Awakening the Shy Nurse
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Alison Roberts
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PROLOGUE
‘WHAT’S THAT?’
‘Nothing.’ Annalise Phillips tried to fold the sheet of paper and stuff it back in the envelope at the same time. Her nonchalance didn’t quite work and her younger sister Abby narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
‘That’s envelope’s got a window. It’s a bill, isn’t it?’
‘It’s nothing to worry about. I’ve got everything under control.’ Lisa watched as Abby manoeuvred her wheelchair to the other side of the kitchen table. She’d always been able to convince Abby that she could manage and that had turned out to be an accurate prediction for so many years that it had become an automatic and genuine reassurance. So why was Lisa aware of a nasty edge of panic approaching this time?
‘Look...’ It was good that there was a distraction on hand. ‘There’s a letter here for you as well. No window.’
‘Really?’ Abby transferred her laptop from her knees to the table and reached for the letter. ‘Oh...maybe it’s confirmation of my date to sit my driver’s licence.’ She grinned at Lisa. ‘I still can’t believe you managed to find that funding for my modified car. It’s the most exciting thing ever...’
It felt good to be able to smile and tap into the glow of having achieved something that had been such a long time coming. Abby didn’t need to know that Lisa hadn’t exactly found funding from a charitable community support organisation and she had, instead, taken out a huge loan against the house to pay for the modifications the car had needed to accommodate a paraplegic driver. Or that the first repayment of the loan was now due at such an unfortunate time when she was between jobs, having been forced to resign from her nursing home position due to a merger that would have meant she had to move to another city.
‘Oh...oh, you’re not going to believe this...’ Abby sounded as though her new car had just been demoted from being the most exciting ever. She handed her letter to Lisa. ‘There’s a room available at the uni hostel. Ground floor, with an en suite bathroom—one of the ones that are only available to disabled students. And get this... it’s an unexpected vacancy because a student has pulled out of her course so I can move in next week!’
‘Next week?’ Lisa took the sheet of paper but she couldn’t focus on the words. ‘But...but...’ She had to swallow hard. She wasn’t ready for this after all.
Abby was waiting for her to look up. ‘You knew this was coming, Lise,’ she reminded her gently. ‘I’ve had my name down for one of those rooms in that hostel ever since I started uni and that’s years ago.’
‘I know.’ Lisa tried to find that smile that seemed a million miles away now. ‘And it’s wonderful. You’re going to be completely independent and I’m so proud of you and...and...would you like a cup of tea?’ Lisa got to her feet quickly to escape her sister’s watchful gaze. ‘Wait, no...we should be having a drink to celebrate, shouldn’t we? Have we got any wine?’
‘We never got round to opening that fizz when you found out about your new job. You said that seeing as you weren’t starting for more than a month, we might as well keep it on ice, but maybe now is the perfect time.’
‘Mmm... I think it is.’ Lisa busied herself finding the bottle in the back of the fridge, getting glasses down from the high cupboard and then opening the sparkling wine. It certainly seemed like a good idea. Abby wouldn’t know that she might be drowning her sorrows instead of celebrating, would she? Or panicking because she needed to find enough money to pay a rather large bill in the very near future?
But, of course, her sister knew her better than that. How could she not, when Lisa had been pretty much her principal carer for as long as she could remember? Her only family since their grandmother had died nearly ten years ago now.
‘What’s really up, Lise?’ she asked quietly.
What could Lisa say? That she was beginning to wonder if she’d made a big mistake applying for that desk job as a junior manager in another nursing home just because it had regular hours and was close to home and would make life a lot simpler? That living alone in this little house they had inherited from Gran suddenly seemed like the loneliest prospect ever and it would give her far too much time to worry about how Abby was coping. Worse, it would be more time to revisit the guilt that it was her fault in the first place that her sister was having to cope with so many more challenges in life?
No. She couldn’t go there. They’d agreed long ago that it was so far in the past it was a no-go subject. That you could destroy your future if you didn’t leave your past behind...
But she couldn’t be dishonest either. ‘I’m going to miss you,’ she told Abby.
‘I’ll only be on the other side of town. I’ll drive you crazy with how often I visit.’
‘And I’m only a phone call away.’ Lisa nodded, taking another sip of her wine. ‘If...you know...’
‘If I fall out of my chair, you mean?’ Abby laughed. ‘I can manage. It’s a long time since I’ve needed you hovering around like a helicopter parent.’
It was meant as a joke but Abby must have realised it stung a bit because she reached out to touch Lisa’s arm. ‘It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done, you know that, don’t you?’
Lisa nodded. And took a longer sip of her wine.
