was needed, and it didn’t take much to persuade the woman to leave things to him. He trudged back to his own vehicle, nodding grimly at Neve and opening the tailgate.
‘What are we going to do?’ She scrambled out of her seat, almost losing her balance on a patch of ice and grabbing at him to steady herself.
‘Maybe you should stay in the car.’ Much as he liked her weight on his arm, it wasn’t going to get the van on its way.
‘What, and comb my hair? Check my make-up?’
Joe straightened up. However much he got snagged on her protective spikes, he still couldn’t help but smile at her. Maybe it was the vulnerability behind that tough exterior. Or the bravery that met everything head on. ‘If you use the rear-view mirror, don’t forget to adjust it back the way you found it.’
A moment of fleeting outrage and then she relaxed. ‘Sorry. It’s just that I’ve been managing on my own for a while now…’
‘I know.’
She leaned back against the car. ‘So what are you going to do?’
‘I should be able to dig them out. Might need to give them a tow but I hope not. It’ll take time to get the snow chains on the wheels to give me the extra traction.’
‘What’s that for?’ She pointed to the large bag of cat litter that he’d dumped in the snow beside them.
‘It’ll soak up the water around the wheels and give something for them to grip onto.’ Joe reached for the fold-up shovel that he’d stowed in the boot, snapping it open.
‘You have a cat?’ No detail was too small to escape her interest and Joe couldn’t help grinning.
‘Why would I have cat litter if I don’t have a cat?’ He picked up the bag and started to trudge back towards the stricken minibus.
‘Let me know if you need a hand,’ she called after him.
‘Sure. Let me know if you can’t find your comb.’
Neve remained where she was, leaning against the side of the SUV. Two men had got out of the minibus and Joe had set one of them to work with the shovel while he spread the cat litter around the wheels. The woman Joe had been talking to had left them to it and was headed in Neve’s direction.
‘I’m glad you guys turned up.’ She was grinning brightly. ‘Your friend seems to know what to do. What are you doing out today?’
‘I’m a doctor. I have house calls to make.’
‘Ah.’ The woman nodded enthusiastically. ‘And your partner?’ She gestured over towards Joe. ‘He’s a doctor too?’
‘He’s a volunteer. He’s helping with the driving.’
‘Nice one. As we’re stranded here, perhaps you could give me an interview.’ The woman didn’t wait for Neve’s answer and gestured over to the second man, who was standing by the stricken vehicle, watching Joe. ‘Camera, Nick…’
‘I don’t think we have time. We have to get on…’
‘Just for a minute. We won’t keep you.’
Neve bit back the temptation to say that the news crew was already keeping them, by dint of their minibus blocking the road. ‘I have patients…’
‘I promise we’ll be finished before you know it. Or you could go over there and pretend to help, if you prefer.’
No, she didn’t prefer. The last thing Neve wanted to do was to embarrass herself with Joe by pretending to help him for the cameras.
‘Joe…’ She marched over to the minibus, where he was now shovelling ice and snow from under the chassis. ‘We’ll be going soon, won’t we?’
He straightened, taking in the hastily assembled tripod and camera. ‘She’s asked you for an interview, hasn’t she?’
Neve shifted uncomfortably. ‘Yes. But I’ve told them there’s no time. We have to be on our way…’
He grinned. Joe was enjoying her discomfiture a little too much. ‘I’m afraid it’ll be a short while yet. And I don’t dig well with an audience. Perhaps you can keep them amused for a few minutes.’
‘Thanks a lot.’
He shrugged. ‘Thought you wanted to help.’
Not what she’d had in mind. Neve turned on her heel and walked back to the camera.
‘Ready?’ The woman smiled brightly at her. ‘Perhaps if you could take your hat off so we can see your face.’
She was going to have to do this. Neve stood on the spot the reporter indicated and removed her hat, smiling uneasily. The camera swept across the snow-covered hills and then homed in on her.
‘How are you coping in these difficult conditions? Are your patients going without the medical help they need?’
An image of Maisie on the phone, reassuring worried callers that the doctor would be able to see them, flashed through Neve’s mind. ‘No, we’re seeing everyone. We’re coping very well.’
‘But your resources must be strained to breaking point. How long can you go on like this?’
‘As long as we need to. We expect snow during the winter here, and we plan for it. It’s business as usual, and that’s not going to change.’ Neve tried to put all the gravitas of her profession behind the statement. Difficult when a blast of icy wind had just slapped the side of her face, almost taking her breath away and making her nose drip.
The sound of the minibus’s engine choking into life saved her. Joe was in the driver’s seat, gently rolling the vehicle forward and out of the patch of slush that its spinning wheels had produced.
‘Sorry. Got to go.’ Neve almost skipped over to where the empty cat-litter bag and the shovel lay, picked them up and carried them back to Joe’s car. Then she got in, shutting the door firmly. The news crew took one last shot of Joe walking back to the SUV, then there was a scramble to get the camera packed up and they were on their way, Joe following the minibus as it nosed its way along the narrow, snow-filled lane.
As soon as the road widened, he flashed his headlights and a brief, assertive blast of the horn signalled the driver of the minibus to pull over. Joe overtook it, and in a sudden show of bravado he put his foot down, a shower of powdery snow flying up from the wheels as they accelerated away.
‘Show-off.’
He chuckled. ‘You looked a bit put out by some of those questions.’
He’d noticed. No surprise there, Joe seemed to notice everything. ‘Well, really. What did they expect me to do? Go on TV saying that my patients will be lucky to get a visit this side of next week?’
‘I imagine that’s what they wanted to hear.’
‘Well, tough. I’ll make it through to everyone…’ It occurred to Neve that Joe had a part in that now.
