Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘Good morning.’ Ottilie looked up from her diary as Fliss peered around the door of her office.
‘Fliss! Morning.’
The GP sidled in rather sheepishly and closed the door behind her. ‘I hear there was some drama last night.’
‘Oh, you mean Mackenzie? Yes. We had to take him to the hospital. He’s all right, though. Had the all-clear and they’re going to be bringing him home. Stacey says he’s much brighter.’
‘You tried to get hold of me.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Ottilie tried to make light of it, even though she had initially planned to confront Fliss about the fact she’d been unavailable when she was meant to be around for emergencies. She could see that Fliss felt guilty about it and she didn’t want to make it worse. Fliss must have had a pretty compelling reason for not being available, after all, but perhaps she didn’t want to be forced to share that either.
‘I can only apologise. Whenever I’m on call I sit for hours and hours next to my phone and nobody phones. The one time someone actually needs me and…’
‘Honestly, it all worked out. Luckily Simon was around and he advised me to take Mackenzie straight to the emergency department.’
‘Lucky for us all.’
‘Fliss, you’ve got no reason to feel bad. You’ve spent years single-handedly supporting the health needs of this community, no matter what else was going on in your life. I haven’t been here all that long, but I can see what that means to everyone. You have things going on in your own life now, and everyone can see that too, and everyone understands.’
‘I’m a doctor.’
‘You’re also a person. I don’t need to know and I don’t want to pry, but is everything all right at home? I know you’ve had the thing with Charles…’
‘It was Charles I was tending to. He’s all right, before you ask, nothing to worry about, but we needed a good long talk about our future and so I put my phone to one side. Of course that would be the one time someone needed me. I won’t be making that mistake again.’
Ottilie frowned. ‘I thought you’d already sorted out your future. You’re still planning to stay on here, aren’t you? I thought you and Simon were going to run the surgery together.’
‘That’s still the plan, but we have other things to think about, things we haven’t yet decided on.’
‘Like what?’
‘Where do I even start?’ Fliss gave a wan smile. Ottilie shook her head.
‘I suppose there must be tons.’
Fliss nodded. ‘You could say that. Mostly legal and administrative tangles, nothing for you to worry about.’
‘I’ll let you get on. See you in the kitchen for lunch as usual?’
‘Lavender has made lasagne, so I don’t need asking twice about that.’
With a last nod of acknowledgement and perhaps gratitude, Fliss left her and closed the door softly. Ottilie went back to her diary, but her mind wasn’t on the week’s appointments as fully as it ought to have been. She’d told Fliss she didn’t need to know, but she couldn’t help but wonder whether she ought to be worried about whatever Fliss’s discussion with Charles had entailed.
The office phone started to ring. Ottilie saw it was Lavender and picked up.
‘You’ll be pleased to know Mrs Blythe is early and she’s asking to be seen.’
‘Her appointment isn’t for another hour.’
‘I know, but she says she needs to go shopping.’
‘What?’
‘Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.’ Lavender lowered her voice. ‘I’d say no, but I did say I’d ask you. Up to you, my love. I can send her away if you can’t do it and tell her to come at her appointment time like a normal person.’
Ottilie glanced up at the wall clock and let out a sigh. She wasn’t doing anything else apart from worry about Fliss, and it would be good to have one patient out of the way. If anything it might do her a favour too – she’d be able to get some other things done during that slot. ‘Send her in.’
‘Sucker,’ Lavender said, and as the phone went down Ottilie could hear her chuckling.
Heath opened Magnus and Geoff’s side gate and stood back to let Ottilie through before following. It was strange to be here with him – the last time they’d sat in the couple’s home cinema it had been because Magnus and Geoff were trying to engineer a romance between them. They hadn’t succeeded – in fact, they’d driven things a long way in the opposite direction – though Ottilie had to admit that they’d been right to see the potential.
Most of the members of film club were already there. Flo had decided, as she often did, that she didn’t fancy the film and so wasn’t coming, but many of the other regulars were in attendance. Simon was yet to arrive, and though Ottilie wanted to think better of Heath, it was telling that the first time he’d been interested in coming along was also the first time Simon would be there. She’d given him absolutely no reason to be jealous, and yet, she sensed it.
