Fourteen

 

The morning sun shone through the cafeteria window, dust dancing in its rays. I'd just received word that Miranda and her premature baby had been allowed to go home for the first time. I smiled at Aidan as he sat across from me.

He looked surprised. "So you've heard the news about the mum and baby you saved?"

I smiled more broadly and nodded. "Both are well and they've been released from hospital."

He brought a hand out from behind his back, where he'd been hiding something. "So, we should have cake to celebrate!" He placed two of the cafeteria's signature brownies on the table, the plates clinking as he set them down a little more heavily than necessary. He watched me nervously for my reaction.

I smiled and laughed. "Cake it is. Cheers." I lifted one brownie, bumped it against the other, before taking a bite of mine.

The gritty cake was still warm inside. "This would be wonderful with vanilla ice cream," I said, savouring the warm chocolate with my eyes closed. I thought of how my mother would enjoy this and resolved to find some brownies and ice cream next time I saw her in Perth. For the first time, I missed her.

"I don't think they have any," Aidan said quietly. I heard him crunch into his own brownie.

I swallowed and opened my eyes, to find him staring at me.

"I've known you for four weeks, but that's the first time I've heard you laugh." His smile was rueful. "I thought it was because my jokes weren't funny."

I smiled to soften my words. "I guess I just don't laugh much. I don't find many things funny any more."

He nodded, taking a huge bite of brownie. He had chocolate icing on his nose.

My smile remained as I finished my brownie, thanked him and finished the rest of my shift, wondering how long he'd keep his brown nose. Perhaps a kinder colleague than I would tell him he looked like a wombat.

I tried not to laugh when I met him in the corridor, perhaps an hour later. He still wore his wombat nose. I hadn't the heart to tell him about it.