‘Oh, you know. Same old. I had a new ICD fitted which is much smaller and I haven’t had any more arrythmias . . .’ I stop, because she’s stopped looking at me and has pulled her phone out of her trouser pocket.

‘I’m sorry, but I need to get back to the surgical ward.’

‘Surgery. Wow. What’s that like?’

‘Intense. And rare. I don’t get many chances to assist in theatre, mostly I’m on the wards. But it’s all good.’ Her eyes are bright.

‘You look completely at home. I can’t believe you did it, you really are a doctor now.’

‘Better late than never.’ She blinks and it’s as though she’s already back in work mode. There’s a sudden wariness in her eyes. ‘Sorry, we’re on a skeleton staff over New Year, so I really do have to go—’

‘Are you happy?’ I don’t even know why I ask her, but I know immediately it was the wrong thing.

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘No reason.’

‘Happy New Year, Joel.’ She turns away.

‘Kerry!’ I can’t resist one last attempt at reconnecting with the people we were, the people we must still be, underneath. ‘How are the jerks?’

She frowns. ‘Sorry?’

‘Our joke. Do you remember, when I was in the ICU? You’d ask about the jerks and I’d answer like you meant the doctors and—’ I stop.

This time when her eyes narrow, she looks like the Kerry I knew: amused, not impatient. She’s remembered. ‘Twelve years,’ she says. I think she’s about to say something else but she blinks and the moment has passed. ‘It’s nice to see you looking so well. Happy New Year, Joel. Give my best to your parents.’

She moves past me, still holding her sandwich.

‘We could grab a coffee,’ I say, trying to walk alongside her towards the lifts. ‘I’m working here overnight but I could hang around, till you finish—’

‘Joel, I’m sorry, but I’ve no idea when my shift will finish.’ Kerry reaches out as though she’s going to touch my arm, but instead, she’s pressing the lift call button. ‘I’m glad you’re doing well, let’s leave it there.’

The doors open, and she steps inside. It’s only as they close again that I realize she was so desperate to get away that she didn’t even pay for her sandwich.

As I return to the van, I’m unsettled. I wouldn’t have expected Kerry to greet me like the long-lost love of her life, but she seemed too different and distant. While they’re broadcasting a VT, I find the researcher who’d been responsible for casting the doctors we should follow for the show.