LITMIR.BIZ

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Prentiss’s lips pursed as she looked Mallory up and down.

      ‘I’m not a drug rep either, Mrs Prentiss, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ Mallory said hastily. ‘I was with Dr Cooper at the hospital yesterday.’ Coffee. Will had said something about coffee. ‘Look, I can see you’re busy so I don’t want to hold you up, but he asked me to call in and have a quick chat with Nathan. If I…if I get you a cup of coffee, would you be able to see if Nathan can spare me a couple of minutes, please?’

      To her surprise, the receptionist burst out laughing. ‘Will tell you how to soft-soap me, did he?’

      ‘Er…’ Mallory flushed.

      ‘Third door on the right,’ Mrs Prentiss said. ‘Nathan’s expecting you. Helvellyn cold, was it?’

      ‘But good.’ Mallory couldn’t help smiling back. Will had been spot on about the Darrowthwaite grapevine. ‘Thank you.’

      Nathan turned out to be tall and thin, with his hair cut short to disguise a thinning patch. ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ he said. ‘Will’s making my life a misery. He’s called me six times today already! Good climb?’

      ‘Yes, thanks.’

      ‘I gather Will’s already told you about the practice. So, is there anything you’d like to ask me?’

      This was all going way too fast. She hadn’t even said yes yet!

      ‘Sorry, I’m bulldozing you.’ He smiled at her. ‘Let me show you around.’

      The place was perfect. Purpose-built, but from traditional materials and designed to fit in with the buildings around it. Four consulting rooms plus the practice nurse’s room. ‘And this room’s for visiting specialists—we have a weekly phlebotomist, osteopath, chiropodist and physiotherapist,’ Nathan told her. ‘We also have a room for the health visitors and district midwife—they cover three practices between them.’

      ‘It’s a good set-up,’ Mallory said. Very similar to Charles’s practice.

      Just as Nathan was showing her back to his office, the doors of the other doctors’ surgeries opened simultaneously.

      ‘You must be Mallory. I’m Siobhan Reilly,’ the pretty blonde announced, shaking Mallory’s hand. ‘And this is Tom Fitzgerald.’

      Tom, who was small and round and lively, grinned at her. ‘And neither of us makes a habit of diving in front of cars, you’ll be pleased to know.’

      ‘But that means you’ll have to be the practice hero doctor while Will’s out of action,’ Siobhan informed her. ‘Tom can’t because he’s sleep deprived.’

      ‘Twins. Teething,’ he explained. ‘And Siobhan can’t because she’s scared of heights.’

      ‘And you’re a climber,’ Siobhan said. ‘So you’ve drawn the short straw.’

      ‘Stop bullying the poor girl,’ a voice behind them chided. ‘Take no notice of them, love. I’m Hayley, the practice nurse. And you two can just leave her alone and get back to your patients.’

      ‘Yes, Aunty Hayley,’ the other doctors chorused, laughing.

      Clearly Will had been talking about a shared and much-loved joke when he’d referred to the practice nurse as ‘favourite aunty’.

      ‘See you later, Mallory,’ Siobhan said, and she and Tom returned to their rooms.

      ‘Just popped along to say hello,’ Hayley said. ‘And to say thanks for looking after our Will for us.’

      ‘Pleasure,’ Mallory said.

      ‘When we heard about the accident, we couldn’t believe it. It just didn’t seem fair, after the last one. But at least he’s all right. Thanks to you.’

      ‘I didn’t do a lot,’ Mallory said honestly. ‘Just tried to keep him conscious while we waited for the ambulance.’ And what did Hayley mean, ‘after the last one’? Was this the second time Will had been hit by a car?

      ‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Hayley told her with a smile. ‘I’ve got two tetanus jabs waiting, and if I leave them any longer they’ll have scared themselves into going home again.’

      After such a welcome, Mallory could only do one thing. Take Renee’s advice. ‘About these questions,’ she said to Nathan.

      Nathan nodded. ‘Fire away.’

      ‘Would you like to see my certificates and CV?’ Then she chuckled. ‘And don’t tell Will. I want to do it myself.’

      ‘That’s the least he deserves for pestering me!’ Nathan told her.

      ‘Come and sit down. Good climb?’ Will asked when Mallory put her head round the curtain of his cubicle.

      ‘Yes, thanks. I brought you some grapes.’ She opened the bag for him, then put the grapes on the table that swung over his bed so he could reach them. ‘Seedless. And I washed them first.’

      ‘Thanks. Did you go to see Nathan?’

      ‘Didn’t Nathan tell you?’

      ‘He didn’t tell me anything,’ Will complained.

      She put him out of his misery. ‘Yes. I saw him.’

      ‘And?’

      She handed him an envelope.

      ‘What’s this?’

      ‘My references,’ she said simply. ‘You’d better check me out properly if you want me to take this job.’

      ‘You’ll do it, then?’

      She nodded. ‘Until you’re better, but I’d prefer it to be on a trial basis. Give it a week, see if we suit each other.’

      ‘Fair enough.’

      ‘Once you’ve checked out my references.’

      ‘Have you given a copy to Nathan?’

      ‘Yes. Along with all the necessary papers.’

      ‘Then he’ll already have it in hand.’ He gave her another of those half-smiles. She’d been expecting the full wattage but, then again, he had just been hit by a car. A half-smile was probably as much as he could manage. ‘Welcome aboard Darrowthwaite Surgery. Now, can you do me another favour?’

      ‘Such as?’

      He dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘Get me out of here! I can’t stand another night of noise and clattering.’

      ‘Will, you’ve got an internal fixation and an arm in plaster. How are you going to manage at home?’

      ‘The cottage has a downstairs bathroom and there’s a sofa bed in the living room. I’ll cope.’

      ‘What do the doctors say?’

      ‘Is he still on about discharging himself?’ a voice enquired. ‘Honestly, medical staff really are the worst patients. Demand to see their notes, want to know why you’re still doing their obs when they feel perfectly well, and say they’re going home well before they’re actually ready.’ The staff nurse swiftly took Will’s temperature and checked his pulse.

      ‘Apyrexial, pulse normal, no sign of nausea, no unusual pain, and if you check under the dressing there won’t be any signs of infection. No redness, no heat, no sign of pus.’ Will ticked the list off on the fingers of his uninjured hand. ‘Now, can I go home?’

      ‘You know what the doctor said,’ the nurse told him gently as she wrote up his chart. ‘Only on condition you have someone to look after you.’

      ‘You’re in the best place,’ Mallory added.

      ‘Then I’ll get a taxi and discharge myself,’ Will said.

      ‘Talk

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