‘Being drunk and disorderly is a crime,’ said one of the officers.

The other officer gripped the drunk under his arm and led him away. ‘So is assaulting a police officer. And if you carry on like this … Oh Jeez.’

The man threw up on the floor.

‘I think I’d like to go home,’ I said, closing my eyes. ‘I’m not ill enough to be here and you’re obviously busy.’

‘We’ll put you straight into a cubicle,’ said the nurse, patting my arm. ‘Your boyfriend can come too.’

The cubicle was tiny and no quieter than the main waiting room but at least it was a little more private with the curtain drawn round us. The nurse took my blood pressure, which was low, while Jensen sat beside me giving me encouraging smiles. Once she’d gone, I flailed about, trying to push myself upright.

He looked over his shoulder warily and back at me. ‘Is that wise?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but being sick whilst lying down definitely isn’t.’

The effort of not flinching away from me was written all over his face and if my head hadn’t been throbbing so much I’d probably have laughed. Despite his reservations, he hooked his hand under my arm, eased me forward and propped me up with pillows.

‘Better?’ he asked, placing a cardboard sick bowl on my lap.

I nodded, barely moving my head. ‘Much better. I really don’t think I’m concussed. Shall we just go? It’s so busy here, we could sneak off and no one would probably even notice.’

The curtain was whisked back and a smiley-faced doctor in a fraying white shirt with pen marks around the breast pocket appeared. ‘Not thinking of absconding, were we?’ He grinned. ‘Tut tut. I’m Dr Zarzycki, but you can call me Toby, pleased to meet you.’

He closed the curtain again and shook my hand.

‘I don’t want to trouble anyone,’ I said.

Jensen stood up and shook the doctor’s hand. ‘She’s very determined, I’m afraid. Once she sets her mind to something, she keeps going until she gets it.’

Despite my wooziness, I felt quite proud of that.

‘Laudable,’ said the doctor, ‘in most circumstances. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if we didn’t check you over thoroughly.’

He scanned through the notes on a clipboard sitting at the end of my bed and I sighed, resigned to spend several hours here only to be told I was fine and could go home, while Jensen missed out on his boss’s party.

‘I’ll phone my sister Evie to come in,’ I said to Jensen, pressing a hand to my forehead to suppress the pain. My fingers brushed against the dressing; I must have looked awful. ‘Then at least you don’t have to waste your evening.’