I nod. ‘I’ve been exploring since I moved here at the beginning of the year,’ I say. I don’t mention that I’ve been covering the city on foot with the housemate I have a crush on. It’s been a while since we’ve been for a walk together – he’s been doing loads of agency work, and – I shake my head, realising that I shouldn’t be thinking about him when I’m on a real-life actual date with a handsome Yorkshireman. ‘And there’s so much to discover,’ I say, sounding like a tour guide. ‘History everywhere.’

‘That’s exactly how I feel,’ James says. We reach my stop and I see the bus is approaching.

‘Right, well, I better get going. I’ve had a really good night,’ James says.

‘Me too,’ I say, again. I’m not actually sure how you do this whole dating thing. It’s been so long that I’m completely out of practice.

‘Do you – I mean would you—’ He starts, then clears his throat. ‘Would you like to go out again? With me, I mean?’

And something about the awkwardness of the situation makes us both laugh. I nod. ‘Yes, please,’ I say. ‘I’d like that a lot.’

‘I’ll message you,’ he says.

My bus arrives, and I climb on. When I get to my seat and look back, I see he’s still standing there, waiting until I leave to make sure I’m on board safely.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Alex

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Alex

1st August

I’ve had a couple of weeks back home hanging out with Lucy and Sam (who are so loved up, I can’t decide if it’s inspiring or nauseating, or possibly a bit of both) and I’ve gone straight back into two back-to-back weeks of night shifts, so I’m feeling a bit like Albany Road’s nothing more than a place to sleep before I stagger out of bed and back to work again. I feel like the living dead, but I’ll give hospital work this – it never stops being interesting. I’m doing agency work to get some money in the bank before the next semester starts. St Thomas’s Hospital is huge and confusing, and I’ve got lost about five times already. The weird thing is I know that another few shifts and I’ll have the entire place mapped in my head, permanently. I don’t know how it works, but it does.

‘Hello, darlin’,’ says a voice from the waiting area. I give a vague smile but don’t engage. I’ve got a load of overnight reports to hand over, and if I don’t get them in before the shift changes I’m going to end up hovering around for an hour like I did yesterday.