The Long Walk Back Page 9

  ‘Ready for a busy morning, Captain? We have lots to do today, and I have decided that today is the day when we look at that leg.’ She fixed him with a stare, hoping he wouldn’t see her nervousness underneath. He frowned slightly, wiping at his mouth with a napkin, before silently pushing a large paper cup of coffee towards her. She shook her head, ignoring the pull of caffeine he had dangled in front of her. ‘No thanks, I’d rather get cracking.’

  He shrugged, and pushed the cup closer still with his fingertips. She noticed his hand shook a little with the small gesture, and looked closer at him. He looked tired, less put together than usual. She was just wondering what was wrong when he spoke.

  ‘Drink your coffee, Missy. It’s getting cold, and I still have my breakfast to have. We won’t be doing any therapy today. I declare today “skivers day.”’

  She looked at him incredulous. ‘Skivers day? Are you for real? I work here you know, supposedly helping you, and you want a day off? I don’t think so.’

  Cooper looked across at her, and she noticed the red lines around his eyes, which were bloodshot. ‘Well Missy, you’d better go and find someone else to work on then, because I’m doing nothing today.’

  He dismissed her with his eyes then, returning to his breakfast in silence. Kate didn’t know whether to punch him or cry. Was it pick-on-Kate day today? She could feel the tears welling up, and a hard lump forming in the back of her throat. Fine, she thought to herself. She started to walk to the table, but instead of taking the coffee, she kept walking until she was behind Cooper. He turned in surprise, but she was too fast. Taking the brake off the chair, she wheeled him towards the door. He still had his coffee in one hand and a bacon sandwich in the other, so he couldn’t do much to stop her. He started to put his leg down on the floor, but she tilted the chair back, causing a drip of coffee to fall onto his crotch. ‘Argh!’ he said, stopping the struggle. He looked back at her, a mixture of surprise and anger on his face. ‘What the hell are you doing? Stop this damn chair, NOW!’ he bellowed. Kate kept wheeling, shouting ‘No!’ into his face. His eyebrows shot up in shock, and he turned back around in his chair. He shoved the rest of his breakfast in his mouth, taking a deep swill of coffee to chase it down.

  The nurses on the corridor looked at the pair of them in surprise, and Cooper even nodded to a couple as they strode along the corridor. Rita came out of the kitchen with a bunch of menu sheets in her hand, doing a double take at the pair. She smiled at Kate. ‘Taking old grumpy guts for a walk? Good for you!’

  Kate waved at her, her face red and shiny from the exertion of pushing him so fast. Cooper laughed then, a lazy low rumble and Kate realised he wasn’t angry anymore.

  ‘That’s right Rita, nice romantic walk,’ he quipped, even turning to give Kate a wink. Kate smiled for Rita’s benefit as they passed, then leant in towards Cooper’s ear. She ignored the jolt she felt as her lips brush his ear, and whispered to him, ‘you do that again, Captain, and I will poke that eye out.’

  Cooper flinched at the contact from her lips, and laughed again. ‘Be worth it,’ he whispered back, his stubble against her cheek. She abruptly stopped and pressed a button on the wall. The door opened, and Kate wheeled him in. In the room, Cooper saw Kate’s son sat in a chair by the window, now staring at them both in obvious surprise.

  Kate opened the window a little, letting in the fresh air from outside. Walking to the door, she faced them both.

  ‘Captain Thomas Cooper, meet Jamie Harper. My son. Jamie, meet Cooper. Since you both insist on being stubborn selfish boys’ – she spat this word at them – ‘I’ve decided, just for today, to leave you both to it. So, I’m going out for the day, all day, and you two can damn well amuse each other. Good luck!’ She trilled, pressing the door button behind her as she went. She passed Trevor in the corridor, pretending to discuss lunch menus with Rita, as she headed to her room.

  ‘Trevor, I’m taking the day off!’ she shouted at him as she went.

  ‘About time,’ Trevor replied. ‘Have some bloody fun!’ he commanded. Kate gave him a thumbs up.

  ‘And eat something other than salad!’ Rita added.

