‘I adore sausages.’ He patted his flat stomach. ‘With mash and onion gravy. Now, I’d better get back to work. I’ll see you later.’
Lucy watched him go, feeling lighter inside than she had for a long time. As well as being dangerously good-looking, Joel Whittaker was a thoroughly nice man.
But he was just a friend, she reminded herself. And that was all a man like Joel would ever be.
This was never going to work.
Joel sank into his chair and closed his eyes.
He might have assured Lucy that he could learn to be a friend, but he was fairly sure that friends weren’t supposed to have the sort of thoughts that he’d been having.
The truth was that he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to have dinner with her again, even if Sam was there. He was afraid that if he was alone in a room with her he’d give in to his baser instincts and kiss her senseless.
He was sitting brooding at his desk when the door opened.
‘Are you all right?’ Richard Whittaker frowned at him. ‘Something worrying you?’
Yes—but nothing he could share with his father.
‘I’m fine. I’m glad you’ve popped in,’ he said briskly. ‘Lucy’s come up with a good idea for the immunisation clinic—I wanted to run it past you.’
Briefly he outlined Lucy’s proposal, and his father listened carefully.
‘Sounds a good idea to me.’ Richard settled himself in a vacant chair and nodded his approval. ‘I can’t think why it wouldn’t work, but I suppose we ought to discuss it with everyone. We really need to discuss it at the next practice meeting.’
‘We can’t do that.’ Joel shook his head emphatically. ‘It’s at five o’clock on Friday and Lucy has to leave at three to pick Sam up from school. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her.’
In the short time that he’d known her she’d made it clear that Sam came first. And quite right, too…
Richard frowned. ‘I’d forgotten about her leaving at three.’ He pondered the problem for a moment and Joel glanced briefly at his diary.
‘What about Saturday lunchtime?’
‘The weekend? I don’t think so.’ His father looked doubtful. ‘We’ve invited her over before and she’s always refused.’
‘Get Nick and Michael there, tell her it’s a practice meeting and she’ll come,’ Joel said confidently, flipping his diary shut with a careless finger. ‘Provided she can bring Sam, of course.’
His father’s eyes narrowed. ‘You think she’ll say yes?’
Joel looked him straight in the eye. ‘Lucy is far too conscientious to refuse to attend a work meeting.’
He listened while his father spoke to Lucy on the phone and stiffened slightly as he heard her soft tap on the door moments later.
‘Ah, there you are, my dear.’ Richard stepped forward and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her into the room. ‘Joel’s been outlining your suggestions for the immunisation clinic. We need to work through the detail with everyone. We have a practice meeting on Friday evening, but I know you can’t make that.’
&n
bsp; Lucy bit her lip and looked troubled, just as Joel had known she would. She was incredibly conscientious.
‘I’m sorry—’
‘Don’t be sorry,’ Richard said immediately. ‘We were hoping you might be able to do Saturday lunchtime instead. Bring Sam—we’ll find plenty for him to do at the house.’
Even though she was a small distance away from him, Joel could just detect the soft scent that he’d come to associate with her. What was it? He wouldn’t be surprised if it was something as simple as shampoo.
Lucy was staring at his father. ‘Saturday?’
‘If that’s convenient for you,’ Richard said cheerfully. ‘Elizabeth will cook one of her lunches and we can all chat while we eat. It happens all the time in our house. Being a family practice inevitably means that we’re always mixing business and pleasure.’