Come fly with me, p.8
Come Fly With Me, page 8
‘He likes to have you at his beck and call, that’s all.’
‘I will be at first but I won’t do it for long. And I didn’t visit him last night; I was firm about that.’ She couldn’t look like a complete pushover; Bess would never let her be that. She was a good friend. But she also knew Maya’s feelings about Isaac and her desire to see him and his father at least try to work things out. ‘He knows I have a life outside of what was once our marriage.’
‘Does he, really?’
‘Okay, so he’s taking a while to accept it. But Bess, this is temporary.’
Bess chewed thoughtfully. ‘You’re too nice, that’s your problem.’ She had the last morsel of flapjack ready to pop into her mouth. ‘Be careful, Maya. I can’t help thinking he’s playing you. He might not have planned this, but you have to admit it’s kind of working out well for him. He never wanted to let you go.’
She looked at Bess as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. ‘Try not to worry; I’m not getting sucked back in to being with him.’
Bess was right. Conrad hadn’t ever wanted to let her go. But what Bess didn’t know was that even if Maya wanted to, she couldn’t simply walk away, not with the things he knew about her, things she never wanted to share.
As the girls left the locker room, they bumped into Frank. ‘Maya, how are you doing?’ His moustache covered his top lip and then some, and his skin was weathered with a tan that never faded from a life outdoors sailing boats before he’d become an engineer.
‘Not too bad, thanks, Frank. And it’s always good to be back at work doing what I love.’
He winked at her. ‘That’s our girl, isn’t it, Bess?’
‘Sure is,’ Bess beamed. ‘We missed her.’
‘And how is Conrad?’ Frank ventured. He knew the deal with him, the times Maya had tried to leave and never had, how much happier she was since the divorce was final, but the concern about her son and his father was never far from her mind.
‘He’s on the mend, discharged today so I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s back at work.’
‘He was lucky.’ Frank was here often enough to hear some of the horror stories. Sometimes the team came back in good spirits having safely got to a patient in time to not only save them but give them the best outcome. But other times, when the stories were grim, the outcomes not hopeful, Frank could see it on their faces, heard the hopelessness and regret in their voices. ‘Well, send Conrad my regards for a speedy recovery.’
‘Will do.’ Maya knew what that meant too. It meant she should remember Frank to Conrad and that would serve as a reminder to him that Maya had plenty of people looking out for her should she need it. Over the years, Frank had been more of a father figure than her own could be. He was easy to talk to… he came here and did more hours than necessary and she knew why. He was lonely. His wife had passed away a decade ago and he’d drunk himself into oblivion until Bess, close to him also, had guided him to some counselling. Nowadays he rarely drank at all, he seemed content in his life and his work. Sometimes it made Maya sad, though, that perhaps he needed a little something more in his life other than work. Didn’t they all?
There was a light shower as Maya drove to the hospital but by the time she arrived, it had finished and the puddles in the car park and on the pavements were already beginning to disappear.
When she reached the ward, the doctor was finishing up with Conrad and Conrad looked relieved to see her. Perhaps despite the hold he had over her, he had, even for a short moment, doubted she’d turn up. ‘Here she is, Doc.’
‘Hello, Maya. Good to see you again. He’s all yours,’ the doctor said before he went off to continue on with his rounds.
Conrad was already dressed and a bag of his belongings sat packed up on the chair beside the bed. ‘I’m good to go.’
‘That’s great.’ As she’d said to Bess, the sooner he got home and started proper recovery, the sooner Maya could begin to fade into the background as much as she could.
‘Thanks again for doing this, Maya.’
Did she really have a choice? ‘No worries.’
He lowered his voice. ‘If you hadn’t stepped up and said you’d help me, they’d have kept me in for longer. And I’ll go insane if I have to spend another moment in here.’
