Читать книгу The Doctor's Rescue - Kate Hardy - Страница 9

MALLORY reached for the next hold, feeling her muscles stretch. This was what she liked most about climbing, testing her body to its limits and then getting to the top and knowing she’d achieved it all by herself. She tensed and pulled up, then let the crampon do its work and make her toehold safer, before reaching up for the next hold. She liked taking risks, yes, but she always calculated them first. She didn’t climb in blizzards or driving rain or when the temperature was below zero and the rocks were covered in black ice—well, not unless she was part of a group, doing something she secretly regarded as training for Everest, her long-held dream. And even then only when she had an ice axe and crampons.

Should she accept Will’s offer? And was he right? Did she deserve a second chance? Maybe. If it had happened to someone else, she wouldn’t have judged that person too harshly. But she’d prided herself on being the perfect doctor, on never making mistakes. On being good enough to meet the standards her father and brothers had already set.

‘Concentrate on the rocks,’ she told herself crossly. She had to think about the climbing. If she didn’t, she’d slip and fall. She knew the way it worked—she’d done it often enough. Just think about climbing, and let her subconscious go to work on solving her problems. By the time she’d reached the top of Helvellyn, she’d have the answer.

She gave all her attention to the rocks, focusing on the climb, judging each handhold and foothold with a practised eye. When she reached the top, she sat down and looked out over the valleys below her. Ullswater glimmered in the pale January sun to one side of her, Thirlmere to the other. It was a beautifully clear day without so much as a hint of a cloud, so she could see Blencathra in the distance and the peak at Skiddaw. It was freezing cold. She couldn’t feel the tip of her nose and the exposed part of her face had probably been whipped red raw by the wind, but she couldn’t help smiling. Because she’d just come home.

Home.

It wasn’t really home—she wasn’t sure if anywhere was home right now—but the peaks of Cumbria had called her north in the dark days before her resignation. And it could be home, at least for a while, if she acted as Will’s locum.

Though Will Cooper was another problem. There was a definite pull between them. If they’d met in other circumstances…But no. He was in plaster and pins. And that was enough to keep her common sense working. If she worked with him—and it was a big if—their relationship would be strictly business.

Her mobile phone shrilled. She pulled it from her inside pocket and answered automatically without bothering to look at the display first. ‘Mallory Ryman.’

‘Hey, there, Wonder Woman.’

Mallory chuckled. Of all the people she could have done with talking to right now, her sister-in-law Renee was top of the list. ‘Hey, there, Renny-babes.’

There was a pained sigh. ‘Repeat after me. Ruh-nay.’

‘Ren-nee-ee,’ Mallory teased. ‘How are you?’

‘Fine, honey. And where are you?’

‘Top of Helvellyn. Views to die for. You’d love it.’

‘With all that hard work first? Give me a Jacuzzi any day!’

Mallory’s grin widened. Renee was an unabashed hedonist. Her suggested solution to Mallory’s dilemma had been to spend a week together at a spa. Flotation tank, Indian head massage, facial, Jacuzzi, the works. Followed by some serious shopping. ‘Spent all Mikey’s money yet?’

‘I’m working on it,’ Renee teased back. ‘Seriously, honey, you haven’t been in touch for over a week. The menfolk are muttering. And, um, Geoff’s been up to see us.’

‘Right.’ Mallory coughed. ‘You didn’t tell him where I was?’

‘We don’t actually know where you are, do we, honey? Just that you’re somewhere in the Lakes, getting your head together. Anyway, I had a little chat with him. So he knows you’re not going to change your mind.’

‘Thanks, Renee.’

‘And you did the right thing. He’s a lovely guy, but he’s not the one for you. He’s too tame. You need Spiderman.’

‘Don’t you mean Superman?’

‘Nope, I mean Spiderman. You need a climber. Someone who understands why you do what you do—and wants to do it with you.’

‘Mikey’s a climber and you wouldn’t be seen dead in crampons,’ Mallory pointed out.

‘Yeah, but I understand why he does it. That makes a difference. So, has the climbing helped?’

Mallory sighed. ‘Yes and no.’

‘Want my take on it?’ Without pausing for an answer, Renee continued, ‘You’re a good doctor, Mallory. You’re cutting yourself to pieces over a mistake—but it’s the wrong mistake you’re focusing on.’

‘What do you mean, the wrong mistake?’

‘Your patient. It could have happened to Mikey, to Jonno, to your dad. The Rymans aren’t perfect. No, honey, your mistake was working too close to home.’

‘The New Forest isn’t exactly close to Gloucestershire.’

