Falling for the Brooding Doc

by Annie Claydon

  ‘What do you think?’ Laurie helped Tamara out of the boat.

  ‘It’s great. Can I do it again?’

  Laurie glanced at Ross, and received a nod from him. ‘As long as your leg’s okay. Does it hurt?’

  Tamara shook her head. ‘No, it doesn’t put any pressure on it.’

  ‘I’ll come and check on you later on, then. If everything’s still fine, we can go out again next week. And in the meantime you can concentrate on your exercises so you’ll be able to do a bit more.’

  ‘Cool. I’m hungry...’

  Ross chuckled, holding out his arm to steady Tamara over the rough ground at the side of the lake. ‘We’ll go down to the kitchen, shall we? Get them to make you a sandwich.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  LAURIE WAS WAITING for him in one of the small clusters of armchairs that stood in the deep window bays throughout the clinic. He’d have to come this way on his route back from the kitchen to his office.

  Ross smiled when he saw her and flopped down in one of the seats. ‘You’re waiting for me to say it, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’m waiting to hear how Tamara is doing.’ And to hear him say it.

  ‘All right. So you don’t want me to tell you that you were absolutely right.’

  ‘I didn’t say I didn’t want you to...’ Laurie smiled at him. ‘Thanks.’

  He heaved a deep breath of contentment at a job done well. ‘And Tamara’s in great shape. She’s demolishing a sandwich and telling the cook all about her trip out onto the lake. Seems you may have a rower on your hands after all.’

  ‘Not necessarily. But while she can’t run, it’s good for her to have some goals. Ones that don’t involve regaining what she had before. This is something different for her.’

  ‘That’s all?’ He raised an eyebrow.

  ‘I enjoyed it as well. Almost as much as if I’d been able to pull on the oars.’

  ‘Maybe you will soon.’

  Laurie puffed out a breath. ‘You want me to say it?’

  ‘Yeah. Go on. Since I shared first.’ There was the hint of a tease in his tone.

  ‘I’ve got an exercise regime and I’m sticking to it. Making sure I don’t overdo things and stopping before I do too much. But then you knew that anyway, didn’t you? Sam was in the gym the other day...’ Laurie wondered how Ross would answer. She could understand it if he was keeping her under surveillance from afar.

  ‘To be honest...?’ Laurie nodded him on. ‘No. I haven’t asked and Sam hasn’t mentioned it.’

  She believed him. Maybe, after all the years spent looking over her shoulder, she wasn’t so paranoid after all.

  ‘My hip’s feeling a little better.’ Laurie turned down the corners of her mouth. ‘Does Sam hate me?’

  He let out an explosive laugh. ‘Hate you? Sam doesn’t hate anyone, she’s one of the nicest people I know.’

  ‘Yeah?’ Laurie raised her eyebrows.

  He rolled his eyes. ‘What? I can’t say something about one of my colleagues without you thinking I’m up to something? Sam’s married with a three-year-old. Her husband’s also one of the nicest people I know.’

  ‘Sorry.’ The inquisitiveness had gone too far. But Laurie had spent an inordinate amount of time wondering about Ross’s love life. You were right had felt like a next step into intimacy with him, after long, battle-strewn foreplay. It didn’t feel honest to engage in that if there was another woman in his life.

  ‘That’s okay. It’s not as if the clinic’s entirely immune to a bit of romance. Sam met Jamie here, he’s an accountant and comes in to do the books for a couple of weeks every year.’

  ‘That’s...nice.’ It sounded normal and happy and...all the things that Laurie’s family wasn’t.

  Ross chuckled. ‘Yeah, it is nice. They took one look at each other and suddenly Sam was interested in numbers. I think I gave her a pretty hard time about that, but she’s forgiven me. Like I said, she’s a good person.’

  And life worked out for good people. What did that make Laurie? Despite all her efforts to regulate her existence, to keep everything under control, her life was a mess at the moment.

  ‘I guess it’s all a matter of finding out what you want.’ Laurie shrugged.

  Suddenly, Ross’s brow darkened. ‘You think so?’

