‘She’s called Sheba, and I suppose my neighbour would pop in if I asked nicely. I do hate being a nuisance though. Are you sure you can’t just give me some painkillers and send me on my way?’

‘Quite sure,’ I tell her with a smile. ‘But let’s see if we can get hold of your neighbour, hey?’

* * *

‘You were brilliant with Mrs Corrigan,’ Luke tells me a while later when we’re taking our first break. He’s staring at me intently again and it’s making me feel slightly hot. I hope I’m not blushing. ‘I think there’s a real difference between how you treat the elderly in A & E and how we used to treat them.’

I think about it for a moment. ‘I guess,’ I begin carefully, ‘it’s probably because most of the elderly patients we get in are still living independently, and they expect to return home once we’ve fixed them. Of course, that isn’t true for everyone, and it might not be true for her, but they need that hope to sustain them. Does that make sense?’

‘Yes, I think so.’ The intensity of his gaze has somehow ramped up a notch. ‘Do you mind me asking how you became an A & E nurse?’

I laugh, trying to break the tension and dispel the rather steamy thoughts about Dr Milne and me that are starting to circle in my head. ‘The usual way. Nursing degree, falling in love with A & E during my training placements, applying and getting the job. You?’

‘I decided I wanted to become a doctor when my granddad first fell ill. I was only ten, so I had no concept of terminal illness and couldn’t understand why they weren’t just making him better. I was angry when he died, wrongly assuming that the doctors were stupid and hadn’t given him the right treatment, so I decided to become one myself so I could do better.’

‘And how did that work out for you?’

He grins. ‘I’m here, aren’t I? I realised long before I started my training that my original assumption was wrong. They’d obviously done everything they could for him, but he’d spent most of his working life around asbestos, so it was bound to get him one way or another. But by then, the concept was ingrained.’

‘And why transfer from geriatrics to A & E?’

‘I moved house,’ he says simply. ‘I was in Milton Keynes before, and commuting from here wasn’t really practical.’

‘Long way to move,’ I observe.

A strange look crosses his face, as if he’s trying to decide whether to tell me something or not, and it occurs to me that this move might not have been his choice.

‘Sorry,’ I continue. ‘None of my business. Right, shall we get back?’