‘In the States, honey, that’d be doorstep distance. But that’s not what I mean. Charles is your father’s best friend, so you were personally involved even before you started seeing Geoff. And I don’t think you should come back here and be Doctor and Daughter either. You’d be worrying that the boys would be watching you and judging you all the time. What you need is a fresh start in a practice that isn’t linked to your personal life. So you’re there on your own merits. And your partners will stay that way—working partners.’

‘Maybe.’ Mallory sighed. ‘I can’t live off my savings for ever. I’ve got to get a job at some point.’ She grimaced as she remembered the balance that had flashed up when she’d withdrawn some cash earlier that day. ‘Sooner rather than later.’

‘So get the one you’re trained for.’

‘I’ve, um, been offered a locum position.’

‘Up there?’

Mallory quickly filled Renee in on the Will situation. ‘I told him what happened and he said I needed a second chance.’

‘You do,’ Renee said emphatically.

‘And it solves his problem, too—if I do it, he won’t have to worry about finding a locum who’ll do the hours he needs.’

‘Then go see the practice,’ Renee said. ‘See what you think. If you like them, give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, you can always move on. No one’ll think any less of you.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’

‘Course I am, honey. I’m always right.’ Renee chuckled. ‘Let me know how it goes. And I won’t breathe a word to the boys. Your mom thinks the same as I do. So you tell them when you’re good and ready, OK?’

‘OK.’

‘You take care, now.’

‘You, too. And, Renee?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Thanks.’

‘Any time, honey.’

By the time Mallory had come back down Helvellyn and driven back to Darrowthwaite, it was getting near the end of surgery.

‘I’m sorry, neither of the doctors will be able to see you today,’ the receptionist told her bluntly. ‘Their lists are full.’

Direct. Well, she could cope with that. Mallory smiled and held out her hand. ‘You must be Mrs Prentiss.’

The receptionist frowned. ‘And you are?’

‘Mallory Ryman. I’m not looking for an appointment with one of the GPs, but I would like a quick word with the practice manager, please.’

Mrs Prentiss’s lips pursed as she looked Mallory up and down.

‘I’m not a drug rep either, Mrs Prentiss, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ Mallory said hastily. ‘I was with Dr Cooper at the hospital yesterday.’ Coffee. Will had said something about coffee. ‘Look, I can see you’re busy so I don’t want to hold you up, but he asked me to call in and have a quick chat with Nathan. If I…if I get you a cup of coffee, would you be able to see if Nathan can spare me a couple of minutes, please?’

To her surprise, the receptionist burst out laughing. ‘Will tell you how to soft-soap me, did he?’

‘Er…’ Mallory flushed.

‘Third door on the right,’ Mrs Prentiss said. ‘Nathan’s expecting you. Helvellyn cold, was it?’

‘But good.’ Mallory couldn’t help smiling back. Will had been spot on about the Darrowthwaite grapevine. ‘Thank you.’

Nathan turned out to be tall and thin, with his hair cut short to disguise a thinning patch. ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ he said. ‘Will’s making my life a misery. He’s called me six times today already! Good climb?’

‘Yes, thanks.’

‘I gather Will’s already told you about the practice. So, is there anything you’d like to ask me?’

This was all going way too fast. She hadn’t even said yes yet!

‘Sorry, I’m bulldozing you.’ He smiled at her. ‘Let me show you around.’

The place was perfect. Purpose-built, but from traditional materials and designed to fit in with the buildings around it. Four consulting rooms plus the practice nurse’s room. ‘And this room’s for visiting specialists—we have a weekly phlebotomist, osteopath, chiropodist and physiotherapist,’ Nathan told her. ‘We also have a room for the health visitors and district midwife—they cover three practices between them.’

‘It’s a good set-up,’ Mallory said. Very similar to Charles’s practice.

Just as Nathan was showing her back to his office, the doors of the other doctors’ surgeries opened simultaneously.

‘You must be Mallory. I’m Siobhan Reilly,’ the pretty blonde announced, shaking Mallory’s hand. ‘And this is Tom Fitzgerald.’

Tom, who was small and round and lively, grinned at her. ‘And neither of us makes a habit of diving in front of cars, you’ll be pleased to know.’

‘But that means you’ll have to be the practice hero doctor while Will’s out of action,’ Siobhan informed her. ‘Tom can’t because he’s sleep deprived.’

‘Twins. Teething,’ he explained. ‘And Siobhan can’t because she’s scared of heights.’

‘And you’re a climber,’ Siobhan said. ‘So you’ve drawn the short straw.’

‘Stop bullying the poor girl,’ a voice behind them chided. ‘Take no notice of them, love. I’m Hayley, the practice nurse. And you two can just leave her alone and get back to your patients.’

