She loved working in A&E, couldn’t imagine working in any other department. It was always busy and she was part of a great team, for the most part made up of people she’d worked with for a couple of years now and so, although the transitory nature of it meant that there were no real patients to miss over the holidays, she still felt a small tinge of guilt at heading home to Ballycove for her perfect family Christmas.

Eddie would be there already, no doubt being fussed over by his mum. Bless him, he had the patience of a saint. Liv had rung him earlier in her shift, just as he was leaving the city. He sounded harassed, but then, he’d just wanted to get home, and it was a long drive. Heavy traffic always put him in rotten humour. He worked hard. Liv knew that he’d worked much harder this year than he had let on to her. The secret, of having found that ring – her ring, made her smile now. This Christmas, at home in Ballycove, with her family and Eddie was going to be the most special one ever.

She was lost in these happy thoughts as she neared the hospital gates. The main road was always busy and even at this late hour, traffic was thundering past. In the distance, she thought she saw her bus. Having left work half an hour earlier than she expected, she had time to make it home to the flat and save Pete the round trip to pick her up from work first. She could call him on the way and tell him to collect her there instead. If she could make it across in time, she might just be able to catch this one, which would save her a fifteen-minute wait in the freezing night air for the next.

She reached out to press the button to cross at the same time as the man next to her. Their fingers touched the button together. She could feel the weight of his hand press against hers, for just a moment, and she had that crazy feeling you get when you touch metal and get a slight electric shock. When she looked up, she felt her breath catch in her chest because she was looking into the eyes of a man who seemed to be the most familiar stranger she’d ever seen.

‘Oh, sorry,’ he said. Perhaps he’d felt that powerful surge too. Of course, she knew it was probably just some electrical fault in the traffic lights; surely, there was no other explanation. He pulled his hand away and then stopped, smiled at her as if they’d come to some silent realisation between them at the same time.