Page 28 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
‘We were a bit,’ Magnus said ruefully. ‘Sorry, Geoff.’
Geoff sniffed and turned back to Stacey. ‘Well, it was rude of you to go off and leave us. We’re guests.’
‘You’re not; you’re my brother. Doesn’t count. And Magnus is as good as. The only official guest we have to be polite to here is Ottilie.’
‘Hey…’ Ottilie held up her hands. ‘Don’t drag me into this!’
‘Button it, lady – consider yourself dragged.’
‘Ottilie…’ Magnus cut in, making himself taller, as if he was suddenly above all the petty squabble and idle banter. ‘So you were going to tell us more about the new GP.’
‘He’s not really our new GP; he’s only a very temporary cover.’
‘I’ve heard he’s very nice.’
‘He seems it.’
‘I heard he’s been out of the country.’
‘Yes, he’s spent the last year in Botswana doing voluntary work.’
‘Has he?’ Magnus looked impressed while Stacey looked far more attentive now. ‘That’s very interesting, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Ottilie said, wishing she hadn’t given that snippet away.
‘Is he staying locally?’ Stacey asked, and Ottilie was beginning to wish everyone wasn’t quite so interested. She didn’t want to give away things that Simon might not appreciate, but she didn’t want to be all secretive either – because that often made people even more curious.
‘He has a hotel outside the village for the next couple of days, but then if he stays any longer than that, he says he’s going to have to commute from Liverpool.’
‘Every day?’
Ottilie nodded. ‘To save money, I suppose.’
‘That’s a long way,’ Geoff said.
‘It’s a bit of a distance,’ Ottilie conceded, ‘but for someone like him, it’s all part of the job. He must be used to being sent all over the place – doctors often are.’
‘Still, isn’t there somewhere in the village he can stay while he’s working here?’
Stacey raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, how about that massive luxury hotel…Oh, wait, there isn’t one, is there? Not even a piddly B&B.’
‘But there are people with spare rooms,’ Magnus said.
‘And there are guesthouses in nearby towns,’ Stacey continued, ‘so presumably if he’d wanted to stay nearby, he could have done. Maybe it suits him to commute and Ottilie just mentioned the expense, so…’ She glanced at Ottilie. ‘And maybe he has someone in Liverpool he wants to get back to every night. We’d have to find out, wouldn’t we?’
Ottilie could see where all this was going. Everyone was desperate to know more about Simon, and they probably all wanted Ottilie to dig and report back to them. It wasn’t going to happen, though. It wouldn’t be appropriate, for a start, not given their working relationship, no matter how temporary it was.
Geoff frowned at Magnus. ‘That’s your problem. Can’t keep your nose out of anything.’
Magnus frowned in return, and it felt as if their argument was about to resume. Ottilie watched carefully. What was going on here? Ordinarily they were a loving and very harmonious couple; she’d never seen them like this before, but she’d noticed them bickering more than usual the last few times she’d been around. She hoped it would blow over, because she was fond of them both and hated to think of them splitting up.
‘While I think about it,’ she began as a way to distract everyone, ‘is there anyone who can spare an hour to go and check in on Ann at Hilltop Farm?’
‘Why, what’s wrong with her?’ Stacey pulled a cushion onto her knee and leaned on it as she looked up at Ottilie.
‘I can’t tell you that,’ Ottilie said.
Stacey rolled her eyes. ‘I know, patients have to have secrets.’
