‘Sounds brilliant, I’ll have to come along and see that for myself one day. Although if I don’t get the coffees in for that lot soon.’ Eden gestured towards her colleagues sitting around one of the bistro tables. ‘I won’t need magic to make me disappear.’
As she gave Gwen their order and waited for the drinks to be made, Eden tried not to wonder whether the reason for Drew’s sudden disappearance had anything to do with her. It couldn’t be that though, she was just overthinking it again and making the assumption that she was on Drew’s mind, when he probably hadn’t given her a second thought.
Once she took the drinks out to the others the conversation flowed easily. Eve opened up a bit and told them about some of the work she’d done when she’d been at St James’s hospital in Leeds. Although when Meg had asked her what had made her come back to Cornwall, her answer had been the same vague explanation about family issues that she’d given when she’d gone on extended leave just before Eden had joined the team. Meg had been the one directing questions at Eve, and Eden had found herself wondering if that was Meg’s way of avoiding having to say too much about her own situation. Although the truth was, Eden hadn’t told them much detail about why she’d come back to Cornwall either. She’d mentioned the break up with Teddie’s father, but not how toxic things had been for years before then. Or how she’d ended up getting involved with a man like Jesse, because of a childhood that had made her want to rescue every lame duck who crossed her path. She didn’t want to dump all of that on them. In any case, this was Eden’s chance to reinvent herself, and it had taken her a long time to finally realise that the only people she needed to save were herself and Teddie.
Thankfully Isla’s contribution to the conversation was light-hearted and fun, regaling them all with updates on Aidan and Jase’s experiences as new dads. She had first-hand insight because her boyfriend, Reuben, was Aidan and Jase’s nephew. Isla also updated them on the latest about the relationship between Amy, one of the other A&E nurses, and Lijah, the childhood sweetheart she’d recently reunited with. The fact that Lijah was also an internationally famous musician made that particular information all the more interesting. The time had sped by and, when Eden looked up to see Felix walking down the corridor towards her, she realised that almost an hour had passed. This was what she’d missed, laughing and chatting with like-minded people, and not constantly being on high alert in case Jesse took exception to her having fun and accused her of all kinds of things she hadn’t done. It felt odd not to be constantly clock watching or thinking up excuses for why she was late, but the relief at not having to do any of that was like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
It had taken her a long time to get used to feeling free. Even eight months after coming home she still jumped when she heard a car door slam outside her parents’ house and held her breath when she got a call from an unknown number, in case it was him. Despite the fact she’d ditched her old phone and got herself a new mobile number. If Jesse wanted to find her, he could do it easily enough. He knew where her parents lived and he’d almost certainly guess that’s where she’d gone. He’d probably work out she’d go after a job at the local hospital too, but so far he hadn’t come looking for her and she was finally starting to allow herself to believe that maybe he never would. He’d lied constantly in an attempt to control her, and all his threats about harming himself if she left had been empty; just one more way to assert power over her. Part of her hoped he’d found someone else to focus his attention on, but she wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Maybe Sadie had finally persuaded him to get the help he needed, but she hadn’t heard from her either and that was something else she was grateful for. ‘I nearly didn’t check you were still here, I thought you’d be at home by now.’ Felix smiled and she knew without him having to say anything that he was pleased to see her hanging out with her colleagues and having fun.
‘This is my brother, Felix. He’s just had an interview as an OT.’ Eden introduced each of the others to him in turn. When all the introductions were over, she turned back to her brother.
‘So how did the interview go?’
‘I’ll tell you, if you show me proof that you’ve texted Drew and arranged to meet up.’ Eden could have killed Felix for revealing that particular snippet of information in front of the others. They were bound to read too much into it, just like Felix was.
‘Drew Redford, the pathologist?’ Meg raised her eyebrows, but before she could ask any more questions and make it into far more than it was, Eden cut her off at the pass.
‘Yes. We spoke about meeting up, because he’s got some personal experience of ASD. I thought it might help me with understanding more about Teddie.’ She didn’t want to say that Drew was autistic too; that was for him to share or not as he saw fit.
‘That’s my Eddie’s story and she’s sticking to it.’ Felix grinned and Eden flicked him on the arm.
‘Sometimes I hate having a brother.’
‘No you don’t, you love me. Now are you going to send that text, or am I going to keep the details of how the interview went all to myself?’
‘Well I’m invested now.’ Isla leant forward in her seat. ‘So I think you need to do it for all our sakes.’
