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‘Eight it is. Make coffee.’ He turned, walking away from her to the SUV.
‘You’ll need it. They tell me those mattresses in the on-call rooms are like boards.’ She flung the words after him and Rafe hid a smile. It seemed that cold acceptance wasn’t Mimi’s style any more.
CHAPTER TEN
MIMI WAS ALMOST surprised when she saw Rafe’s SUV draw up outside the cottage at eight sharp. She’d slept last night, but it was only a long day and a very full stomach that had facilitated that. This morning she’d woken early in a fever of uncertainty as to whether Rafe wouldn’t decide that she was surplus to requirements and that he’d be much better off working alone today.
She’d drawn the curtains back carefully, leaving a small chink next to the wall so that she could watch for him without standing at the window. Aware that pulling them straight might produce a telltale curtain-twitch, she left them as they were and ran into the kitchen. It wouldn’t do to let him know that she was anything less than one hundred per cent confident that he would come. Unless he didn’t, in which case she’d decided to text him and tell him that she hadn’t expected him anyway.
It seemed an age before the doorbell rang. She almost took up her position at the window again, wondering if he’d changed his mind and driven off. But he was there, on the doorstep. Unshaven and looking slightly the worse for wear, but a night at the hospital would do that to you.
‘I’m just making breakfast. Care to join me?’ She made the request seem as off-the-cuff as she could manage.
‘Yeah. Thanks.’
He followed her into the kitchen, taking off his coat and putting his phone on the table. Mimi set two places, taking juice from the fridge and setting the coffee machine to brew. The croissants were warming in the oven, and she piled them on to a plate and set it on the table.
‘Charlie bought them for me. He got me some shopping yesterday.’ There was enough for two here, and Mimi didn’t want to give the impression that she’d gone out of her way. In fact, she’d already been out this morning, catching the local bakery when it opened at seven.
Rafe nodded. ‘They smell good. I couldn’t face the canteen this morning; I was going to pick something up when we got on the road.’
‘You can’t work without a good breakfast.’ Mimi wondered whether that sounded as if she was mollycoddling him. Whenever
she wasn’t working, she’d always sent him off in the morning with a good breakfast and a kiss.
‘Neither can you.’ He motioned her to sit. ‘I’ll get the coffee.’
Mimi sat down, watching as he walked over to the coffee machine. He had a kind of grace, an economy of movement that served to emphasise the gestures he did make. Unshaven suited him. Jeans and a sweater suited him. Everything suited Rafe.
‘Aren’t you going to ask me how I slept?’ He was leaning against the countertop, his arms folded, his lips twitching in a half-smile.
‘Do I need to?’
‘Not really. Just thought you might like to make the point.’
‘All right.’ She couldn’t help shooting him her most innocent look. ‘Sleep well?’
‘Nope. I’ve got an ache in my shoulders you wouldn’t believe.’
Time was that she’d offer to massage them for him. But then time was that he wouldn’t have even mentioned it, considering that any aches and pains were his to deal with. It was an odd form of sharing, but nonetheless a break in his stubborn self-sufficiency.
‘I dare say it’ll ease once you get moving.’
He turned back to the coffee, grinning. ‘Dare say it will.’
* * *
It was a busy day again. A good day. As long as they both kept up the pace, working as hard as they could, not leaving room for anything else, they were able to slip into the kind of relationship they’d never enjoyed when they were sleeping together.
Although Rafe was the doctor on the team, he was standing back, letting her take the lead with their patients whenever possible. Mimi could feel her confidence growing, and she was beginning to live for his quiet nods of approval.
By four o’clock she was aching from long hours spent in the car and her head was buzzing with both exhilaration and fatigue. Rafe stopped by a coffee shop, overlooking a pretty village green. ‘Time for coffee?’
‘Definitely. I’ll get it.’
By the time Mimi had queued, passed the time of day with a couple of people and returned to the car, he was gone. She could see him over the road, sitting on a bench under a tree which was usually three feet away from the banks of the river which snaked through the green space but was now on the water’s edge.
‘You’ve got something to explain to me?’ When she sat down next to him and handed him his coffee, Mimi saw that he had a pad of paper balanced on his lap.
