The Nurse by J. Corrigan (list of ebook readers txt) 📕

‘Keep your hands to yourself,’ Miles’s boss said sharply.

Tattoo Man nodded and winked. ‘She should watch where’s she’s going,’ he said before sauntering off.

‘You shouldn’t have to put up with that crap.’ Daniel looked at me, his expression concerned.

‘Goes with the job. Do you know him?’

‘No, I don’t. Thank God. My apologies for the male species. We’re not all like that.’

‘I know that.’ I glanced at Miles. He was definitely one of the good ones.

‘Maybe we can discuss this sometime?’ Daniel said, his dark eyes shimmering.

‘I don’t go out with punters… I mean customers.’

‘My name’s Daniel Deane, by the way.’

‘Rose,’ I replied.

He pushed his chair backwards and sideways a little, away from the table, so he could face me without turning his head. ‘When do you finish work, Rose?’

I’d been given that line so many times before, and my stock answer was always I’m never sure. It was the answer I’d given to Miles months before.

‘Six.’

‘I’ll wait outside in the car park for you.’

‘Okay.’ I watched for his surprise at my yes. I was surprised at my yes. But not really. There was something about him.

I caught Miles smiling, sort of frigidly, and I felt bad.

‘Excellent.’ Daniel turned to him. ‘Shall we go straight to the hospital? Talk there? Noisy in here today.’

Miles nodded. ‘Of course.’ He was already standing, and handed me a twenty-pound note.

‘But I haven’t even brought you the olives. And there’s change.’

‘It’s okay, Rose, it’s your tip,’ he said, already walking towards the door.

At the end of my shift, I gave ten per cent of my day’s haul to the kitchen and saw Noah smile at me. The rest would go to Mum.

It was exactly 6 p.m. when I left the restaurant. The sun was low and bright, and I squinted as I scanned the forecourt. Daniel Deane was nowhere to be seen. Disappointment flooded through me. I walked round to the back of the building, where there was extra parking. And that was where he was waiting. I caught my breath, unsure if it was in delight or anxiety. He was sitting inside a blue Mondeo. Company car, I guessed.

He opened the window and grinned at me. ‘Glad you came. I didn’t think you would.’

He wasn’t exactly handsome – his nose a little too wide, his chin a little too small – although I didn’t really do handsome. But he was charismatic, and different. A strong sexuality flowed from Daniel Deane. It was unmistakable.

He leaned over and opened the passenger door, and I got in.

His car smelt of aftershave and leather polish. In the centre compartment a mobile phone and a brown leather wallet sat in perfect symmetry. A tube of chewing gum lay in exact diagonal alignment across the wallet. A petrol-blue jacket hung on a chunky wooden hanger in the back. He watched me take everything in; he missed nothing, and I liked that, because I liked to think that neither did I. Nevertheless, I shuffled sideways and my hand moved to the door handle, thinking for a moment that somehow he’d locked me in. A mini movie played inside my head. A long drive to a deserted road, torture, rape. Unspeakable things.

But the door opened.

‘You’re free to leave whenever you want.’ He grinned again. A hint of asymmetry in his features; maybe the reason he liked everything else uniform. His skin loved the sun, and the colour of his eyes, an intense brown, verified this. I guessed a touch of the Middle East in his genes.

Pulling the door closed, I said, ‘I don’t, as a rule, do this.’

‘Glad to hear that.’ He said it with an overly serious expression but amusement in his eyes. ‘Where do you live, Rose?’

I thought twice about telling him, but then loosened up and gave him the address. I was inside his car, for God’s sake. ‘I haven’t seen you in Mussels before,’ I said.

‘I spotted you weeks ago. It’s taken me a while to pluck up the courage to sit in your section.’ He’d pulled out of the car park. A motorbike zoomed by, overtaking us.

‘So Miles works for you?’

‘He’s an anaesthetist at the private hospital I manage in the city, but I’ve known him for years.’

‘Bluefields Hospital?’

‘That’s the one.’

I wondered if he was a doctor by training or just an administration guru. I glanced at him. ‘Where’re we going?’

‘For dinner. Would you like that?’ He took in my waitressing gear and suddenly I was aware that in the rush to get away from the restaurant, a rush instigated by the thought of Daniel waiting for me, I hadn’t used deodorant. Heat rose in my face.

‘I’d planned to swing by your house so you could get changed. That’s why I wanted your address.’

‘Dinner would be lovely, but will we get a table at such short notice on a bank holiday?’

‘Of course we will. It’s not a problem.’

He turned his attention back to the road, concentrating on the traffic. The med student in me noted that the joints in his neck were showing a reduced range of movement. Could be early arthritis, or just tension. Orthopaedics and the mechanics of bones was an area of medicine I had no interest in, but my mum believed there was more money in it than paediatrics. I had no idea how she knew any of this, but she probably had a point. I thought about the year I’d be adding to my training if I messed up my exams. I couldn’t afford to fail. I peered through the window at the office blocks lining the road. Working in an office would kill me, but what was the alternative if I failed? Nursing?

That would kill me too.

‘You still here, Rose?’ Daniel lanced into my thoughts.

‘Sorry, yes.’

‘I’ll sit in the car and wait for you to get ready.’ We’d nearly reached my road.

‘Should I make an effort?’ I asked. I was already thinking about what I’d wear, which was unlike me.

‘Only if you want to.’

He pulled up in