  This wasn’t about Sam or her husband any more. ‘I think... I’m a sportswoman. Focus and working hard were my ways of getting where I wanted to be.’

  ‘I don’t underestimate those things.’ There was a hint of regret in his voice. ‘But I don’t think life takes much notice of them sometimes. It’s not always on our side.’

  ‘You mean Adam and Tamara?’ Surely Ross couldn’t be referring to himself. He could take anything he wanted from life.

  The moment’s hesitation before he replied was his real answer. The clinic, his life here was one dream. But there was another that he’d lost.

  ‘Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I mean.’

  She could ask. Laurie had the feeling that if she did, she wouldn’t receive the head-on, honest reply that he’d given to all her other inappropriate questions. Ross had his secrets, the same as everyone else. And she should let them alone, they weren’t her business.

  ‘I ought to apologise to Sam. I didn’t give her much of a chance, did I?’

  He smiled suddenly. ‘No, you didn’t. And an apology isn’t necessary. Although I’m sure she’d appreciate it.’

  ‘I’ll go and see if I can find her.’ Laurie got to her feet and Ross chuckled.

  ‘Don’t waste a second in making it so, will you.’

  He was teasing again, but she didn’t mind. He made no move to follow her and when she looked back he seemed deep in thought. Laurie wondered if he was taking a moment out for the things in his own life that he hadn’t been able to make so.

  * * *

  Life was getting easier now, just as long as Laurie didn’t think about it too much. She was working with Tamara and Adam, and working with herself to improve the condition of her hip. Ross didn’t ask about her own progress, but demanded regular reports on that of the two teenagers. Fair enough. Laurie couldn’t complain that Ross didn’t fully trust her yet when she was still wondering if she could trust him.

  A taxi pulled up outside the house just as Laurie was making her way back to the guest apartment, after a particularly gruelling session with Adam where he’d slaughtered her avatar twice. Laurie saw a woman get out and the taxi driver lifted two suitcases from the boot.

  He might have stopped and helped her. But as soon as she’d paid him the driver got back into his car and drove away, leaving the woman standing at the bottom of the steep stone steps that led up to the front door. Laurie quickened her pace.

  ‘Hi. Would you like a hand with those?’

  ‘Ah, thank you. I thought I’d given him a big enough tip to encourage him to help me through the front door, but apparently not. I gave Ross a call from the car, though, and he’ll be here in a minute.’

  The woman smiled. Her dark hair was streaked with grey, but there was something about her eyes. Something about her wry humour, too, that reminded Laurie of Ross.

  ‘Are you Dr Summerby?’

  ‘I leave the Dr Summerby to Ross these days. I’m Maura.’ The woman held out her hand giving Laurie’s a firm shake.

  ‘I’m Laurie... Laurie Sullivan.’ This was awkward. Laurie wondered if Ross had told his mother that she was staying in their home.

  ‘Ah, Laurie! Ross mentioned that you were our guest for a few weeks. How nice to meet you.’ Maura looked around at the path that led from the clinic. ‘Where is he? I brought far too much back from my holiday, and these suitcases are heavy...’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Laurie decided to leave the question of what Ross had or hadn’t told his mother about her for later. ‘I’m sure I can manage to get the
m up the steps.’

  ‘Perhaps I should wait. He does like to lift things.’ Maura’s smile had all the warmth and mischief of Ross’s. ‘You know how men can be...’

  Ross might be a man, but Laurie was a world-class rower, albeit a little out of shape. The competitive urge that told her that she didn’t need Ross for anything took over.

  ‘He might be busy. I’m sure I can manage.’ Laurie lifted one of the suitcases, finding that it wasn’t too heavy. ‘Can you get the door?’

  Maura produced her keys from her handbag, opening the front door for Laurie, and she heaved the case up the steps and into the hallway. ‘If you want to wheel it through, I’ll bring the other one.’

  ‘Only if you’re sure...’

  Laurie nodded in reply, and Maura extended the handle of the suitcase, walking towards her own front door. The next suitcase was heavier, but she could do this herself.