Maya also knew that if he stayed much longer, he’d really piss someone off. Already he kept snapping at doctors and nurses, he’d moaned at the lack of privacy more times than she cared to remember, he’d abused the visiting rules and had too many rowdy people at his bedside. Some of the nurses were uncomfortable with his behaviour, although most were brilliant and took none of his shit, something Maya had quietly thanked them for whenever she left the ward after visiting.
‘I need to get home for my sanity,’ he grumbled. ‘And you won’t need to watch me like a baby; this is all so they let me out. Once I’m at home, I’ll be fine.’
‘I’ll keep an eye on you, Conrad.’ She knew he’d only said it to test whether she would hang around, to know whether he needed to deploy those threats he liked to issue whenever he felt she was pulling away that little bit too much.
‘Why? I’m not going to be leaving the house for a while – not like I can go out on my bike, given it’s a write-off.’
‘I’ll do it because the medical team advise it.’ And because if she didn’t, she’d soon know about it from him, despite the pretence otherwise, the claims that he hated being an imposition.
‘I’ll take the help today but perhaps I can have a word with one of the guys at work, see if they know someone who can come by every day for a while. I don’t want my incapacity to fall to you; it’s not your responsibility.’
He really was digging into his acting skills now. But she wasn’t stupid. This was all part of his master plan, she knew; he was clever that way, pushing enough but not too much.
She might be kidding herself but her theory was that sooner or later, he would accept their marriage really was over and he’d grow tired of playing games. And if he didn’t? Well, that meant that at some point she’d have to deal with him in another way.
She couldn’t be frightened of him forever, worried about what he might say.
But right now, she didn’t see a way out.
10
When it came to searching for Eva’s biological father, Noah didn’t have much to go on at all apart from the guy’s name on Eva’s birth certificate. But it was a start.
In the kitchen at the airbase, on a much-needed break after three jobs in quick succession, he made coffees for himself, Maya, Bess and Nadia and took his over to the table. He couldn’t resist a bit more searching while he had a moment because over the last week, he’d come up with a big, fat nothing.
Paul Griffiths had been in Cassie’s life so briefly that he and Noah had never met. Cassie and Paul had dated for only a couple of months before Eva was conceived and then during her pregnancy, the guy was offshore on an oil rig a lot, taking as much overtime as he could to supposedly put him in a good position to support his family. Noah, meanwhile, had a busy job of his own and saw his sister on snatched occasions. By the time Noah could take a few days off and meet Eva properly rather than the mad dash he’d made to the hospital to meet his niece for the first time, Paul had supposedly gone offshore to the rigs again for another stint as a mechanic.
Noah had known the first day he saw Eva in Cassie’s arms that her daughter was his sister’s whole world. She’d turned thirty-nine when she was pregnant and she’d told Noah that this was probably her one and only chance to have a baby.
Paul never did come back from offshore. There was no accident, no sudden tragedy. He simply disappeared from Cassie’s life. There were tears from Cassie at first but not for long. Cassie had pragmatically carried on and Noah wasn’t sure but he had wondered whether perhaps his sister was in fact glad at the turn of events. It frustrated him no end that now, he’d never be able to ask her why.
The only other information Noah had to go on about this guy Paul Griffiths was that he’d lived in the same town as Cassie, where they’d met at her local pub. He started a search on social media, thinking there had to be something there, but other than a few guys with the same name and getting his hopes up at the picture of an ocean next to one profile (which he thought might have implied the person worked out at sea, even on the rigs), he found nothing.
Bess came in to claim the coffee with one sugar and glanced over at Noah. ‘You look like you’ve lost a tenner and found a quid.’
Noah frowned. ‘I think the saying might be lost a shilling and found a penny… or is it lost a pound and found a penny?’
‘Dunno,’ Bess shrugged, ‘but inflation changes things so I’m going with the tenner-quid version.’ She peered over his shoulder and down at his phone screen. ‘He looks beefy. Friend of yours?’
