* * *
Life was getting easier now, just as long as Laurie didn’t think about it too much. She was working with Tamara and Adam, and working with herself to improve the condition of her hip. Ross didn’t ask about her own progress, but demanded regular reports on that of the two teenagers. Fair enough. Laurie couldn’t complain that Ross didn’t fully trust her yet when she was still wondering if she could trust him.
A taxi pulled up outside the house just as Laurie was making her way back to the guest apartment, after a particularly gruelling session with Adam where he’d slaughtered her avatar twice. Laurie saw a woman get out and the taxi driver lifted two suitcases from the boot.
He might have stopped and helped her. But as soon as she’d paid him the driver got back into his car and drove away, leaving the woman standing at the bottom of the steep stone steps that led up to the front door. Laurie quickened her pace.
‘Hi. Would you like a hand with those?’
‘Ah, thank you. I thought I’d given him a big enough tip to encourage him to help me through the front door, but apparently not. I gave Ross a call from the car, though, and he’ll be here in a minute.’
The woman smiled. Her dark hair was streaked with grey, but there was something about her eyes. Something about her wry humour, too, that reminded Laurie of Ross.
‘Are you Dr Summerby?’
‘I leave the Dr Summerby to Ross these days. I’m Maura.’ The woman held out her hand giving Laurie’s a firm shake.
‘I’m Laurie... Laurie Sullivan.’ This was awkward. Laurie wondered if Ross had told his mother that she was staying in their home.
‘Ah, Laurie! Ross mentioned that you were our guest for a few weeks. How nice to meet you.’ Maura looked around at the path that led from the clinic. ‘Where is he? I brought far too much back from my holiday, and these suitcases are heavy...’
‘That’s okay.’ Laurie decided to leave the question of what Ross had or hadn’t told his mother about her for later. ‘I’m sure I can manage to get the
m up the steps.’
‘Perhaps I should wait. He does like to lift things.’ Maura’s smile had all the warmth and mischief of Ross’s. ‘You know how men can be...’
Ross might be a man, but Laurie was a world-class rower, albeit a little out of shape. The competitive urge that told her that she didn’t need Ross for anything took over.
‘He might be busy. I’m sure I can manage.’ Laurie lifted one of the suitcases, finding that it wasn’t too heavy. ‘Can you get the door?’
Maura produced her keys from her handbag, opening the front door for Laurie, and she heaved the case up the steps and into the hallway. ‘If you want to wheel it through, I’ll bring the other one.’
‘Only if you’re sure...’
Laurie nodded in reply, and Maura extended the handle of the suitcase, walking towards her own front door. The next suitcase was heavier, but she could do this herself.
The case was slightly bigger as well, and difficult to manoeuvre. Laurie managed five of the six steps, but as she took the last, pain shot down her leg. She lost her footing, tumbling down the steps, her arms slung instinctively around her head and her injured hip hitting the gravel hard.
Get up. Get. Up.
She wasn’t sure if they were her father’s words or her own. They were just words that had been with her since her earliest memories. She took a breath and sat up. When she put her hand to the gravel to help her get to her feet, it stung like crazy, but further inspection showed just a graze.
Get. Up.
Okay! What did the annoying voice think she was doing! Laurie gritted her teeth and got to her feet. Her hip was throbbing and she could feel blood running down her leg, but that was probably just a graze as well. She looked up at the top of the steps and saw that the case had fallen forward into the doorway. Just as well, if Maura had packed anything breakable in there.
The steps seemed like a long and lonely climb, when what she really wanted to do was sit down for a moment and get over the shock of falling. The fear that she’d just undone all the work of the past few weeks and had really hurt herself this time. But as she slowly made her way to the top of the steps, her hip didn’t complain too much.
Maura appeared in the hallway. That was the last thing she needed right now. Actually, the second to last, the last thing being Ross.
‘You’ve fallen...?’ Maura’s manner was suddenly businesslike. ‘Sit down and let me look.’
‘I’m all right.’ Laurie forced a smile. ‘Just lost my balance. I hope there was nothing breakable in your suitcase.’
Maura rolled her eyes. ‘If there had been, the baggage handlers at the airport would have made sure it was already in pieces. Sit down and let me take a look at your hand.’
There was no point in arguing, Maura had flipped from new acquaintance to doctor mode. And it was a little easier to accept this Dr Summerby’s help. If Maura just looked at Laurie’s hand, and didn’t mention the fall to Ross, maybe this whole episode wouldn’t be so acutely embarrassing.