‘Yes, Aunty Hayley,’ the other doctors chorused, laughing.

Clearly Will had been talking about a shared and much-loved joke when he’d referred to the practice nurse as ‘favourite aunty’.

‘See you later, Mallory,’ Siobhan said, and she and Tom returned to their rooms.

‘Just popped along to say hello,’ Hayley said. ‘And to say thanks for looking after our Will for us.’

‘Pleasure,’ Mallory said.

‘When we heard about the accident, we couldn’t believe it. It just didn’t seem fair, after the last one. But at least he’s all right. Thanks to you.’

‘I didn’t do a lot,’ Mallory said honestly. ‘Just tried to keep him conscious while we waited for the ambulance.’ And what did Hayley mean, ‘after the last one’? Was this the second time Will had been hit by a car?

‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Hayley told her with a smile. ‘I’ve got two tetanus jabs waiting, and if I leave them any longer they’ll have scared themselves into going home again.’

After such a welcome, Mallory could only do one thing. Take Renee’s advice. ‘About these questions,’ she said to Nathan.

Nathan nodded. ‘Fire away.’

‘Would you like to see my certificates and CV?’ Then she chuckled. ‘And don’t tell Will. I want to do it myself.’

‘That’s the least he deserves for pestering me!’ Nathan told her.

‘Come and sit down. Good climb?’ Will asked when Mallory put her head round the curtain of his cubicle.

‘Yes, thanks. I brought you some grapes.’ She opened the bag for him, then put the grapes on the table that swung over his bed so he could reach them. ‘Seedless. And I washed them first.’

‘Thanks. Did you go to see Nathan?’

‘Didn’t Nathan tell you?’

‘He didn’t tell me anything,’ Will complained.

She put him out of his misery. ‘Yes. I saw him.’

‘And?’

She handed him an envelope.

‘What’s this?’

‘My references,’ she said simply. ‘You’d better check me out properly if you want me to take this job.’

‘You’ll do it, then?’

She nodded. ‘Until you’re better, but I’d prefer it to be on a trial basis. Give it a week, see if we suit each other.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘Once you’ve checked out my references.’

‘Have you given a copy to Nathan?’

‘Yes. Along with all the necessary papers.’

‘Then he’ll already have it in hand.’ He gave her another of those half-smiles. She’d been expecting the full wattage but, then again, he had just been hit by a car. A half-smile was probably as much as he could manage. ‘Welcome aboard Darrowthwaite Surgery. Now, can you do me another favour?’

‘Such as?’

He dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘Get me out of here! I can’t stand another night of noise and clattering.’

‘Will, you’ve got an internal fixation and an arm in plaster. How are you going to manage at home?’

‘The cottage has a downstairs bathroom and there’s a sofa bed in the living room. I’ll cope.’

‘What do the doctors say?’

‘Is he still on about discharging himself?’ a voice enquired. ‘Honestly, medical staff really are the worst patients. Demand to see their notes, want to know why you’re still doing their obs when they feel perfectly well, and say they’re going home well before they’re actually ready.’ The staff nurse swiftly took Will’s temperature and checked his pulse.

‘Apyrexial, pulse normal, no sign of nausea, no unusual pain, and if you check under the dressing there won’t be any signs of infection. No redness, no heat, no sign of pus.’ Will ticked the list off on the fingers of his uninjured hand. ‘Now, can I go home?’

‘You know what the doctor said,’ the nurse told him gently as she wrote up his chart. ‘Only on condition you have someone to look after you.’

‘You’re in the best place,’ Mallory added.

‘Then I’ll get a taxi and discharge myself,’ Will said.

‘Talk some sense into your boyfriend, will you? Please?’ the nurse teased.

Mallory flushed deeply as the nurse left. She wasn’t Will’s girlfriend—just his locum. But if the nursing staff thought that, no doubt Will’s partners and patients would think she was trying to come on to him…And what would his real girlfriend think?

‘What about your wife—your girlfriend?’ Mallory asked. ‘How does she feel about this?’

‘I’m single,’ Will said, his voice suddenly crisp, ‘and I like it that way.’

Ouch. She’d definitely trodden on sore toes there. It sounded as if he’d recently split up with someone. ‘Your mum?’

Will groaned. ‘Please, no. It was bad enough when I rang her earlier to tell her about the accident. Especially after—’

He stopped abruptly, and Mallory wondered what he’d been going to say.

‘Look, I can manage. Mrs Hammond’ll come in a couple of times a week to do my cleaning. If I ask her nicely, she’ll pop in to give me some food once a day and do the washing and what have you. All I need’s a garden chair or something in the bathroom and I’ll be set up perfectly.’

‘It’s still a risk,’ Mallory said.