‘Ottilie!’ Magnus came rushing from inside the cinema room to greet them. ‘Everyone is inside already. ‘We haven’t started yet, so don’t worry about that.’ He offered a grateful smile to Heath. ‘It’s lovely to see you here too. I hope you enjoy.’
‘I’m sure I will,’ Heath said, and though Ottilie tried her best, the look she threw his way was laced with more than a little scepticism. Perhaps it was unfair and undeserved, and she didn’t really want to feel that way, but it was hard not to. Perhaps he really had only decided to give it a go, and perhaps it was for all the right reasons.
‘I hope everyone hasn’t been waiting for us,’ Ottilie said. ‘You should have got started if you needed to – we could have caught up. I did text Lavender to tell her we were running late and that she could?—’
‘No, no…we’re still waiting for Simon too. I wouldn’t dream of getting started without him – seems a bit rude as it’s his first one.’
‘Oh, right…That’s fine then.’
‘Not to stress but do you know how long he’ll be?’
Ottilie gave him a blank look. ‘Me? Not a clue.’
‘Only I’m assuming you’ve seen him at work today and I thought you might have left together.’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Um…’ Magnus let out a self-conscious laugh. ‘I suppose I thought…I don’t actually know. I wondered if he might come to your house to eat and get changed in the meantime.’
Ottilie suddenly realised she’d never even asked Simon what his plans were in that regard. He wouldn’t have driven all the way back to his place in Liverpool and then returned and, presumably, he’d have wanted an evening meal and a freshen-up. How did she not think of that? How could she have been so remiss? ‘I don’t know where he went.’
‘Probably went to Fliss’s place,’ Heath said.
‘Oh, right…I suppose he did,’ Ottilie replied vaguely, though she had some doubts because she’d waved Fliss off herself that evening, alone and with no mention of Simon planning to follow on.
She resolved to be better than that, regardless of what Simon had ended up doing this time. Next time she needed to be more mindful and to check he was OK. She was settled in Thimblebury now and she had lots of friends here, people who always had her back, but she had to remember that it wasn’t like that for Simon, not yet at any rate. And she had to remember what that was like, because not so long ago it had been her.
Magnus was already beckoning them inside when the gate opened again and Simon appeared. Ottilie noted that he hadn’t changed his clothes from earlier that day – though that wasn’t necessarily any indication of what he’d been doing during the chunk of time in between the end of surgery and now – and he seemed fairly relaxed. At least that was a positive.
‘Sorry I’m a bit late,’ he said, glancing between all three as they turned to greet him. ‘Got carried away catching up on some paperwork and lost track of the time.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that!’ Magnus hurried over and grabbed him by the hand for an enthusiastic shake. ‘We’re just glad to have you here!’
‘Glad to be invited,’ Simon replied with a grin. He glanced again at Ottilie and Heath and gave them both a good-natured nod of acknowledgement.
‘Come through if you’re ready,’ Magnus said. ‘There are nibbles out. We usually do the drinks and nibbles after the film, but as we weren’t quite ready to go we decided to have some of them beforehand today.’
‘Is that my fault?’ Simon asked as he followed him to the doors.
‘No, we were late too,’ Ottilie cut in.
‘Oh, in that case happy to accept joint responsibility,’ Simon replied, his grin spreading. ‘It’s good to meet you, Heath,’ he added. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you.’
‘Likewise,’ Heath said, and Ottilie couldn’t help but detect a measure of…well, measuring up. She’d never seen Heath go alpha male and she’d never imagined she would, but there was a definite hint of it about him now.
‘I hope you’re hungry,’ Magnus told Simon as he led him inside. ‘There’s always too much food.’
‘Starving!’ Simon said.
Inwardly, Ottilie chided herself once more. It sounded as if Simon had simply stayed behind at the surgery once the last patient had left and worked overtime. And he hadn’t eaten either. Granted, she’d told him they usually had food at the film club, but she’d also told him it was only nibbles and didn’t constitute a full meal.
Magnus strode to the front to remind everyone what their film was going to be and to catch up on general housekeeping, such as when subs were due and special events in the area and that sort of thing. And then he smiled at Simon, sitting in the second row of seats.
‘Everyone, I’d like to welcome our new member – Dr Stokes.’
