Page 79 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
She gulped, hand shaking as she took the needle from Dr. Grey. But when she saw that he thought it was a joke, both men laughing at her statement, she bravely cleared her throat.
‘I’ve always dreamed of being a doctor, and working here with you has only made me want it more,’ she said. ‘You’ve been an inspiration to me, Dr. Grey.’
Another nurse joined them, a patient with her that she’d prepared for surgery, and April’s cheeks burned as she realized it wasn’t just Dr. Grey who’d know her ambitions now. Soon everyone would know.
‘April, I’d caution you against dreaming,’ he said, and she couldn’t help but notice the cool edge to his tone. ‘You need to remember your place as a nurse.’
She nodded. ‘Yes, of course. I was only—’
‘And as a woman,’ he added, before smiling and gesturing to the other nurse.
‘I’m sorry; I should have kept my thoughts to myself,’ she muttered, feeling a fool.
‘You’re an excellent nurse; I just don’t want you getting carried away.’ Dr. Grey was smiling again as if they’d been talking of something as trivial as the weather or what she might wear out to dinner. ‘But I’ll forget you ever mentioned it. Thank you, April—please get the patient to recovery, and then come back to assist me again. I have two more to operate on with extensive internal injuries, so it’s going to be a long afternoon.’
‘Yes, of course, Dr. Grey.’
She assisted the corpsman to move the patient and walked slowly from the room. All these years she’d never admitted her dreams to anyone, and now she’d been made to look the fool.Why did I tell him? Was I trying to impress him?April shuddered. Nothing was going to stop her from becoming a doctor one day, but from now on she was keeping her mouth shut.
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
April looked up as she almost collided with Eva. ‘Sorry. I was a million miles away,’ she replied.
‘I know the feeling,’ Eva muttered. ‘You have time for a coffee? I don’t know how I’m going to keep my eyes open for another four hours until the end of my shift.’
‘Let me finish up here, and I’ll join you. I have to go straight back into surgery with Dr. Grey, but I could do with a coffee first.’
April settled her patient into his bed, blanket tucked around him and his chart updated at the end of his bed. Then she did a quick walk-through of the ward, pleased most of her patients were asleep, before she found Eva again.
‘How’s your day been?’ she asked.
Eva sighed. ‘Same as usual. I deal with Arthur as best I can, but it’s almost a relief when I’m called away.’
‘He’s no better?’
‘No.’ Eva shook her head as she poured them both a coffee.
The coffee tasted terrible. ‘You know, the only thing this drink has going for it is that it’s hot.’
They both sipped and sat back, and April studied Eva. She’d been so withdrawn ever since the bombing, but she was starting to see glimpses of her again, and it was nice. Now that Eva was holding her ground with Arthur, he actually seemed to be good for her.
‘Is it hard for you? With Arthur being a pilot, I mean?’
Eva didn’t look up right away, but when she did, April saw tears glistening in her eyes. It surprised her; she’d never, ever seen Eva cry before, and she certainly hadn’t expected it then.
‘Yes, it is. Sometimes I just want to shake him,’ Eva said. ‘He’s so infuriating, and I want to scream at him, but when I feel like that, I bite my tongue and walk away until I feel I can deal with him again. I can’t imagine what he’s going through inside.’
April set her coffee cup down and reached for her hand. ‘I should have known how hard it would be for you. I’m sorry.’
Eva gave her fingers a quick squeeze before withdrawing her hand. ‘Tell me about you. Are you still enjoying working with Dr. Grey? Grace is convinced you’re having some secret love affair.’
April laughed. ‘Oh, I wish we were having some clandestine affair! The most exciting exchange we’ve had is side by side, scalpel in hand, unfortunately.’
‘I’ve seen the way he looks at you,’ Eva said. ‘All jokes aside, I think your sister’s right about him being interested.’
It was on the tip of April’s tongue to tell her about her dream of becoming a doctor, but she didn’t, not wanting to recount what had happened when she’d told the doctor. She also wasn’t ready to be rebuffed twice in one day, even though she was almost certain Eva would encourage her.
‘I promise I’ll keep you posted if anything happens between us,’ she said with a wink.
