‘This is a pretty serious conversation to be having outside Bry’s cottage on a snowy Sunday morning, don’t you think?’ Tom drawled lazily, turning back to the car and sliding into the driver’s seat. ‘If you’re still feeling like analysing the meaning of life this evening, you can meet me at the Drunken Fox and we’ll get seriously hammered. In the meantime, I’ve got lives to save.’
He slammed the door, hit the accelerator and roared off at a speed that made Oliver wince.
Making a mental note to force a proper conversation about Sally at some point, Oliver reached into his pocket and grabbed his mobile phone.
His call to Maggie, his practice nurse, yielded the result he was hoping for and he strode back inside the cottage feeling thoroughly satisfied with the way his morning was going.
Pushing open the kitchen door, he was hit by the delicious smell of sizzling bacon. While he’d been outside with Tom, Helen had cooked bacon, made fresh coffee and cut some slices of bread from a loaf.
‘I thought you might like breakfast,’ she said, and he stared at the plate on the table.
‘There’s only one plate.’
She flushed. ‘I’m not hungry.’
Oliver smiled placidly and settled himself at the table. ‘I’ll only eat if you eat, too, sweetheart.’
She chewed her lip and lifted the bacon from the pan onto the plate. ‘I don’t—’
‘Helen.’ His tone was patient. ‘You didn’t eat a thing yesterday and you need some energy for what’s happening today.’
Her eyes flew to his. ‘What’s happening today?’
‘I need to make some calls and I need you to come with me.’
‘Me?’ She looked surprised, as well she might. ‘Why me?’
Because he had things to do and he had no intention of leaving her sitting brooding in the cottage.
‘You were very good at that accident last night,’ he said casually, cutting two more slices of bread and putting them on her plate. ‘You’re obviously a fabulous nurse and once you’ve eaten something I have a proposition to make.’
She sank into a chair opposite him. ‘A proposition?’
‘Yes.’ Oliver forked bacon onto the bread and pushed the plate towards her. ‘Eat.’
‘But…’
He smiled placidly and took a huge bite out of his own sandwich. ‘Eat.’
She did as she was told, although her bite was more of a nibble. ‘What’s your proposition?’
‘I need a practice nurse.’
She put the sandwich down on her plate. ‘I’m not looking for a job, Oliver, I don’t think I can.’
‘Let me finish.’ He smiled at her, wishing that he could do something to bring colour to her cheeks. Even after a decent night’s sleep, she still looked pale and tired. ‘It would just be temporary. Our practice nurse has gone to Australia for a month to see her new granddaughter. We’re pretty desperate.’
Helen frowned. ‘But surely if you knew she was going…’
‘It was a sudden decision on her part,’ Oliver said glibly, consoling himself with the fact that it had been a sudden decision, so he wasn’t exactly lying. ‘It would be impossible to find someone just for a month.’
‘You want me to work in your practice for a month?’
‘It would be great if you could,’ Oliver said fervently, realising that if she said no he was in serious trouble. He’d just given his delighted practice nurse a month’s leave and there was no way he could withdraw the offer. If Helen refused to step in, his partners would lynch him.
‘I—I don’t know,’ she stammered, lifting her coffee mug and then putting it down again without taking a sip. ‘I hadn’t even thought about work, to be honest.’
‘Well, what are you going to do all day if you don’t work?’