  The case was slightly bigger as well, and difficult to manoeuvre. Laurie managed five of the six steps, but as she took the last, pain shot down her leg. She lost her footing, tumbling down the steps, her arms slung instinctively around her head and her injured hip hitting the gravel hard.

  Get up. Get. Up.

  She wasn’t sure if they were her father’s words or her own. They were just words that had been with her since her earliest memories. She took a breath and sat up. When she put her hand to the gravel to help her get to her feet, it stung like crazy, but further inspection showed just a graze.

  Get. Up.

  Okay! What did the annoying voice think she was doing! Laurie gritted her teeth and got to her feet. Her hip was throbbing and she could feel blood running down her leg, but that was probably just a graze as well. She looked up at the top of the steps and saw that the case had fallen forward into the doorway. Just as well, if Maura had packed anything breakable in there.

  The steps seemed like a long and lonely climb, when what she really wanted to do was sit down for a moment and get over the shock of falling. The fear that she’d just undone all the work of the past few weeks and had really hurt herself this time. But as she slowly made her way to the top of the steps, her hip didn’t complain too much.

  Maura appeared in the hallway. That was the last thing she needed right now. Actually, the second to last, the last thing being Ross.

  ‘You’ve fallen...?’ Maura’s manner was suddenly businesslike. ‘Sit down and let me look.’

  ‘I’m all right.’ Laurie forced a smile. ‘Just lost my balance. I hope there was nothing breakable in your suitcase.’

  Maura rolled her eyes. ‘If there had been, the baggage handlers at the airport would have made sure it was already in pieces. Sit down and let me take a look at your hand.’

  There was no point in arguing, Maura had flipped from new acquaintance to doctor mode. And it was a little easier to accept this Dr Summerby’s help. If Maura just looked at Laurie’s hand, and didn’t mention the fall to Ross, maybe this whole episode wouldn’t be so acutely embarrassing.

  Laurie sat on the wooden settle in the hall, holding out her hand. Maura took her glasses from her handbag, looking at it carefully and then flexing her wrist.

  ‘You’ve got a nasty graze there, but your wrist seems okay.’ Maura was gently applying pressure in all the right places, and Laurie managed to smile.

  ‘None of that hurts. I haven’t broken anything.’

  Maura gave a wry laugh. ‘I dare say you could have told me if you had, I gather you’re a doctor yourself. Although sometimes the shock of a fall masks injuries.’

  ‘That’s just what I’d be saying to you, if the boot were on the other foot.’ Laurie couldn’t help liking Maura. Her manner was a lot like Ross’s, but she didn’t have the annoying habit of questioning every answer that Laurie gave.

  ‘Did you bang your head?’

  ‘No. I landed with my arms up around it.’

  Maura nodded. ‘Good instincts. Come with me, and I’ll make you a cup of tea and find a pair of tweezers to get those pieces of gravel out of your hand.’

  Laurie was just searching for a way to refuse the offer when a dark shadow appeared in the doorway. ‘Mum?’

  Maura’s face lit up at the sound of his voice. ‘Ross, darling. I didn’t need you to help me after all. Laurie came to the rescue with the bags. But she’s taken a bit of a tumble...’

  Laurie swallowed hard. Maura was obviously bent on salvaging what little pride Laurie had left, but from the look on his face, Ross wasn’t buying it.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes. Fine.’ Laurie tried to keep the curtness out of her tone. ‘Really, I’m all right. Three doctors for one grazed hand is overkill.’

  Ross was shaking his head, but Maura chuckled. ‘I suppose so. It doesn’t do to fight over a graze. Ross, carry my bag through, will you?’

  He picked up the bag with irritating ease, his gaze still on Laurie as she got to her feet. Maura held out her arm in an indication that Laurie should accompany them through to her apartment.

  ‘I’m sure you have lots to talk about. I’m going to leave you to it.’ She shot a pleading look at Maura. ‘Really, I’d rather see to myself.’

  Maura’s gaze searched her face for a moment. ‘All right. I’ll call in later to see how you are, and if you need anything, you know where I am.’

  ‘Thanks. I really appreciate it.’

