Private Player

Fifteen

Nathan

No matter how many times I visited this place, I still checked all the signs, never quite confident I’d find the café down this rabbit warren of corridors that all looked the same. The buzz of voices, the distinct scent of boiled cabbage, and the clank of thick hospital china coming around the corner told me I was close. There, on my left, was the entrance. I checked my watch—just in time. Although no doubt Jacob would be late. I picked up a tray and joined the queue for the hot food, grinning to myself. If Madison thought I should have a butler, what would she think of me standing in line for soup at a hospital cafeteria?

What Madison failed to realize was that for the Coves, medicine trumped everything. Regardless of how busy I might be, I wasn’t saving lives. If I wanted to see my brother, I went to him.

I collected my bowl, roll, spoon, and bottle of water and paid, then went to find a free table. People complained about hospital food but the soup was always amazing. Didn’t matter the flavor.

I scanned the tables for a free seat before I spotted Jacob across the room, his hand in the air, trying to get my attention.

“You’re early,” I said as I slid my tray down opposite his. “What happened, did you kill all your patients?”

“Yup,” he said, dipping his bread in the leek and potato and taking a bite.

“Excellent job. Good to know you’re still making Mum and Dad proud.”

He shrugged with the kind of confidence that only came with the knowledge that he had in fact made his parents proud. All my brothers had, because they were all doctors.

“Will you make it up to Norfolk next weekend?” he asked. Jacob was the one of us who made it up to see our parents least often, but now he’d made consultant, hopefully he’d find the time. “I’m definitely there. You?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” I said. “Beau said it’s going to be all five of us.”

“Yeah, we’ve not been together since Christmas.”

“Is anyone bringing a guest?” I asked. Every now and then Jacob or Beau would bring a girlfriend back to Norfolk, but it didn’t happen often. I knew Madison coming with me—even though it was strictly business—would raise eyebrows.

Jacob shrugged. “Don’t think so.”

“I’ve got a journalist following me around at the moment. From the Post. They’re doing a profile of me.”

“Really?” Jacob asked, taking a spoonful of soup. “Doesn’t sound like your kind of thing.”

“Our PR director arranged it. I’m taking a lot of hits at the moment and she thinks a positive profile might help.”

“I saw that story about you and Audrey. Is there something going on with you two?”

I rolled my eyes. “You know I’ve never slept with Audrey. It would be like sleeping with my sister.”

“I don’t think it would go down well with Mum and Dad. You know how much they like Mark.”

I pushed out a breath. They were going to be devastated when they found out what he’d done. They’d treated him like a son. He’d come home for Christmas the first year we’d shared a room at university and later, they’d acted as a reference for his first job. My parents had taken pity on Mark—his mother had left him and his father was in and out of prison. But perhaps the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

“I can promise you, I have never and will never sleep with Audrey.”

“So this journo is going to be staying at the house? Is he a good guy?”

“Yeah, Mum said it was okay if she stayed.”

Jacob looked at me over his soup spoon. “She?”

“Women can be journalists now, Jacob. Some can even read and do maths. It’s an amazing world we live in.”

“And you’ve invited her back home?”

“She asked to come. Is it a big deal?”

“You tell me,” Jacob replied. “You’ve never brought a woman back to Mum and Dad’s before.”

I wanted to tease Jacob, to reassure him that it was just business. Madison could have been a man or a woman, and they still would have been welcome to follow me back to Norfolk. But I didn’t think it would have been true. In fact, I was fairly certain that if our relationship was purely professional, I never would have agreed to have Madison join me for the weekend at my family’s home. I’m not even sure she would have asked. “She wants to see me outside of a work context. Meet my family.”

Jacob’s eyebrows inched higher on his forehead. “Interesting.”

“The board thinks this Post thing’s a good idea. They feel I’ve been uncooperative with the press up until now.”

Jacob chuckled. “Doesn’t sound like you.”

“So apart from the job, what’s going on with you?” I asked. “Your penis fallen off yet because of the lack of attention?”