Why was he here? In a medical backwater that lacked so much of the resources a larger hospital would have in the way of specialty expertise and facilities?
And why was she experiencing such an overwhelming level of curiosity?
The need to escape took on greater urgency and Beth glanced up at the wall clock.
‘Nearly time to go home,’ she said in relief. ‘Is there anything I should be doing before the day shift arrives?’
‘No.’ Maureen smiled at Beth. ‘You go and get some sleep. You’ve done more than enough on your first shift. We’ll take care of the paperwork and handover.’ She waved aside the protest Beth was clearly about to make. ‘Go on,’ she ordered. ‘And if you see Mike out there, tell him his cup of tea’s getting cold. I don’t know why he hasn’t come in yet.’
Beth soon found out. Mike was leaning against the central desk, in a now deserted department, talking to Luke. Both men looked exhausted but Beth could sense their satisfaction.
‘How’s Stella?’ she queried.
‘Stable,’ Luke answered. ‘We’ll be transferring her to Wellington pretty soon.’
‘Thanks to you two,’ Mike added. ‘You’re a pretty good team, aren’t you?’
Beth gritted her teeth. The old wound must have opened more than she had realised for Mike’s words to have the effect of rubbing salt into it. This wasn’t good.
‘Runs in the blood for Beth, mind you,’ Luke told Mike lightly. ‘Did you know that her father is Nigel Dawson?’
Beth could barely suppress her groan. Of course Mike didn’t know. It was the last thing she’d be pointing out to any new colleagues.
‘Not the Nigel Dawson of heart-transplant fame?’
‘That’s the one.’
Mike’s glance towards Beth was openly interested but it was Luke he directed his comment to. ‘How on earth did you know that?’
‘Beth and I worked together for a while, years ago.’ Luke made it sound completely impersonal. ‘She did a stint as a theatre nurse.’
‘Lucky for Stella that you did.’ Mike was smiling warmly at Beth but it was almost impossible to return the gesture.
Not only had Luke dismissed their past relationship as not rating a mention, he had revealed a large chunk of Beth’s personal history that had been the other major part of her past she had been hoping to leave behind in coming to Hereford. It was the last straw and the balance finally tipped. No. Thanks to Luke, there was no way she could envisage the future she’d hoped to find here.
‘I’d better go,’ she said aloud.
Of course, her new colleagues couldn’t detect any undertones to her statement. They both smiled understandingly.
‘I’ll walk you out to your car,’ Luke offered.
‘No need, thanks. I’m walking.’
‘I’ll come anyway,’ Luke said infuriatingly. ‘I need to grab my shaving gear from my car. Besides, we haven’t even said hello properly, Beth.’
Beth ignored the quirk of Mike’s eyebrow but she could feel her shoulders slump as she turned away. On top of discussing her famous father, she could just imagine how interested Chelsea and Maureen would be to hear that Luke was insisting on escorting her out of the building.
Her first shift at Ocean View hospital was ending with just as much of a disaster as it had begun with. Beth was in no mood to give a polite response to Luke’s query about how she was.
‘I would have been a lot better if you hadn’t told Mike who my father was.’
Luke looked justifiably taken aback by her sharp tone. ‘What’s the problem? He is your father.’
Beth couldn’t deny it, however much she would have preferred to. ‘I came to Hereford to make a new start,’ she said curtly. ‘My family was one of the things I was more than happy to leave behind. Now I’m going to have everybody I meet asking questions.’
The calm, early morning sunshine that they emerged into made the drama of the last six hours seem totally unreal. This conversation with Luke seemed just as unreal. How crazy that they could slip back into an argument the first time they got to talk to each other.
‘Well, I’m sorry.’ Luke didn’t sound sorry at all. ‘But what’s so wrong with your family? If he was my father I’d be proud of what he’s achieved in his career.’
‘Yeah…you would.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
The tone was enough to force Beth to slow her pace and turn to face Luke. He looked so tired, she thought. And annoyed. And genuinely puzzled.
‘Your opinion of my father was always higher than mine.’
‘I only met the man once. If you remember, you kept me away from your family for so long I thought you were an orphan.’ Luke shook his head. ‘For heaven’s sake, Beth. When did you start hating your father?’
‘I don’t hate him. I don’t hate any of my family. They’re strangers.’ Beth’s anger was more than ready to spill out. Gone were the days when she had responded to a conflict by bottling things up. ‘We were just an item to add to our parents’ CVs. Our son, the cardiologist. Our daughter, the paediatrician. Oh, there’s Beth, of course, but the only thing she ever did that we really approved of was to produce Luke Savage as a potential son-in-law.’
Luke had stopped walking completely now. He was staring at Beth with that look she had seen earlier. The one that implied she was a total stranger.
He opened his mouth but Beth didn’t give him a chance to say anything.
‘I wanted to escape from that “not living up to the family tradition” rubbish. Now, thanks to you, that’s going to be impossible.’
Luke merely blinked. ‘Was that all you came to Hereford to escape from?’
‘What?’
‘Is there anything else I should know about so I don’t put my foot in my mouth and make your new start any more difficult for you?’ Luke didn’t actually sound as though he was trying to be helpful. His polite tone had a distinct edge of sarcasm. ‘Have you left a boyfriend behind as well perhaps? Or a husband maybe?’
The tone pushed a button Beth had almost forgotten about. As if he cared about any answer she might supply!
‘A fiancé, actually.’
The effect on Luke was quite satisfying. His jaw dropped. ‘You’re engaged?’
‘Not any more.’
Luke’s expression became carefully blank, as though a switch had been thrown. ‘Who finished it?’ he asked quietly. ‘You…or him?’
‘Me.’
