Page 16 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
‘So what’s this spare doctor like?’ Heath asked. ‘Has it been difficult today working with him?’
‘Actually no, he’s good. Seems to know what he’s doing; more or less hit the ground running.’
‘Makes life easier for you then.’
‘Loads. It’s stressful enough so at least that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.’
‘Where’s he worked before?’
‘Don’t know. He hasn’t said, though I get the impression he’s been out of the country even though he’s based in Liverpool now.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Little things he says. He’s applying for jobs, but he’s too old to be newly qualified, and he’s too good to be an agency locum, so I think he must have been out of the workplace – or the healthservice here, at any rate – for a while. I wonder if he’s trying to get back into it after a sabbatical.’
‘I suppose that makes sense. It’s a good thing he’s working out because sounds as if you might be stuck with him for a while.’
Ottilie nodded. ‘I remember…’ She drew a breath and started again. She’d wanted to say something about Josh, about how she could empathise with Fliss because she knew what that fear was, how bereft Fliss would be if she lost Charles, but this was Heath, and if she wasn’t careful he’d start to feel as if he was playing second fiddle to a dead man. She checked herself more and more often whenever she wanted to talk about Josh. Heath had never said anything to make her feel she ought to, but she did it all the same.
Oversensitive, Stacey had said when Ottilie had aired her fears about it, and perhaps she was right. Ottilie only knew how she might feel had things been the other way around.
‘I think I might start a collection of some sort,’ she said instead.
‘For Fliss?’
‘Yes.’
‘What would you do with the money?’
‘I don’t know, buy a gift to show her the village is thinking about her. Like flowers maybe.’
‘Sounds like a waste of money to me. She doesn’t sound like a flower sort of woman.’
‘No, I don’t think she is, but it’s a token, isn’t it? It’s not about the flowers but about what they’re saying. I’ll talk to Lavender at lunch tomorrow to see what she thinks, but I bet she’ll be up for helping me to collect.’
When they arrived at Flo’s house, the front door was already open.
‘Saw you coming down the road!’ Flo shouted from the sitting room.
‘I’ll bet she did,’ Heath said, grinning as he closed the front door and followed Ottilie down the hallway.
‘Behave,’ Ottilie whispered, trying not to laugh. ‘That’s your grandma you’re talking about.’
‘Yes it is, and I know only too well what she’s like.’
‘What’s that?’
Flo appeared at the doorway, arms folded across her chest.
‘I said it’s lovely and light in here,’ Heath said, Ottilie trying not to giggle. ‘Because you’ve got all your lights on. A bit like Blackpool illuminations.’
Flo rolled her eyes as he kissed her on the cheek, and then Ottilie did the same. She and Flo had a strange and new relationship since she’d started to date Heath – no longer just the local nurse and not quite a surrogate granddaughter, but an odd ground somewhere in the middle. There was an uncertain affection on both sides, something beyond the friendship they’d started to cultivate after Ottilie’s arrival in Thimblebury, but not quite family.
As soon as Ottilie’s bottom had hit the armchair in Flo’s living room, the questions began.
‘What’s this about Doctor Cheadle being off sick today? I heard there was an ambulance outside her husband’s house. Do you know why? You must know why.’
Ottilie didn’t see the point in keeping Charles’s heart attack a secret any longer, and she didn’t think Fliss would be keeping it a secret now either. It was only a matter of time before it became common knowledge, because enough people knew enough fragments of the truth to be able to share and piece them together.
