‘At one time I was keeping the fast-food counters in the stores going, but that didn’t last.’
His kitchen door was open. She could smell the food cooking and told herself that Ben asking her to dine with him was no different than her asking him over. They were both doing it out of politeness. It didn’t mean anything.
‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed. ‘How long before we eat?’
‘Twenty minutes, if that’s OK?’
‘Yes. It will give me time to shower away the day and change into some comfortable clothes.’ Turning, she went back inside with the feeling that she was making a big mistake.
CHAPTER THREE
WHEN Ben opened the door to her twenty minutes later, Georgina stepped into a bare, newly decorated hall that could only be described as stark. When he showed her into the sitting room, it was the same, and a vision of their London house came to mind, spacious, expensively furnished, in the leafy square not far from the park where she’d taken Jamie that day.
Yet Ben was prepared to live in this soulless place and she wondered what was in his mind. He was going to be involved, come what may, but their marriage had foundered long ago. It had hit rock bottom and wasn’t going to rise out of the ashes because they’d made a child.
But that occasion had been the forerunner of an unexpected chain of events that had brought him back into her life. Not because he’d known about the baby. That had really rocked him on his feet. He’d come in reply to her letter. Curious, no doubt, to find his ex-wife surfacing from her hidey-hole.
‘What?’ he asked, observing her expression.
‘This place must seem rather basic after our house in London.’
‘It’s adequate,’ he said dryly. ‘I long since ceased to notice the delights of that place.’ He pointed to a small dining area of the same standard as the rest of the house. ‘If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll dish out the food.’
This is unreal, Georgina thought as Ben brought in a perfectly cooked lasagne and a bowl of salad, yet she had to admit it was nice to sit down to a meal that was ready to eat after a busy day at the practice.
‘So what is there to do in the evenings in this place?’ he asked as he served the food.
‘Well, you already know the Pheasant in the village, which is the centre of the night life. Everyone congregates there to drink and chat in the evenings. Willowmere is a very friendly place, a small community where everyone cares about everyone else.’
‘So you go to the pub every night, then?’
‘I didn’t say that was what I do. My evenings are spent clearing up after my meal and then taking a short walk. This is a beautiful place. I either stroll along the river bank or to Willow Lake, which isn’t far away, and contrary to life in the big city, I’m meeting people I know all the time I’m out there, not just because I’m their doctor but because that’s what village life is all about.’
She didn’t tell him that it had been her lifesaver in the lonely months when she’d first come to live there, when the feeling of no longer being part of the life that she’d once thought would be hers for ever had been unbearable.
‘After that I come home, have a hot drink and go to bed,’ she concluded.
‘So maybe you’ll show me around some of these places that you’re so fond of,’ he said equably, as if not appalled at the similarity of their lives where there was work, lots of it, then coming home to an empty house and a scratch meal, and in his case, watching television for as long as he could stand it before going up to the bed they’d once shared.
‘Maybe,’ she said noncommittally. ‘I suppose you think my life here sounds dull, but it is what I want. I don’t ever want another relationship with anyone, Ben. Any love I have to spare will be for my baby.’
‘Our baby!’ he corrected, as his spirits plummeted.
‘Yes, indeed. I’m sorry, Ben. It will be ours, yours and mine,’ she agreed, ‘but don’t have expectations about anything else.’
‘I won’t,’ he told her steadily, and steered the conversation into other channels. ‘You haven’t asked me what I’m going to do jobwise while I’m here.’
‘No, I haven’t, though I have wondered.’
‘Don’t concern yourself. I’ll find something. Do you need any help at the practice or are you fully staffed?’
She gazed at him, open-mouthed. ‘We do have a vacancy, but that would be coming down a peg, wouldn’t it? I’ve seen your name mentioned a few times regarding paediatric surgery. You’re a high-flyer these days, aren’t you?’
‘Some people might think so,’ he replied dryly, and thought that though he might be good at his job, when it came to coping with grief he’d fallen flat on his face. ‘It was just a thought. But if you don’t want me around during your working day, just say so. What sort of a position are we talking about?’
‘We need another doctor.’
‘I see. Interesting. But don’t be alarmed, Georgina. I’m not going to crowd you.’
‘Not much!’
‘You mean my moving in next door?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘I’ve rented the place so I will be close at hand if you need me when the baby comes.’
‘Right.’
‘What? Don’t you believe me?’
‘Yes, of course I do,’ she said. ‘I’m sure on some wakeful night on our child’s part I will be grateful to have you near, but don’t take me too much for granted, Ben.’
He didn’t reply. Instead he said, ‘Shall we take our coffee into the deluxe sitting room of my new accommodation?’
They spent the rest of the time together talking about the village and when he mentioned the practice again, and the part she played in it, she answered his questions warily.
‘This James Bartlett sounds a decent guy,’ he remarked. ‘I’d like to meet him. Is he married?’
‘James lost his wife in a motor accident five years ago, just a few weeks after she’d given birth to twins. Pollyanna and Jolyon are in their first year at the village school.’
‘And he’s never remarried?’
‘No. James and the children live next door to the surgery with an excellent nanny and housekeeper to help out. His sister, Anna, was a nurse in the practice until she married a locum who was with us, and now they’ve left and gone to work in Africa, leaving James with two replacements to find.
‘He’s found someone to fill the gap of practice nurse but is hanging fire with the doctor vacancy, saying that he might wait until Glenn Hamilton, his sister’s new husband, comes back from Africa to offer him a permanent placing, and in
