Page 22 of Gideon
“If I’d abided by that way of thinking I’d be working onCoronation Street.” I smile, and he carries on. “So, when you went to work for the Red Cross at twenty-three they weren’t impressed?”
He sounds amazed, and something about that honest and abrupt reaction soothes a little of my rough spot over this. I shake my head. “Nope, because working with foreign people isn’t as financially rewarding as private practice.” I shrug. “I didn’t care. That was what I’d dreamt of doing, and as soon as I qualified I was off. I had a couple of very adventurous years. My parents were horrified. Although my dad did like to brag about it at parties. I think he made me out to be a bit ‘who dares, wins.’”
“Who dares gets shot, more like it,” Gideon muses. I flinch and he looks startled. “Oh my God, were you?”
I nod. “It’s not a totally safe job. It wasn’t aimed at me, but I was administering medical aid to a man and I got in the way of the gunfire.”
“Where were you shot?”
I fight back a grin. “Afghanistan.”
He sighs in a long-suffering manner. “I mean where on your body were you shot, smart-arse?”
I gesture at my shoulder. “Clean through, luckily, but it destroyed complete movement and shattered the bone. I had to have a lot of physiotherapy.”
“And then what?” He stares at me, his sunglasses down so I can see the cool grey of his eyes.
“And then I started this,” I say lightly. “An ex of mine was doing it at the time and he got me a job. I never looked back. And put it this way, for excitement there isn’t much that happens in this job that can rival being shot.”
“I’ll try and think of something to entertain you,” he says solemnly. “How about if I maim someone?”
“Only if it’s Frankie.”
Gideon laughs but then sobers. “Do you miss it?”
I consider that. It seems weird to think of it now, like it happened to someone else a long time ago. “At first I did. I tried to go back, but I’d been out too long, and I think I’d have been a liability if anything happened. So, I settled for safety.” I wonder if that comes across as ashamed, because sometimes that’s how I feel.
“Did you have therapy?”
I nod. “Lots of it.” I smile at him. “Don’t worry. If gunfire breaks out on ship, I’ll be okay.”
“I think that might happen if they run out of scones. The older people this morning seemed inordinately concerned with getting back to the bakery.” I laugh and he hesitates. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry that part of your life came to a stop.”
“Just that part,” I say, becoming caught in the troubled depths of his gaze. “I’d like to think there’s other and better times ahead.”
He doesn’t mutter platitudes like everyone else would have done. He doesn’t say he’s sure I have better things ahead of me. Instead, he just nods and shrugs and goes back to looking out to sea. It’s strangely refreshing and somehow more comforting than anything anyone else has said. Like fresh air blowing away the fugue of a party and making my brain clear again.
We sit in a contented silence until finally he huffs and hands me a tube of sun cream with an air of defeat.
“Iknewyou didn’t have it on,” I say delightedly.
“Shut up,” he mutters.
Chapter
Five
After breakfast I might push Eli overboard and then this afternoon I’m going to macramé myself a new nurse
A FEW DAYS LATER
Gideon
I hear his footsteps outside the bedroom door and grimace at the fact that my heart rate has just picked up. I hope he’s not expecting to take my pulse because that could be embarrassing.
There’s the customary soft tap on the door and then I hear his Welsh lilt. “Good morning. It’s a lovely morning.” He pauses. “Oh, you’re awake already.”
I’m sure I’m not imagining the note of disappointment in his voice. He appears to enjoy winding me up just as much as I enjoy him doing it. He crosses the room, and I shoot my gaze quickly down his body. He’s dressed in three-quarter-length grey cuffed leggings with a white stripe down the sides and a white vest which shows off his golden skin and the bulge of his biceps. His hair has been pulled back into a stubby topknot that highlights those clear olive-coloured eyes and high cheekbones.