  Back in Jamie’s room, Cooper rubbed the stubble on his cheek with an open palm. She’s got more balls than I gave her credit for, he thought to himself, amused. In all honesty, he found himself attracted to her again. Looking at her son, staring at him blankly, he pushed that thought aside.

  ‘So, Jamie, what you up to today?’ he asked. Looking around the room, he was surprised that it looked pretty much like his, bare, impersonal. As far removed from a child’s room as he would expect. He somehow had the feeling that this was more to do with Jamie, rather than Kate. He found himself wondering whether her mood this morning was about more than just his refusal to work. He felt a pang of guilt, as he realised how much she had to contend with. He spied a games console and a few games under the TV, all boxed up. Moving over to the box, he pointed at it, motioning to Jamie. ‘Do you mind if I set this up?’ Jamie turned to him then, looking him over with eyes so much like his mother’s. He nodded and a faint smile appeared on his lips. Cooper smiled back and opened the package.

  Kate was in heaven. She whipped her head from side to side as her body cut through the water. Breath after breath, lap after lap, she kept going, powering through the water till her limbs ached. Some girls shopped, some did lunch or the salon, Kate swam. She had started early on, when her parents were never around, paying for lessons herself. She took to it like the proverbial duck to water, and it was her go-to stress buster. Hacking away in the centre’s pool, she felt the stress and anger roll over her like the water, splashing into droplets in her wake. Eventually exhausted, she sat at the pool’s edge, dipping her legs in the water. She had missed the feel of the water, she hadn’t been in since before being deployed. She made a silent promise to herself to try and fit it in, some badly needed time for herself.

  Flicking her legs in the pool, she lamented the state of her legs. Not much time for pedicures, or shaving for that matter. Maybe she needed to sort that out too, make herself feel a little better. Even her eyebrows were starting to look a little crazy these days. She didn’t dwell on the fact that she had only noticed these things since working with Cooper. The two things were entirely unrelated, she knew that. She just didn’t want to give him one more reason to judge her. Yes, that was it. Bound to be. Looking at the clock, she was surprised to see it was nearly lunchtime already. She decided to go and face the music early, apologise and at least make sure both her son and her patient got fed. She could only imagine the moods they would be in by now, she mused as she went to change.

  Heading to Jamie’s room first, having put on a fresh uniform and tied her wet hair back in a tight bun, she steeled herself till she heard a sound so familiar that she ran towards it. Stopping herself at the door, she peeked around the doorjamb, and she couldn’t believe her own eyes. Jamie was laughing. Actual, god’s honest laughter, right from the belly, a boyish sound that she knew as well as her own heartbeat. He was laughing, his face bright, head thrown back. She looked to see what he was laughing at, and her hand gripped the doorframe. Captain Thomas Cooper was sat cross-legged on the floor, game controller in hand, with a bandana she recognised as Jamie’s wrapped around his head, Rambo style. The pair were playing a fighting game on the computer, and apparently Jamie had just thrashed the Captain, She was about to go in, to say hello, to see if Jamie’s smile would fade when he saw her, when she stopped. ‘Loser!’ Jamie shouted, laughing once more. The solitary word came out croaky, and broken, like someone getting their voice back, but it was there. The word sounded like a love song to Kate, and she snatched it from the air and tucked it into her heart. Cooper feigned being mad, adjusting his Rambo band.

  ‘Loser, eh?’ I don’t think so, kid – best out of three?’

  It came again - the croak. ‘Deal … loser!’

  Kate grinned so hard she thought her face might crack, and she slid down to the floor, careful not
to be spotted. Tears ran down her cheeks and she covered her mouth with her hands to stop a happy sob escaping. It was there, ten minutes later, that Kate fell asleep, bolt upright in the corridor, swept under by sheer exhaustion, lulled into slumber by the sound of her son.

  An hour later, Jamie’s lunch came to his room, and Cooper made his excuses, promising to come back soon. On the way out, he closed the door behind him and nudged Kate. She jumped, throwing her hands out in front of her in a chopping motion.

  ‘Whoa,’ Cooper said, as softly as he could. ‘Steady on there, Missy.’

