‘I think pizza with all the toppings will probably do the trick—and we could take some of your game DVDs into the store and swap them for those you were telling me about, Sam, if you like?’
‘Oh, yeah … that’d be great.’ Sam’s mood changed in mercurial fashion.
‘Rosie, you might like to check out some of the dance games,’ Sarah suggested, following Murray’s lead. ‘You have some pocket money saved up, don’t you?’
Rosie brightened and nodded, causing her soft brown curls to flutter and gleam in the sunlight that poured in through the kitchen window.
‘That’s settled, then,’ Murray said. ‘As soon as you’re ready, we’ll be off.’
After they had gone, Sarah cleared away and set out the cooked gingerbread men on racks to cool. A few were missing already, since Murray and the children had decided they smelled too good to leave until later. Sam’s pockets had been bulging as he’d left the house.
She looked around, suddenly feeling the need to go out and get away from all the jobs that were crying out for attention. Sam and Rosie would be gone for much of the afternoon, according to Murray, so maybe she would make the most of things and go and get some fresh air. The walk into the centre of the village would do her good and she could pick up some fresh supplies from the grocery store while she was there.
It was a beautiful spring day, with a blue sky overhead and patchy white clouds moving in from the coast. As she walked down the hill towards the seafront, past colour-washed cottages and narrow, cobbled side streets, she could feel the light breeze lifting her hair and billowing gently round the hem of her skirt. In the distance, boats were moored in the harbour, and closer to home fishermen tended their nets, laying them out on the smooth sand as they looked them over and prepared for the next trip out to sea.
Instead of going directly down to the beach, she took a path that led to a raised terrace overlooking the cove, and from there she gazed out across the bay towards the craggy promontory she had once explored as a teenager. It was some distance away, but she could see the waves dashing against the rocks, sending up fountains of spray to splash into the crevices. She’d gone there once with friends, and James had joined them. He had been on one of his brief visits home from medical school. He’d walked with her along the shore as she’d looked for shells buried in the warm sand. It had been a magical day, with the sun high in the sky and James by her side, a day that had almost made her dreams come true.
There was a movement beside her and it was almost as though by thinking of him she’d conjured him up. ‘It must seem a long time ago since you spent your days searching for crabs in those rock pools,’ James said, coming out of the blue to stand alongside her. He followed her gaze to the boulder-strewn beach some half a mile away.
She gave a startled jump, taking a step backwards as he went to place a hand on the metal railing in front of them. He quickly put his arm out to steady her, and then when she’d recovered her balance he let his hand rest on the curve of her hip.
‘Are you all right? I’m sorry if I surprised you.’ He sounded concerned and his glance moved over her to gauge her reaction. ‘I didn’t mean to creep up on you like that. I thought you’d be aware of me, but you must have been miles away in your head.’
‘Yes … I’m okay.’ She rested her fingers against her chest, on the soft cotton of her top, as though that might somehow calm the staccato beat of her heart. Where had he come from? She couldn’t think straight while he was so close, with his hand spreading fire along her skin, sending heated ripples of sensation to spread through her hips and along the length of her spine. ‘What … what are you doing here? Where did you come from?’
‘I was on my way home from the hospital and I decided to stop and pick up something to snack on from the village shop. Then I saw you standing here.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She frowned. ‘I thought this was your weekend off.’
He removed his hand and stepped closer to the rail, turning so that he could look at her properly. That ought to have made things easier for her, but instead her mind went blank for a moment or two as she unexpectedly felt the loss of his warm, intimate touch. Perversely, she wanted him to go on holding her.
‘Yes, it is, but one of the junior doctors was anxious about a patient and phoned me to ask what he should do. Apparently the consultant in charge was busy dealing with another emergency.’
‘Were you all right with that?’ She’d watched him work hard all week, putting in long hours, staying on to make sure his patients pulled through and were definitely stabilised or on the road to recovery before he would leave. He seemed reluctant to hand over responsibility until he had done everything humanly possible to make sure they were safe. It must have taken a toll on him, but it didn’t show. Despite all that supreme effort, he still managed to look fit and energetic, on top form.
Weekends were precious for everyone, but some senior medical staff guarded them as sacrosanct, a time to recuperate and recharge their batteries, something they’d earned after years of study and acquiring specialist qualifications. From what she’d heard, one or two consultants took a very dim view of things if juniors called them in to work out of hours. Of course, things tended to operate differently in the emergency department.
‘I was fine with it,’ James said. ‘I’d sooner I was there to see a patient if there are any worries about his or her condition. Junior doctors do their best, but they need support, and I try to give it as much as possible. Sometimes you can do it over the phone, but other times there’s nothing for it but to go in.’
‘Yes, of course.’ She had finished her foundation years, but she wasn’t much more than a junior doctor herself—James was far more experienced than she was. He’d started his training while she’d been about to begin her worrisome teens, and he’d always put his heart and soul into medicine. ‘What was the problem with the patient?’ She might be in the same boat herself one day, in a quandary as to whether she should call him out, and it would be helpful to know what kind of things she ought to bring to his attention.
‘A woman collapsed while she was being treated for an abdominal injury. The doctor followed all the protocols but she wasn’t responding, so in the end he called me to ask for advice. The senior staff were all too busy with other emergencies. There was obviously something more going on than the problems with her injury, but her medical records weren’t available. Her liver was damaged, nothing too major—at least, not enough to cause her total collapse. I’ve ordered a batch of tests, so we’ll know better what’s going on as soon as they come back from the lab. She’s being given supportive treatment in the meantime.’
His glance wandered over her, taking in the pale-coloured cotton top that faithfully followed her curves, and the gently flowing skirt that skimmed her hips, drifting and settling around her calves as she moved. His grey eyes seemed to glimmer as he studied her, though of course it might simply have been a trick of the light. ‘You’re looking very summery … just right for this warm sunshine,’ he said.
A wave of heat surged through her. She hadn’t expected him to comment or even notice how she looked, but perhaps it was the contrast between how she looked now and the way she dressed at work that had sparked his interest. One day a week when she went out with the air ambulance, when she wore a flight suit, and the rest of the time at work she dressed in scrubs, the basic A and E outfit.
She gave a wry smile. ‘It beats wearing scrubs, anyway, or even jeans. Just lately, when I’m at home I’ve been trying to get on with some decorating any chance I get, so it makes a change to be out of jeans for a while.’
