by Lucy Clark
‘Hmm...’ She frowned at him and couldn’t help but laugh. She hoped it was true—that her old friend was back—because she had missed him. She’d missed the good times, the sad times and the quiet times.
‘And my first act of friendship is to ask you over to my house for dinner next weekend.’
‘Virgil, take it easy.’
He held up his hands to ward off her words. ‘I know. You think I’m rushing things.’
‘A bit, yeah.’
‘But I really want you to meet Rosie. She’s my world, Clara, and I want to share that with you. Oh, and you can meet my housekeeper, Gwenda. She’s nice, too.’
‘Will you be cooking?’
‘No.’
‘Good. You were always really bad.’
‘Then you’ll be pleased to know I’ve improved.’
He seemed to be filled with energy, his eyes alive with excitement at the thought of her coming to dinner at his house and meeting his daughter.
‘But Gwenda will be cooking. I have a clinic at the Specialist Centre on Saturday morning and I promised Rosie we’d go to the park in the afternoon.’ He angled his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. ‘You could come to the park if you’d like? Then we could go back to my house for dinner.’
‘Let’s just take it one small step at a time. Besides, I have house calls.’
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘And Michelle will probably be on that list, won’t she?’ he stated.
‘More than likely.’
‘Good.’ He paused, his stance changing from her cheeky friend, to the serious surgeon. ‘It’s good that anxiety disorders are now more widely accepted by practitioners as well as the community at large.’
‘Hear, hear.’
‘Actually, would you like to be there for her surgery? I’m sure if she saw you in the ante-chamber of the surgical suite she’d be more comfortable. She has a lot of confidence in you, Clara.’
‘You sound surprised.’
‘No. I’m not at all surprised that you’re a great GP—that you not only care about your patients but they care about you in return and value your opinions. You made the right decision about your career and I’m glad it’s worked out for you.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong—and I was wrong.’
Clara clutched her hands to her chest as she looked up at him. ‘Thank you, Virgil. That means a lot.’
‘So... Michelle’s surgery? Think you’ll be able to make it?’
As she pondered coming back to the hospital this afternoon to see Michelle, after doing a full night in the ED, she began to realise how tired she was. Still, it wasn’t every day she received an invitation to watch a surgical procedure—even if it was just the removal of a gallbladder.
‘Yes. I’ll be there. You’re right. It will help Michelle.’
‘You really are a kind and caring doctor, Clara. I’m proud of you.’
As he headed off to do whatever it was he needed to do, and as Clara finished her shift and headed home to get some sleep, she couldn’t believe how wonderful it felt—not only to have her friend Virgil back in her life—but to hear that he was proud of her. That meant a lot.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHY AM I happy that I have his approval? That he’s proud of me? It’s not like I need his approval to be content with my life. I’m already content...so why does it matter?
Did she still care what Virgil thought of her? Did she still care that much about his opinions? She had in the past—until he’d changed from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde.
She opened the door to her apartment, greeted instantly by Fuzzy-Juzzy.
‘Oh, hello, darling. Hello!’ She picked up the dog and cuddled her close before letting the fuzzy Pomeranian go. ‘Yes. It’s breakfast time. Were you a good girl, sleeping all night in your bed or did you sleep on my bed?’
Clara put her bag and keys down, then checked her bedroom. Sure enough, there was a little round spot in the middle of her bed where her dog had slept. At the end of the bed was a step stool, so that Juzzy could get up and down from Clara’s bed. When Clara really didn’t want the dog to disturb her sleep, she would move the stool away, but on nights when she was at the hospital she left it there, pleased that the dog missed her enough to curl up on her bed. It made her feel loved.
There was a knock at her door and she quickly went to answer it. Juzzy was equally excited.
Clara was pleased to find her sister-in-law on the other side.
‘Morning!’ Maybelle said, and gave Clara a hug. ‘We’re just about to take the girls and the dogs for a walk. Shall we take Juzzy for you so you can get some sleep?’
‘Oh...that would be wonderful.’ Clara sighed and went to get Juzzy’s leash. ‘I love having family living in the same building.’
‘How was your shift?’ Maybelle asked as Clara tried to clip the leash to a very excited Juzzy.
‘Good.’
As she said the word Clara couldn’t help but smile as memories of Virgil teasing her, Virgil laughing with her, Virgil being absolutely delighted she was giving him a second chance, flashed through her mind.
‘Wait. What was that?’ Maybelle queried.
‘What? What was what?’
‘You were doing that little half-smile—that smile you do when you’re secretly excited about something.’
‘No, I wasn’t.’
‘Yeah, you were.’ Maybelle nodded, then gasped as realisation dawned. ‘Was Virgil at the hospital?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I had a patient with gallstones. He was called in for a consult.’ Clara waved her words away as though it had all been nothing but completely professional.
‘But—Virgil. I’ve seen him around the hospital, Clara. He’s gorgeous.’ At Clara’s raised eyebrows, Maybelle continued. ‘But definitely not my type. My type is my husband.’
Clara smiled at her friend. ‘Yes, Virgil was there. Yes, we chatted. Yes, it was...nice.’
