Page 26 of A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances
‘Let’s have a crack—’
‘We’ll get it—’
Matt and Alex spoke over each other.
My guilt transformed into panic.
Alice’s face went red as she groaned. She then relaxed with a contented sigh.
‘Okay. I’ve just got to change a nappy. No one do anything until I’m back,’ I said, holding up my hands like the person in charge of stopping traffic near a construction site.
‘What is happening, Alice?’ I asked as I worked my way through most of a packet of wipes. She blew a raspberry by way of reply.
By the time I’d cleaned up my niece – which had necessitated an entire outfit change – and made it back outside, things had escalated.
Dad had evidently unearthed one of Nick’s medical kits, and was tying knots in surgical thread. Alex was kneeling next to him on the gravel driveway, using pliers to shape wire into a large hook.
‘Are you going to use a horizontal mattress stitch?’ Alex asked Dad without looking up.
‘Lock stitch,’ Dad replied, not breaking focus either.
Matt was sitting on the doorstep next to Lily, a glass of red wine apiece. Arlo sat at their feet.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked slowly.
‘We’re not entirely sure,’ Lily said. ‘John worked out that Alex is a doctor, and they haven’t talked like real humans since. We think they’re building their own fishing rod–style contraption out of medical supplies. It’s like a deranged version ofLego Masters.’
My body stiffened. I’d barely been able to handle Matt and Alex spending an afternoon together. I could not cope with Dad and Alex acting like Chief Webber and Derek Shepherd.
‘I knew Alex had studied medicine. But did you know he could do proper doctor stuff?’ Lily asked.
‘Yeah, I saw him in action. Once,’ I replied.
I turned nervously to Matt, who had obviously been sidelined while I’d been gone. And knowing Dad, probably with zero tact.
‘Matt . . . I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘It’s okay,’ he said, raising his glass. ‘I’m also exercising my area of speciality.’ Lily laughed at his self-deprecating tone but I couldn’t force a smile.
After last night, I had never wanted to drink again. But a glass of wine, something to take the edge off this absurd situation of my own making, felt critical. Matt usually jumped at the chance to offer me a company wine, but he avoided my gaze. My stomach fizzed.
Evie appeared at the front door dressed in a miniature pair of scrubs, holding her toy doctor’s kit.
‘I want to play too!’ she squealed. It was quite an astute observation – Alex and Dad did look like boys playing with toys. I felt a stab of guilt. Dad and Alex were just trying to help retrieve a valuable ring that I had lost.
‘Do you want to watch someBluey, Evie?’ I asked. It didn’t feel like Dad, in surgeon mode, had the bandwidth to supervise Evie. But, in what was an emerging theme, she ignored me.
‘Don’t touch anything sharp!’ I said, and she gave me a look that felt far too withering for what a three-year-old should have been capable of.
‘God, it’s “Patient Presents” all over again,’ Lily said, as she ran a bejewelled hand through Arlo’s wispy hair.
‘What’s “Patient Presents”?’ Matt asked, turning to Lily and topping up both of their glasses.
‘You haven’t told him about “Patient Presents”?’ Lily glanced back at me, looking surprised.
‘I feel like it’s revelation central today,’ Matt said. My heart sank. His tone was even. Lily wouldn’t have noticed anything was off, but I knew he was upset.
‘I remember the first time I went on a long car trip with the Evans family,’ Lily said. ‘We were all packed in together and John’s voice boomed from the driver’s seat: “Patient presents... with pain in their abdomen, a fever and low blood pressure.” Then, I shit you not, the whole family each had a turn asking questions about this imaginary patient’s symptoms. The winner was the person who guessed the correct diagnosis first. I suppose it made sense for a car full of doctors and aspiring doctors, but I felt very dumb that day. I guessed that everything was chicken pox, which was the only thing I’d heard of.’
