Page 95 of Doc Defence

“Well,” he chuckled. “The lie is, I got the eagle tattooed to manifest playing for the Toronto Eagles in the NHL.”

Hel nodded. “Yeah, that sounds possible. But it was actually for?”

“We went on a family holiday to England when I was a kid. Me and my brother became obsessed with an advert for some tinned fish.” Frost was already chuckling to himself as he retold the story.

“Okay, I’m not quite seeing the relevance of the eagle.” Hel traced the slightly faded outline of the old tattoo.

“This advert was for salmon. It had two bears by a river, supposed to be catching fish. Then, a fisherman comes in and tries to steal the fish. They have a fight, and the fisherman distracts the bear by saying ‘Look an eagle’ then kicks the bear in the ba…” Frost hesitated.

“I’m an Emergency doctor. I think you can say the fisherman kicks the bear in the balls.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “Very true. Anyway, me and Garret found it the funniest thing we had ever seen. It became our catchphrase, ‘look an eagle’, and then someone would be kicked in the…” he hesitated, “They’d be kicked. When I turned eighteen, we decided to get matching tattoos, and we didn’t have much money, so we went to a pretty shitty tattoo place, and the wonky eagle is now forever on my arm.”

Hel peered at the eagle, which initially, in the dim light, had looked alright, but the closer she looked, the more she could tell it was rather lopsided.

“I like the real story more.” She giggled and snuggled closer to him.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the others dancing. Hel held his hand where it was draped over her shoulder, and Frost rubbed circles with his thumb on her palm. It felt so easy, so right that Hel stiffened. She needed to pull away. She needed to protect herself.

“Are you okay?” Frost asked. He must have noticed her freeze.

“Yeah. It’s…” Hel blinked a few times as tears pooled in her eyes. “It doesn’t feel fair.”

“I know. I didn’t know I was waiting my whole life to meet you until I did.”

Frost’s words were all it took for a tear to trickle down her cheek. She had finally met a man, one she already knew if she spent more time with, she would fall in love with—well, if she was truthful, she was already falling—and he seemed to feel the same way. Why did he have to live over twelve thousand kilometres away? A couple of hundred she could have coped with, but the distance between their lives seemed insurmountable.

“Frost,” she whispered, feeling him lean down and kiss her hair.

“You don’t need to say anything,” he reassured her. “Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I wanted you to know.”

“Thanks.” She breathed deeply a few times, trying to be brave and said, “I know if we didn’t live so far apart, this would have turned into something.”

“Yup.” Frost nodded.

Silence descended over them, their ‘one perfect date’ was drawing to a close.

The music slowed down, and the DJ announced they only had two more songs to go.

Frost stood up and held his hand out to Hel. “Would you like to sway on the spot with me?” He grinned at her.

Hel smiled back, even though her eyes were still watery. “Absolutely.”

She took his hand and got to her feet, careful not to put any weight on him as she stood so he didn’t lose balance.

Their world shrank until there was only the two of them and their bubble. Their eyes were locked, their arms around each other. Hel tried to memorise every variation in the green of his eyes. When the music stopped and the lights came on, they stood there staring at each other.

Frost dropped his forehead onto hers. “Have a good life, Hel. Be happy.”

Hel swallowed a couple of times. This was it. This was really goodbye. “Thanks, Frost. You too.”

He pulled back slowly and unwrapped his arms from where they had held her so tightly, making Hel feel instantly cold.

“Goodbye.” His voice was barely audible above the voices of the other guests.

“Goodbye,” Hel whispered back.

Frost gave her one last sad smile before he picked his crutch up from where it had been propped, turned around and walked away.

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