‘Exciting! Are you going to give him another chance?’ Maybelle asked.
‘Another chance to break my heart?’ Clara stared sceptically at her friend. ‘No. A chance to be my friend again, yes. I mean, we’re working together, and we have so much history, and we know each other so well—’
‘And he’s totally your type,’ Maybelle added softly.
Clara sighed. ‘He was my type of man, once upon a time.’
‘Maybe he has really changed. People do. I did.’
‘But you’re you and you were forced to change—forced into a life you never really asked for until you were able to find your way back to total happiness.’
‘Perhaps Virgil thought he had to change—that he had to impress all the other arrogant surgeons and be just like them in order to get ahead in the surgical world?’
Clara frowned. ‘Hmm...I never thought of it like that before.’
‘Granted, the way he treated you was horrible and heartbreaking, but what if he really has changed, Clara?’
She sighed again. ‘If he has, then taking it very, very slowly is the only way to go. I might like laughing with him, being friends with him, but I don’t know if I can ever trust him again.’
The door to the downstairs apartment closed and the noise level immediately rose as Arthur pushed the double pram, complete with chattering little girls, into the entryway. Their dogs barked with excitement and Juzzy joined in.
‘It’s a good decision to take things slow,’ Maybelle said with a determined look as she took Juzzy’s leash and allowed herself to be pulled away. ‘I’m glad you’ve agreed to be friends. Now, eat breakfast and sleep. Doctor’s orders.’
Clara closed the door and couldn’t help but do a little dance. It was exciting to know Virgil was back to being her friend. ‘And just you
r friend,’ she warned herself aloud as she went to the kitchen.
As she ate some food, she reflected on how he’d smiled at her, and how she’d been moved by the sincerity of his expressions and impressed with his treatment of Michelle. He wasn’t the same man she’d known during medical school, but he seemed to be a new and improved version, one with wisdom—and another grey hair on his chest.
She smiled at the thought as she brushed her teeth and fell into bed, pulling the covers around her and feeling just as happy and secure as she’d felt when being hugged in Virgil’s arms.
‘Virgil...’ She sighed with contentment before drifting off to sleep.
* * *
Clara managed to return to the hospital in time for Michelle’s gallbladder surgery, and saw her patient relaxing when she realised Clara would be present.
‘Thank you. Both of you,’ Michelle said, looking at Clara and then Virgil before closing her eyes and allowing the anaesthetist to do his job.
The surgery was completed without complications, and as Michelle was taken through to recovery, Virgil wrote up the notes.
‘How was that?’ he asked as he added his signature and closed the notes.
‘Watching keyhole surgery?’ Clara gave him two thumbs up. ‘A perfectly fun way to spend an afternoon.’
Virgil laughed at her antics and Clara grinned. It was so nice to feel as though she had her friend back. ‘Thanks again for letting me be here. I know it made a difference to Michelle.’
‘You may be surprised by this, Clara, but there are quite a lot of surgeons who aren’t just scalpel-happy jerks. Sure, there are the arrogant holier-than-thou types, and for a while I felt I had to be one of them in order to impress them, but at the end of the day I do what I do in order to help people. There are plenty of us who actually care about our patients.’
‘Huh. I am surprised. But I’m glad you’re one of them.’
As they exited the theatre, heading to the change rooms, she was highly aware of her friend walking beside her. Highly aware that he was incredibly tall and somehow looked incredibly sexy in theatre scrubs. Highly aware of the way his hand almost brushed hers. Highly aware of that subtle spicy scent he wore. She didn’t want to be—she wanted to view him as she had in medical school, as her very good-looking friend who was there to support her, to have fun and to laugh with her.
Upon reaching the changing room doors, he paused. ‘Listen, are you free to grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria before heading home?’
She smiled up at him as she put in the code for the female changing rooms. Opening the door, she shook her head. ‘I’ve got so many household chores to do before tomorrow morning, the most important of which is washing my clothes so I have something to wear to work in the morning.’ She tilted her head to the side. ‘Not all of us employ housekeepers, you know.’
‘It’s only because I have a child who can’t be left alone,’ he defended quickly, but grinned at her as he put in the code for the male changing rooms. ‘OK. I guess I’ll see you around the Specialist Centre and—’ he proffered as he opened the door ‘—hopefully wearing clean clothes.’
He winked at her, his teasing tone rushing over her with delight.
Entering the changing rooms, she walked to the bench and sat down because her knees were starting to wobble. Friends. They were friends. Friends only and at her insistence. It was great to know that Virgil wanted more—that he wanted to give their relationship another go and that he had visions of spending the rest of his life with her—but that was far too much for her to compute and accept right now.
He was back in her life. She’d accepted that. They were giving their friendship another go. She’d accepted that too. And although she was attracted to him—although she was being driven insane by his scent and her heart rate increased whenever he winked or smiled or laughed with her—that didn’t mean she had to rush headlong into a full reunion with him.
‘He hurt you. He hurt you badly,’ she whispered to herself, needing to find logic and common sense in her crazy new world. ‘You’ve been friends before and you can be friends again. Nothing more.’
