Lena rolled her eyes at the nursing staff’s incompetence. ‘Well they should.’
After Lena had left, Flo sat beside Zander’s bed and watched him sleeping. OK, he wasn’t really sleeping, but he looked as if he was. The head injury was a closed one, so there was no visible damage. His ultra-straight glossy dark hair still fell over his forehead, his high cheekbones were as beautiful as ever. His eyes were closed; he was breathing with the aid of a ventilator. To look at him, it seemed entirely feasible that he could wake up at any minute. Yet the doctor had just been in to tell her that he would shortly be taken down to the neurosurgical operating theatre to have a burr hole drilled into his skull and a device installed to monitor his intracranial pressure.
Because at the moment, his condition wasn’t looking good.
At eleven a.m. the theatre was ready for him and Flo prepared to leave the hospital. She needed to shower, change, feed Jeremy and arrange for someone to come in and keep a regular eye on him. Maybe doze for an hour or two if she could.
‘I’ll call you straight away if there’s any news,’ said the lovely nurse. Lowering her voice, she added, ‘I know his sister is officially the next of kin, but she’s upset at the moment . . . and excitable. Well, you know what I mean.’
Flo nodded. ‘Oh yes, believe me, I know.’
‘Bit of a handful, is she?’
‘More than a bit.’ Was it unfair talking like this behind Lena’s back? Maybe, but she needed them to understand what Lena was like. ‘It’s just the way she is. She can’t help it.’ She knew it was illogical, but she didn’t want the fact that Zander had an annoying sister to be a reason for them to take less good care of him.
As if reading her mind, the nurse gave her shoulder a consoling squeeze. ‘Of course she can’t. Don’t worry, we know.’
Flo made it all the way back to Clifton and into the security of her flat before bursting into noisy tears. Jeremy, eyeing her with supreme disdain, stood there for several seconds before turning and stalking away. When he reached the kitchen, he sat down beside his empty food bowl and gave her one of his I’m-so-disappointed-in-you looks.
‘I know, I’m sorry. I’m just so worried about Zander.’ And now she was apologising to a cat. Rubbing her wet face with her sleeve, she set about washing and refilling the blue ceramic bowl. Once it was done and the fresh food was ready for him, she straightened up. ‘There you go.’
Whereupon Jeremy turned once more and left the kitchen, the slow swish of his tail registering his disgust.
Four hours later, Flo was standing on the doorstep of Zander and Lena’s flat, alternately hammering on the door and ringing the bell.
At last Lena answered, wearing a lilac dressing gown. ‘What is it? You woke me up.’
‘It’s the hospital. We have to go back.’
Lena’s pale forehead creased. ‘But why? I was asleep.’
‘Something’s happened. They wouldn’t tell me what. We just need to get over there.’ Flo heard her own voice vibrate with fear.
‘Why didn’t they call me? I’m the next of kin.’
‘They’ve been trying to ring you. You didn’t answer.’
‘Do you think he’s woken up?’ said Lena.
‘I don’t know.’ But from the tone of the phone call, she didn’t think that for one minute. ‘Come on, put some clothes on and we’ll go. I’ve ordered a taxi.’
‘Shut up, what are you even talking about?’ Lena’s voice rose as she stared in disbelief at the doctor sitting on the other side of the desk. ‘You’re supposed to be making him better, not worse! You can’t sit there and tell me my brother’s going to die.’
Flo stared at the cheap, hard-wearing grey carpet and concentrated on the words the man had just uttered; it was important to take them all in, even when he was saying the unsayable.
‘I’m so sorry, Lena, but sometimes we just aren’t able to make people better.’ The doctor’s tone was compassionate but firm. ‘The initial injury caused the haemorrhage, and the damage from that is too severe to be compatible with recovery. In such cases, there simply isn’t anything more that can be done. All I can assure you is that your brother didn’t suffer. He’s been in no pain.’
‘According to you,’ said Lena.
Flo pressed her hands together between her knees and said, ‘Is there any brain function at all?’
The doctor shook his head. ‘No, there isn’t.’
‘He can’t die,’ said Lena. ‘He just can’t.’