‘You mean you never had any crises on Arran until we started filming?’ She deliberately phrased the question so he’d realise he was being ridiculous.
He sighed. ‘Of course we did. But believe it or not, lots of days are just normal stuff. Nothing that dramatic or exciting, and to be honest...?’ He looked away. ‘I kind of like those days.’
Now she was curious. She’d done a little more research on Rhuaridh Gillespie since the last time she’d been here. She knew he’d taken over at his father’s surgery when they couldn’t recruit anyone to the post.
‘I’m surprised to hear you say that. I thought you only came here because you had to.’
He looked up sharply, as if he hadn’t expected her to know that. ‘Recruitment is an issue right across the whole of Scotland. It used to be that for every GP vacancy there would be fifty applicants. Now young doctors just don’t want to go into general practice. They don’t want to have to own a business—run a business, and take on the huge financial debt of buying into a practice. If they even train to work as a general practitioner, they can make more money working as a locum. Then there’s less pressure, less responsibility and...’ he shook his head ‘...absolutely no continuity of care for patients.’
Kristie leaned back against the wall. ‘But you trained as a general practitioner. Did you just want to work as a locum?’
He met her gaze with a thoughtful expression, as if he hadn’t expected her to ask this many questions. ‘I had alternative plans. At my practice in Glasgow I also worked a few days in one of the city hospitals in Dermatology. I covered outlying clinics across Glasgow, doing lots of minor surgery.’
Her mouth quirked upwards. ‘You’re a skin guy?’
He held out his hands. ‘Biggest organ of the body. Why not?’
‘And you can’t do that here?’
He shrugged. ‘Not as much. Sure, I can do biopsies, freeze moles with liquid nitrogen, or surgically remove anything small and suspicious. But when your population is usually around five thousand, that’s not really enough people to only specialise in dermatology.’
She waited a few moments. ‘So why didn’t you just stay in Glasgow? Couldn’t you just have left the practice here with only one doctor?’
Rhuaridh took a step back and leaned on the opposite wall. ‘And leave Magda here on her own, covering the hospital and the GP practice? Leaving the community I grew up in and loved with no real service provision? What kind of person would that make me?’
It was like a bright light shining in her eyes. She could feel tiny pieces of the jigsaw puzzle slot into place.
Guilt. He’d felt responsible, and had come back to his home without really wanting to. This had a strange air of déjà vu about it. Wasn’t this what had just happened with the TV series? He hadn’t chosen to do this either, instead he was taking the place of his colleague unwillingly because he didn’t want to let her, or the community, down. Kristie didn’t doubt for one second that if he’d reneged on the contract, Arran would never get a new X-ray machine.
No wonder the guy was grumpy. Did he get to make any choices in this life?
She looked across the room into those weary blue eyes and said words she’d never have imagined herself saying. ‘I guess it makes you a good person, Rhuaridh Gillespie.’
CHAPTER FOUR
August
MAC WAS LOOKING at him with an expression only a dog could give.
Rhuaridh bent down and rubbed his head. ‘I’m sorry.’ He meant it. He’d been neglectful. August was part of the summer season on Arran. From the end of June until the middle of August, Arran was full of Scottish, and lots of international, tourists. But come mid-August in Scotland the schools started again. Usually that would mean that things would quieten down.
But, in the UK, the English schools were still out. So, Arran was currently filled with lots of English holidaymakers. The beach had been packed all day. It seemed that croup was doing the rounds and between the surgery and the A and E department, he’d seen five toddlers with the nasty barking cough today alone. Chicken pox also seemed to be rearing its head again. Five members of one poor family were currently covered in the itchy spots.