  Kate lowered her hands, embarrassed about being caught asleep in full view. She wiped at the corners of her mouth and eyes quickly.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Cooper teased. ‘I find drool and eye bogies a turn on.’

  Kate’s face dropped, and she scowled and swatted at him when she realised he was kidding.

  ‘Knock it off,’ she said sulkily. ‘I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Did you know I was there?’

  He nodded, offering her his hands to get up. She took them without question, and he yanked her up with ease. He tapped his lap. ‘Yep. Want a ride?’ He waggled his eyebrows flirtatiously, and was delighted to see her face redden. She pulled her hands from his as gracefully as she could, feeling pins and needles in her hips.

  ‘No thank you,’ she said politely, smoothing her hair back into place. He smirked at her and she pretended not to notice.

  ‘What’s with the ninja moves?’ he teased, doing his own karate chops to illustrate. She swatted at him again, trying and failing not to laugh.

  ‘Stop it!’ she said. ‘I was surprised, it’s a reflex.’

  Cooper laughed. ‘Okey doke.’

  She looked at the clock. It was gone one o’clock. ‘We still have some of the day left, do you want to get lunch and then do some work?’

  Cooper didn’t really. In fact, just thinking about working his muscles today, after the pain of last night, made him feel sick to his stomach, but he didn’t want to be mean to her again after that morning.

  ‘Fine,’ he shrugged. ‘But I, er, have to take it steady today. I didn’t sleep much last night.’ Why did he add that little gem? He didn’t want her to know that!

  Kate’s expression was questioning, but he said nothing. She nodded slowly, seemingly turning something over in her mind. ‘No problem.’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Kate paced her room. It was gone two in the morning, and she still couldn’t sleep. She didn’t know whether it was the excitement of hearing Jamie laugh and talk, or the disconcertingly comfortable afternoon she had spent with Cooper. They had ended up ordering burgers in, and chatting far more than normal. Nothing personal, just chit chat, films, movies, but still – she had found herself relaxing a little. She had noticed how tired and drawn he looked though, and she had a suspicion she knew what the cause was. She was just trying to talk herself into action. Jamie hadn’t spoken to her that afternoon, not that she thought he suddenly would, but he also hadn’t thrown anything at her and had even let her ruffle his hair, so that was major progress. Thinking about how Cooper had helped her son galvanised her into action. Pulling her mirror off the wall, she left her room.

  The corridor was quiet, the staff quarters filled with empty rooms or sleeping people. Here if you weren’t on shift, a lot of the time you were in your room, catching up on your sleep or researching some paper or another. She walked towards Cooper’s room, looking in on Jamie on the way. He was fast asleep, his hair sticking up in tufts from under the duvet. She dropped a kiss on his forehead, before leaving and going to Cooper’s room. She hesitated here. The door was closed, but there was a light under the door. She held her breath and knocked once. Nothing. She tried again, a little harder this time, hoping to god she wouldn’t wake him if he was getting some much needed sleep. She heard a wail, a low grumble, and decided to enter. The light from the corridor bathed the room in light, and she realised that the light under the door was coming from the bathroom. Knocking on the bathroom door, she waited.

  ‘What?’ Cooper snapped. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Cooper? It’s me, Kate. Can I come in?’

  ‘No!’ came the reply, followed by a groan. The man was in pain. Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Cooper, stop being a dick, make yourself decent and let me in!’

  Kate heard nothing. She was about to go get help when she heard the lock being clicked open. She gently pushed the door. Cooper was sat in the shower area, wet through with sweat, clad in only a pair of white boxer shorts. He was gripping his stump. Kate went to grab the mirror she’d left in the corridor, and locked the door to his room behind her when she returned. She came back into the bathroom, sliding the mirror in between Cooper’s legs, till the mirror reflected Cooper’s good leg, making it look like he had two. He was in a bad way, his face red, eyes gritted. She reached out, gently removing his hands from his stump. He flinched and resisted at first, scowling at her, but she persevered and he gave in. His operation site looked good, but the skin area around it was covered in bruises. Kate pressed her lips together, fighting the stab of pain she felt for him. This had obviously been going on for a while. She glanced up at him, and saw his eyes were closed tight, his head against the tiled wall.

