Page 2 of A Doctor's Promise
Finn spotted a lanyard hanging from the young woman’s neck, the badge sitting over the top of the dark shift dress she was wearing. The logo of Norfolk Coastal General was quite obvious, yet Finn knew he’d never seen her here before. He could feel all of his hard-earned façade slipping through his fingers like water and his mind whirred with anxiety as it grasped for control. He hadn’t spent years building a wall around himself just for it to start collapsing at the sight of a beautiful woman. He needed to regain himself the only way he knew how. Clearing his throat, he addressed the young woman.
“Who are you? I’m meeting an Eddie Fletcher, have you seen him?”
Edie took a deep breath, wondering how she’d managed to travel all the way to the middle of nowhere to get away from the world’s rudest man, only to be confronted with a contender for his title. Breathing out slowly, she stood and offered her hand to the man standing in the doorway.
“Doctor Edie Fletcher,” she said, as he took her hand in his and shook it with an unsurprising strength. She tried to ignore the goose bumps traveling up her arm from his touch, and the blush settling in her cheeks, feeling like her skin was betraying her.
“Eeee-dee, like Edie Sedgwick or Edie Parker? That’s all the famous Edie’s I know. Normally short for Edith, but it’s my whole name,” she continued, her voice wavering slightly, aware she was rambling and also aware that he hadn’t let go of her hand. “You must be Doctor Finlay Cooper. I would like to say I’m pleased to meet you, but…”
She let the unspoken words hang in the air, noticing a slight flush spread across Finlay’s tanned face. Something flashed across his dark eyes, the intensity made Edie’s stomach flip. She watched as he took back his hand and rubbed it over his dark stubble, listening to the scratching sound, biting her tongue to stay silent. As a psychotherapist, normally it was her job to make people feel at ease, but she was determined to stand her ground and not cave in to the man’s apparent rudeness. She’d made a pact with herself when she’d left London to be the strong woman she knew she was, not the battered shell she’d been worn down to, and here was a great chance to prove she could do it.
It wasn’t easy though. The man made her want to do everything in her power to make him feel good; he was tall, broad, muscular, his unquestionably kind deep-set eyes the colour of rich chocolate that she could quite happily dive into and…
Edie, stop it!
“Call me Finn,” he barked, drawing her abruptly from her own thoughts. “Pleased to meet you too. Sorry about the confusion, I’ll have words with my secretary, she referred to you as Eddie.”
He crossed the room and stood by the window, his silhouette showing off the shape of his muscular arms through his rolled-up shirt sleeves. The light streaming through the glass made his features look darker than they already were, his eyes almost hidden underneath his thick brows. Edie felt a rush of adrenaline kick start a feeling in her that she thought she’d boxed away until further notice; tired of feeling hurt, tired of feeling betrayed.
“Look, I’m not sure what to say to you,” Finn said, his arms folded tightly across his chest, Edie noticed his bark had lost its ferocity and his soft Scottish accent set goose bumps across her own arms. “You’re here about the clinical trial, yes? It hasn’t been given the green flag yet. I haven’t signed any paper work, I’m not even sure if it’s going to happen. There may not be a job for you here.”
Edie thought her poor heart might stop. Though, if it did, the irony of being in the right place with the right person hadn’t escaped her. But while Doctor Finlay Cooper may have had looks that set her pulse racing and a reputation to rival others’, he had the bedside manner of a wet fish. So why did she feel there was so much more under his surface? Why did she feel so drawn to him?
Aware of a thickness filling the air, imbuing her with excitement, Edie decided to go against all of her instincts and play him at his own game.
“Butmycontractisalready signed” she said, her jaw set, her mind screaming at her to stay quiet. “I was hired for my expertise in the field and the Clinical Director himself shook my hand not even twenty-four hours ago. So perhaps I’m not the one who needs to be concerned about whether or not there is a job for me here. Just a thought.”
Edie’s heart was now racing so hard she thought it would explode right out of her navy dress. A dress she had spent hours deliberating over in order to make a good impression with her new boss. It didn’t seem to be working, but it was making her feel more powerful than usual. She wasn’t sure where else her bravery could be coming from. There was no way she would have spoken to her senior colleagues this way back in London. She was a pleaser, a ‘yes’ person, always taking on too much, and always being walked all over as a result. But she was going to stand by her guns and, no matter how sweaty her palms were getting, not back down.
