Anna’s eyebrows shoot up. She has heard far worse from other colleagues, but James has always been restrained in his use of profanity.
“Her boss?” Anna queries, surprised. It is hardly unusual to come across consultants who are neglectful of their junior staff. It is one of the weaknesses of the training system. And one of the reasons she is grateful to have James as her training supervisor.
“No. Her ex. The one who fed her a pack of lies, persuaded her she was in love with him, and then refused to leave his wife. The one she followed to his current placement.”
“Oh.” It is all Anna could manage.
“So I was trying to help her today. Trying to pick up the shortfall in her training. I suggested some talks for her and sat with her to coach her through them. She’s very bright.”
Bright but easily distracted would have been Anna’s unbiased summary from their university days. In some ways, Bella reminds her of her very youngest sister, Phoebe. It is one of the reasons she finds Bella’s company easy. Her perpetual search for fun is familiar.
“Look, Anna. I promise you won’t lose out. I will schedule time at the end of the day to go over the proceedings, but let me help Bella get something out of this conference. She doesn’t have your advantages.”
Anna is a little bemused by what he has declared her advantages. She has worked hard to get where she is. No one has given her anything she hasn’t earned. Top marks, long hours, dedication, and tenacity. Bella is capable of all of those, even if they are not necessarily in her nature. Anna doesn’t find smalltalk with patients easy. It is not in her own nature to rabbit on about trivialities, but she has practised it because it makes her a better doctor. Anna and Bella started from the same point. The fact they were now in different places isn’t just sheer luck.
James glances at his phone as it buzzes with a notification. “It’s the conference dinner tonight. I really need a shower. Why don’t we walk over to the coaches together? We’ll see you back here in half an hour?”
He picks up his phone and departs. Anna sits at the table a moment longer. Then she folds up James’s itinerary. They have not talked about her sessions. Nor have they scheduled the promised times for Anna to get his input. She sighs. Maybe this is a taste of what Bella has to deal with – a boss whose attention is elsewhere. She checks her own phone for a message from someone despite the lack of a notification, just as she has done regularly throughout the day. But it seems James is not the only one who has his attention focused elsewhere.
At the duly appointed time, Anna returns to the deserted coffee bar. She has showered, changed, done her make-up, and put her hair into an elegant French twist. Her dress is sleeveless, modest in neck and hemlines, but a startling emerald in colour. Her sister Lily had press-ganged her into buying it, but she rarely has an opportunity to wear it. Bella and James are both waiting for her, standing together, holding hands. James seems unchanged from his day wear of collared white shirt and chinos except for the addition of a tie. A jacket is draped across one forearm. Bella looks magical, like one of Galadriel’s handmaidens, in a gold-trimmed cream silk dress. Together, they exit the hotel while Bella chats animatedly. Anna begins to understand how Bella could have packed in one cabin bag. All of her clothes are tiny and insubstantial.
Anna may still be miffed with James, but Bella doesn’t deserve her grumpiness. And she is slightly amused by theirbudding romance. Maybe the short time she spent with Tolly has rubbed off on her, or possibly romance is contagious. She would never have thought Bella would pick a man like James, but her friend’s taste in men has obviously improved. Although every word Bella says seems to put James further in the doghouse.
“So James took me to this divine little coffee shop. I’m not kidding, their coffee was like nectar. When he introduced me to one of the conference speakers at lunch, I told him about it and he insisted we go over there. He’s running this trial and the results are fascinating. He was telling us some of their early indications. It may be a game changer.”
Anna is not sure which irks her more: missing out on the opportunity to network or the delectable full-strength coffee. She is running on only a few hours’ sleep and a whole lot of jet-lag. She is prepared to admit some of her annoyance with James may not be entirely his fault.
A line of coaches is pulled to the kerb, doors shut. A crowd of people mill around outside the conference hall. James leads them over to an official in a high-visibility vest who assigns them a coach number. Bella is on a different coach. She turns her eyes on Anna.
“Fine,” Anna capitulates. “I’ll swap.” There goes yet another chance to have a catch-up with her boss.
Officials stand by each of the coaches, checking delegates as they filter onboard. In a surprisingly short time, the crowd has disappeared; the coaches are full and, one by one, they swing onto the road. As Anna boards, she looked for the safest seat and spots a woman wearing a hijab sitting alone. The short journey is long enough for Anna to make a new friend, Zahra Tlaib, an emergency room doctor from Dubai.
The two of them join Bella and James for the dinner and Anna is grateful for Zahra’s company as her two friends are entirely wrapped up in each other. As the formal part ofthe dinner ends and the guest speaker winds to a close, Zahra excuses herself and departs. Anna sits contemplating her empty phone screen for a minute before she is surrounded by Brad, Rob, and Seth. The three keep up a volley of banter between themselves until Brad leans towards Anna and asks her to dance.
Alert to the danger Brad has the wrong idea about her, Anna shakes her head. But Brad is undeterred. She reckons he is seldom shot down and it probably hasn’t occurred to him it is possible. To be fair, in other circumstances, Anna would have been sizing him up for a bit of fun, but she cannot muster any enthusiasm for sex tonight. Well, not with Brad, at least.
“Great idea. Why waste time on the dance floor? Let’s get out of here,” he whispers.
“I’m sorry.” She takes care not to smile. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in you romantically.” Brad hauls backwards, an expression of shock on his face. His two friends fall about laughing.
Brad stands. “I’m going to get a drink,” he says and disappears.
“Oh, dear.” Anna looks at his departing body. “I hope I haven’t dented his ego too much,” she says to Seth and Rob. They laugh in reply.
“That’s an impossibility,” Rob says as he shuffles closer to her.
She forestalls any further problem. “I’m not looking for anyone tonight,” she says, prompting further laughter.
Rob leans closer to her. “Neither are we.” He indicates Seth and himself. “Seth is off women for a while and is trying out life with a dog. And I’m deciding whether to propose to someone when I get home.”
Anna breathes out a sigh of relief. Turning down Brad was awkward, but she’d been careful not to flirt all day. Perhaps it was a cross-cultural mix-up. Had he taken her lack of interestfor British reserve? Rob and Seth move the conversation on. Without Brad, Anna finds herself contributing more to the conversation. Still, when the first coaches are announced, Anna chooses to be on them. She leaves James wrapped around Bella on the dance floor, waves to Rob and Seth, and departs.
It is not until she is safe in her room that her phone pings with the long-awaited message.
Sorry about this morning. My agent came by and I’ve been in meeting after meeting.
She debates leaving him hanging, the way she has felt all day. But reason prevails. A friend can leave you hanging for a day; a lover does not. Someone who was romantically interested would find a way. Texting on the toilet if need be. Tolly is clearly not interested, and it is not his fault she is crushing on him. It is a delicious irony. Just as she has offered friendship in return to men who have offered their hearts, she is now experiencing the same. She determines not to be petulant. His friendship is a prize, too.