  Maura nodded, turning to follow Ross, who had already disappeared towards her front door with the suitcase. Laurie breathed a sigh of relief. Maura would keep Ross busy for a while, and by that time she’d be back in the guest apartment with the door closed behind her.

  Some hope. Her hands were still shaking from the fall, and as she willed the key into the apartment door, she heard footsteps behind her.

  ‘I reckon if you really were all right, you could have managed a quicker getaway.’

  Laurie closed her eyes. Apparently it was far too much to hope that Ross would stay out of this.

  ‘It’s not a getaway, Ross. And I am all right. How many times do I have to say it?’ She didn’t turn to face him.

  ‘A tip for next time. The less you say it the more believable it sounds. Getting up and walking away doesn’t make you all right either.’

  She tried to choke it back, but the blind anger swamped all reason. ‘Get off my case, Ross. I’m not your patient any more.’

  ‘No, you’re not. I’m sorry that you don’t give me enough credit to expect I might show a little concern for anyone who fell all the way down the front steps.’ He spoke quietly, but when Laurie turned she saw a pulse beating at the side of his jaw.

  ‘I didn’t fall all—’

  His gesture of exasperation silenced her. ‘The case was at the top, and you have gravel in your hand. It doesn’t take a genius to work that one out, Laurie.’

  ‘I fell down, I got up. What more do you want from me?’ Suddenly her father’s demands seemed a lot less complicated. All he’d wanted was that she get up again when she fell. Ross wanted much, much more than that, and giving it went against everything she’d been taught.

  He wouldn’t push his way into the apartment, that much she knew, and shutting the door on him would end this conversation. Laurie turned, groaning as pain shot through her hip and the keys jangled onto the floor.

  She went to bend down but he was already in the way. Frustration and the shock of the fall were almost choking her. Even picking a bunch of keys up for her seemed too much to bear at the moment.

  ‘Get out of the way, Ross.’

  ‘Will you stop being so pig-headed, Laurie?’

  As he straightened up, she saw the hurt on his face. Suddenly this didn’t seem fair and it occurred to Laurie that she was lashing out at the wrong person. Tears started to course down her face, and when he extended his arms she almost fell into them. He held her gently, silentl
y, for what seemed like a long time.

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m not angry with you.’ Laurie felt his chest rise and then fall as she said the words.

  ‘You should be. I haven’t given you much room to breathe, have I?’

  ‘It was my father that did that.’

  ‘And then I made things worse. I knew that you had to stay here if you wanted to save your sporting career. It wasn’t really a choice at all, you only had one option.’

  ‘It was the right option.’ Laurie wiped her face with her fingers, looking up at him.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not entirely sure that makes any difference. I shouldn’t have boxed you into a corner like that.’

  ‘Make me a cup of tea, and you’re forgiven. And give me a hug, because I fell right on my hip...’ He knew what that meant. How scared she was.

  His arms closed around her again, and she nestled against him. The first time anyone had ever hugged her when she’d fallen down. It was too short-lived, but maybe it was too much to ask for this one time to make up for all the others.

  He opened the door, waiting for her to beckon him inside after her. Laurie fetched the first-aid kit from the kitchenette, putting it down on the coffee table and lowering herself onto the sofa.

  ‘Tea first, eh?’ Ross put the kettle on, watching as Laurie carefully rolled up the leg of her trousers. They hadn’t ripped, but the force of the impact had left a red weal across her knee, which was oozing blood.

  He brought the tea, and Laurie proffered her injured hand, knowing that he wouldn’t ask to see the damage. Ross rotated her wrist, applying gentle pressure to all the same places that his mother had, but she let him do it. This was the beginning of trust, and it felt like a step away from the harsh regimes of her childhood. When he’d finished, she handed him the tweezers.

  ‘Ow!’

  ‘Sorry...’ Each time he tweezed out one of the pieces of gravel that were embedded under her skin it seemed to hurt him more than it did her. ‘That’s the last one.’

  ‘It’s great. Thanks.’ Laurie tried not to wince at the sting of the antiseptic as he gently cleaned her hand and then the weal on her leg.