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‘You’re right that there is no flattening of the cheek.’ He addressed the remark to Jenna, gave the little girl a wink and strolled across the room to wash his hands. ‘Jayne, I’m happy with her, but that bruising is going to get worse before it gets better, and so is the swelling. I’m guessing your worrying is going to get worse before it gets better, too. I’ll have a word with Janet on Reception so that she knows to slot you in if you feel worried and want me to take another look.’
‘You don’t want to X-ray her?’
‘No. I don’t think it’s necessary.’ Ryan dried his hands and dropped the paper towel in the bin. ‘Look, why don’t you bring her back to my surgery tomorrow morning anyway? That will stop you having to look at her every five minutes and decide whether you need to bring her back.’
Jayne Parsons gave a weak smile. ‘You must think I’m a t
otal idiot.’
‘On the contrary, I think you’re a worried mum and that’s understandable.’ Ryan scribbled a number on a scrap of paper. ‘This is my mobile number. I drive past your house on the way to and from the surgery—just give me a call if you’re worried and I can drop in. Take care, Lily.’
Mother and child left the room, more relaxed, and Jenna stared at the door. ‘Do you give your mobile number to every anxious patient?’
‘If I think they need the reassurance, yes. Glenmore is an isolated island. It makes people more reliant on each other. They’re in and out of each other’s lives.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘As I’m sure you’ve noticed.’
She swallowed. ‘I’m sorry about Evanna and Hamish—’
‘Why are you sorry? None of it is your fault.’ Ryan sat down at her desk and brought Lily’s notes up on the computer screen. ‘They just can’t help themselves. Matchmaking is like eating and breathing to the people of Glenmore.’
‘It happens a lot?’
‘All the time—although I’ve pretty much escaped it up until now. That’s one of the advantages of being a doctor. There are a limited number of people on this island who technically aren’t my patients.’
‘I expect they’ll back off soon.’
‘I wouldn’t count on it.’ Ryan typed the notes with one finger. ‘Do you want a lift to the beach barbecue? I could pick you up on my way past.’
‘I haven’t even decided if we’re going.’
‘If you don’t go, they’ll come and get you. Come. Lexi would enjoy it. All the teenagers go. She seems to have made friends. Whenever I see her, she’s smiling.’
‘Yes.’ Jenna was starting to wonder whether there was something more to her daughter’s sudden change of attitude. ‘What do you know about a boy called Fraser?’
‘Fraser Price?’ Ryan stood up. ‘He lives near you. Just along the beach. His mum is called Ailsa—she’s a single parent. Diabetic. Why are you asking?’
Jenna chewed her lip. ‘Lexi seems to like him—’
‘And you’re worrying that he has unsavoury habits?’
‘I’m just worrying generally. In London, Lexi started mixing with the wrong crowd. She made a point of doing all the things she thought would upset me…’
‘Why would she want to upset you?’
Jenna hesitated. ‘She blames me for not trying to fix my marriage.’
‘Did you want to fix it?’
Jenna thought about Clive and the scene in his office that day. Thought about what she’d learned about her marriage. ‘No. Some things can’t be fixed.’ She had an urge to qualify that with an explanation, but realised that there was no way she could elaborate without revealing that her husband hadn’t found her sexy. Somehow that was too humiliating. She turned away and put a box of dressings back into the cupboard. ‘There’s nothing to talk about. My marriage ended. It happens to thousands of people every day.’
And thousands of people got on with their lives, as she had done. Picking up the pieces, patching them together again into something different.
‘Did you think about buying him out so that you could stay in the house?’
It was a practical question, typically male. ‘I’m a nurse, Ryan, not a millionaire. London is expensive. And anyway, I didn’t want to stay in that house. It was full of memories I didn’t want. I knew if I’d stayed there I’d always be looking back. I wanted to move forward. He offered me a sum of money and I took it.’
‘I’m guessing it wasn’t a generous sum.’ His eyes darkened, and she wondered why he’d be angry about something that wasn’t his problem.
‘He completely ripped me off.’ Only now, after almost a year, could she say it without starting to shake with emotion. ‘I was really stupid and naïve, but in my own defence I was in a bit of a state at the time. I was more wrapped up in the emotional than the practical. I shouldn’t really have been negotiating a divorce settlement so soon after he’d walked out. There were some mornings when I couldn’t bear to drag myself from under the duvet. If it hadn’t been for Lexi I wouldn’t have bothered. I left it to him to get the valuations. And he took advantage.’ She lifted her chin. ‘He used his friends—fiddled with the numbers and offered me a sum that was just about plausible. And I took it. So I’m to blame for being a push-over.’
