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He shook his head, making a mental note to get some, and went to scrub his hands.

‘You’re sure you’re OK with this?’ Mia tucked padding around his ma’s hand.

She nodded stiffly. ‘Been feeding him all these years. Might as well get some use out of him.’

‘Wonderful. I love it when my patients have a sense of humour. You heard your ma, Aiden. Come make yourself useful. And Sylvie, you’re going to tell us – immediately – if this gets too much for you.’

He slid into position, following the instructions, and trying to act a lot calmer than he felt. Every instinct he had was screaming against what he was doing – but he trusted Mia, so he pinned his ma’s hand to the table and let her turn her head against his shoulder. He locked his jaw, clenched his teeth firmly together and forced himself to take calm, slow breaths.

Mia worked quickly and skilfully, cleaning out his ma’s hand with gentle, precise movements then flushing it over a basin. But as quickly as she worked, it still took far, far too long, and he hated every second of feeling his ma tense and twist against him as her body fought his grasp and her own instructions.

‘OK, I think we’re nearly there. I’m happy everything is clean now.’ Mia carefully dabbed at his ma’s hand. ‘Just need to close the wound. Are you doing all right, Sylvie, or do you want a quick break?’

‘I’m OK. Just want this over with.’

‘I don’t blame you one bit,’ Mia sympathised. ‘Now, the good news is I’ve got skin glue here, so it’ll only take a few seconds. Bad news, though, is some people say it burns a little when applied, and I will have to pinch your skin together. Sure you’re ready?’

‘Ready.’

‘OK, really still for this bit, please, otherwise we’re all going to have to become good friends because we’ll be stuck together for days.’

His ma chuckled at Mia’s small joke, and Aiden was hit by a wave of gratitude for her kindness. She really was far, far too good for him.

Finally, Mia breathed a sigh of relief. ‘We’re done. You can let go, Aiden. Gently.’

He nodded, needing to swallow hard before he could speak. ‘I, um, I’m just going to get some fresh air.’ He made it to the end of the garden before his stomach stopped listening to logic and reason and rebelled against the last ten minutes. He spat afterwards, and took a couple of seconds to catch his breath – before forcing a smile and heading back into the kitchen.

‘Hey, how’s it going?’

‘We’re good.’ Mia smiled, but Aiden couldn’t help but notice the expression didn’t meet her eyes. ‘It looks like our hard work has paid off, and there’s not been any more bleeding. Sylvie, you’ll have to go easy with your hand for the next couple of days, and make sure you keep it dry – so no washing up for you! You’ll need dressings changed tomorrow, but other than that you should be fine. Obviously if there’s any more bleeding, or signs of infection – you know what those are?’ She waited for the nod. ‘Then you’ll have to see your doctor or go to urgent care.’

‘But you’re done with me?’ Sylvie asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Then would you think me terribly rude if I just said thank you, and it was nice to meet you, but I really need to go to bed?’

‘Not rude at all.’ Mia smiled at his ma – a far more genuine expression than the one he got. ‘And it was nice meeting you too. Although perhaps a little more dramatic than I’d have chosen.’

Aiden helped his ma stand.

‘You should come and have tea with us one day soon. Aiden’s a very good baker. Did you know that?’

‘I’ve tried some of his biscuits.’ Mia nodded. ‘He’s very talented.’

It was impossible to ignore that she’d side-stepped the invitation, but at least she hadn’t brought up their argument. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to her, so concentrated on helping his ma up the stairs safely and with as much getting ready for bed as she’d allow before shooing him away.

He trudged back down the stairs, and found Mia on her hands and knees, cleaning up blood.

‘Mia, stop. You don’t have to do that.’

‘It’s fine.’

‘You’ve already done so much.’

‘All part of the service.’ She disposed of the cloth she’d been using and reached for another. ‘I mean, if it were vomit, I might have been more tempted to leave you to it.’

‘Right. You hate vomit.’