Page 18 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘Fair enough!’ Ottilie put another forkful of lamb in her mouth and chewed. She almost sighed at how good it was. ‘So what do I need to look out for?’

‘You mean who do you need to look out for? Florence, for a start – but you already know that by now. Don’t listen to a word of Geoff at the store’s gossip. Magnus is as bad. By the time something has got to them, it’s already been exaggerated way out of proportion. I mean, their gossip is fun, but…’ Fliss shot Ottilie a mischievous grin. ‘Who else? Let me see…’

‘Maybe I ought to find out everyone’s quirks for myself.’

‘It would certainly be more entertaining for me that way,’ Fliss replied with a light laugh. ‘I’d love to be a fly on the wall for some of your first meetings with the people around here. Who have you met so far?’

‘Well, Flo of course. And Magnus. I called in at the shop. And yes, he was very keen to give me the gossip! I met Victor, who has the alpaca.’

Fliss nodded. ‘Lovely man. Lovely family too. And despite the alpaca breeding, probably the most normal family you’re likely to find around these parts.’

‘I had a quick chat with your receptionist before we came in to see you.’

‘Lavender? I’m glad you got a chance to meet her. You’ll soon find she’s totally indispensable – I dread to think how the surgery will cope when she retires.’

‘That’s good; I’m sure I’ll need someone who knows the ropes to help me a lot at first. I also met a lady named Stacey and her daughter.’

‘Chloe, yes. A bit of a troubled young woman, and I think the family have their work cut out trying to keep her head above water.’

‘Troubled how? I don’t want to pry, but if I’m going to be seeing her as a nurse…I mean, I suppose she has a midwife, but is that someone local?’

‘No, she travels in from Keswick. Pregnancies are rare when the majority of your population is over fifty, as they are in Thimblebury. I know we have a few but not really enough to warrant having a midwife based here.’

‘I can see why Chloe was so negative about it then. Even the few minutes I managed to chat to them I could see she’s unhappy living here.’

‘And yet she’d struggle if she left – at least in my humble opinion. Especially now, with a baby on the way and the prospect of being a single mum, she needs her family and this community around her more than ever. But she’s that age, isn’t she? Where we all think we know everything and nobody can tell us any different. She’ll have to make her mistakes and figure out how to fix them, just like we all did.’

‘There’s no mother and baby group, so I’m told.’

‘Like I said, there aren’t many mothers with young children. I mean, there are a few, but the local authorities didn’t see enough of a need for it with the numbers we have, so they pulled the funding.’

‘But if there’s a venue it’s possible to run it from in the community? As a project we take on ourselves and manage with volunteers?’

Fliss sat back and regarded Ottilie with some humour. ‘And that’s something you’re looking to oversee? You don’t mess about, do you? You’ve barely opened your suitcase and you want to get stuck in. Don’t get me wrong, I like it. I certainly like the energy. I think you and I are going to get on very well.’

‘I just want to be a part of the community, and I think there’s no better or faster way to do that than to be a part of the community. Like, play an active role, get to know people, get to know their lives, be involved in them. And’ – she shrugged – ‘I like being busy.’

Fliss continued to regard Ottilie with that same humour, only now she was silent. Ottilie reached for her glass and took a gulp. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure she liked the scrutiny. Could Fliss see motives other than the ones Ottilie had mentioned? Because Ottilie couldn’t deny that there were far deeper motives for her actions than simply becoming a part of the community. If she was busy, she couldn’t think about Josh, and if she couldn’t think about Josh, then she couldn’t grieve, and if she couldn’t grieve then she didn’t have to admit that he was gone. She could pretend, just for a while, that the only reason she hadn’t seen him was that she’d been far too busy with other things, like it had once been when they’d both worked opposite shifts and missed each other for days on end.

‘I’m sure you realise,’ Fliss began finally, ‘that you’ll be plenty busy enough doing your nursing duties.’

‘Of course, but in a way, I think that this is all part of the same duty of care. I’m a nurse during the day when I’m paid to care, but I don’t stop caring when I get home. I’m a nurse and a human being too.’

‘No, that’s true,’ Fliss said, taking up her cutlery again. ‘I think any health professional can relate to that. Well, if you want to take on some community projects, I’m sure there are plenty to sink your teeth into. In fact, I happen to know there’s a low-key sort of soup kitchen run by Janet Ainsley that takes meals round to those who’re a bit worse off. People around here – especially the older generation who’ve always been self-sufficient – want to keep their dignity. Janet and a couple of helpers take them food, but they do it very much on the quiet, so you won’t hear about it in the village like you do other things. I’m sure they’d always be happy for an extra cook in the kitchen or an extra pair of hands on delivery, and you have the added advantage of being the nurse, so nobody would question you calling at someone’s home.’

‘That sounds like a brilliant idea. I’d love to get involved in that. I think I’ll talk to Chloe again about the mother and baby group, and maybe some of the other mums before I do anything there.’

‘And if you’re looking for fun things to get involved in, Magnus runs a group for film buffs.’

‘Oh, yes, he did mention that when I went in the shop.’

‘And there’s a book club who meet in the village hall once a month. If you read, that is.’

‘To be honest, I don’t read as much as I’d like to, so meeting up to talk about a book might give me the push to get it finished and to read more in general. Sounds good. Who runs that?’

‘Nobody really runs it; we sort of take it in turns to shout up about a book to read and when to meet next. There’s a Facebook group for it; I’ll send you the link.’

‘You go to the meetings?’

---