Secrets of a Career Girl. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ and poor mum having to watch him. I’ll go and relieve Ethan.’

      Penny spoke again to the paediatrician and started the baby on antibiotics, but really there was no treatment that could stop the coughing attacks and, as Ethan had said, given his tender age, he really did need to be somewhere with paediatric intensive care facilities in case he suddenly deteriorated.

      ‘They’re going to come down and see him just as soon as they can,’ Penny said when Ethan came out. ‘I’ll go and let mum know.’

      ‘She’s in for a tough time,’ Ethan said. ‘Are you immunised?’

      ‘All up to date,’ Penny said, because though she was terrified of injections, before embarking on IVF she had made herself get all her immunisations up to date and poor Jasmine had been the one who’d had to do them. Still, it was worth it, Penny realised, for days such as this.

      ‘Right.’ Ethan glanced at his watch. ‘I’m going home.’

      ‘See you tomorrow,’ Penny said, but Ethan shook his head.

      ‘I’m on days off now.’

      ‘Enjoy them.’

      He didn’t answer. In fact, since her attempt to apologise, unless it was about a patient, Ethan had said nothing at all to her and she felt like poking her tongue out at his back as he and his bad mood walked off together.

      Maybe it was just as well he was on days off. Hopefully by the time he was back they could put yesterday’s incident behind them and start again.

      And she’d hopefully be finished with the hot flashes by then.

      As predicted, there wasn’t a hope of her getting away at six, but when it neared, Penny told Lisa she was taking a short break and, seeing Jasmine walking down the corridor with Simon in his stroller, the moment she had been silently dreading all day was finally here.

      ‘I don’t want Simon seeing me upset.’ Penny was starting to panic. ‘It could make him as terrified of needles as I am.’

      ‘There’ll be someone in the staffroom who can watch him for five minutes,’ Jasmine said. ‘You go on and get everything ready and I’ll come in.’ They both knew it wasn’t a question of Penny being brave because her nephew was there—it was the one thing, apart from her fertility, that Penny couldn’t control, and her response to injections was varied and unpredictable.

      ‘Vanessa’s watching him,’ Jasmine said when she came into the office a few minutes later.

      ‘I don’t know if I can do this again,’ Penny said. Her hand was shaking as she checked the doses the IVF nurse had given her.

      ‘In a couple of moments you’ll be one evening down.’

      ‘With God knows how many more to go,’ Penny said. She took a deep breath and undid her skirt. ‘Just do it.’

      She closed her eyes but could not stop shaking as Jasmine walked over. She had hoped so much that things would be different this time, but she was crying again, just as she had that morning at her blood test, and she was very glad that Simon wasn’t there to see his aunt make an absolute fool of herself.

      ‘It’s done.’ Jasmine massaged in the medication. ‘You’re done for the day.’

      ‘It’s ridiculous,’ Penny whimpered. ‘I’ve given so many injections today, I’ve taken blood from an eight-week-old …’

      ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jasmine said. ‘You’re actually better than you used to be.’

      ‘Really?’

      ‘A bit,’ Jasmine lied. ‘How are the hot flashes?’

      ‘Only two today.’

      ‘How’s Ethan been?’ Jasmine asked as Penny tucked herself in.

      ‘Horrible,’ Penny said. ‘He’s still sulking about yesterday. I tried to apologise but he wasn’t having any of it. There’s not much more that I can do.’

      But even if she shrugged it off to her sister, Penny was rattled because, yes, she had wanted to put it behind them, had wanted to start again, and, no, she didn’t want to but she felt the tiniest bit attracted to him.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      ETHAN HAD LONG known that his cousin might die but on the eve of the funeral he couldn’t really acknowledge that Phil had.

      Kate kept ringing and asking him to come over, except he didn’t want to talk about it, not even with those closest to him. Ethan had been dreading the funeral, had found himself starting to tear up when he’d asked Gordon to cover for him for the day, though he had kept the details minimal. Then Gordon rang to tell Ethan that he was up in Maternity as his wife, Hilary, had gone into early labour so he wouldn’t be able to cover Ethan’s shift after all.

      ‘Someone else should be able to cover you, though.’

      ‘It’s fine, Gordon,’ Ethan said. ‘I’ll sort something out, you just do what you have to.’ He wished him good luck and then looked at the roster. There were several doctors he could change with, he and Penny were on till six today, but tomorrow …

      As she walked past he called over to her. Penny was perhaps not his first choice to ask, but it was a pretty straight swap.

      ‘Can I ask a favour?’

      Please, don’t, Penny thought as she saw him looking at the roster because, in her impossible schedule, for the next couple of weeks there really was no room for manoeuvre, not that Ethan would know that.

      ‘Tomorrow I’m on from nine till six and you’re twelve till nine—is there any chance we can swap?’ She just blinked. ‘Though I might not get in till one.’

      ‘I can’t swap tomorrow, Ethan.’ She couldn’t. Not only did she have an ultrasound and blood test booked for tomorrow, she had a meeting with the specialist at nine.

      ‘I’ve got to attend a funeral,’ Ethan pushed, but didn’t go into detail, didn’t tell her that this was personal, he simply couldn’t. ‘Gordon was supposed to be covering for me, but his wife has gone into labour—premature labour,’ he added.

      Penny hesitated; she knew she couldn’t say no.

      Except she couldn’t say yes either, she simply could not miss her blood test—it was as essential as that.

      She’d ring the IVF nurse, Penny decided, see if she could fiddle around her appointment, but for now, till she had, she’d have to stand firm.

      ‘Is there anybody else you can ask?’

      ‘A few.’

      ‘Well, see if they can help and if not, let me know.’

      If she occasionally smiled, Ethan thought, she would actually be exceptionally attractive, but even then, with her terse attitude and unfeeling ways, Penny could never be considered beautiful. A black smile spread across his lips. She really was СКАЧАТЬ