He left work early, spending an hour at home with Ellie until the childcare assistant knocked on his door, clutching her overnight bag. She’d be staying with Ellie while Rick was working tonight. He kissed Ellie goodnight, and made his way back to the clinic. Alone in his office, with only paperwork to while away the evening, he began to miss Fleur with a vengeance.
Just as he was thinking he couldn’t bear it anymore, a knock sounded on the door. Hopefully it was someone who needed a little real work done, which would take his mind off things. Rick got to his feet, opening the door, and came face to face with Fleur.
All he could think about was how she seemed to glow. Cheeks red from the cold outside, hair shining around her face. Beautiful, in a way that words couldn’t describe. He froze, wondering if he could somehow keep this vision of her in his memory.
“Do you have a minute?” She smiled hesitantly.
“Yes...yes, of course. Always, Fleur.” Rick stood back from the door. What was he thinking? “Let me take your coat.”
She unzipped her coat and handed it to him. Then a scarf and a padded gilet that she wore underneath. Rick considered making a comment about the weather, and decided not to. Instead, he ushered her across to the informal seating area, sitting down opposite her. He wanted very badly to touch her but he didn’t dare.
“I came to apologize.”
“What?” He would have understood it if she’d come to tell him that she was dividing the island into two while she was still here, and that he wasn’t to cross onto her territory until she was gone. “You have nothing to apologize for, Fleur.”
“I walked out on you.”
“You were absolutely right to do so. It’s your decision to make, and I wouldn’t let it go.” Rick tried to put the blame firmly where it belonged.
“I told you once that I needed you to keep pushing me.”
“Things were a lot more clear cut then. I was your doctor and we were working through issues that hindered your recovery. Things are different between us now.”
It was different. It had taken Fleur to make him see it. It was a doctor’s job to deal with the hard facts and tell his patients the truth. Maybe Lara hadn’t needed to hear that from him, and his unquestioning support had been more valuable to her than he had known.
“My attitude didn’t help. I was too scared to want to even listen to what you had to say.” Fleur leaned forward, catching his gaze in hers. “Maybe we can try again. Get the conversation right this time.”
Fleur was giving him a second chance. The opportunity to go back and get something right. It felt like a lifebelt, tossed to a drowning man, and Rick made a grab at it.
“I’d like that.”
She nodded. “So... Jim Brady says that there’s something in my file that I should see. What do you think?”
Rick thought carefully before he spoke. “I think... I know that you have nothing to blame yourself for. Jim Brady seems like a good man and I don’t think he’d suggest you see the file unless there’s something there that will give you closure on the issue. I think you should take him up on the offer, but I believe in you and I know that whatever decision you make will be the right one.”
Fleur shot him a smile that sent tingles racing up his spine. “I don’t want to open old wounds but... I can’t rest, knowing that there might be something there that I don’t know about, however bad it might be. I should go and see the file.”
“What?” Rick stared at her. “That’s not what you said the other day...”
“I was afraid and angry then. I’ve thought a lot about it since, and I think you’re right.” She shrugged. “Sometimes things just work out that way.”
He felt suddenly lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from around his neck. Not just t
he weight of missing Fleur, it was the weight of all the things he hadn’t said to Lara. All the mistakes he’d made, which seemed to be so much more understandable now that Fleur had understood.
She got to her feet, walking around the coffee table and sitting down on his lap, putting her arms around his neck. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve this, but he’d take it. The feeling of her body next to his was far too good to quibble about.
“Were you...considering kissing me?” He tried to make the question sound innocent, but that, of course, was impossible.
“Yep. Seriously considering it...”
When she did kiss him, it was so warm, so full of longing that Rick almost wished he hadn’t mentioned the word. Much more of this and he’d forget that he was on call tonight and take her back to the lighthouse. Up to the top of the tower, where he’d make sweet love to her.
Sweet love. He hadn’t made sweet love for a long time. But it was impossible to do anything else with Fleur.
“Did Josh bring you here?” Finally he found the strength to draw back a little.
“Yes. He’s on his way over to the west side of the island to fetch the meteorologists.”