he’d been breathtakingly beautiful—green eyes, dark hair that flopped over his forehead, and an incredibly sensual mouth. He could have rivalled any film star. She really hadn’t expected to be so attracted to him.
But she knew that romantic relationships never worked out for her, so she had no intention of acting on that attraction. A good working relationship was all they needed. End of.
* * *
After his shift, Ben tapped the address of The Beeches into his satnav and headed out to see the patients.
When he introduced himself to Julia, the manager, she said, ‘Ah, yes. You must be the new doctor at the practice. How are you settling in?’
‘Fine, thanks. Nurse Butler said you had a patient who needed to be seen about a possible UTI, and it made sense for me to come and introduce myself because I’ll be seeing you on some of the regular Thursday morning visits,’ he said.
‘Good call. Thank you.’ She smiled at him.
‘I’d also like to say hello to Renée, even though her blood test results aren’t back yet,’ he said.
‘Of course. Toni’s filled you in on all the patients’ histories?’
Yes, but it was useful to go over it again in case he’d missed anything. ‘I’m happy for you to tell me whatever you think I need to know,’ Ben said.
After he’d seen the two patients Toni had been worried about, Ben made time to meet the charge nurse, who was responsible for the drug round, and introduced himself to all the residents who were in the lounge.
‘I agree with you about Renée. We’ll review her medication as soon as her bloods are back and ring you,’ he said to Julia in her office at the end of his visit. ‘And I agree with Toni that we should give Liza a low dose of antibiotics for the next six months to put a stop to the UTIs. I’ll get the prescriptions sorted out so they’ll be ready for collection later this afternoon.’
‘Thank you,’ Julia said. ‘Nice to meet you, Dr Mitchell.’
‘Ben,’ he said with a smile.
Once he’d sorted out the prescriptions and some admin back at the surgery, he headed for the supermarket on the way home to pick up a couple of pints of milk. As he walked into the chiller aisle, he saw Toni putting a bottle of milk into her trolley.
‘Hello,’ he said.
‘Hi.’
No dog, he noticed. But of course dogs weren’t usually allowed in supermarkets, so he stopped himself asking something clueless. Instead, he opted for polite small talk. ‘Doing your weekly grocery shop?’
‘My neighbour’s, actually,’ she said. ‘Shona came off her bike awkwardly three weeks ago and broke her arm.’
‘That’s kind of you to do her shopping.’
Toni shrugged. ‘She’d do the same for me. Great Crowmell is the kind of place where people look out for each other.’ She smiled. ‘Right now she has Archie sprawled all over her lap, enjoying having a fuss made of him.’
The dog. She was very much a dog person, and he really wasn’t. ‘Uh-huh.’
She bit her lip. ‘You and I rather got off on the wrong foot yesterday. Look, if you’re not busy this evening, why don’t you come over for dinner? I’m a reasonable cook.’
Awareness flickered through him, and he stifled it. She wasn’t asking him to dinner because she was attracted to him. She was asking him because she was trying to get their professional relationship onto an even keel. Which would be a good thing, and he’d accept purely on that basis. Because he really wasn’t interested in starting a relationship with anyone. Karen had hurt him deeply. He wasn’t letting anyone that close again, even if Toni was as nice as she seemed. ‘Thanks. Dinner would be great,’ he said.
‘You’re welcome to bring your partner, too, and any children,’ she said. ‘Just let me know how many I’m cooking for.’
Partner and children. Not any more. It had left a huge hole in his life that he tried to fill with work and studying. It hadn’t worked, which was why he had moved here, hoping that a fresh start would help. He pushed the thought away. ‘Just me.’
‘It’s just me and Archie at my place.’
So she was single, too—and clearly not in the market for a relationship. He was glad that they’d cleared that up. Established boundaries. ‘OK. Can I bring pudding?’ Then he remembered her refusal of his brownies. ‘Um—that is, do you eat pudding?’
She grimaced. ‘Ah. You must’ve noticed I didn’t take one of your brownies this morning. Sorry, it wasn’t anything personal.’ She gave him a rueful smile. ‘My sister says I’m weird, because I’m about the only person in the world who doesn’t actually like chocolate cake.’
Funny how that made him feel so much better to discover that she hadn’t been snippy with him; she just didn’t like brownies. ‘Noted. And I’ll make blondies, next time,’ he said.
‘Thank you. And yes, please to pudding.’
‘As long as it’s not chocolate,’ he confirmed.
‘Absolutely. Is there anything you’re allergic to or don’t eat?’
‘Allergies? Spoken like a true medic.’ He couldn’t help smiling back at her. ‘No allergies, and I eat anything.’
‘Good. I’ll see you tonight then. About seven?’
‘I’ll be there.’
She gave him her address. ‘It’s on the edge of town, but there’s plenty of parking in my road.’
‘You’re not that far from me. A walk will do me good,’ he said. ‘See you at seven.’
* * *
Sean had always said she was too impulsive.
Maybe he had a point, Toni thought as she finished buying Shona’s groceries. But she was going to have to work with Ben Mitchell. It made sense to make sure their working relationship was a good one, for their patients’ sake. But she was feeling ever so slightly guilty about being judgemental towards him yesterday. OK, so he’d annoyed her with his attitude towards Archie; but she could almost hear her grandmother saying softly, ‘Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you judge them.’
She hadn’t done that at all.
So the very least she could do was to cook dinner for the man and help him settle into the community.
She bought ingredients for dinner, dropped off Shona’s groceries and put them away for her, and took Archie out for a run before making a start on dinner.
At precisely seven o’clock, her doorbell rang.
Ben stood there with an armful of gifts. ‘I bought a lemon tart and raspberries for pudding. I hope that’s OK.’
‘Perfect, thank
