Charlie shut the door carefully, making sure they wouldn't be disturbed. Lucy hovered awkwardly by his desk, looking thoroughly guilty.
"Take a seat," Charlie offered.
"I'm fine standing," Lucy replied defiantly. Charlie was amazed at her bottle. He'd come to expect this kind of confidence and boldness from Chloe, but he wouldn't have thought that Lucy had it in her; she always looked so fragile. In some ways it was nice to see that she did have some spirit in her. Still, he couldn't have her being that rude to him.
"It's not a request," he said, gesturing again towards the seat. "Sit."
Lucy obliged ungraciously. She avoided looking at Charlie and he gave up trying to catch her eye.
"I take it you know why I've called you in?" he began
Lucy shrugged. "No. I wasn't aware I'd done anything awful lately. I've not broken any hospital rules…"
"You've been late for every shift you've done in the past six months since you've been here," Charlie pointed out.
"Not every shift."
Charlie found himself getting unreasonably angry. "No, not every shift. But the vast majority. And then you've come up with excuses like today's -"
"I didn't!" Lucy tried to protest but Charlie continued none the less.
"Today's, which turned out to be not only highly strained but a complete lie!" he said incredulously. He tried to regain some composure before continuing. In a calmer voice he said, "You don't live anywhere near the football stadium."
"No."
"Then why did you say you did?"
"I didn't!" Lucy exclaimed angrily. What the hell had any of this to do with Charlie? So she'd lied about being late for work; so what? Chloe did it all the time and she never got this level of interrogation.
Charlie sighed. "Okay. Why did you agree with Patrick when he said you did?"
Lucy shrugged. "It seemed a good idea at the time. Look, Charlie, I'm sorry." She attempted to calm down. "I am, I'm sorry for being late all the time and lying. I won't do it again. But I really don't think it's that big a deal."
"I do," Charlie said firmly. "Why has Patrick got himself involved in this?"
"I don't know!" Lucy growled
"Look, if there's something going on between you and him, I think I deserve to know," Charlie said. "I'm not going to be made to look a fool again like I was with him and Rachel James."
Lucy stared at Charlie in amazement. "You think me and Patrick…?" She shook her head.
"So you're not?"
"Of course I'm not!" Lucy cried.
"Okay," Charlie said.
"Now can I go back to my job now please?" Lucy didn't wait for a reply before storming out of his office. She needed a break.
Lucy was aware of Patrick's presence before he spoke. She huddled into her thin jacket as she sat on the bench outside the hospital, playing with a cigarette. She hadn't smoked in months, nearly a year.
"They'll kill you."
Lucy kept her back turned to him. "I'll take my chances. It's not lit anyway." She didn't add that when she'd bought the packet, she'd completely forgotten about buying a lighter.
Patrick sat down next to her. "Here," he tossed a lighter into her lap. Lucy stared at it before picking it up. She looked at him quizzically.
"It's a long story." He shrugged.
Lucy didn't ask. She lit the cigarette and inhaled thankfully, before handing the lighter back to him.
"Not that I'm encouraging it of course," he said, putting it back in his pocket.
They sat in silence, though Lucy couldn't say it was uncomfortable. Finally, Patrick cleared his throat awkwardly. "Thanks for coming to see me when I was ill," he said.
"Don't mention it."
"Bit out of character," he continued. "For you, I mean."
Lucy looked at him again. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we've never been the best of friends, have we? We barely know each other."
Lucy took another drag on her cigarette, before knocking the ash off onto the ground. "You're a colleague. You were ill. I'm sure I wasn't the only visitor you had."
"No," Patrick agreed. But you're the one I thought about most, he added silently. He didn't know what he was doing here, making small talk on a bench with an antisocial nurse who was committing suicide by nicotine. It was cold outside too; not exactly the ideal conditions for someone recovering from pneumonia.
"What did Charlie want?" he asked after a long pause.
Lucy smiled dryly. "To ask why I'd lied about this morning." She didn't want to mention the suspicions about her and Patrick. It was way too embarrassing.
Patrick winced. "Ouch. Sorry."
Lucy was momentarily taken aback. Patrick Spiller never said sorry. She faked a nonchalant front. "It wasn't your fault. I should be on time. Speaking of which…" she said as she stood up and ground her cigarette butt into the ground. "I better get back inside before they miss me."
