Ben’s brother was dead. ‘I’m sorry, Ben, I haven’t asked. It’s only been a few months—how are you coping with Mario’s death?’
This time Ben did snort. ‘Don’t worry about me, Katya. There was no love lost between Mario and I. We were...estranged when he died.’
So? Did that make a difference when your own flesh and blood died tragically? Would she cry when her mother died? Of course. If for nothing else, over the wasted years, the wasted opportunities.
Katya couldn’t help but feel estrangement made sudden death worse.
‘You seemed pretty upset that night.’ He had looked completely shattered. Totally undone. Every female cell in her body had responded to his utter desolation.
He shrugged. ‘It was a shock.’
‘Well, of course, estranged or not, he was still your brother.’
‘No.’ Ben shook his head emphatically. ‘He stopped being my brother a decade ago.’
Ben turned bleak eyes on her and she shivered despite the warm weather. ‘I’m sorry. That’s very sad.’
Ben’s lips twisted. ‘Such is life. Come on.’ He stood. ‘Let’s eat and get on our way.’
Ben strode ahead of her and she followed him slowly. Was this why Lucia was so worried about her son? Something had obviously happened between Ben and his brother. Something that had been strong enough to drive a wedge between them for ten years. Something that had persisted, even through death.
Katya caught up with Ben a minute later. He had been stopped by Damul, the father of the two children they had operated on yesterday. The man had tears in his eyes and the biggest, broadest grin Katya had ever seen. He was shaking Ben’s hand and gabbling away at him in his own dialect.
Ben spoke back to him in Italian as their hands remained clasped. Katya smiled at Damul, who bestowed another grin on her. She could see the joy behind his tears, how grateful he was, and her smile grew wider. Damul had been through so much. The loss of his wife and the injury to his children. Katya could only imagine how impotent he must have felt.
Damul patted Ben on the back and slowly withdrew, smiling all the way. ‘A happy customer,’ Katya said, still smiling from Damul’s joy.
Ben smiled back. ‘It’s a good feeling.’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘it is, isn’t it?’ To be a part of Ben’s grand dream had been extremely rewarding, even in the little time she’d been there.
He frowned at her. ‘Really? I’d have thought it’d be a little too slow for you. I thought you liked the pace and the anonymity of the patch them up and send them on environment?’
So had she. And she did. The high turnover and hectic pace was exhilarating. She thrived on it. And the virtual anonymity of their patients was vital to keep burnout at bay. Being a body part rather than a whole person made the horror of it all easier to process.
From a very young age Katya had learned to block her emotions so it was inevitable, almost, that she should gravitate to a work environment where there was no time for emotions. But suddenly it didn’t seem to be the be-all and end-all.
Getting to know Lupi and Damul’s children and the other kids had been surprisingly gratifying. Maybe it was just her hormones but for the first time in a long time she actually felt like a nurse.
She knew what she did at MedSurg mattered, that without people like her and Gill and Ben, many, many people would die. But here at the clinic she was learning that making a difference to just one person, one child, could be intensely, intimately rewarding as well.
‘Maybe I’m mellowing.’ She shrugged.
Ben hooted with laughter, remembering their altercation yesterday. ‘I can’t quite imagine you mellow.’
She straightened. He was right. She was about to turn his life upside down. She couldn’t afford to mellow until her job here was done. She shot him a withering look. ‘And don’t you forget it, Count,’ she said, and strode away.
Half an hour later they were on the road to Amalfi and Katya was, once again, clutching the seat as Ben steered the Alfa expertly on the kamikaze roads. She was too frightened to even worry about what the rest of the day would hold, and in a crazy way it was a blessed relief.
When they arrived in Amalfi, Ben parked his car in the harbour car park. The sun reflected off the shiny surfaces of all the sleek white boats and Katya donned her sunglasses. She followed him past rows and