Jennifer Taylor - Mr. Right All Along

‘How did you guess?’ He sighed as he tipped back his chair and stared at the ceiling. Eve had a feeling that he didn’t want her to see just how much it had affected him and felt hurt before she realised how silly it was. Her feelings didn’t matter; it was how Ryan felt that was important.

‘What happened to him?’ she asked, trying to inject a degree of objectivity into her voice that she didn’t feel. She cared that Ryan was hurting and it worried her. She was too emotionally scarred to find the right balance and it would be far too easy to get swept along in a direction she shouldn’t take.

‘He suffered a cardiac arrest. There was no warning. He just dropped down onto the ground and died.’

‘How awful!’ she exclaimed. ‘It must have been a terrible shock for you and your parents.’

‘It was.’ His tone was flat. Eve guessed that it was the only way he could talk about what had happened, by keeping his emotions under control. ‘Scott was always superbly fit. He was a brilliant footballer—he played centre forward for our school—and he took his training really seriously. He wanted to turn professional and he would have made it too. He was actually playing a match when he died. There was a scout there for one of the big league clubs and Scott was just superb, and then all of a sudden he fell to the ground.’

He stopped, his expression so bleak that Eve’s heart ached for him. Reaching out, she touched his hand, unaware of what she was doing. She just wanted to comfort him, to console him, to offer anything she could that might help to ease his pain.

‘I’m so sorry, Ryan. Really I am.’

‘Thank you.’ He dredged up a smile. ‘It’s got easier with time but it still upsets me whenever I think about it.’

‘It’s bound to.’ She withdrew her hand, suddenly realising what she had done. A shiver passed through her, although for some reason she didn’t feel as panicstricken as she might have expected. She cleared her throat, not wanting to explore that idea either. ‘Do you know what actually happened to him?’

‘Yes. It was long QT syndrome.’

‘That’s a disorder of the heart’s electrical system, isn’t it?’ Eve clarified.

‘That’s right. The QT interval is a measurement on the ECG tracing that reflects the electrical activity in the ventricles. In LQTS the length of time it takes the electrical system to recharge itself after each heartbeat is longer than normal. This can create a very rapid, irregular heart rhythm, which results in no blood being pumped from the heart. If that happens the brain is deprived of oxygen, causing a sudden loss of consciousness or even death.’ He grimaced. ‘Sorry. You must know all that. I’m just so used to explaining it at various fundraising events that it’s second nature to trot out the whole spiel.’

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.