Chapter Twenty Four

T he cafe door was open but the place was empty as Lydia hurried through. “Doctor,” she called out.

“Back here.”

She followed the voice and walked into what could only be described as a blood-bath. Swallowing against the iron smell of the blood she quickly took everything in. The patient was on the floor, crouched against metal cabinets, arm clutched to her body and wrapped in towels. Cass, Lydia suddenly remembered her name, the girl who had served her on her first morning in town.

Someone else was there, another woman. There was a large box with a blade on a cutting board and blood dripping in places where there definitely shouldn’t be blood. And Cass’s normally rich brown skin had turned gray. Okay, she had this.

“Arm up,” Lydia said, moving to Cass’s side and lifting the towel-bandaged arm above Cass’s head.

“Shit, yeah, I knew that,” Cass mumbled. “Did a food safety course and everything. Gotta get the bleeding above the… the whatsit. Above the heart.”

The other woman squatted down. “What if it’s, like, your thigh or something?”

“Dunno,” said Cass. “That’s what I asked and they told me to save my questions for the end. ”

“Then you’d lie down flat on the ground, put your feet up on a chair and a pillow under your bum,” said Lydia, grateful that her patient was distracted. “Or at least that’s the idea in principle. I’ve yet to find someone gravely injured who’d benefit from a pillow under the bum.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Cass said. “This floor is hard as rocks, I wouldn’t mind a pillow.”

The other woman immediately got up, was gone for a second, and came back with a cushion from one of the cafe chairs.

“Actually,” Lydia said. “It’d be good if we could get a chair in here, or get the patient out there. Better light and better access.”

“What do you think, Cass?” asked the woman worriedly. “Can you get out into the cafe?”

“Yeah,” Cass said. “With a bit of help.”

“I’m Amelia, by the way,” said the other woman to Lydia. “And thanks for coming so quickly.”

“All part of the service,” grinned Lydia. “Let’s get her up, shall we?”

Together they managed to lift Cass to her feet and supported her to a chair in the main cafe.

“Best lock the door,” Lydia advised. “We don’t need an audience. And keep that hand up above your head, please. Now, what happened?”

“She was slicing cucumbers for sandwiches on that stupid Madeline thing,” Amelia said, coming to sit next to Cass and taking her hand, threading her fingers between Cass’s like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Mandoline,” corrected Cass.

“That’s a musical instrument,” said Amelia.

“And a kitchen gadget,” Cass said. “And that’s currently where my fingers are.”

“Your fingers?” Lydia asked, the situation suddenly looking a lot more serious than she’d feared.

“S’what it felt like,” Cass said, going even paler.

Lydia saw Amelia’s knuckles go white as she squeezed Cass’s hand. “It’s alright, it’s all going to be fine,” she said. “But you’re going to have to let me have a look. Amelia, do you have more clean towels?”

“Yeah, I’ll grab some.”

“Perfect.” Lydia shuffled a little closer on her chair. “I’m going to take your arm down now, Cass. We’re going to lower it to the table and then I’m going to unwrap those towels to have a look, alright?” It was best to let the patient know what was happening, to take the mystery out of things.

“Do you have to?”

“Of course she has to, you silly lump,” Amelia said, coming back with towels. “She hasn’t got x-ray vision, has she?”

“It’d be useful though, wouldn’t it? For a doctor, I mean,” Cass said as Amelia sat down beside her and took her hand again. “Out of all the superpowers. Though I suppose flight would be good too, since you could get to emergencies faster and what not.”

“I’ve always fancied invisibility,” Amelia said.

And Lydia recognized the fact that they were trying to distract each other. “It might be better if you both look away,” she said, pulling at the edge of the first towel.

She had a clean towel ready, not sure if she was expecting a spurting artery or something worse, but as she peeled back the layers she could see that the injury wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. Cass’s fingers were still there, though a large gash that crossed the back of three fingers was still oozing blood faster than she’d like to see.

“I think I can see the bone,” Cass said.

“How did you manage to cut the back of your fingers on a Madeline?” asked Amelia.

“Mandoline,” corrected Lydia. “And at a guess, I’d say she slipped as the blade was coming toward her and was trying to move her hand away but wasn’t quite fast enough.”

“Are you going to amputate?” Cass asked, looking far more cheerful than the situation really warranted.

