Sparks Fly with the Single Dad
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Kate Hardy
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CHAPTER ONE
‘SO WHAT DID you want to talk to me about, Jenny?’ Archer asked.
Jenny had deliberately waited until the rest of their colleagues had left Burndale Veterinary Surgery after their usual weekly meeting before tackling her business partner. He ought to hear this before anyone else did. ‘I’m not sure whether I need to make you a mug of coffee or pour you a large whisky, first.’
‘Neither. Just tell me,’ Archer said.
‘It’s Mum,’ Jenny said. Jenny had come back to Burndale from Leeds and joined the surgery here so she could keep a closer eye on her mum, knowing that Betty was terrified at the idea of going into a home and wanting to reassure her mum that she’d do her best to keep her in the house she’d lived in for decades. ‘Robert came over, this weekend.’
‘And?’
She blew out a breath. ‘He thinks she’s getting a lot worse. She needs more support. And he’s got a point. Mum’s not really safe to leave alone, any more—not so much the dementia, because that’s still more at the forgetful stage than anything else and we can work round that, but she keeps falling, she won’t use a walker and I’m worried she’s going to end up with a serious fracture. I’m there at weekends and evenings, and I can get friends or our neighbour Sheila to sit with her if I’m called out for work. But I can’t get more than three days a week for her in day-care, and I promised her I’d never put her in a nursing home. Which means I need to go part-time for a while.’ Until...
No. She couldn’t face that.
‘I’ve spent this week exploring every avenue, and I’m coming up blank. Bottom line, it’s me or me to pick up the slack.’
‘Your brother can’t help at all?’ Archer asked, his tone deceptively mild.
She knew what he was thinking. Her best friend had said the same thing: Robert had dumped all their mum’s care on her. But Jenny knew it wasn’t a fight she could win, and she preferred to be practical. The most important thing was keeping her mum safe and as well as possible. ‘It’s a two-hour drive each way for him. Given the kind of pressure GPs are under, I don’t think he’d be able to split the difference with me and do even one day a week.’
‘He wouldn’t consider doing what you did, and move closer to her?’
‘There are the children to think about. It’s not a great time for them to move schools.’ And it was reasonable to consider the kids’ needs before her mum’s. After all, Jenny was the childless one. The divorced one. The one who’d have time to spare to look after their mother. She sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Arch. I feel really horrible putting pressure on you. Not to mention the fact that it’s not really that long since Max retired and I became your partner. But, unless someone invents a way for me to print a working 3-D model of myself, I need to drop down to three days a week at the practice.’
‘When?’
She grimaced. ‘This is the bad bit. As soon as possible. Within the next month, tops.’
‘It’s fine. Don’t worry,’ Archer said, and the lead weight that had been pushing down on Jenny’s shoulders ever since her brother’s visit finally started to lighten. ‘I’ll sort it out. We can get a locum in until we can find another vet—someone part-time, or even full-time to give us some extra flexibility.’
‘Thanks, Archer. I really appreciate this.’ She gave him a bearhug. If anyone had told her twenty years ago that the quiet, gangly lad with his shock of frizzy hair who was two years above her at school would turn out to be one of her closest friends as well as her business partner, she would’ve been surprised. Jenny had always known that Archer Forde was one of the good guys; but, since she’d come home to Burndale, she’d discovered just how nice he was.
Though they’d never be more than good friends. Yes, Archer was attractive: he’d filled out and got a decent haircut, and nowadays he was very easy on the eye. But there was no chemistry between them. He felt more like a big brother—and, though she felt disloyal thinking it, Jenny knew that her business partner was a lot more supportive than her own big brother was.
‘I don’t know how to thank you,’ she said.
‘It’s what friends are for,’ he said. ‘You’d look out for me, if I was in your shoes.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Of course I would.’
‘Then stop worrying. It’s all fixable. Now, go home and make a fuss of your mum.’
‘Thanks, Arch.’ Jenny wished she could wave a magic wand for him, too. She knew how lonely he was; he’d admitted to her that since he’d lost Amy, his girlfriend, to a brain tumour, he just hadn’t wanted to get involved with anyone else.
