‘We have three more nurses due on shift ringing in to say that they are feeling unwell. It sounds as if it’s rife.’

‘I could call Ashley and Kayla?’ They were both great agency nurses. They’d worked right throughout the hospital, but unfortunately Francine couldn’t see past their multiple piercings and tattooed wrists.

‘No, no, I’m sure we’ll manage.’ Francine shook her head.

‘You know they are saving for a flat. If we don’t start giving them hours, they’re just going to find work somewhere else, and I know they’re both happy to come in at short notice.’

‘I’ve never liked working with couples and…’ Francine sighed. ‘We’ll manage, don’t worry.’

‘You’re the boss,’ Liv said and she hoped she hadn’t put some sort of hex on the holidays with her thoughts of everything going exactly to plan. She knew too well it only took an icy patch on the motorway to fill up the emergency rooms and put the whole department under pressure. She looked at her watch. Less than two hours to go.

‘Good news,’ Francine said as she pulled her aside twenty minutes later. ‘One of the HR girls managed to contact three nurses for the night shift and none of the remaining rostered staff have called in since.’

‘Oh, that is good news. We’ll be able to finish as normal so?’

‘Well, I’m definitely sending you home as soon as the first one arrives – you’ve done the work of three nurses today.’

‘Thank you.’ Liv laughed. She was delighted when Francine packed her out the door before the midnight bells struck, a half hour before her shift was meant to finish.

That was why Liv loved this time of year. It seemed to her that even the most harried people she knew could make time for a chink of something warm in their hearts, just because it was Christmas. She bundled her huge scarf around her neck, still smiling at the feeling of leaving work early. The night-duty nurses had arrived on shift and she almost skipped out of the hospital, having said her goodbyes to everyone for the holiday season.

A hard frost settling on the hospital grounds made the paths slippery, and the green areas sparkled with glittering specks that paled the grass to a minty velvetiness. The huge tree that stood in the centre of the grass was decorated with coloured lights and looked like a beacon for optimism in a place where hope was as valuable a commodity as any other at this time of year. Liv thought of those patients who would not get home to spend Christmas with their families this year. She especially thought of the people in geriatrics, paediatrics and oncology – it was towards those wards the tree seemed to wink the most.