‘It’s A & E,’ I tell him firmly, trying to disguise how pissed off I am. ‘Nobody gives a fuck how clever you are or what qualifications you have. At least, not at your level. You have to earn your voice. Dr Rogers trusts me because I’ve been around for a long time and he knows he can rely on me. Whatever you did today proves that he can’t rely on you, and that’s the damage you have to undo. It’s like flying an airliner⁠—’

‘Sorry, what’s that got to do with anything?’

‘I used to go out with a pilot,’ I tell him. ‘Naturally, I had a few questions about what really goes on in the flight deck when they’ve closed and locked the door, and he told me two things that I thought crossed over into what we do. The first is, it’s really important not to be a dickhead. You’re working long days in a confined space, so you need to get on with each other. The second is about fire. When an engine catches fire, you’d expect the pilots to be scrabbling around doing everything they can to put it out. But they don’t. They take their time, cross-checking every step, because if someone accidentally empties the fire extinguisher into the wrong engine, a bad day is suddenly going to get a whole lot worse. Trauma team is a lot like that. You don’t just stab the patient with random implements. You work together, communicate, act methodically.’

He smiles again. ‘So you’re saying don’t be a dickhead?’

‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. We’d better get back.’

‘One final question. What happened to the pilot?’

‘He worked shifts, I work shifts. We hardly ever saw each other. It fizzled out. It’s a shame really, because I did enjoy the perks. You can get flights for practically nothing if you know a pilot.’

‘Tilly?’ he asks a few minutes later as we make our way along the corridors towards A & E.

‘Yes.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘What for?’

‘For implying that you were somehow lesser. That’s not how I meant it to come across. I am in awe of your work, actually.’

‘Thank you,’ I say, blushing slightly at the compliment. ‘Apology accepted.’

As we approach the unit, I’m trying to decide whether I want to raise the topic of him inviting me out, but in the end I decide there’s nothing to lose from just talking about it.

‘Can I ask you a question now?’ I say.

‘Sure.’

‘Last time we worked together, you asked me out for a drink. Were you expecting it to be just me?’

Now it’s his turn to blush. ‘I was, actually.’