There were dozens of women who’d jump at the chance to date Burndale’s most eligible bachelor, though Jenny wasn’t going to insult her friend by trying to fix him up with someone. When he was ready to move on, then maybe she’d give him a nudge or two. But the best thing she could do right now was to have his back, the way he had hers. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
Maybe now was the right time to move from London, James thought. Before Tilly started school, so she’d have a few months to settle in and make friends at nursery. His family would be thrilled if he went back to Burndale, and Tilly could grow up in the same beautiful countryside that he had. Yes, it would mean a longer trip for Anna’s parents whenever they wanted to see their granddaughter, but he’d make sure to find a place big enough for them to stay whenever they wanted to visit.
The idea had been bubbling in the back of his head for a month now, ever since the incident with Sophie, their former nanny. But, before he set things officially in motion, it would be sensible to talk it over with someone else. Someone he’d known for years, and who’d been through the same kind of heartache he had. Someone who avoided relationships for exactly the same reason that he did, because he couldn’t face a loss that deep ever again.
‘Well, if it isn’t Mr Herriot in London,’ Archer greeted him when he joined the videocall.
‘Indeed, Mr Herriot in Yorkshire,’ James teased back. As schoolkids, they’d both fallen in love with the vet’s stories, and with them both being science nerds it was obvious that they’d both end up training as veterinary surgeons and following in the footsteps of their hero. ‘How’s things?’
‘Usual. You?’
‘Hmm,’ James said. ‘I’ve been thinking. Maybe it’d be better for Tilly to grow up outside London.’
‘You’re moving?’ Archer looked surprised.
‘I’m seriously thinking about it.’
‘What’s brought that on?’
James groaned, and told Archer about the incident with the nanny.
Archer winced. ‘Ouch.’
‘Even if she hadn’t walked out on us, the next morning, it was obviously she couldn’t stay. Not after that. I’ve got a temp nanny covering for her, but all this change isn’t great for Tilly. She needs stability. And it’s made me think. Maybe now’s the right time to move.’ He took a deep breath. ‘This isn’t me asking you to give me a job, Arch, because I know you’ve got Jenny in the partnership and you don’t really need a third vet in Burndale. But often people talk about advertising a post before they actually do it, so I wondered if you’d heard of any vet’s jobs going within, I dunno, half an hour’s drive of Burndale?’
‘You’re coming back to live in Burndale?’ Archer’s eyes widened, and then he smiled. ‘You know what, James—I think we could do each other a favour.’
‘What do you need?’ James asked immediately. ‘The answer’s yes.’
‘You’re going to get me a visit to the International Space Station for my birthday?’ Archer teased.
‘If I could, you know it’d be yours,’ James said, laughing back.
‘Strictly between you and me, because we haven’t announced it yet, Jenny’s going part time,’ Archer said.
‘Because of her mum?’ James asked, having heard about Jenny’s situation from his own mother.
‘Yes. I told her I’d get a locum in while I look for someone to fill in the gap permanently. But, if you’re serious about coming back to Burndale, you could save me all the recruitment hassle.’ Archer looked hopefully at him. ‘I can offer you anything between two days a week and a full-time post—we’ll work round everyone’s needs.’
‘That,’ James said, ‘would be brilliant. Yes. Yes, please.’
‘That’s great. When can you start?’ Archer asked.
‘I’ll talk to the senior partner here tomorrow,’ James said. ‘They know my situation, so they might agree to use a locum and release me early. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve talked to them. Then we can work out which days you need me and what childcare I need to put in place for Tilly around nursery hours—I don’t expect Mum or my sister Vicky to pick up all the slack.’
‘Perfect.’ Archer smiled. ‘It’ll be so good to actually work with you, after all these years. Jenny’s a sweetheart, so you’ll fit in to the practice really well. Plus you’ll know nearly all the clients.’
‘I’m looking forward to working with you, too. If Anna’s job hadn’t been in London, I probably would’ve suggested us going into partnership years ago,’ James said.
‘I nearly asked you to join us when Max retired,’ Archer admitted, ‘but I thought you wanted to stay in London.’
