex! Is that you?’ a voice calls out.

Five women are walking towards him in the dim light. It takes him a moment to recognise the woman who called out to him. Sandy.

‘Hi, what are you doing here?’ he asks.

‘I could ask you the same question. We’ve been out to dinner and are now heading to a club. I’d invite you to join us but I’m afraid dogs aren’t allowed.’ Bending down, Sandy pats Max. ‘He’s lovely. He is a boy, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, this is Max. Wow, you look different.’

The other women stand a little way off watching Sandy talking with Alex and Max.

‘Kelly, aren’t you going to say hello?’

Alex turns to see Kelly walk from the group of women, towards them. She looks very different away from the hospital. ‘Hi, Alex, how are you?’

‘Kelly, hello, this is a surprise. I brought Max here for a run in the park.’

Kelly bends down to pat the dog. ‘Well, hello, Max. My name is Kelly.’

Max wags his tail furiously, licking and nuzzling Kelly.

‘You like dogs?’ Alex asks.

‘You could say that. I paid for my university education dog-sitting and dog-walking. I didn’t know you had a dog, though.’

‘There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,’ Alex says, cringing as the words come out of his mouth.

‘I imagine there is. It’s good to see you.’

‘So, you’re going clubbing?’

Kelly rolls her eyes. ‘Sandy thinks I needed to get out more. Normally, I’m a stay at home and watch a black-and-white movie kinda gal.’

‘Me too, I love old movies.’

‘One more thing I now know about you.’

‘Kelly, are you coming?’ one of the women calls out.

‘I’d better go. Have a great evening, I’ll see you at the hospital,’ she says.

Alex watches Kelly join the other women. Only when they are out of sight does he open the car door for Max to get in the back so they can go home.