know that. It’s not about a patient, it’s about the founder.’ She swallowed. ‘Mila Brightman...’
She watched as her brother’s face paled but he said nothing at first, just sat there, but then he spoke. ‘Mila wouldn’t get involved in anything that has my name on it.’ James shook his head. ‘No way.’
‘Of course she would for the sake of her patients.’
‘How long have you known that she’s involved in Bright Hope?’
‘I’ve always known,’ Freya said. ‘We’ve stayed friends.’
‘You stayed friends with my ex?’
‘She was my friend too,’ Freya said.
‘And you didn’t think to tell me any of this?’
‘It was very easy not to, you avoid the charity stuff...’
‘And Mila’s the reason why I do!’
‘I know that.’
‘No, you don’t,’ James snapped. ‘I thought she was overseas and all this time you two have been colluding—’
‘We’ve been doing what we can for the patients. Come on, James, look at the amazing stuff that’s happened already. Paulo’s getting a chance, you’ve got a burns patient next—’
‘Get out,’ James interrupted.
‘James—’
‘I mean it, Freya.’
And she looked at her brother who had always been there for her, now telling her to get out.
‘James,’ Freya said in her most patient voice, ‘let’s talk about this.’
‘Are you still here?’ he asked. ‘I’m telling you, Freya, get the hell out.’
Freya walked out his office and straight to her car. She had known that he wouldn’t be pleased, but to be told to get out had been unexpected.
James couldn’t choose who she was friends with.
Mila and he had been engaged, had been about to be married. Just because he had chosen not to go through with it, it didn’t have to mean that she’d turn her back on Mila.
Freya was so upset that for once she didn’t notice Zack walking towards her.
‘Hey,’ Zack said. ‘Where are you off to?
‘I’m just taking some posters to the Bright Hope Clinic. I’m hoping—’
‘Enough.’ Zack put up his hand. ‘I shouldn’t have asked. I’m trying not to think about tomorrow just yet.’
‘Sorry,’ Freya said, and she thought of the pressure he must be under.
‘About last night—’
‘Not here, Freya.’
‘It’s a car park.’ Freya pointed out. ‘Look, how about tonight? I could cook something. Come over—’
‘Freya, not here,’ Zack said again. ‘We agreed.’
‘Sure.’ Freya said, and walked off. She loaded all the posters into her car but before she drove off she texted Zack her address and again asked if he wanted dinner. Yes, she knew she was pushing to move things along to more than they had agreed to.
She wanted things to move along, though, Freya thought.
She hit ‘send’ and then headed south for the Bright Hope Clinic.
‘Hi,’ Mila said when she arrived, and then saw Freya’s tense features. ‘You told James.’
Freya nodded. ‘I did.’ Though it wasn’t just James and their row that she was feeling so tense about. She was still waiting for Zack to respond. ‘It didn’t go down too well.’
‘How is he?’
‘Shell-shocked,’ Freya said. ‘I think he thought you were still overseas. He pretty much left all the research of charities to me.’
Mila was busy working and Freya put up all the posters and then left. As she stepped through the door of her apartment she had her answer to dinner and her invitation to come over in a less than effusive text.
No thanks. Zack
He hadn’t even put the little exclamation mark that they jokingly used in their exchanges. Oh, Freya knew it was a tiny detail but she could feel that they were slipping away from each other and she didn’t want them to.
I could come over to you.
Freya read what she’d just typed and she loathed herself for it. She looked at Cleo, who just stared back at her and told her to please not do it.
She hit ‘send’.
‘Sorry,’ she said to Cleo.
And, rather more rapidly this time than last, she got her response.
Not tonight.
I’ve got a big day tomorrow.
Zack
And it was there, in that second, Freya knew, that things had changed.
Maybe not for Zack.
But for her.
It wasn’t just sex for her.
Maybe it never had been.
For Freya, it felt a whole lot more than anything she had ever known.
THINGS HAD, IN FACT, changed for Zack.
He’d declined her invitation for dinner, when he actually wanted a quiet night in with Freya, but it moved them into uncharted territory and Zack did not have the head space to explore that now.
Instead, he hit ‘send’ and then walked into his office to speak with Maria, which was a very difficult conversation to have.
‘You’ve told me all this,’ Maria said. ‘Many times. I understand that he might not make it...’
‘Maria,’ Zack said, ‘listen to me. You have to hear this.’ They went through it again, not just the risks of the procedure but how they would deal with Paulo tomorrow as he went under anaesthetic.
He left her crying with Sonia, a skilled PICU nurse, who would help Maria compose herself before she went back in to be with her son.
Then he got Freya’s invitation to come over and sex really was the last thing on his mind and, annoyed at her persistence, he hit ‘send’ on a thanks, but, no, thanks text and then felt like a bastard.
She was too much, too intense, yet he liked it. Freya was complex and changeable, fragile yet strong, and he simply could not think about her now.
He lay in his hotel room, turning up the news to drown out the sound of a couple at it in the next room.
Zack couldn’t face the noise and chatter of the restaurant. Instead, he ordered room service, looked at the steak he’d ordered and washed it down with a side of pasta and a couple of bottles of sparkling water. Then it was time to start thinking about tomorrow.
He knew that there was a lot riding on this operation being a success. The Bright Hope Clinic desperately needed the donations that would start to roll in if it went well.
But it wasn’t that that truly daunted him. What did, was a five-year-old with a seriously messed-up heart. That was all there was space for in his head.
Zack checked in on his ego to make sure he wasn’t being cavalier, and then he phoned Cale, a mentor and friend in Australia that he’d trained under, and went through his proposed procedure with him when