A Summer of Promises by Emily Forbes

Author:Emily Forbes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emily Forbes
Published: 2020-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Evie was skittish the following morning, her emotions in turmoil. The happiness she'd experienced when she'd been in Zac's arms had been dampened by the overwhelming sadness she'd felt as she'd listened to Zac talk about his sister. She was walking through the hospital in a world of her own and only looked into the staffroom by chance, her attention drawn by virtue of the extraordinary amount of noise emanating from the room. Judging by the throng around the coffee-machine, something was afoot.

'What's up?' Evie joined the group.

'You haven't seen the local rag?' Evie shook her head in response to the question from Claudia, another RN. 'The rumors were spreading like wildfire yesterday that the nursing-home was being closed. Tom did his best to stamp them out but it's all here in black and white.' She waved the paper she was holding before passing it to Evie, who stepped away to read the article.

It wasn't hard to find—it was the feature headline on page one. Nursing Home Shock. Followed in slightly smaller print with City doctor leaves own aunt homeless.

What she read confused and infuriated her.

Zac Carlisle, GP and board member of Pelican Beach Hospital, yesterday offered 'No comment' in response to news of the imminent closure of the nursing-home where his frail and elderly aunt has been a resident for a number of years. Our sources confirmed the home will be closed, leaving dozens of elderly residents stranded. With no other facility in the local area, residents will be forced to relocate long distances away, putting them out of contact with friends and family—and with their friends within the home. Our investigation yesterday confirmed long waiting lists at all of the State's nursing-homes contacted, with some even refusing to take any more applications.

The paper dropped out of her hand onto the coffee-table, landing with a flutter that echoed her unsteady heartbeat. What was she meant to make of that? She tuned back into a conversation on the other side of the room. There seemed to be a split, with two of the staff arguing that the report was definitely true and fitted stories they'd heard of the extra time Zac had been seen in the nursing-home admin area—what had he been doing there if the paper wasn't right? A third person argued they couldn't know one way or another until the board had made a formal announcement.

Evie slipped away. It was nearly time for her shift to start. It might be hours until she had a break so she'd have to wait to find answers to her questions. She needed Zac—or did she? She'd asked him for answers yesterday and he'd told her there had been no decision. Had he lied? Or had the journalist got the facts wrong? And how did she work out whom to believe?

The emergency department was busy, as it often was at seven in the morning, before the medical clinics opened their doors and took some of the pressure off the hospital. But

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