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memories, it was the one thing that was shiny and clear. ‘Have you talked to Lexi about it at all?’
‘No. No, I haven’t.’
‘Maybe you should.’ Refusing to give up without a fight, he slid his hands into her hair and brought his mouth down on hers. The kiss was hungry and desperate, and he wondered if by kissing her he was simply making it worse for them both. He tasted her tears and lifted her head. ‘Sorry. That wasn’t fair of me.’
‘It isn’t you. It isn’t your fault.’ She scrubbed her palm over her cheek. ‘But we’re grown-ups. She’s a child. This whole situation is terrible for her, and I’d do anything to change it, but I can’t. The one thing I can do is not make things worse.’ Her voice broke. ‘She is not ready for me to have another relationship.’
‘Are you telling me that you’re never going to have another relationship in case it upsets Lexi?’
‘One day, maybe. But not yet. It’s just too soon. I won’t do anything that makes this whole thing worse for her. I suppose I could hide our relationship, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to sneak around and live a lie. We deserve better.’ Jenna lifted her fingers to her temples and shook her head. ‘This is ridiculous. I may be thirty-three but I feel seventeen. And I never should have started this. I never should have hurt you—’
‘You’ve always been honest with me, and that’s all I ask.’ The hopelessness of it made the moment all the more intense, and their mouths fused, their hands impatient and demanding as they took from each other. Urgent, hungry, they made love on the grass, with the call of the seagulls and the crash of the sea for company.
Aferwards they lay on the grass in silence, because there was nothing more to say.
When Jenna stood up and walked away he didn’t stop her.
* * *
The following day Jenna was half an hour late to surgery because everyone had kept stopping her to ask her for the details or give her another bit of gossip. Feeling numb inside, she’d responded on automatic, her thoughts on Ryan. ‘Thank you—so kind—yes, we’re both fine—no permanent damage—Matt’s doing well—’
The effort of keeping up a front was so exhausting that she was relieved when she finally pushed open the glass doors to the Medical Centre. Hurrying through Reception, she was caught in an enormous hug by a woman she’d never met before.
‘Nurse Jenna—how can I thank you?’
‘I—’ Taken aback, Jenna cast a questioning glance at Janet, the receptionist, who grinned.
‘That’s Pam. Matt’s aunt. He has four aunts living on the island, so there’s going to be more where that came from.’ Janet handed a signed prescription to one lady and answered the phone with her other hand. ‘There’s a crowd waiting for you here, Jenna.’
Matt’s aunt was still hugging her tightly. ‘It’s thanks to your lass that our boy’s alive. I heard she climbed down—and then you went down that rope after her.’
‘Lexi was brave, that’s true—I’m very proud of her. And Ryan. But I didn’t do anything.’ Embarrassed by the fuss, desperate to be on her own, Jenna eased herself away from the woman, but people still crowded around her.
‘Can’t believe you went down that rope—’
‘Lexi climbed down without any help—’
‘Anyone who says today’s teenagers are a waste of space has never met a Glenmore teenager—’
‘Devil’s Jaws—’
‘Been more deaths there than any other part of Glenmore—’
Jenna lifted a hand to her throbbing head. ‘Maybe I’d rather not hear that part,’ she said weakly, remembering with horrifying clarity the moment when she’d stepped over the edge of the cliff. ‘I’m just so pleased Matt’s going to be all right. Dr McKinley rang yesterday and the hospital said surgery went well.’ After a summer on Glenmore she knew better than to bother worrying about patient confidentiality. If she didn’t tell them what was going on they’d find out another way, and the information would be less reliable. ‘I’m just sorry I’m late this morning. If everyone could be patient…’
‘Don’t give it a thought.’ Kate Green, who ran the gift shop on the quay, waved a hand. ‘Won’t kill any of us to wait. Anything we can do to help? We’re sorting out a rota to make food for Matt’s family when they’re back from the mainland. They won’t want to be fussing with things like that.’
Jenna looked at them all—looked at their kind faces, which shone with their eagerness to support each other in times of crisis. It was impossible not to compare it to the surgery she’d worked at in London, where patients had complained bitterly if they were kept waiting more than ten minutes. In London everyone led parallel lives, she thought numbly. Here, lives were tangled together. People looked left and right instead of straight ahead. They noticed if things weren’t right with the person next to them. They helped.
Someone pushed something into her hand.
Jenna opened the bag and saw two freshly baked muffins.
‘My mum thought you might not have had time for breakfast. We made you these.’ The child was no more than seven years old, and for Jenna it was the final straw. Too emotionally fragile to cope with the volume of kindness, she burst into tears.
‘Oh, now…’ Clucking like a mother hen, Kate Green urged her towards the nearest chair.
‘Shock—that’s what it is. It was her lass who stayed with Matt. Saved him, she did. That’s a worry for any mother.’
