Page 11 of A Doctor's Promise
“He just looked like a Cliff.” Edie’s eyes were twinkling now. “He made my office back in London feel homely. Plus, I find he’s a conversation starter if nothing else.”
The twinkle turned to a mischievous glint and Edie’s gaze fell to Finn’s feet.
Is she flirting with me?
Finn felt knocked sideways by the thought. But a bubble of excitement popped in his stomach all the same.
“This way,” he croaked, clearing his throat. “I’ll bring your bags, Cliff looks heavy.”
Finn chuckled and headed for the door.
“Wait a minute,” he turned back towards Edie who was following him. “I don’t know where your office is either!”
They had wound their way through the corridors of the old building and through to Edie’s office in no time, once she had searched her paper work for the room number. Finn knew the hospital like the back of his hand. And although oncology was a world away from where he normally spent his time, he had been there enough to know where Edie’s temporary office was situated.
He pushed open the door to the empty room. Depositing the bags gently on the floor he opened the blinds and let in the sunshine, illuminating the dire state the office was in.Officebeing used in the loosest sense possible. A wash of shame flooded Finn as he looked at the plastic chair and the chipped, dark brown, Formica table.
“I’ll make sure you get the furniture you need. I thought they would have at least had a sofa in here already, or a day bed, or something.” He waved his hands in the general direction of the office.
Edie stepped past him and placed Cliff on the table. She surveyed her new office for what felt like an eternity, and Finn felt sure she would turn around and leave; back to London and the office she had left, which was bound to have all the mod cons, and furniture that didn’t look as though someone had dragged it in from their garden.
“It’s perfect,” she said at last, staring out of the window at the fields and cliff tops below.
“What?”
She walked over to the Formica table and perched on the edge, it wobbled precariously but she didn’t seem to notice.
“It’s perfect. I don’t need a sofa, it’s not the movies and I’m not that kind of therapist. But I will need a couple more chairs, preferably softer, comfortable ones.” She ran a hand mindlessly over the back of the plastic chair, her eyes glazed. “And I’ll need some shelves and a lockable filing cabinet. But other than that, it’s perfect. No garish colours, no sickly paints; not that I would expect that here, this is one of the nicest hospitals I’ve been in. Beautiful, natural distractions for my patients out of the window. No distractions for my patients in here…”
She seemed to come out of a daze and look up at Finn as she spoke. Her face flushed a pretty pink colour and she quickly turned to the pot plant she’d placed on the table earlier.
“Nope, no distractions in here,” she said, this time with force. “Unless of course you count Cliff, he’s a distraction. A good distraction. He helps me. I think he should have pride of place when the room is finished. Because he’s a good distraction.”
Finn felt embarrassed for Edie, despite having no idea why she was getting flustered. He felt his own pulse racing at her awkwardness, she looked so cute trying to avoid his eyes.
“I’ll get on to estates and make sure the extra furniture is brought up before tomorrow. Also, have they given you a work computer yet?” he asked, realising that the office was missing essentials like a phone and laptop.
Edie shook her head, still concentrating fiercely on Cliff’s thick waxy leaves.
“Blooming Nora, what are you supposed to work on? Slate and chalk. I’ll get back to my office now and get on it. This was all supposed to be set up over the weekend, sorry Edie. Not a great start.” An idea flashed in Finn’s mind. “Hey, how about you come over to mine again, for a cuppa this time, and we can discuss the finer details of the trial? It’ll be easier to do when we’re comfortable and not going to be interrupted by colleagues. What do you say?”
Edie’s eyebrows knotted together. Finn immediately wished he could take back his words. Just like on the beach when he’d been rash to offer Edie a lift home, then had to give a half-hearted explanation of his life that did no-one any favours and his ex-wife no justice.
There was something about Edie that made it so easy for Finn to want to include her in his life. But she didn’t want that. She wanted to befriends. At least, he hadthoughtshe just wanted to be friends. But the last few encounters had him questioning that and questioning himself.
“Now? But it’s only lunchtime,” she said. “Don’t you have patients to see? Things to do? Has your caseload been completely cut to allow you to work solely on the clinical trial?”
Finn’s stomach dropped.
“Oh no!” he yelled, remembering with clarity that he had a cardiac clinic that afternoon. “This evening then? See you at eight. I’ll do dinner.”
He shouted back over his shoulder as he dashed out of the door. If he couldn’t hear Edie’s reply, he could take it that she agreed to his invite.
Edie smiled and shook her head, closing the door gently behind Finn. She couldn’t work out if it was her errant hormones causing her confusion, or if Finn was just being extraordinarily indecisive. He’d gone from overtly rude, to weirdly friendly, to distant, then back to friendly again. She was exhausted and it was only her first week in the job. Firstday, even.
Letting out a deep sigh, Edie realised shewasactually exhausted. She pulled out the chair and dropped into it gladly, instinctively protecting her barely-there bump as she did so.
“Oh Cliff,” she said to the plant on the table. “Whoever it was that said people glow when they’re pregnant must have been a man. I feel done in, and it’s only lunchtime.”