‘Okay, I’m doing it now.’ Eden had already saved Drew’s number in her phone, from when she’d made the promise to Felix before. It took less than a minute to send the text and she was determined not to make too big a deal of it, not least because of what Felix and the others would read into it if she did.
Hi Drew. It’s Eden, Teddie’s mum. I wondered if you were still up for getting together? Let me know if so, but no pressure.
As the message flew off into the ether, she looked up at her brother again.
‘Right, that’s my side of the bargain fulfilled. So come on then, how did the interview go? And just so you know, there’s a big part of me that hopes it was a toe-curlingly embarrassing experience.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, sis, but they offered me the job on the spot, subject to all the usual checks and references of course.’
‘That’s brilliant!’ Eden jumped to her feet and hugged him. Despite the joke she’d made about hoping his interview hadn’t gone to plan, she couldn’t have been more thrilled to hear that he’d been offered the job and that he’d be staying in Cornwall. Things seemed to be looking up on so many fronts, she just hoped that arranging to meet up with Drew wouldn’t turn out to be a big mistake. She’d made far too many of those in the past and the last thing she wanted was to make another one that would do anything to derail her fresh start.
6
Drew felt like a complete idiot. He’d been standing in the shop waiting for Gwen to come out of the stock room, where she’d insisted on checking whether she had another box of wine gums in stock, ready to fulfil his daily order for the next month or so. He’d already felt a bit awkward standing there, but then he’d spotted Eden and a group of others in the corridor outside the shop. Eden had her back to the doorway and she was good-naturedly bickering with one of her friends about who should buy the coffees. Suddenly the thought of bumping into her ‘by chance’ seemed ridiculous. She had his number and had clearly decided not to use it. Eden didn’t want to bump into him, by chance or otherwise. He realised he had the opportunity to slip out of the door and head out of the main entrance before she saw him, and so that’s what he did.
Drew had left the can of Coke and the Snickers bar that Saskia had requested on the counter, and had walked almost half a mile to the next nearest shop, before heading back to the hospital and going around to the side entrance. All just to avoid seeing Eden. He didn’t just feel like an idiot, he was one. He must be if he couldn’t act like a normal person. That was the mantra that was playing in his head for the rest of the day, and it wasn’t until it was time to leave that he picked up his phone and saw a message from an unknown number.
Hi Drew. It’s Eden, Teddie’s mum. I wondered if you were still up for getting together? Let me know if so, but no pressure.
Drew stared at the message for a moment, trying to work out whether accepting her offer was a good idea, despite the fact that he really wanted to. What concerned him most was just how much her message had lifted his spirits. He’d done his best to hide his attraction to her when they were together, because even though he often wasn’t very good at reading signals, let alone giving them out, he knew Eden didn’t feel the same way. She’d been clear that her interest in him involved talking about Teddie. Drew wanted to help her and her little boy as much as he possibly could, but that wasn’t the only reason he wanted to see her. He was worried that by saying yes, he wouldn’t be being completely honest and that was incredibly important to him. Looking at the text again, he shook his head. He was being ridiculous. He’d been in his job at St Piran’s for over a year, and he’d hardly done anything except work, this was his opportunity to alter that. Before he changed his mind, he sent Eden a reply.
Hi Eden. Yes, I’m still up for meeting. I don’t know what your shifts are like, but I’m off this weekend if you’re free either day?
As soon as Drew had sent the message he wondered if he should have been so honest about not having any plans for his weekend off. He was due to do some volunteer work, but nothing that couldn’t be rescheduled, and Eden might as well get to know the real him. If she didn’t like what she saw, they’d both be better off finding that out sooner rather than later and at least he wouldn’t have lied. He’d had to contend with far too many lies in the past, and there was no way he was going to live one too.
* * *
Eden had thought carefully about where to meet Drew. Since their first encounter in the car park, she’d found out a bit more about him, mostly from Gwen, who seemed to know everyone and everything about life at St Piran’s.
‘He’s a little bit quirky, but if I didn’t have Barry and I was twenty years younger…’ Gwen had paused and wrinkled her nose. ‘Okay maybe more like forty years younger, I’d be very interested in getting to know Drew better. He’s so interesting, I could talk to him all day long about his job. He might be quiet, but you know what they say about still waters running deep and all that. He looks like he could be living on a remote croft up in the Scottish mountains, striding through the heather back to the woman he loves. Like something out ofHighlander. I bet there are hidden passions there.’