With that, she drew in a deep, cleansing breath and stood up, heading to her locker so she could get changed and head home. She sniffed the clothes she’d worn to the hospital and screwed up her nose. Yep. Definitely time to do the laundry.
For some reason the thought of not looking her best, the thought of not smelling like a sweet-scented rose, especially when she was around Virgil, made her feel highly self-conscious.
It’s not for Virgil, she told herself as she drove home. It’s for yourself. Dress for yourself. Wear your hair the way you want to.
And if Virgil found her irresistibly attractive, then so be it.
Monday and Tuesday were both hectic days, and Clara was glad when she arrived home that she could eat dinner then fall into bed, resting and relaxing with Juzzy by her side.
On Wednesday, she had a patient cancel just before lunch.
‘You can take a whole forty minutes,’ Jane told her.
‘It’s sad that that’s the most exciting thing to happen to me all week,’ Clara said as she grabbed her wallet and headed out through the door.
Around the Specialist Centre and the hospital were several cafés and novelty shops, as well as two florists. She’d just stepped outside the centre when someone called her name. She turned to see Virgil heading her way.
‘Where are you off to?’ he asked.
‘A patient cancelled and I have forty minutes for lunch.’
‘Whoa! Pure luxury,’ he exaggerated as he fell into step beside her. ‘Mind some company?’
‘Sure. Who did you have in mind?’
He groaned at her lame joke. ‘You’re funny. Hey, how’s Michelle doing?’
‘Really great. Once she arrived home her anxiety settled down and she’s letting her husband pamper her. I have sent you a professional progress report with words to that effect.’
‘Good to hear. So, what do you feel like for lunch? Salad? Burger and fries? Chicken roll?’
‘Ice-cream and fudge,’ she stated, and pointed to Marni’s café, which was next to one of the florists.
‘Ice-cream for lunch? I should have guessed. After all, I do remember you eating a whole litre of fudge ripple when studying for exams.’
‘I like ice-cream. It’s not a crime.’
‘No, it is not.’ He held the door to Marni’s café open and together they went in. ‘I’ve never had anything mixed in with my ice-cream before.’
‘You do not know what you’re missing out on, buddy. You’re going to love it.’
‘I don’t know...I don’t mind having things on the side, but mixed in?’ Virgil frowned and shook his head.
‘Go on. Live life on the edge.’ She chuckled before perusing the selection of ice-creams.
‘Yeah. I need to do more crazy things in my life. OK. You’ve talked me into it.’
It was nice. Nice to be around Clara, nice to hear her laugh, nice to tease her, and incredible to see her smiling—not only smiling but smiling at him.
When he’d seen her in Melbourne at the retrieval examinations, he’d really had second thoughts about moving back to Loggeen, but now, being with her, sitting opposite her whilst eating ice-cream and enjoying an easy camaraderie, warmed his heart.
Perhaps there was a chance that he could win her back. Although he’d blurted out his true intentions when they’d had dinner, and had thought such a declaration would send her running for the hills, here he was, sitting with her, eating ice-cream with bits of fudge mixed through it.
After Diana’s death, when he’d been left alone to raise their daughter, he’d gone to therapy, needing to find some semblance of meaning to his life. Yes, his work made him happy. Yes, he loved spending time with his l
ittle girl. But even with Diana, there had always been one aspect of true happiness which had been missing, and he’d realised, belatedly, that Clara was that one aspect.
He was content with his life—just as she’d told him she was content with hers—however, there was more to life than simply being content. What about being incredibly happy? What about finding that one person who was your other half? Spending time with them, sharing the ups and downs with them, growing old together with them?
Through his therapy sessions he’d come to realise that the only time in his life he’d been truly happy was when he’d been with Clara. It wasn’t that he’d relied on her for his own happiness, but rather that being with her had enhanced his joy.
Although Diana had helped him through a difficult time in his life, they hadn’t had the solid foundation of friendship he’d needed in which to succeed at marriage. If Diana hadn’t passed away, he knew their marriage would have required a lot of work. Even then, there would have been no guarantee that it wouldn’t have ended in divorce. That hadn’t been an easy realisation for him to deal with, but slowly he’d come to terms with it.
‘Happiness isn’t a myth,’ his therapist had told him. ‘But happiness is made up of a lot of small things—and being content with who you are as a person, is a big part of that. Finding someone who is content within themselves, someone you’re compatible with, someone you just can’t wait to share good or bad news with, knowing they’ll be there for you no matter what, is the difficult part.’
And that was when Virgil had had his epiphany. He’d already found that one person, and he’d let her go. Diana’s death had taught him something else as well—that life was too short not to go after what you really wanted, and he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with Clara.
‘You’re frowning at your ice-cream,’ she pointed out as she finished her delicious confectionery.
‘Huh?’ He jerked his head up and looked at her. ‘Sorry. Deep in thought.’
‘Ooh. Deep thoughts are dangerous—which is why I don’t mind the occasional brain-freeze. It helps me not to think too deeply.’
He chuckled at her words.
