Rescued by Dr. Rafe

‘Ah! It’s better out here.’ She had left her elbow crutches behind, in favour of leaning on his arm. ‘Fewer people around.’ She turned and kissed him.

‘What’s that for?’

‘To thank you for today. And to remind you that I might want to thank you a bit more comprehensively when we get home.’

Rafe chuckled. ‘You know what, I’m sending you back to work full-time. Four half-days a week isn’t enough to keep your mind occupied.’

‘You love it. Anyway, if you want me to stop thinking about sex, then you’d better stop with the How many ways can we do this without my leg swelling? thing.’

‘That’s Continuous Professional Development. Not every doctor has his very own adder bite patient to experiment on, you know.’

‘So that’s what you call it, is it? What happens when I get better?’

‘I experiment a bit more. Long-term effects.’

They walked a few steps in the darkness and Rafe found a bench. It was obviously designed for visitors to watch the comings and goings at the working brewery because it looked out over the river and across to the floodlit loading bay.

‘Do you want to go down there?’ His voice was very tender. ‘Joe Harding lent me the key.’

‘You know...’ Mimi thought for a moment, wondering if she really did or she really didn’t, and decided that she did. ‘Yes. Yes, I would.’

He fetched her coat, wrapping it around her, and carried her across the rough ground between the visitor centre and the loading bay. It wasn’t strictly necessary, she probably would have managed it on her own, but she needed him close.

‘I’d like to go inside.’ She could feel herself trembling, but she wanted to do this. She’d shared everything else with Rafe over the last weeks, and both of them had known that she’d share this sooner or later.

He bent down, unlocking the padlock and pulling the shutter up from the door beside the main bay. Reaching inside, he found the light switch.

‘Sure about this?’

‘Yeah.’

He wound his arm around her waist, helping her inside. Everything was clean and orderly, and the smell of the brewing beer was stronger here now than it had been the last time. She looked around. The stairs where Rafe had been standing. The metal door which had flown off the wall. The shuttered entrance that she’d made a dash for before the door had hit her and the water had swept her off her feet.

She’d dreamed of this place, waking up in the night to find him holding her, comforting her. And, now she was here, it had somehow lost its power. Something bad had happened here, but that was all in the past.

He helped her across to a bench, which stood against the wall, and she sat down on his lap. When she looked up into his face, she saw tears in his eyes.

‘Hey... We made it, Rafe.’

‘Yeah. We did. Are you okay?’

Funnily enough, yes. Mimi hadn’t expected to be, but then she imagined that Rafe hadn’t expected not to be.

‘Yes. You’re not, though, are you?’

He

smiled. ‘Just being here...I thought I’d lost you. When you were under the water and I was searching for you...’

She kissed his cheek. ‘And you found me. That’s what matters, Rafe.’

‘Yeah. I know.’

She hadn’t expected that this would be the time or the place, but it was. Mimi reached into her handbag.

‘I have something for you.’

He brushed his hand across his face. ‘Yeah? What?’