Where James could take flowers to Anna every Friday, just as he had when she’d been alive: except nowadays it was to her grave rather than waltzing into the kitchen, handing over the flowers and getting a kiss in return. ‘I did,’ James said, pushing the sadness down. ‘But I have to put Tilly’s needs first. And I think it’s time for us to come home.’
Archer’s smile was slightly tight; James knew his best friend was thinking about the strained relationship he’d had with his own mother, plus his absent father. Archer’s mother had never put her kids first, and Archer’s brother Axle had really struggled. ‘Yes. You do have to put her needs first,’ Archer said. ‘Call me tomorrow and let me know what your boss says.’ His smile broadened. ‘And I can’t wait to welcome you to Burndale Veterinary Surgery.’
Three weeks later, James dropped Tilly at the nursery in Burndale for her second session.
‘Daddy, don’t go!’ she said, clutching his hand tightly as they stood outside the door. ‘I don’t want to stay here. I want to go with you.’
He knelt down next to her and wrapped his arms round her. ‘Hey, you had a nice time here yesterday. You made new friends and you painted that lovely picture. You’ll have a nice time today, too,’ he said. ‘And Granny will be here to pick you up this afternoon.’
A tear trickled down her cheek. ‘But I miss Jas.’
Jasminder was Tilly’s best friend at the nursery she’d gone to in London. ‘We’ll call her tonight, before tea,’ he promised. ‘She’s still your best friend and that’s not going to change, just because we moved here. Look at me and Uncle Archer—we’ve been best friends ever since we were at school together. It didn’t make any difference to us being best friends when he came back here while I went to London.’
Another tear trickled down Tilly’s cheek, and James’s heart squeezed. But he couldn’t tear himself in two. Just how did women manage to do this? he wondered. Would Anna have been better at teaching Tilly how to be independent? Was he letting his late wife down as well as his daughter?
‘Tilly, I love you very much and of course I want to be with you,’ he said gently. ‘But I have some poorly animals who are waiting for me to make them better. Can you be brave and let me do that?’
She looked at him with her huge brown eyes under a mop of dark ringlets, so reminiscent of her mother’s. ‘Yes, Daddy.’
‘That’s my girl,’ he said, and gave her a hug. ‘Let’s go in.’
Once Tilly was happily sitting at a table, making a dog out of bright pink playdough, James headed for the surgery.
Barb, the receptionist, looked up with a smile as he walked in.
‘If it isn’t young James Madden. Welcome home, love,’ she said.
‘Thank you, Barb. It’s good to be back,’ he said.
Archer appeared from his consulting room. ‘Welcome to the practice,’ he said. ‘You obviously remember Barb, our receptionist. Come and meet the others.’
James followed Archer through to the back rooms.
‘James, this is Anu, our vet nurse,’ Archer said. ‘And you remember Jenny Sutton—Braithwaite, as she was when we were at school.’
‘Nice to meet you, Anu,’ James said, shaking her hand. ‘Jenny. Good to see you again.’ He smiled at her and shook her hand; to his surprise, it felt as if an electric shock shimmered across his skin where it touched hers.
What the...?
He’d never had that much to do with Jenny at school. She’d been two years younger than him and in a completely different friendship group; and he’d dated only sporadically in sixth form because he’d been focused on getting the grades to read veterinary medicine at university. Like him, she’d moved away after university. He did remember Jenny, but only vaguely. He certainly hadn’t expected to be so aware of the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.
‘Nice to see you again, too,’ she said politely. ‘I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your wife.’
The village grapevine had probably filled her in—or at least given her more than the barest-bones information that Archer might have told her. How Anna had died from an amniotic embolism after the caesarean section when Tilly was born; it was an incredibly rare event, and it had knocked James for six, losing his wife and coping with being a single dad to their new-born daughter all at the same time.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
‘Is your daughter settling in OK?’ Jenny asked.
‘We had a few tears this morning when I dropped her off at nursery,’ he said. ‘Tilly misses her friends from ho—from London,’ he corrected himself. Burndale was home, now. ‘She’ll get there.’
‘And she starts school in September?’ At his nod, Jenny said, ‘My best friend, Tamsin, is the deputy head of the infant school. I can have a word with her, if you like, to see if she can give you a heads-up on who’s likely to be in her class, so you can sort out some playdates over the summer to help Tilly make friends and settle in.’