A chorus of greetings rippled through the room and Simon looked slightly embarrassed by the fuss. Ottilie caught sight of Heath and wished she hadn’t. The word that came to mind was resentful, though what he had to be resentful about was anyone’s guess.
As the end credits rolled, everyone filed out of the cinema and into the house for drinks and more food. As usual, the members had done a fine job of providing various nibbles to share – though Simon offered his apologies more than once that he hadn’t realised he was meant to bring something.
Simon joined her and Heath as they sipped at a glass of red.
‘How have you found your first film club meeting?’ Ottilie asked.
‘I’ve enjoyed it,’ Simon replied as he reached for the bottle on the table next to them and poured himself a small one.
‘Have you got to drive back tonight?’ Heath asked.
Simon eyed his glass of wine and nodded. ‘Don’t worry, this is the one and only, and I’ll make sure I fill up on sausage rolls before I leave to soak it up.’
‘It wasn’t a judgement,’ Heath replied. ‘I was only?—’
He broke off as Ottilie gave him a significant look. She was beginning to sense something she’d never expected from Heath – and if she hadn’t known better, she’d have said it was rivalry, like he saw Simon as a threat.
Stacey came over, and Ottilie was glad of the distraction from her worries.
‘So,’ Stacey said to Simon. ‘What do you think? You think you might come to more film nights?’
‘Absolutely,’ he replied, and Ottilie noted the warm smile. Did he seem happier to see Stacey than he had been to see her and Heath?
‘Simon…’ she began after a pause, her tone more earnest now. ‘I wanted to say thanks again for?—’
‘Honestly,’ he cut in. ‘Please…It was nothing. How is Mackenzie?’
‘He’s right as rain again. You’d never even know he’d been through all that. I bet he doesn’t even remember any of it.’
‘I’m sure that’s true,’ Simon agreed. ‘They’re resilient, aren’t they? Little ones, I mean.’
‘Lucky they are,’ Stacey said. ‘We’d all be very messed-up adults if we let half of what happens to us as kids get to us. Have you got children?’
Ottilie held in a groan. She hadn’t shared what she’d learned that night about his wife and daughter with anyone, thinking it was best to respect his privacy, but instantly she realised that her decision might have been a mistake. If she’d given Stacey a heads-up, it would have prevented an awkward situation like this.
‘No,’ he said in a dull voice. ‘I don’t. If you’ll excuse me, I have to…’
His sentence tailed off as he left them and made a pretence of getting food. At least it looked that way to Ottilie.
‘That was weird,’ Heath said.
‘He has his reasons,’ Ottilie replied, and when both Heath and Stacey turned to her with obvious questions in their expressions, she shook her head. ‘It’s not my place to say.’
Stacey lifted her glass to her lips. ‘I can’t say I’m not even more intrigued now, but I get what you’re saying. I wish I’d known I wasn’t supposed to mention a family before I opened my big trap, though.’
‘I’m sorry – that’s my fault. I probably should have mentioned it, but I wanted to respect his privacy.’
‘Can we at least get a clue so I don’t put my foot in it again?’ Stacey asked. ‘I presume there’s something bad going on there? Is there anything else I ought to avoid mentioning?’
‘I think just steer clear of family for now,’ Ottilie said. ‘I expect in time he’ll tell people himself. All I can say is I imagine it’s a painful subject.’
‘Is it painful like your past was when you first got here?’ Stacey asked, and Heath looked at Ottilie so intently now she felt she might buckle under the scrutiny.
She didn’t want to give all this away – certainly not here and now – but Stacey was making it difficult not to. And she had a point – nobody wanted to be the person who put their foot in it and caused Simon distress, and that came from a place of kindness rather than nosiness. She also had a feeling Heath’s interest was more selfish than that, which didn’t sit quite so well with her. She wished she didn’t think it, but she got a strange vibe from him whenever Simon was mentioned. Ottilie knew details nobody else did – nobody in Thimblebury at any rate. That meant they’d shared at least one intense and personal conversation. What Heath might make of that she didn’t know, but she had another hunch that she might have to explain it to him sooner rather than later.
‘Yes,’ Ottilie said and was saved from further interrogation by Magnus coming over to talk to them about the next film club.