‘I really, really can’t stay here much longer. It’s driving me bananas,’ Will said between gritted teeth. ‘Now the other patients know I’m a doctor, they’re telling me all their ills and asking what they should do—it’s worse than being at a party and having everyone demand an opinion on every little niggle!’ His half-smile took the edge off his words, but only just. He paused. ‘I know you said you were planning on being a locum for a while…have you got digs lined up?’

Uh-oh. She had a nasty feeling she knew what was coming. ‘I’m staying at The Limes.’

‘I’ve got a better solution,’ Will said. ‘My spare room. If you stay at the cottage, there’ll be a doctor on the premises if I get into trouble, so they’ll let me out.’

Yeah, right.

He grimaced. ‘Mallory, this wasn’t—isn’t—an attempt to seduce you. Sharing my cottage until I’m fit again doesn’t mean I’m expecting you to share my bed or anything like that.’

Her skin heated again. She hadn’t been thinking along those lines at all. Although now he’d mentioned it…No. He might be drop-dead gorgeous beneath the bruising and the plaster, but she wasn’t going to have an affair with Will Cooper. She was going to be sensible this time round, and make sure her working partnerships stayed that way. Work only. ‘I didn’t think you were.’

‘What, then?’

‘I don’t follow.’

‘You looked incredibly disapproving,’ he said.

‘Not disapproving…Just that I hope you don’t expect me to be, well, domesticated.’

‘Explain.’

‘I don’t do housework,’ she said quietly.

‘You don’t have to. Mrs Hammond does for me,’ he reminded her.

‘I don’t do cooking either.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Dare I ask what you do do?’

‘Cattle-herding and sheep-shearing—I did them both in Australia in my gap year. Mountaineering—I’m a qualified climber. But cooking and cleaning and laundry, no chance.’

‘That’s fine by me. We’ll live on fish and chips and pizza. Just get me out of here.’

She sighed. ‘OK. I’ll ask if you can go home tomorrow.’

‘Today,’ he said. ‘Please, Mallory?’

When he asked so nicely, how could she possibly resist?

‘Tomorrow,’ Mallory reported back a few minutes later.

‘Tomorrow?’ Will echoed in horror.

‘You can go home after the doctors’ rounds, if they’re happy with your condition. And they won’t budge on that. So unless you have any strings you can pull—and pull fast—you’re staying put tonight.’

He shook his head. ‘But I feel better. Really, I do. I promise to do all my physio, to…to…’

‘Will, you were knocked over by a car yesterday morning.’

‘But it wasn’t at high speed. The driver nearly managed an emergency stop.’

‘“Nearly” being the operative word. The car hit you. Be sensible.’

Sensible? He nearly laughed. If only she knew…‘All right. But tomorrow’s as much as I can take. Anyway, I suppose you need some time to settle in yourself. My keys are in the cabinet there—the one with the insulation tape round it’s the front door key.’

‘Insulation tape?’

‘Quickest way to tell the difference between the front and back door keys. They look pretty much the same,’ he explained. ‘I’ll sort out my spare set for you when I get home.’

‘This is a hell of a risk,’ she said. ‘You don’t know me. For all you know, I could be spinning you a line about working as a GP—I could be a thief or even an axe-murderer.’

He lifted his uninjured hand, spreading the palm in the age-old ‘so what?’ gesture. ‘If it means you get me out of here tomorrow, be my guest. Sell the stereo, take the family silver, do what you like. Just get me out of here.’

‘Be serious, Will.’

‘I trust you, Mallory,’ he said. ‘You didn’t have to tell me about what happened with Lindy, but you were honest about it. I knew about it before I offered you the job. And if there was anything else remotely dodgy about you, Nathan would have found out by now and told me.’

‘Do you always make decisions this quickly?’ Mallory asked.

No. He didn’t. He always thought things through before acting, and look what that had got him. Maybe it was crazy, asking a woman he didn’t really know to share his house, but then again maybe it was time he took some risks.

‘Yes.’ Though it wasn’t a complete lie. It was true for now. ‘Keys,’ he reminded her.

She took the bunch of keys from his cupboard.

‘Stay there tonight if you like. Did you tell The Limes how long you were staying?’

Mallory shook her head.

‘Get them to bill me for tonight. And then tomorrow you can pick…’ He stopped. He was rushing ahead of himself, making assumptions. ‘I never thought to ask you. Did you come by car or train? No, scrub that. I don’t even know if you can drive.’

‘I can, and my car’s in the hospital car park right now,’ Mallory told him with a smile.

Will sagged back against his pillows, relieved. ‘Good. Then tomorrow, Dr Ryman, you can rescue me.’