“No,” Lydia said with a grin. “Not right now. Although what the hospital will say, I’ve got no clue. ”

“She’s kidding,” Cass said, turning to Amelia as though to soothe her.

“I know that, you idiot.” But Amelia was looking pale now too.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Lydia said quickly. “I’m going to give this a quick clean and a new bandage. Amelia, you’re going to go and make some hot, sweet tea. And then when the injury’s stable I’ll drive you both to the hospital.”

“Seriously?” Cass groaned. “I was going to make oven pizza and watch that new Kate Winslet thing tonight.”

“Sorry,” Lydia said. “I can’t do stitches here. And I think you’re probably going to need a plastic surgery consult before anything permanent happens. Best I can do is get you cleaned up and into the right hands. How about that tea, Amelia?”

Amelia nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen. Giving worried relatives something concrete to do was usually the best way to keep them from panicking. Lydia settled down to repair what she could.

Fifteen minutes and a cup of sweet tea later, the job was done. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Lydia said.

“It’s alright for you, it wasn’t your fingers,” grumbled Cass. But she was smiling. “Much better though.”

“Alright, I’ll just go and get the car and then I’ll drive the two of you over to the hospital.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Amelia said.

“I don’t, but I’d like to see you put in the right hands and I want to make sure there’s a plastics consult and do a proper hand-over,” said Lydia who knew she didn’t have to go but wanted an excuse to check out the local hospital’s facilities.

“Alright then, but there’s a problem,” Cass said.

“Is it hurting?” asked Lydia, worried.

“No, but that tea’s gone straight through me, I’ve got to have a pee before we leave.”

“Not a huge problem,” grinned Lydia.

“Not for you, but one of us only has one hand and some very tight jeans.” Cass stood up.

“Come here,” Amelia said. She flicked open Cass’s jeans and undid the zip. “Go and do your business and come back and I’ll do ‘em up again.”

Cass went gratefully, leaving Lydia alone with Amelia. “She’s lucky to have you,” Lydia said.

“Are you kidding? I’d be lost without her,” said Amelia.

“You’re a cute couple.”

“A… what?” Amelia started laughing. “We’re not together. She’s just my best friend.”

“Really? But you seem so close,” Lydia said, confused.

“We are. We’ve known each other since pre-school. Don’t do many things alone, to be honest. We’re not together in that way, but I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone, I think.” Amelia sniffed. “Relationships are all different, you know? Finding your life partner doesn’t need to be sexual or anything like that.”

Lydia flushed. “Right, yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry for assuming…”

“It’s alright, most people do assume,” Amelia said. “And to be honest, there’s a lot of similarities, I get why people would think we’re a regular couple.”

“You do sort of seem… connected.”

“Well, we would, wouldn’t we? Because we are,” said Amelia. “And I’ll tell you something for nothing, when you meet someone special, you don’t let them go. Not for anything. Not even if it’s not the kind of person, or the kind of relationship, you thought you’d have for yourself. It’s simple enough really.”

For the first time since the phone rang in the surgery, Lydia found herself thinking about Cordelia. She’s been so focused on protecting Cordelia, on not hurting that squishy inside, that maybe she’d forgotten that she could be protecting herself too.

When you meet someone special, you don’t let them go.

It wasn’t rocket science, was it?

She might not have known Cordelia long, but she knew that she was special. She could see it in the way she held Toby, in the way she hugged Magda, in all kinds of ways. She could feel it in the way her body responded when Cordelia walked into a room.

She’d put this off for far too long. Prevented herself from opening up, from taking risks, with the excuse that she was busy, that she didn’t have time for a relationship. The truth was though that she could have made time. She just hadn’t met the kind of person she wanted to make time for.

The kind of person like Cordelia.

“You should go for it,” Amelia said.

“Go for what?”

“Whatever it is that’s made you look like you’ve just realized that the Earth is round and the sun is hot,” she said, grinning.

“Maybe.”

“No, no maybes,” said Amelia, leaning in seriously. “The world doesn’t have time for maybes. Out of eight billion people in the world, there are so few that ever make that connection with you. Don’t be foolish enough to throw one of them away, who knows how many others there’ll ever be?”

“Am?” Cass’s voice came from the bathroom. “If I walk any further my trousers will fall down and I’ll show the whole high street my knickers.”

“Be right there,” Amelia said, getting up.

Lydia looked out of the window onto the quiet, calm evening street.

When you meet someone special, you don’t let them go.