  ‘Cooper,’ she said softly. ‘Thomas.’ He opened his eyes and pierced her with his gaze. ‘Look at the mirror, please. It will help.’ Cooper nodded once and looked. After a few moments his face seemed to relax a little, as his brain registered the fact that it was seeing two legs. Kate started to rub his leg tentatively. He looked at her warily, and they both felt the tension in the room. Looking away, she concentrated on trying to be professional. She could feel the heat coming off his body. It felt nice against her cold hands. If he found them cold, he never let on.

  ‘How long has this been happening?’ she ventured curiously.

  ‘It’s happened a few times, that’s all. No big deal.’

  ‘I can help, you know. If you just let me …’

  ‘What’s the point of that?’ he retorted. ‘Not going to get me back into service, is it?’ His eyes flashed with anger, and her hands stilled. He noticed her flinch, and he grabbed for her hand suddenly. She jumped. ‘Sorry,’ he said ruefully. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s helping, please don’t stop.’ She swallowed hard. He squeezed her hand. ‘I would never hurt you. I could never hurt you.’

  She started to massage him again. ‘I know that,’ she said, giving him a small smile. I do know that, she thought to herself. In fact, he makes me feel safe. She brushed the thought away and continued to work. ‘The mirror helps the brain to centre again. If you can, wiggle your toes, it will help. I can get you some pain relief?’

  He shook his head hard, drips of sweat dropping down his neck and chest. She reached for the rack and started to pass him a clean towel, then changed her mind at the last minute and wiped gently at his face herself. He flinched again, and she went slower, dabbing the sheen off his hair, his face and finally his bare chest. She noticed how defined his chest and arm muscles were. She could see them flexing as he shook from the pain. ‘You should take some pain relief, it’s too much to expect you to cope without any.’

  ‘No,’ he said softly. She didn’t argue. She finished dabbing him, and threw the towel into the corner of the room. She went back to massaging his leg, and noticed that he was pointing and flexing his foot. His colour had come back a little.

  ‘It hurts a bit less. It’s helping.’ His face sagged with obvious relief, and her heart went out to him. ‘Thanks, Kate.’

  She was surprised to hear him call her by her real name, and she kept working to cover her own emotions at hearing it from his mouth.

  ‘We can sort this. The mirror will help, and we can do other things too, if you’ll let me. Your leg looks good.’

  Cooper snorted a little. ‘Oh yeah, it looks awesome.’

  She didn’t bite. ‘The wound has healed, minimal scarring. We could start to work on a prosthesis once the bruising
heals.’

  She let the idea linger, not wanting to babble away or make him mad. Especially when he was so … not vulnerable, she couldn’t ever describe him as that, just … not himself. She finished off rubbing his leg and sneaked a glance at him. He wasn’t looking at his leg though, he was looking at her. Reaching a hand out, he moved it to her face, his fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked a ratty strand of hair behind her ear. She shivered at his touch, and her grip on his leg tightened a little. As he pulled his hand back, he ran his thumb from the base of her ear, along her cheek. Not quite believing what was happening, Kate’s lips parted a little and she didn’t dare let the breath in her lungs slip free. Cooper was looking at her now, and her gaze met his, seeing her own surprised expression mirrored in his. He winced in pain, once, just as his thumb grazed her bottom lip, and it seemed to wake him up. His features changed back to the cocky exterior he normally sported, and she grabbed the chance to rock back on her heels, away from him. She stood, and giving him a quick smile, she went to leave.

  ‘Kate—’ he called after her.

  ‘I’ll just get the nurse to help you up,’ she interrupted. She didn’t wait to hear a response. That name again. Hearing him say it was like she had never heard it before. Twice in one night, after weeks of ‘Missy’ and ‘Doc’. She had no idea what had happened, but she did know that after today, seeing him with Jamie, how his touch had made her feel, she had seen another side of Thomas Cooper, and she was intrigued. Just who was the real Captain Cooper? Giving instructions to the nurses at the station, informing them discreetly of what had happened, she went off to her room before any other surprised nurses who had seen her coming out of a patient’s room in the middle of the night could ask any questions.