The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 9

Robyn eyed the vending machine across the hall. She looked at the money Joe had insisted on giving her before he’d left the hospital and gone home. He’d wanted to make sure she bought a drink and something to eat while she waited for David to wake up.

A couple of hours earlier, after she’d discovered that David and Joe were no longer in the examination room with the doctor, she’d been looking for another payphone when Joe had found her and told her that David had been rushed in for surgery. There had been a last-minute cancellation, and so they had carried out the operation he needed straight away.

At that moment, the phone call to Gayle had instantly been forgotten. She’d waited with Joe for David to come out of surgery. They’d been told it had gone well. They’d waited for the anaesthetic to wear off. Robyn had sat holding David’s hand and had caught his surprised expression when he’d woken to find her sitting with Joe by his bedside. She’d thought, how can I leave now?

She’d finally stepped out of his room when he’d dozed off. The accident and then having an operation had clearly taken its toll; he was exhausted. She walked up to the vending machine. There was also a café on site, but Robyn wasn’t that hungry, and besides, she didn’t want to leave David for too long in case he woke up again and thought she’d gone.

Robyn put some money in the slot. Her finger hovered uncertainly over the large square buttons. Each had a letter and number on it. She really didn’t mind what she had, as long as it was hot. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate – anything would do. She closed her eyes as tiredness gripped her and randomly pressed a button. She opened her eyes – nothing. No cup had appeared. She banged the vending machine with her fist. Still nothing.

Robyn checked her purse. She had enough change for another go. She felt like she was playing a slot machine, and the lucky prize was a hot drink. She waited in anticipation as the machine whirred to life. The whirring sound ceased, a dull thud followed, and then all was silent. ‘Where’s my drink?’ she muttered, staring at the machine with her arms folded, waiting.

‘Are you going to get that?’

Robyn unfolded her arms and turned around to see a young man in jeans and a jumper pointing at the vending machine.

Robyn stared at him. What was there to get? Was he blind? There was no hot drink.

‘Here.’ He brushed past her knelt and lifted a heavy metal flap, squeezing his hand through, which to Robyn looked quite painful. Then he let it go with a snap, pulling his hand free just in time.

‘Not my favourite chocolate, but my wife quite likes them.’

Robyn looked at him blankly.

‘This place can get you like that sometimes.’ He thrust the chocolate bar into Robyn’s hand. ‘When my wife had our first, I swear, I didn’t know my ar—’ He stopped abruptly and backpedalled. ‘What I meant to say was I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.’

Robyn stood back and watched him deposit some coins into the slot. ‘But I feel like an old pro now.’ He pressed A6. The machine gurgled. ‘It’s number four now, can you believe it?’ he said proudly.

‘Number four?’

‘Yeah.’

Robyn had no clue what he was talking about as she watched a little paper cup appear in a slot between two pincers. It was filling with hot brown liquid.

‘Longest labour she’s ever had, though.’ He shook his head as he carefully prised the cup from between the pincers. Thick brown liquid slopped down the sides. He turned to Robyn. ‘Not to worry, eh?’

Robyn thought he did look quite worried. She smiled and said, ‘I’m sure everything will be just fine.’

‘Yes.’ He nodded and his hot drink spilled some more, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He turned to go.

‘Is it a boy or girl?’ Robyn asked.

‘Oh, it’s going to be a boy – I just know it.’ He grinned. ‘I’m aiming for a whole team.’

‘Team?’

‘Ice hockey. I’m going to have me a whole ice hockey team.’

She wondered what his wife thought about that, poor woman. ‘How many is that?’

‘Six.’

‘What if it’s a girl?’ She was thinking of Charlie.

‘You enjoy your chocolate now.’ She watched him wander down the hallway in the direction of the maternity unit. She was actually relieved that there would be no more talk of ice hockey.

Robyn stuffed the chocolate bar into her bag and turned back to the vending machine. A tinkle of coins and a gurgle later, she too had a hot drink, even though some of her luke-warm hot chocolate had spilled over her hand. Why did they make such flimsy cups to hold hot beverages?

Robyn slowly walked down the corridor towards David’s room, holding her cup. She’d finished her drink before she reached his room. She paused by a seat in the corridor, deposited the small cup in a wastepaper bin, and opened her bag, looking for a tissue to wipe her hands. Instead, her hand closed around the chocolate bar. She looked at it for a moment before ripping off the wrapper and scoffing the lot. She was famished. She knew she could do with getting something proper to eat, like a sandwich, but she didn’t want to be gone for long.

She looked at her sticky hands. Fortunately, she didn’t have to trek down the hall to reception to find a public loo to wash her hands. David had an en suite room.

Robyn quietly opened the door to find David hadn’t woken up yet. She walked over to his bedside and cast a glance at his leg, which was raised on a pillow, the knee wrapped in thick bandages. She felt guilty that she’d be leaving soon. Joe had offered her a lift home, but she’d declined. She’d wanted to be there when David came round from the anaesthetic – which she had been. But Joe had insisted on calling a taxi for her, otherwise she’d be there all night. He’d told her David wouldn’t want that. She had a job to go to in the morning. David had mentioned to him that she was working for residents of the new housing estate.

Robyn checked the time. She had plenty of time to freshen up and make it back to the hospital entrance with a few minutes to spare, just in case the taxi turned up early. She wanted David to wake again so that she could say goodbye and tell him she would back in the morning. She imagined that Rose and George would be understanding when she phoned them to let them know what had happened, and that she would make it over to them after she’d stopped by the hospital in the morning.

She glanced at David before she shut the bathroom door, disappointed that it looked as though he wouldn’t wake up before she left.

The bathroom door swung closed behind her and she found herself in a small white bathroom with a small sink, a shower cubicle, loo, and vanity unit. She ran a sink of warm water and washed the chocolate streaks from her hands. She splashed some warm water on her face and felt instantly revived. As she unplugged the sink, she thought she heard something.

She turned to the freshly laundered towels and dried her hands on the smallest one. Her hand reached for the door handle. She heard someone come into David’s room, then David’s groggy voice. She realised he must have woken up. ‘What are you doing here?’

She pulled the door handle, about to walk out of the bathroom, so happy that David had woken up. Then she heard him say, ‘Dad – what are you doing here?’

Dad?

Oh no , thought Robyn, and closed her eyes.