Page 7 of A Doctor's Promise
Only it belonged to her new boss. A man who only a few hours ago was remarkably rude. And although Edie had warmed to him as they had walked from the beach, and this warmth was rising exponentially standing looking over his property, she didn’t really know him. She certainly didn’t know him well enough to ask for a tour. Or if she could move in.
Though her legs were still screaming out at her to stop rubbing them together, she edged forwards, following Finn around the fence to the driveway at the side of the house.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Let’s get me home.”
They walked in a comfortable silence along the edge of the grazing paddock, towards the rear of the farmhouse. The grass was a luscious green and felt springy underfoot. The sun was beginning its long descent to the floor, throwing shades of peony pinks and oranges across the sky. Edie felt a happiness, a lightness she hadn’t in a long time.
“You must love having friends over here? The dinner parties and BBQs must be amazing.” she said, noticing the patio area to the side of the conservatory decked out with comfortable recliners and a graphite coloured dining set.
Finn’s step faltered. Edie noticed his head drop, his eyes darted to the grass underfoot.
“You’re the only other person who’s been here,” he said quietly.
Edie’s sense of trepidation returned.
“Have you only just moved in?” The question felt wrong as soon as it left her lips.
Of course he hadn’t just moved in. He had sheep, a blooming vegetable garden. The place looked loved, well kept, and cared for.
Finn stopped and turned to Edie. She couldn’t help but simper silently at his beautiful face.
“Look, I’m really sorry for the way I acted at the hospital,” he said, wringing his hands together in front of him. “I don’t know why I do… no that’s a lie. I do know why I do it.”
He looked up from his hands and straight into her eyes. A jolt of electricity charged through her with no warning.
“You’ve flicked a switch inside me. I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this, seeing as I’m going to be your boss and all…”
Edie thought this was a good sign. At least she still had a job.
Finn continued talking.
“… For reasons that I can’t go into now because I would be doingtheman injustice to rush their story, I don’t do well around people. Well, people that aren’t unconscious on a surgical table, anyway. I’ve built a wall, you saw that at the hospital, but you’ve somehow found a chink in my mortar.”
He cleared his throat. Edie needed to swallow but her own throat was so dry she couldn’t.
“I’m going to find the clinical trials difficult for so many reasons, and maybe you’ve turned up at the right time to help me get through it? A friend to hold my hand, perhaps?”
His eyes pleaded with her for a split second before they darted away. He started walking again, Edie followed him to a muddy green Land Rover parked on the driveway behind the house.
She watched as he pulled open the passenger door for her.
“Do you think you could ignore my insolence and learn to be my friend?” he asked, his chest rising and falling as though he’d been the one running.
“Yes, okay,” she agreed, hauling herself up into the passenger seat of the Land Rover. “Friends! I can do that. My last best friend ran off with my husband, so goodness knows I need some new friends.”
She caught his eye before he shut her door. The intensity of the look made her heart flutter.
Stay strong, Edie. Friends remember. You can’t fall in love with your boss.
4
“Your clinical patients are waiting for you, Doctor,” Moira said as Finn walked back to his office with his seventh coffee of the morning. “They’re in Oncology, room two.”
He nodded his thanks and wondered, not for the first time, how Moira managed to look so sprightly in the mornings. He’d been here since just after five; unable to sleep he’d tossed and turned all night until eventually he’d given up hope of getting Edie out of his head enough to drift off, and headed into the office. In fact, the whole weekend had been written off in a haze of insomnia. Between Edie and the trial, even Archie had noticed Finn’s nerves and stayed by his side like a shadow. It was now half eight on Monday and Moira may have only just arrived, but she had already made her cafetière and had managed to round up the clinical trial patient into one room for him. Her productivity over the last few minutes had beaten his over the whole weekend. In fact, the only productive thing he’d done all weekend was retract his addendum to the signed trial papers in a dashed off email to the hospital director, who had dismissed the idea of removing Edie from the team before he’d even read Finn’s email anyway.
Finn had tried to spend the early hours of that morning going over the files of the three patients whom he would be working with over the course of the initial part of the trial. All of them had an extremely rare cardiac angiosarcoma; a malignant tumour originating in the heart. The idea of meeting three very ill patients who he had been given the impossible task ofsavingwas enough to send his own heart into palpitations. By the time Moira had turned up, he’d only managed to glean a look at two of the files and felt totally unprepared which was unlike him when it came to work. He gathered the files in his arms and trudged down the corridor to the reception. The sun was filtering through the windows, though there was a scattering of threatening, dark grey clouds in the distance. Oncology was in the old part of the hospital, so with his head down, Finn made his way there quickly and quietly. The sun soon disappeared, not behind the clouds, but behind the thick stone walls. His shoes squeaked on the hospital tiles below his feet as he walked, shooting his pulse even higher with their high pitched, attention drawing, noise. Then he rounded on Oncology and half wished he could squeak his way back to cardiology. Instead, he drew breath and opened the door.
The first thing he noticed was Edie, she was standing smiling at him as he entered the large room. She certainly brightened up what could have been a very daunting space. Then again, that could have been the numerous windows lining the outside wall of the room and the non-garish bright yellow paint on the walls. Still, his eyes were drawn straight to the tall, willowy figure of Edie. Her smart navy trousers and almost sheer cream blouse mirrored the outfit Finn had chosen for himself that day. He smiled at the unconscious identical decisions they’d both made, then reminded himself that he’d asked her to be hisfriend; that she had seemed relieved when he’d saidfriends, so he didn’t want to make assumptions. Besides, he was her boss, and the only joint decisions they should be making were about the patients sitting expectantly in front of him now.