‘Trying to find someone.’ Noah closed the social media app. ‘And that’s not him.’ Unless the father of his beautiful niece was young enough to be Cassie’s son. The guy who’d got his hopes up was on a scuba-diving trip with sixth form according to the caption.
‘Oh yeah, who?’
The thing about Bess was she liked to know what was what, but she was easily distracted when it came to the personal lives of the crew, so when Maya came in, she sighed. ‘You and your stories, Noah. One day, I’ll find out all the details. Now, happy hour at the pub tomorrow, anyone?’
‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘if I can get Geraldine over.’
‘Do it,’ she said, bossy as you like. He didn’t miss Maya’s grin at their colleague’s persistence. And it was her turn next when Bess diverted her attention. ‘Maya, what about you? Please don’t say you can’t; I’ve been trying to get you there for ages.’
When Maya smiled, she looked even more beautiful than when she was serious or concentrating on something. She was clever too; he liked listening to her talk about flight paths, technicalities with the helicopter. He had to wonder why with all her intellect, she was still giving that ex-husband of hers the time of day. He’d never met the man, not unless you included the night of his accident, but Noah had heard enough comments about Conrad here and there that he had a pretty good picture built up in his mind.
Maya picked up her own coffee and talk focused on happy hour, Bess trying to rally everyone to attend, but the phone let out its shrill ring to cut the conversation short and demand their attention.
Maya was first out of the door to get the helicopter ready. Noah and Bess abandoned their coffees in favour of grabbing the gear they needed for the job. The medical bags were stowed on the aircraft already but legally the drugs couldn’t be left unattended so were kept at the airbase and retrieved each time they were needed. Blood was often left on the helicopter unless the temperatures were too hot or too cold. Today was the former, which meant Bess went to get those while Noah picked up the drugs.
Helmets on, Bess and Noah headed for the aircraft and inside of five minutes, they were soaring above the Dorset countryside. The crew batted back and forth in conversation about the job they were heading to. A horse rider had taken a fall when going over a jump at a local riding school and on approach to the scene, Noah thought about Cassie. He thought about her often but as soon as he’d heard the patient had had an accident involving a horse, it brought back the painful memories on a whole other level.
Putting his personal feelings aside, he spotted someone down below in a hi-vis jacket waving at them and pointed it out to Maya and Bess. Occasionally, people waved at the air ambulance regardless of whether they were in need of help, which wasn’t particularly useful, but this time it was easy to suss out that this really was a wave meant for them to come in and land as close as they could to the patient.
‘There are horses in the field on the right,’ Bess advised from her position in the front.
From the rear of the aircraft, Noah could see three fields spread out to the left of the person in the hi-vis with easy access on one side. ‘It’s the best bet,’ he said into his microphone. ‘It’s a bit of a walk for us but I don’t see any other options.’ And it looked like they could exit the field on foot, run down the laneway without having to climb any fences or cut back any bushes to do so.
The helicopter came in to land to Bess’s call of, ‘Clear on the left.’
‘All clear on the right,’ said Noah.
The crew touched down safely moments later.
‘Thanks, Hilda,’ said Maya, patting the inside of the aircraft the way she often did. It was another side to Maya, a softer side he quite liked. ‘Good luck, you guys.’
Once Noah and Bess had the equipment bags on their backs and the bag containing the drugs, they trudged through the long grass to the other side and the lane.
A car pulled up with someone from the riding school and took them to the patient, saving them precious minutes as well as a long walk with a heavy load and Bess and Noah were at the patient’s side in under two minutes.
Noah took the lead with this one. ‘Hello there, can you tell me your name?’ He was relieved their patient was conscious. The girl looked in her early twenties, slight and very scared.
‘Clara,’ she said quietly.
‘Clara, I’m Noah, this is Bess, we’re going to help you. But you need to lie still.’ She was trying to move and it wouldn’t help them or her if she did, given they didn’t know the extent of her injuries.
