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‘Sure, Ma. I’ll keep an eye out.’ He chuckled and opened the fridge for the milk.

He jumped at a crash, and winced when cold water splashed up his jeans.

‘Are you OK?’

‘Oh, Aiden, your beautiful flowers. They’re ruined.’

‘Nonsense. The flowers are fine. Come here.’ He reached out to steady his mum. ‘Let me clean up.’

‘I’ve made such a mess. I’m so dratted clumsy. I’m so sorry.’ Her apology dug into his heart, twisting and biting painfully.

‘I told you, the flowers are fine. But let me pick them up. You’re not hurt, are you?’

‘I’m fine.’ She rubbed away tears. ‘I just hate it when things like this happen.’

‘It’s OK.’ He wrapped his arms around her tightly. ‘I’ll have it cleared up in a jiffy. Come on now, if you’re not supposed to cry over spilled milk, it’s definitely not worth it over water. How about you go find something good for us to watch, and I’ll finish up out here. Sound good?’ He stepped back to peer down and check her shaking and tears had stopped. ‘We can be naughty and eat off trays in front of the TV rather than sit at the table.’

‘OK.’ She nodded and headed to the other room.

Sighing, he bent down and started clearing up the mess, throwing down towels and old rags to soak up the worst of the water while he carefully separated the flowers from glass. By the time he was done and the flowers had been dumped in another vase, the vegetables were ready, so he dished up dinner and carried a tray through to his ma.

‘Thank you, love.’ She smiled at him from her armchair. ‘For my flowers, for clearing up, and dishing up. And just looking after me so well. Thank you for everything.’

‘You don’t need to thank me. Not ever.’ He put the flowers on the mantelshelf and flipped out the legs on the tray in a practised move. ‘I never mind looking after you. Now, what are we watching?’

‘Modern or classic?’

‘Lady’s choice.’ He gave her a silly bow, making her smile.

‘Classic?’ She waited for his nod. ‘How about Some Like it Hot?’

‘Glamorous ladies plus perfect comedic timing? Sounds good. You set it up, and I’ll grab my dinner. Which smells amazing, by the way. Thanks for this. You really didn’t need to.’

‘I never mind looking after you either.’ She caught his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before he headed back to the kitchen.

4

A few days later Mia made another note on her tablet. ‘That’s great, Robin. You can hop off now.’

Katie had dragged her into school to help deliver an assembly about healthy hearts and carry out school health checks. And remind them all not to eat too many Easter eggs over the coming school break! It’d been fun, and a nice change of pace to have all her patients queuing up and mostly excited to see her instead of poorly or worried or both. And she’d enjoyed watching Katie being the responsible teacher instead of the troublemaker at the back of the class.

‘Nurse Mia?’

‘Yes, Christopher?’

‘ThisisforyouhappyearlyEaster.’ He shoved a lumpy envelope at her which was almost as red as his cheeks before racing out of the library.

‘Is that what I think it is?’ Katie peered over her shoulder.

Mia opened the envelope and had to brush glitter off her fingers as she giggled. ‘Yeah, it is. And an only slightly squished chocolate… something.’

‘How adorable.’

‘Yup. Pity he’s not about twenty years older! It’s a shame they stop being cute when they get older.’

‘I think that’s us done here. I know I’m no handsome prince, but do you fancy being my lunch date? We could grab a quick bite from the canteen then sneak into the library…’

‘Do teachers actually have to “sneak” into the library like when we were ten?’