mouth made a wry shape. ‘It just wasn’t her day, was it?’
‘No, unfortunately, it wasn’t.’
‘So, what was the final diagnosis?’ he asked. His expression was thoughtful, his blue gaze skimming her features as though he was trying to weigh her up.
‘She had a thyroid problem—her body was producing too little of the hormone, causing symptoms that mimicked dementia. And to add to her troubles she had a cracked bone in her forearm from the earlier fall, along with a sprained ankle from taking the stairs.’
Dr Gregson gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Well, I think you’ve cleared that up for us nicely, Dr Reynolds. Thank you for that.’ He looked at her over his glasses. ‘And it’s good to know that you weren’t prepared to accept things at face value.’
She inclined her head briefly and tried to breathe slowly and steadily. That had been a deeply uncomfortable few moments. Tyler was clearly a stickler for getting things right, but she might have hoped he’d be less thorough in following up every detail arising from her application. Did he have to dot every i and cross every t? Michael could very easily have ruined things for her.
‘You’ll certainly need to be on the ball in this job,’ Dr Gregson remarked. ‘It isn’t quite the same as being on the mainland where you have all manner of resources to hand. Those patients who are too ill to be managed in our small hospital have to be flown over to Cornwall for treatment.’
‘I’m sure I’ll be able to handle whatever’s asked of me, Dr Gregson. I’ve had to cope with a huge change of circumstances recently but I think I’m dealing with it.’
Noah was clearly interested in this. ‘Do you want to tell us more about that?’
She closed her eyes fleetingly, wishing she could take back the words and steeling herself against the pain. ‘My brother and his wife were involved in a nasty road accident.’ She took a deep breath. ‘They’re both in hospital in Truro at the moment—and it’s beginning to look as though they’ll be there for some time.’
Tyler frowned, leaning forward in his seat. ‘You didn’t mention this to me before, at the house.’
‘No—perhaps I should have, but it was painful for me to talk about it. I was still getting over the shock. I still am.’ She hesitated, then went on, ‘They were preparing to move over here for Sam’s job—he works for the wildlife trust and they wanted him as part of their team in the Isles of Scilly. Sam was bringing his family over that day so that they could see the house—they were going to rent before they decided where to make a permanent home. They wanted to spend some time looking around the island, but before they could get here they were in collision with a lorry that took a bend too wide. Luckily, the children escaped relatively unhurt, though they were traumatised, of course.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Tyler was genuinely concerned. ‘That must have been devastating for you. And I suppose you’ve taken over caring for the children in the meantime?’
‘That’s right. That’s why I came over here, and it’s the reason I’m looking for work.’
‘Is there no one else who can care for them?’ Noah was full of compassion and understanding, although at the same time it seemed he sensed there was an opportunity to be explored here. ‘Is there no one to support you—you’ve no ties?’
Tyler sent him a sharp look and Noah checked himself, drawing back.
Saskia shook her head. ‘Not right now...at least, not close by.’ She guessed Noah was never one to let the grass grow under his feet. With his looks and easygoing manner he’d probably left behind a string of female conquests who’d fallen for his charms.
‘I admire your sense of loyalty,’ Tyler said, frowning as he glanced through the paperwork once more, ‘and I can see why finding work here must be important to you...but hadn’t you handed in your notice before your brother’s accident?’
Saskia’s shoulders lifted awkwardly. Didn’t he ever miss anything? ‘I’d already decided I wanted a change.’
‘Wasn’t that a little irresponsible—to leave your job on a whim?’
She flattened her lips briefly. She wasn’t about to go into detail about her failed relationship. ‘Perhaps it was,’ she conceded, ‘but the way I saw it there’s pretty much always a need for emergency doctors in the UK.’
He nodded. ‘On the mainland, maybe. I think you’ll find there’s not quite the same demand out here, though.’
‘Yes, I’m starting to realise that.’ Her heart sank. This wasn’t going at all the way she’d hoped. From the doubts he was expressing it looked very much as though he didn’t want her for this job, and she could hardly blame him.
For someone as thorough and organised as Tyler Beckett it would go against the grain to take on a young woman who appeared to work on impulse and followed wherever her heart led.
She didn’t know how many people they had interviewed for this post, but she guessed she wasn’t the only candidate. There had been at least three names on the receptionist’s tick sheet.
‘I did have another job in mind in Cornwall at the time,’ she ventured, ‘and I was about to be interviewed for it, but all my plans had to change after the accident.’
Dr Gregson decided it was time to intervene. ‘With regard to the post you’re applying for here, you should understand that our work isn’t just centred on the hospital. We often travel to the islands to visit patients in emergency situations. In those circumstances, we use the ambulance boat to reach them.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She swallowed carefully. She’d said she’d be able to cope with the demands of the job, but going by boat wasn’t something she had bargained for. And yet it should have been fairly obvious to her that travelling between the islands was a necessity. Perhaps she’d simply tried not to think about it.
The trouble was, ever since she was a child she’d been plagued by seasickness—how could she possibly tell them that? If she owned up, there was absolutely no way she’d get the job.
‘Does that bother you?’ Tyler was watching her, a small frown indenting his brow. ‘You seem distracted somehow.’
She tried what she hoped was a convincing smile. ‘No, not at all. I’d be quite all right with that.’
Dr Gregson appeared satisfied. ‘Well, then, Dr Reynolds, my colleagues and I have one more person to interview before we get together to talk things through. We should be able to let you know our decision before the end of the morning, though. In the meantime, perhaps you’d like to look around our hospital—Janine, my secretary, will be happy to give you the grand tour. You might want to spend some time in the minor injuries unit to see how we do things there, and then familiarise yourself with the A and E department.’
She nodded. ‘Yes, thank you. I would. That’s a good idea.’ At least she could stay around until they were ready to announce their decision.
His secretary showed her around the different areas of the hospital, pointing out the new cardiovascular wing and the obstetrics department. They made light conversation along the way, but Saskia felt weighed down inside with defeat. In her imaginings things would have gone very differently.
‘We
