‘No problem,’ he replied, and then ruined it by saying, ‘Eight-thirty sharp in the morning. Don’t be late—I can’t abide unpunctuality.’ Then he was gone out of the flat, closing the door behind him and leaving Adele standing in the middle of the room with her belongings at her feet.
Finally able to relax, she looked around the room. It was a very large room, complete with a sofa-bed in a pale mustard colour strewn with huge, comfy-looking cushions. The décor looked fresh, as if it had all recently been painted, with light, wheat-coloured walls, white paintwork and with long, turquoise, muslin curtains that drifted gently in the breeze from the open window. There were a few ornaments, a large vase in the fireplace filled with twigs, seedpods and twisted pieces of tree bark and on the walls a couple of watercolour prints of local views. There were adequate cupboards, drawers and wardrobe space for her belongings and the kitchen and bathroom, though basic, were spotlessly clean and rather disappointingly modern. She would quite have liked to have found an old Victorian claw-foot bath in a house such as this. The rooms themselves were full of character with little nooks and crannies, and between the main room and the bathroom an unexpected window set with tiny panes of stained glass and with a deep sill on which someone had thoughtfully placed a glass bowl of fragrantly scented pot-pourri.
She unpacked her clothes and hung them up in the vast wardrobe then took a shower and was just drying her hair when she heard a tap on her door.
‘Who is it?’ she called, switching off her hair-dryer and making up her mind that if it was Dr Casey or whatever he called himself she would say she was changing.
‘It’s Penny. Penny Rudge.’
‘Oh, Penny.’ Scrambling to her feet, Adele crossed the room and pulled open the door.
‘Hi Adele. Welcome to Woolverton House!’ Short, round and blonde with large, expressive brown eyes, Penny Rudge stood on the threshold, a bottle of wine clasped in one hand, a bunch of flowers in her arms and a white square box in her other hand.
‘Penny, lovely to see you again. Come in, please.’ Adele smiled as she stood back to allow Penny to enter the room.
‘These are for you—the flowers and wine are from the rest of the staff and this is from me.’ As she spoke she thrust the white box into Adele’s hands.
‘Oh, how kind.’ Adele lifted the lid and peeped into the box. ‘Wow, that looks wonderful!’
‘It’s lemon custard tart—made by the bakery next door and absolutely scrummy. Thought you might be in need of a little spirit-raiser.’
‘Oh, thank you…you’re so kind. And what lovely flowers! I must see if I can find a vase for them. Please, do come in and sit down.’
‘I’m glad Rosie cleaned this place up,’ said Penny as she perched on the edge of the sofa and looked around her while Adele hurried into the kitchen.
‘Who’s Rosie?’ called Adele.
‘The surgery cleaner, she’s a real treasure.’
‘So does she clean the flats as well as the surgery?’ asked Adele as she came back into the room, a vase full of water in one hand and two wineglasses in the other.
‘She will if you come to some agreement with her. This flat was in a bit of a mess after the last occupant left—I’m just glad it’s cleaned up all right.’
‘I understand there was a bit of trouble with the last tenant,’ said Adele as she unwrapped the flowers—yellow rosebuds and amber carnations—and began placing them in the vase.
‘You could say that.’ Penny pulled a face then, changing the subject, she said, ‘Have you seen Dr Fletcher yet?’
‘Yes, I saw him when I arrived.’
‘How did you find him?’
Adele looked up. ‘Well, I was shocked to learn about his heart problems.’
‘He’s been working far too hard.’
‘Hence the reason he’s unable to be my trainer.’ Lifting the vase, Adele placed it in the sunlight on a low coffee-table by the window. ‘There,’ she said, ‘they look lovely there. Now, I’ll cut this tart and pour some wine. You will join me, won’t you? A celebration wouldn’t be any fun at all on my own.’
‘Absolutely,’ said Penny with a sigh. ‘Any excuse, that’s what I say.’ She was silent while Adele went back to the kitchen and found a bottle-opener, plates, a knife and two forks. When Adele returned and opened the bottle of wine, Penny said, ‘Are you very disappointed—about Dr Fletcher, I mean?’
Adele paused, the bottle poised over a glass and considered. ‘Well, yes,’ she said at last, ‘I suppose I am. I really took to him when I met him at the interview and in the meantime I suppose I had envisaged what it would be like working alongside him for the next year.’
‘I know, he’s a real sweetie, but you mustn’t be too upset.’ Penny took the glass of wine that Adele held out to her. ‘Casey is just as good. Cheers!’ She lifted her glass.
‘Yes, cheers!’ Adele lifted her own glass then took a sip. The wine was extremely good. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask whether Dr Casey was also a sweetie but it seemed such a ludicrous question and so obviously not the case that she remained silent. Instead, she set her glass down and set about cutting the lemon custard tart.
‘Where is it you’ve come from?’ asked Penny as she settled herself more comfortably on the sofa. ‘You probably did tell me before but I can’t remember.’
‘Chester.’ Adele passed a plate across the table then sat down on the rug in front of the fireplace with her own plate.
‘That’s right, I remember now.’ Penny nodded. ‘Well, you may find this practice very different from your hospital work but they’re a pretty good bunch to work with. We have our ups and downs, same as any place of work, but on the whole we all get on OK. I hope you’ll be happy here, Adele.’ Her face broke into a wide smile.
‘Thanks, Penny, I’m sure I will. I must say I’m glad you’re living in the building as well.’ She paused. ‘You were absolutely right about this tart—it’s really delicious.’
‘I know.’ Penny grinned. ‘I should be watching my weight really but I can never resist this.’ She popped another forkful into her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss.
‘So who else lives in the building?’ asked Adele after a moment.
‘Well, there are only us two on this floor but there are two larger flats down on the first floor. Toby has one of those—you know, Dr Nash. You met him, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, I did. He seemed very nice.’
‘He is—a bit serious, but nice.’
‘And the other flat?’ Even as she asked Adele had a premonition and instinctively knew what Penny was about to say.
‘Casey is living in that at the moment while he’s house-hunting,’ she said.
So, not only was she going to have to work with him, Adele thought wryly, it seemed she was going to have to live alongside him as well. She looked up and realised that a flush had touched Penny’s cheeks.
‘Actually,’ said Penny, leaning forward slightly in a conspiratorial manner, ‘he and I are a bit of an item at the moment.’
‘Really?’ Adele was surprised. She would never in a million years have put them together. ‘Well, that’s nice,’ she heard herself say.
‘It’s only very early days yet.’ Penny took a mouthful of wine. ‘But I’m hopeful. And, you have to admit, he is gorgeous.’ When Adele didn’t reply she went on, ‘How about you?’
‘Me? How do you mean?’ Adele frowned. For one moment she thought Penny wanted her to agree with her last remark and she wasn’t at all sure she could do that.
‘Yes, is there anyone special in your life?’
Adele took a deep breath. Why did it still hurt so much? ‘No,’ she said at last, ‘no, there’s no one special in my life at the moment.’
They chatted on for a while, mainly about Stourborne Abbas and the practice, then with a reluctant sigh Penny hauled herself to her feet. ‘I must be going,’ she said. ‘I have some notes to sort out before I finish. I’ll see you in the morning,’ she added as Ade
le also scrambled to her feet.
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘At eight-thirty sharp.’ Seeing Penny’s rather curious look, she explained, ‘I’ve already been told that Dr Casey doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’
‘That’s true,’ Penny agreed, then as she reached the door she looked over her shoulder. ‘He doesn’t like that either,’ she added.
‘What?’ Adele frowned.
‘Being called“Doctor
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