Page 16 of Broken Heart Syndrome
Frankie was always sketching and Tom was beyond baffled. When he had asked, she had muttered something about cakes, but the drawings didn’t look like any cakes he had ever seen.
She didn’t seem interested in cardiology at all. Tom considered himself a great teacher. He was pleased that he had been allocated a core trainee who wanted to specialize in cardiology. When he’d found out it was Frankie he’d been shocked, and her aloof attitude towards him pissed him off.
He did, however, think that he could at least train her successfully; but even in this she frustrated him. She seemed not to care at all about impressing him or any of the other cardiology bosses, and it didn’t make any sense. She should be selling her soul to get extra time assisting him in the cath lab, or learning from him in clinics. It was obvious she was an experienced junior doctor, and she was seriously the most efficient he had ever had, but it was very apparent that she did not give a ‘flying foo-foo’ (as she bizarrely and adorably put it) about cardiology as a specialty.
After a frustrating ward round, during which Frankie’s glazed expression and sketching continued whenever technical cardiology was discussed, he decided not to let her off the hook altogether that day.
‘Frankie?’
‘W-what?’ Her eyes flicked up to his from her sketch, and then slid to the side. Just then her bleep went off and she frowned down at the display. Tom decided to ignore it and forged on.
‘Cath lab, twenty minutes.’ He could see the conflict in her face: the urge to say no, battling with the fact that he called the shots. She also looked confused, as if his request that she go to the lab was bizarre. Finally she shrugged and looked down at her feet, seeming despondent. The shrill noise of her bleep cut through the air again. Whoever wanted to get hold of her was pretty insistent. ‘Go and answer it,’ he said. ‘I’ll wait.’
‘We’re not on call today are we?’ she asked, still looking down at the bleep on her hip.
‘No, why?’
‘A&E,’ she replied, moving to the phone. Tom watched her as she dialled the extension she’d been bleeped from, and then turned to Ash to discuss the plan for the afternoon list. When he looked back at her he saw that her face was deathly pale. She groped behind her to pull a chair towards the desk, and sat down heavily.
‘I see,’ he heard a slight tremor in her quiet voice. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’ Her eyes flicked over to where he and Ash were standing. ‘Yes, I’ll try and come down now.’ She grimaced and her eyes closed slowly, a look of defeat on her face that Tom found vaguely alarming. ‘I’m aware of that,’ she continued, her tone flat. ‘Okay, see you later.’
She put the phone down, then turned her head away from them, but he could swear he saw unshed tears glistening in her eyes before she did. After a long moment she turned back. Her face had cleared and there were no tears in evidence.
‘I just have to go and check on something for a patient a sec,’ she said as she stood and approached them. Her voice was bright, but he could still detect the slight tremor, and there was a tension in her face she couldn’t hide. ‘I’ll try to get to the lab as soon as I can.’
‘Is everything okay?’ Tom asked.
‘Of course.’
‘Which patient?’
‘What?’ A frown creased her forehead.
‘Which patient are you checking on?’
Her eyes slid away and she looked supremely uncomfortable. ‘Um … I … I can’t remember?’
Jesus, she was a crap liar. ‘Are you asking me if you can’t remember, or telling me?’
‘Telling you?’
Her lying should have annoyed him but instead he found himself thinking she was cute. It was obvious that he wasn’t getting anywhere with this bizarre conversation. He decided on action instead.
‘Right, okay, let’s all go,’ he said firmly. ‘If it’s a readmission then I should be there, don’t you think?’ A look of panic crossed her face before she masked it.
‘No, it’s probably nothing. You guys go on to the lab.’
‘They’ll wait. I can …’ Tom’s words caught in his throat as Frankie laid her small hand on his arm and looked up at him.
‘Please,’ she pleaded softly. ‘Please just go on and I’ll see you later.’ He searched her face and noted the tension in it again. What had spooked her so badly? Perversely, the more she held back from him, the more he wanted to push her. But he sensed that at that moment she was hanging on by a thread.
He cleared his throat. ‘Fine. Take as long as you need.’
‘Thank you,’ she said with real feeling, and her bleep sounded again, cutting through the atmosphere. After she had looked at the display, her frown returned and she hustled back over to the phone, quickly redialling the extension.
‘Hi, Frankie here.’ She sat again, lifting a shaky hand to her forehead. ‘Right. No, that’s not unusual. I’ll be there now.’ She replaced the receiver, her hand still not quite steady.
‘Frankie, I –‘
