LITMIR.BIZ

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put down the mug he was holding and with the other hand replaced the photograph of Dave and herself that he’d picked up from the window shelf.

      ‘Your husband?’ he asked casually.

      ‘Yes,’ she told him quietly, ‘and if you’re wondering why he isn’t here when his son is asking for him…’

      He raised his hand with palm outwards to halt the flow of words.

      ‘Not my business. It just seemed a shame, that was all. Josh wanting him and him not being there, but fathers have a living to earn. They can’t always be around.’

      ‘Dave is dead,’ she told him tonelessly. ‘He died of cancer a year ago.’

      Kane’s face went slack. ‘I’m sorry. So sorry! It must be very hard for you.’

      ‘It is,’ she said simply. ‘But there has never been anyone to tell us that life is fair, has there?’

      ‘No, indeed,’ he agreed soberly.

      Wishing that she’d been a bit less upfront with her affairs, she said, ‘Are you ready?’

      ‘Of course…and make sure that you lock up this time.’

      Not another word passed between them on the way back but Selina thought that she’d said enough already, considering they’d only met hours ago. But at least he would have her sussed for when she turned in for duty—he would have found out her circumstances sooner or later.

      Kane Kavener hadn’t been very forthcoming about himself, though, had he? A quick glance at his inscrutable profile was a reminder that if she’d been upfront about herself to the man who was to be her new partner, he wasn’t prepared to paint a picture of himself for her.

      When he stopped on the hospital forecourt he spoke for the first time.

      ‘I’m told that you’re due back on duty the day after tomorrow, and that would have been our first day together, but obviously your son’s accident will have changed that.’

      Selina nodded.

      ‘Yes. I’ll be staying with Josh until he comes out of hospital and will want to be with him the first few days after he comes home while he adjusts to the plaster cast and moving around on crutches. Once that’s sorted he’ll be all right with my sister-in-law, Jill.’ She cast an anxious glance at the door marked OUTPATIENTS. ‘Just as long as there are no unforeseen complications from the accident.’

      ‘I hope that won’t be the case for both your sakes,’ he said gravely, then added, with his voice lightening, ‘Can I take it that you won’t be bossing me about when we start working together?

      She gave a weak smile.

      ‘You mean like this morning?’

      ‘Hmm. Although I do admit there were extenuating circumstances.’

      ‘You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?’ she said smoothly, and on that note she opened the door and was gone.

      Josh had just been settled into the children’s ward when she got there, and now that his leg was more comfortable and his cuts and bruises had been treated he was feeling more cheerful and ready to enjoy the novelty of the situation he found himself in.

      When Selina appeared at his bedside he looked up at her with the bright blue eyes that were so like Dave’s and said, ‘I know that Dad is dead, Mum. I don’t know why I said what I did.’

      ‘You were hurt and frightened, my darling,’ she said softly, ‘and wanted your dad as well as your mum. It was understandable, and although Dad isn’t with us anymore he’ll be watching over you somewhere, I’m sure.’

      He was smiling.

      ‘Do you think they have traffic accidents in heaven…like when they get onto the wrong cloud or have a skid on the Milky Way?’

      Selina laughed and there was relief in it because he was joking about Dave now, not crying for him.

      Gavin had gone off duty. By now he would be home and would have told Jill what had happened. Her sister-in-law, who was also her closest friend, would be horrified.

      By nine o’clock that evening Josh was fast asleep after his distressing day, and one of the nurses on the children’s ward said, ‘He’s happy enough with us, Mrs Sanderson. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? We’ll ring you if there are any problems.’

      ‘All right,’ she agreed reluctantly, ‘but I’ll be here by six o’clock in the morning.’

      * * *

      Gavin and Jill lived in a big Victorian semi by the village green and, before letting herself into the cottage, Selina called in to see them.

      ‘How awful for you both!’ her petite sister-in-law said, hugging her close. ‘Whatever were the school thinking of to let Josh run out on to the road like that?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Selina said sombrely, ‘but I have a feeling that it might have been his own fault. He tells me that when the ball went over the wall his friends were all urging him to go and get it and while the playground supervisor’s back was turned he lifted the chain off the gate and ran out. But even so I shall be having a talk with the headmaster once I’ve calmed down.’

      Gavin sighed. ‘Show a boy a ball and he undergoes a complete change of personality. How is he now?’

      ‘He was asleep when I left him, but I’ll be back there first thing.’

      * * *

      In the double bed that she’d once shared with Dave, Selina found she couldn’t sleep. Pictures of the day’s happenings kept going through her mind like shots from a horror movie, and mingled with them was the memory of the meeting with her new partner, Kane Kavener.

      Where was he sleeping tonight? she wondered. He would have finished the day shift at seven o’clock and what then? Gone for a meal? Finished his unpacking? Or was there someone waiting for him, eager to hear how his first day had gone?

      Why had she been in such a hurry to tell him she was a widow? she asked herself. She hated the sound of the word. For one thing it was a reminder that Dave wasn’t around any more, and for another it was like having a badge pinned on her, indicating that she was once again available. A marriageable woman. But not without strings attached. The ‘string’ in her case was an adorable fair-haired boy, whom she could have lost if a certain motorist hadn’t been driving slowly…and hadn’t clapped on his brakes as fast as he had.

      Maybe at the back of her mind, when she’d said what she had, had been the memory of a couple of passes that men had made at her in recent weeks.

      She’d quickly rebuffed them and afterwards had thought tearfully that she hated being in the position of a lone woman.

      And so why should it be any different with him? she asked herself. She didn’t know. But something about Kane had told her that he wasn’t the chatting-up type. And why, for heaven’s sake, was she taking it for granted that he might be even remotely interested in anything concerning her?

      In the end she got up, showered, made herself a quick breakfast in the summer dawn, then set off for the hospital once more.

      * * *

      Josh was discharged on Sunday morning, and as he swung himself along the garden path on a small pair of crutches Selina was just glad to have him home again.

      ‘One of the paramedics came in to see me last night after you’d gone, Mum,’ he’d said earlier when she’d arrived on the ward.

      ‘Really! Which one?’

      ‘The new one…Kane.’

      ‘That’s strange!’ she exclaimed. ‘He would have been off duty by then.’

      ‘Mmm, he was. He brought me some comics and sweets…and told me to look where I was going

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