‘Milly,’ she said all of a sudden, trying to move again. ‘Milly… I have to collect Milly.’
The rider at his side told Noah that Milly was Clara’s daughter and that she was at school. ‘I’ll call Clara’s mum,’ said the rider, ‘let her know what’s going on.’ She crouched down to eye level with Clara. ‘Don’t you worry, your mum will collect Milly; she’ll be safe.’
As tears welled in Clara’s eyes, tears of relief and of pain, Noah thought again about Cassie and Eva, how lucky this girl Milly was that there was every chance of her mum making a good recovery judging by the injuries sustained. It would hopefully be a good outcome and he gulped at the reminder that his sister hadn’t been so lucky.
The patient was given ketamine after paracetamol and morphine weren’t strong enough to handle her pain while Noah and Bess stabilised Clara’s leg.
Clara was soon on the scoop and they set off on the trek down the lane and into the field with the help of three other riders from the riding school. Maya ran over to them to take the drugs bag as soon as she spotted them and stowed it in the rear of the helicopter before the patient was transferred onto the litter from the scoop.
In the back of the helicopter, while he monitored the patient during transfer to the trauma centre, Noah reflected on the moment Clara had panicked about her daughter. Her daughter’s welfare was her top priority, as it should be. And she was lucky; it sounded as though she had a grandparent to rely on. Noah didn’t. He didn’t have a partner either. There was nobody else aside from himself and Geraldine, who at the end of the day was an employee. What would happen to Eva if something happened to him? In all the commotion of the last few months, Cassie dying, him getting a daughter just like that, having to leave his job and his life and move down here, he hadn’t thought about what would happen if he wasn’t around.
And right now, it was a sobering, terrifying thought that if something happened to him then he’d let Eva down in the worst way possible. Because then she’d have nobody. Nobody at all. And his heart almost broke for the little girl.
Maya and Noah headed out of the airbase at the same time after their shift. The crew was in good spirits leaving for the day but not only that, they’d got their last patient the help they needed; it was a good outcome.
Noah slung his bag into the boot of his car.
‘Here’s trouble,’ Maya grinned as a motorcyclist pulled in at the airbase. It was only when they took their helmet off that she knew which one of the Whistlestop River Freewheelers it was. ‘Dorothy, hey there!’ She waved over.
Dorothy ran a hand through grey, cropped hair a few times in quick succession to get it back to a style she’d be happy with and came over with more blood from the blood bank. ‘You both finished for the day?’
‘We are, blue team’s turn now,’ Maya smiled.
‘Well done the both of you; go take a well-earned rest.’ She smiled in Noah’s direction; they’d met before.
Maya liked the way Noah smiled back at Dorothy, familiar with her already as though he’d worked here much longer than he actually had. Over time, their clash at her sister’s wedding had been forgotten as they dug into their professional personas and did their jobs. But it wasn’t only that: Maya was beginning to enjoy Noah’s company. He seemed a genuinely nice guy and that wasn’t always guaranteed; she should know, having picked Conrad only to find out he was nothing like she thought he was.
Dorothy headed inside the Whistlestop River airbase and Maya doubted Noah had missed the none-too-subtle wink in Maya’s direction before she went.
‘She seems a character,’ said Noah. Perhaps he didn’t want to think too much about what Dorothy’s wink had meant either.
‘Definitely. And she’s lovely too. They’re all remarkable people, don’t you think? I mean, we get paid, but they do this out of the goodness of their hearts, covering miles and miles of the country day in, day out.’ And now she was babbling to mask any discomfort that Dorothy might well have seen through her, the way she was looking at her colleague.
‘Total heroes,’ he agreed.
Maya liked where his heart was at. He must be a good dad. ‘How’s your little girl?’
‘Eva’s good,’ he smiled. ‘She slept through last night. That hasn’t happened before now.’
‘How old is she?’
‘Almost twelve months.’
‘She’s very cute.’
‘When she wants to be.’
