Page 33 of The Doctor's Surprise Family

“This game you’re all playing, is it in German?”

“Yeah, it is. Why?”

“Because, no way in hell you translated that right. Birds don’t have noses. They have nostrils. That’s it.”

“Then what are their nostrils called?”

“I don’t know. Holes?”

We went back and forth a while, scoring points off each other, till Rick remembered his long-distance bill.

“You’re useless,” he said.

“Yeah, love you too.”

I hung up feeling better, or at least less alone. Rick and the guys weren’t family, but they were the closest I’d had. Except, I had Oli now. My flesh and blood. He was my family in the literal sense, and Claire as well, and even her parents. How could I be there for them, and for my patients? Reynolds had tried, but his wife had still left. Brown’s had left too, and she’d taken their kids. Wood and her husband were still hanging on, but I’d heard her tell Brown he was never home nights. She’d called homeone time and got some woman — the cleaner, she said. But who cleaned at night?

I lay and stared at the ceiling and tried to picture next steps, how I’d bond with Oli. How I’d stay in touch. How I’d show Claire I’d be there for him and not let him down. But all I could see were the oceans between us, the seven-hour time difference, our busy lives. What could we have here? What could I do? How could we be a family? What did that mean?

CHAPTER 13

CLAIRE

The sleep of exhaustion isn’t like normal sleep. You come off a long shift and dive into bed, and it’s like the mattress swallows you up. You fall through the feathers into a black gulch of sleep, too deep for dreams. Total shutdown.

Waking up from that kind of sleep has to come in its own time. Rushing it’s like trying to swim through molasses. You half crack your eyes open, but they close by themselves. You try to sit up and your limbs are too heavy. Your head’s full of cotton, your mouth is too wet, and stringing two thoughts together shorts out your brain.

I thought it was a dream at first, when Mom came to wake me.

“Honey?” She was shaking me. “Honey, wake up.”

I struggled up, bleary. “Uh? Wasswrong? Oli?”

“He’s playing with Gramps.” Mom sat on my bed. “Listen, I’m really sorry to wake you. But Sue Reecer just called — you remember the Reecers? Well, they’re in town, but just for today. Would you be okay to look after Oli?”

I stared at her blankly. Those were certainly… words. But I couldn’t make sense of them, or how they hung together.

“I wouldn’t ask. I know you’re so tired. But it’s been six years since I saw Sue Reecer, and who knows when we might see them again? It’s sheer luck they’re here now, some glitch with their flight.”

I smothered a huge yawn in the palm of my hand. The Reecers, yeah. Dad’s friends from work. But they’d moved a while back. They were… what? Back in town? And Oli was…what?

“Oh, honey.” Mom smoothed my hair back. “It’s okay. Go to sleep. We’ll see them next time.”

I shook my head, trying to clear out the cobwebs. Oli, Mom needed…

“I’m up,” I said. I threw off the covers. The motion made me dizzy and I shut my eyes tight. When I opened them, the sun was too bright. “What time is it?”

“Eleven o’clock.”

So I’d slept four hours. I could get by on that. I’d got by on worse when Oli was small.

“Let me get dressed. Did Oli eat yet?”

“No, but he was picky at breakfast. He’ll need to eat soon.”

I hauled myself up. I owed Mom and Dad. They’d been my biggest allies since Oli was born, always there to help out with him and babysit. Without them, I’d never have got back to work. If I could give them a day out with their old friends, that was honestly the least I could do.

I dressed in a fog and splashed my face with cold water, and made my way downstairs to find Oli in the kitchen. Mom winked when she saw me and grabbed up her purse. She bent down and kissed Oli.

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