Joanna Neil - Dr Right All Along

‘All right,’ she said with a sigh, giving in. ‘I’ll see what I can do … but I’m making no promises.’

He cut the call, after asking about the paperwork she had prepared for him, and she pushed the phone into her bag, staring into space, her thoughts bleak.

‘Well, now we know why your mind is all over the place, don’t we?’ Matt said, sliding a coffee mug towards her across the table. ‘It’s the same thing he does with my father. He pushes and pushes and doesn’t consider the effect his demands have on other people.’

Lucy winced. ‘He’s not a bad person. He just has so much drive and energy, and he can’t understand why other people don’t have the same priorities. I know your father works hard.’

‘Too hard.’ Matt was grim-faced. ‘His team does all the building work for your father, and they’re stretched to the limit to keep up with all the projects he’s taken on. My father’s recruited more men, but even so they can’t pull in all the extra work. My mother’s worried sick about him. She says he’s not sleeping well and she thinks he has the beginnings of a stomach ulcer.’

Her blue eyes were troubled. ‘It must be a huge anxiety for her.’

‘Yes, it is. For me, too.’

Lucy’s shoulders slumped. Was this problem with her father going to drive a wedge between them? She had to share this house with Matt, and she didn’t want any bad feelings to blow up between them.

Things had been different a few months ago when the two families had rubbed along well together—after all, it was the sole reason that Matt was living here in the house with Jade, Ben and herself. Her father was very particular about who shared the living accommodation with his daughter, but he had been only too pleased to help out by giving his partner’s son a place to live when Matt had been offered a job at the local hospital. But now it looked as though being in business together was going to have all sorts of repercussions, especially if it was no longer an amicable arrangement.

‘Drink up.’ Matt inclined his head towards her coffee mug. ‘Once you get that down you, you should be able to make it to the hospital in time to sort yourself out for this afternoon.’ As an afterthought, he added, ‘And make sure you eat lunch.’

‘I will.’ She sipped her coffee and glanced at him over the rim of her cup. ‘I almost forgot—what happened with the little boy in the garden? Tell me, did his mother realise he had gone missing?’

He smiled. ‘Yes, she came looking for him. She thought he must have gone through the fence after the cat. He’s a bit of a tearaway apparently—the boy, I mean, not the cat—and there’s probably a smidgin of jealousy going on with the baby. I get the impression he keeps his mother on her toes.’

Lucy nodded. ‘It sounds that way. I’d wondered about the white cat that keeps appearing in the garden. I don’t think they’ve lived next door for long. The couple in the house before them went off to live in a detached property.’

She finished off her coffee. ‘Thanks for that,’ she murmured, getting to her feet. ‘I must go.’

She fetched her bag from the worktop and then looked at him once more before she headed for the door. ‘I should say thanks for stepping in to help me out earlier. I know you meant well but, as I said, I’m perfectly capable of handling things myself. If he’d come on too strong, I was thinking about kneeing him in the groin, but I’m not altogether sure how that would have gone down.’

‘Ouch!’

‘Yeah!’ She gave him a light wave of the hand and left the house, stepping out into the morning sunshine. The trees were in blossom all the way along the crescent, and a good many of the houses were decorated with brightly blooming hanging baskets. It was a glorious summer’s day, but something was bothering her and, try as she may, she couldn’t quite place what it was.

She walked along the street, ignoring the interested glance of the man who lived across the way. She was used to being avidly watched by the opposite sex wherever she went, and she did her best not to pay any attention. She frowned. Perhaps that was the source of what was playing on her mind.

Living together as closely as they did, Matt had never made a pass at her, and before today he’d hardly ever commented on the way she looked. Of course, she was pleased about that because it made life so much easier … but a perverse little imp was prodding and poking her, and prompting her to wonder about it.

Could it be that Matt saw beyond the superficial appearance and found that what was left was ultimately flawed? In his eyes she was her father’s daughter, programmed to do his bidding, sometimes a little resentful of that but happy all the same to live on the proceeds of his wealth.

It was a disturbing thought.

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