‘That’d be great. Thank you.’ He paused. ‘How’s your mum doing?’
Jenny gave him a rueful smile. ‘Village grapevine filled you in, too?’
‘Of course,’ he said. Plus, as one of the practice vets, he’d needed to know that she wasn’t available on Thursdays and Fridays. Archer had given him the barest bones: enough so that James understood Jenny’s situation, but no gossipy details.
‘Mum’s torn between being relieved that I’m going to be home with her another two days a week, and guilty that she’s sabotaging my career. Which she absolutely isn’t. It was my choice to go part-time,’ Jenny said.
‘If it helps, I would’ve done the same, in your shoes,’ he said.
‘It’s hard to juggle, sometimes,’ she said. ‘Though I guess it’s just as hard juggling things as a single dad.’
‘Worrying about whether you’re doing the best for them. Tell me about it,’ he said with a smile.
‘Well, I guess we have patients waiting,’ she said. ‘Catch you later.’
James’s first patient was a springer spaniel with a nicked leg. Mrs Martin, his owner, had fashioned a temporary dressing of lint and micropore tape over the cut. ‘I feel terrible,’ she said. ‘We were giving Alfie a haircut last night—he hates going to the groomers, so we’ve got our own low-noise clippers and we can keep reassuring him and giving him a break when he needs it. But you know how long hair can get matted—there was a bit on his back leg where we thought we’d better use scissors.’ She winced. ‘He wriggled, and my husband accidentally nicked him. Alfie didn’t make a sound—we didn’t even realise what had happened until we saw blood running down his leg.’
‘At least his leg wasn’t caught on rusty wire, so we don’t have to worry so much about infection,’ James said. ‘When did it happen?’
‘Last night. We put a dressing on it, but I wanted to get him checked over properly.’
‘That’s always a good idea if you’re worried—or if the cut’s bigger than a couple of centimetres.’ James made a fuss of the dog, then removed the dressing and examined the wound. ‘It’s going to need stitching, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘Though it might be a tricky repair. Skin heals best if we stitch it within a couple of hours of the wound happening.’
Mrs Martin looked stricken, and made a fuss of her dog. ‘Oh, my poor boy. I wish I’d called you last night. Is he going to be all right?’
‘The cut’s in a difficult place,’ James said. ‘Not so much for me stitching it, but because of the way the muscles move here—it’s harder for the stitches to hold the skin in place, plus the flap of skin here is pointing upwards instead of down.’ When she bit her lip, he added, ‘I can do it—but Alfie will definitely need a collar to stop him licking the stitches and taking them out, because the repair will be quite fragile and we need to give it a chance to heal. When did he last eat?’
‘Last night. He had some water about six o’clock this morning—I didn’t take him for his usual walk before breakfast,’ Mrs Martin said. ‘And I held off on breakfast in case he needed stitches.’
‘That was the best thing you could’ve done,’ James said, making another fuss of the dog. ‘Well, gorgeous boy. We’ll be keeping you in, this morning, and I’ll sort your leg out at the end of morning surgery. We’ll give you a call, Mrs Martin, and let you know when he’s round and again when you can collect him.’
A tear leaked down her face. ‘He’s going to be all right?’
‘We’ll do our best. But remember you can always come in and see the vet nurse here if there’s a bit of matted hair and we can sort it out for you,’ he said, as gently as he could. ‘That’ll save any future issues like this.’
‘My husband’s never going to be allowed near a pair of scissors, ever, ever again,’ she said, and made another fuss of her dog. ‘I’ll see you soon, Alf. Be a good—’ Her voice broke. ‘I’m sorry. My daughter left home six weeks ago and I haven’t got used to the empty nest, yet. Alfie’s kind of taken over as...’ She shook her head. ‘I know it sounds daft, but he’s like my youngest child.’
‘That’s how a lot of people feel about their pets,’ James reassured her. ‘We’ll take good care of him, Mrs Martin.’ James took the dog’s lead, but Alfie whimpered and tried to follow his owner out of the room.