“Right,” Finn said, clearing his throat.
Edie watched his body deflate in front of her eyes. Perhaps her words had been a pin to his ego? But it was more than that, the defeat seemed deeper than a bruised ego. He opened his mouth and Edie prepared herself for a barrage of anger, but he clamped his teeth together before any words had a chance to escape. Edie could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and told herself it was all to do with her bravery and blood pressure, and nothing to do with the fact that Finn’s intense eyes were burrowing in to her own. She could see his jaw clench as though he was biting back those unspoken words, and she really didn’t want him to say them out loud. The peak of her bravery had already been reached and surpassed a thousand times over.
“I… I,” he said as though clutching for air. “I’m sorry for being so rude.”
With his eyes not leaving Edie’s, Finn let out a huge sigh. Shaking his head, he swept past her and out of the room.
Air escaped Edie’s lungs as though finally free of a long captivity. Her shoulders slumped and she sat back down in the chair with a thump.
Oh, my goodness.
She shook her head, feeling her ponytail swing at the movement, and looked around at the Relatives’ Room, trying to ground herself after such an intense encounter. The room was one of the nicest she’d seen in her six years as a psychotherapist, it was bright and airy and there wasn’t a hint of sickly yellow paint in sight. In fact, the whole hospital made Edie’s heart sing, which was great considering she’d picked it by closing her eyes and sticking a pin in a map. She’d ended up somewhere on the Hull to Rotterdam shipping line, the two closest hospitals to her pin being Norfolk Coastal General and a smaller community hospital in Lincolnshire. Edie thought her luck was in when she had checked their vacancy boards and spotted a ‘Psychotherapist Wanted’ advert. With each word of the advert she read, her heart began to flutter harder. She had specialised in bereavement counselling for the past few years, working with those who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and here was a job in a clinical trial for those very people. It was almost as though the universe had aligned at the time Edie had needed it most.
But now she was here, someone was juggling those planets into all sorts of disorder. Her perfectly neat plan was unravelling faster than her nan’s badly knitted scarves. Not only was her new boss mind-blowingly attractive, he also had a tough exterior that was hiding something intriguing beneath its shell. He was just the type of man Edie was drawn to, but just the type of man she knew she had to avoid.
Her hands reached fleetingly up to her stomach, brushing the cotton dress with the tips of her fingers. Getting involved with anyone was out of the question right now, especially her new boss. She was here to work, to put London far from her thoughts. The move had been to distance herself from the hurt of her husband running off with her best friend. Even thinking about the betrayal now sent bile rising in her throat. Edie sighed, leaning back in the chair. She knew she had to concentrate on the work in hand, to carve a better future for herself. To carve a better future for the baby she was carrying.
2
Finn slumped over his desk, his head in his arms, his breathing ragged and shallow. Moira had given up trying to get him to reply to her concerns and his office had descended into a quiet stillness. Finn didn’t know what had come over him. He was normally so poised and controlled. But the girl had caused the rigidness to leak out of him which rendered him totally fluid.
The sun tried hard to peek through the vertical blinds behind Finn. The dust sent small strips of sparkles from the window to the grey carpet. Everything around him had a place, an order. A couple of filing cabinets locked tight in one corner, a small cerulean easy chair that offered more in the way of aesthetics than comfort. Shelves on one wall held surgical books and not much else. Even the walls themselves were a simple white, gleaming with a newness that belied the longevity of Finn’s residence. There was nothing personal, no family photos, no pot plants, not even an old mug. Everything was neat and tidy and that was just the way Finn like it; nothing private about him could be gleaned from his office.
The large glass and metal desk sat smack bang in the middle of the room, facing the door. A floor lamp poured light over Finn and illuminated his dark hair as his hands raked through it. He gripped a great chunk in his fists. The ticking of the wall clock was an ever-present reminder of Finn’s surgical commitments for the afternoon. He lifted his head from his arms and looked at the scattered papers that had lain beneath him.
This must be the cause of my panic,”he thought, running his hands through his hair again but this time to neaten the tufts he’d just made.Surely it must be the clinical trial.
Finn looked again at the contract staring up at him. The whole morning had been one great big anxiety ridden disaster, and if he thought aboutwhytoo much, Finn’s brain whirled as though he was stuck on the Waltzers at the fair. The harder he tried to concentrate on Edie, the further the thoughts flew away with the centrifugal force.