‘You’ve been—and still are—the best sister ever but it’s time we both got to live our own lives. It’s the next step for me and then I’ll really be able to have a place of my own. Where I can bring my boyfriend home. Or you can bring yours, at least.’
Lisa’s jaw dropped. ‘You’ve got a boyfriend?’
‘No, silly.’ There was a beat of something very dark in the way Abby avoided her gaze. Avoided allowing a memory any hint of the light of day in the hope that it would stay buried for ever. It was another reason that Lisa felt the need to stay close to Abby to be able to protect her. If she hadn’t come home when she had that night, they both knew what would have happened because Abby had been unable to defend herself.
‘You’d be the first to know if I did.’ Abby’s tone was too bright. ‘I’ve been way too busy getting my Master’s in occupational therapy to want the hassle of a man in my life again. And now I’m well into my postgraduate course in hand therapy so I’m still too busy but, for heaven’s sake, Lise—you’re nearly thirty and you haven’t had a proper boyfriend yet and it feels like that’s at least partly because you think you have to keep looking after me.’
‘I have had boyfriends,’ Lisa protested. If Abby was determined to deal with her past trauma by burying it, then all she could do was support her. She made her own tone light and bright as well. ‘I’ve had lots of them. There was Michael. And Stephen. And...um...what was his name? Oh, yeah... Geoffrey. I guess he doesn’t really count...’
Abby was laughing again. ‘None of them count. They were all the most boring men on earth. Stephen wore socks and sandals and the most interesting thing he had to talk about was his worm farm. Michael was so skinny and tall and bald he looked like one of the test tubes in his laboratory and...oh, my God... I’d forgotten about Geoffrey. Wasn’t he the one whose mother turned up on your first date?’
The wine was definitely helping because Lisa was laughing now, too. ‘I think he’d booked a table for three all along.’
They’d seemed like such nice men, though. Safe...
‘You’re right,’ she had to admit. ‘I have a talent for picking boring men.’
‘Being bored is bad,’ Abby declared. ‘I think that’s your problem at the moment. You haven’t got enough to do until you start your next job. You should go on a holiday.’
Lisa’s breath escaped in a huff of laughter. As if. She’d never been on holiday in her life and she certainly wasn’t about to start now. Not when money was so tight it was scaring her.
‘What I should do is find a job for a few weeks.’
She didn’t realise that she had voiced the thought aloud until she saw the frown on Abby’s forehead.
‘Why? Oh...it’s because of my car, isn’t it? I knew it cost too much...’
‘No.’ Lisa shook her head. ‘It’s because I need something to do so I don’t die of boredom. I’ll go crazy rattling around here by myself for weeks after you move into the hostel. I might end up on your doorstep every day.’
‘Can’t have that.’ Abby feigned horror. ‘Fill up those glasses again.’ She opened her laptop and started tapping keys. ‘I’m going to see what’s on offer for a super-talented nurse who only wants a few weeks of work. Hmm...we need a high-end medical locum agency, don’t we?’
By the time Lisa had their glasses brimming again, Abby was looking triumphant.
‘I’ve found the perfect thing. Tailor-made. It’s work but it’s a holiday at the same time. And it’s legit. This agency—London Locums—is obviously highly rated.’
‘What is it?’
‘A cruise. More specifically, a Mediterranean cruise. Oh...’ Abby’s sigh was heartfelt. ‘It starts in Spain and then goes to places in the south of France and Italy and some Greek islands before finishing up back in Spain again. How romantic is that...?’
The countries and islands were fantasy destinations. A cruise ship even more of a fantasy but not one that Lisa had ever considered desirable.
‘I couldn’t do that. Cruise ships are full of self-indulgent people who have too much money and just want to float around having a good time, eating and drinking far too much. It would be disgusting.’
It certainly went against the values Lisa Phillips had embraced since she’d been no more than a child.
‘There’s nothing wrong with having a good time occasionally.’ Abby was watching her sister again. ‘It might be fun. They need a nurse in this ship’s well-equipped infirmary, just for a two-week cruise, to fill in a gap in a team of two doctors and three nurses. You’ll get time off to go on shore at some ports of call and accommodation and all meals are provided. And they’ll pay top rates for the right person. Why don’t you give this woman a call tomorrow? Julia, her name is...’
Lisa’s attention had certainly been caught. Not so much by the idea of shore excursions in foreign parts or shipboard accommodation or even the novelty of working in a completely different kind of environment. There was, however, something that made this feel like it might be meant to be—probably the words “top rates”.
‘Show me...’ She leaned closer as Abby turned her computer so she could see the screen. ‘Oh, wow...they’re paying that much? And it doesn’t start until after next week so I’d be here to help you move.’
Lisa pulled in a deep breath. ‘I think you’re right. It is perfect...’