‘This way, boy,’ James said gently but firmly, and led the spaniel into the area at the back where they kennelled animals waiting for an operation.
Jenny grabbed a coffee mid-morning in her break between appointments, adding cold water to it so she could drink it straight down.
She was still shocked by her response that morning to James.
Although they hadn’t been in the same friendship group at school, she’d noticed the good-looking teenager back then. She’d really liked his green eyes and his smile, and the way his dark hair flopped over his forehead—just like Orlando Bloom’s, her favourite actor at the time—but she’d been way too shy to dare ask him out. He was two years above her. If he’d said no, she would never have lived it down among her own year, and the idea of the relentless teasing had been too daunting. And he’d never seemed to notice her, though maybe it was because he always had his head in his books.
With James being Archer’s best friend she’d got to know him by proxy since she’d been working with Archer. Like her, James was single and focused on his family’s needs—though in his case it was through being widowed rather than divorced.
And she really couldn’t face dating again anyway. The break-up of her seven-year marriage had left her bruised. It had been amicable, to a point—she and Simon hadn’t ended up sniping at each other, and they’d been fair in dividing their assets—but, now she looked back, she realised she’d always gone along with what he wanted instead of pushing for more of a middle way.
They’d met as students, but even then Simon had always been much more ambitious than she was, adamant that he didn’t want children because he wanted to focus on his career. He’d made consultant at a young age and made a real name for himself in Leeds; Jenny had come to terms with the fact that as they’d got older she’d wanted a family but he hadn’t. She had her niece and nephew, even though she didn’t see as much of them as she’d like.
The job in London, two years ago, had been the tipping point. He hadn’t even told her he’d applied for it—just assumed that she’d go along with him. But, when her mother had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s, how could Jenny have possibly deserted her?
She didn’t regret choosing her family over her marriage, but she sometimes wished that Simon had been prepared to help her find a compromise that worked for all of them. That he’d been there for her to lean on, share her worries and reassure her. But it wasn’t who he was, and she knew it was pointless wishing otherwise.
And now she’d met James again. Felt a spark of attraction she hadn’t expected to feel again, for someone who had just as many complications in his personal life. Neither of them had time to date someone between work and caring for their closest family member. She’d just have to ignore the attraction and focus on having a good working relationship with him. Keep it professional, she reminded herself. Don’t think about how his dark hair flops over his forehead. Or how beautiful his mouth is when he smiles. Or how his eyes are the same green of the moors on a spring day.
All the same, when James caught up with her after morning surgery, awareness of him quivered up her spine.
‘I need to repair a tricky cut on a spaniel,’ James said. ‘Fancy being my anaesthetist?’
Working together would be the best way to help her damp down that attraction and keep it professional, she thought. ‘Sure.’
Except she quickly discovered that she’d been very, very wrong.
Seeing the kindness with which James treated the spaniel, his green eyes crinkling at the corners as he made a fuss of the dog before shaving Alfie’s paw ready for the anaesthetic injection, made her heart melt.
Seeing the deftness of his hands when the dog was on the operating table and James stitched up the cut—which was indeed in a tricky place—made her wonder how those hands might feel against her skin.
And seeing the smile on his face when she reversed the anaesthesia and the dog woke up made her stomach flutter.
‘Good job,’ she said, to cover her confusion.
‘Good teamwork,’ he corrected. ‘Though if that had had been any deeper, it would’ve involved his Achilles’ tendon.’
Which, she knew, would’ve been life-limiting. The spaniel would’ve been miserable, unable to race around and bounce about as the breed usually did. ‘He was lucky,’ she said.
‘Thanks for your help,’ he said, and gently scratched the top of the spaniel’s head. ‘And I need to phone your mum, Alfie,’ he added to the spaniel, ‘so she can stop worrying.’
Oh, that smile. It’d charm the hardest heart in the village. And it was definitely doing things to her.
‘I’ll catch you later,’ she said. ‘And I’ll have a word with Tamsin tonight about school.’
‘I appreciate that,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Jenny.’ His eyes crinkled at the corners, again making her feel that weird little fluttering in her stomach. Just like she’d had when she’d known him as a teenager.
She was going to have to be really, really careful not to let herself fall for James.
