‘I thought we told you to leave her alone.’
There was a long silence and when Joel finally spoke his voice was very controlled. ‘Firstly, you are not my keeper, and secondly, the girl needs a friend.’
Michael looked taken aback. ‘A friend?’
Something inside Joel snapped. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s struggling to manage a job and a child with less help than you get with your laundry! On top of that, it doesn’t take a genius to see that she’s lonely as hell. Yes, I’d say she needs a friend.’
‘And you think that could be you?’
‘And why not?’
‘Since when have you ever had a female friend?’
Since last night.
‘There’s a first time for everything.’
‘Oh, come off it, Joel!’ Michael made an impatient sound. ‘You don’t know anything about being friends with a woman.’
‘Well, I’m learning,’ Joel said calmly. ‘And the subject is now closed.’
Michael looked at him. ‘Don’t get mad with me. You’re my brother and I love you, but Lucy is very vulnerable and you’re very attractive to women—’
‘You’re afraid she might seduce me?’
‘I’m afraid she might fall for you, yes,’ Michael said quietly, ignoring Joel’s mocking tone. ‘And if that happened, I don’t trust you to turn her away.’
Joel’s mouth tightened. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself either.
He took a deep breath. ‘Relax,’ he said wearily, wondering why the hell he was having this conversation with his brother. ‘I have no intention of taking advantage of her, if that’s what’s worrying you. I’m really serious about just being her friend. I like her and I like the boy. Now, can we change the subject? I’m bored with this one.’
Michael gave a brief smile. ‘I suppose so. I’m sorry if I was out of line, but—’
‘But you couldn’t help yourself,’ Joel finished, giving a shake of his head as Michael strolled towards the door. ‘How’s little Millie, by the way?’
‘Picking up.’ Michael turned to look at him. ‘According to the registrar, she’s making good progress.’
‘Did you speak to her today?’
‘Last night.’ Michael paused with his hand on the door. ‘I visited them at the hospital and had a word with her while I was there.’
‘You visited? Well, well.’ A smile spread across Joel’s face. ‘My big brother is becoming an enormous softy.’
Michael didn’t smile. ‘That, and paranoid. I saw the child and missed the diagnosis, remember?’
‘Rubbish.’ Joel frowned sharply. He knew that his older brother was a perfectionist, but it hadn’t occurred to him that he’d be blaming himself for not diagnosing Millie’s illness sooner. ‘You didn’t miss anything. Every other doctor on the planet would have made the diagnosis you did.’
‘What?’ Michael laughed bitterly. ‘Virus? Sometimes I wonder why I trained for all those years when all I do is say that word.’
‘Don’t beat yourself up,’ Joel said calmly. ‘You told her to come back if the temperature wasn’t down; you told her to call if she was worried.’
‘But she didn’t,’ Michael growled, and Joel nodded.
‘And I guess that’s what’s hard about general practice. It’s not like hospital, where you’ve got them captive and can run every test under the sun. You just have to make a judgement based on what you see. You saw a little girl with a temperature.’
‘What makes you so wise all of a sudden?’ Michael gave an awkward smile. ‘You’ve only been in general practice for five minutes.’
‘But I’m a man of the world, as you keep pointing out.’ Joel locked eyes with his brother. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. You told her to come back.’