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This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to do this job. It was touching at places she kept firmly hidden, pulling at strings in her memory that she preferred not to remember. She shivered, and it wasn’t from the cold.
Gerry looked at the red lights on the now far-off car. ‘Funny kind of guy, isn’t he?’
Anger surged inside her. ‘He’s got a contract. They’re getting paid well for this.’
Gerry looked at her in amusement and shook his head, taking his hand off her shoulder and instead tapping the camera in his other hand.
‘You haven’t realised, have you?’
She shook her head. She had no idea what he was talking about.
Gerry smiled. ‘That stiff-faced, crotchety doc guise that he’s pulling. This? This tears it all apart.’ He gave another nod of his head. ‘Kristie Nelson, in here, we have TV gold.’
CHAPTER TWO
June
THE FERRY WAS much busier this time. It seemed that hordes of schoolchildren seemed to be going on some kind of trip.
An older woman sat next to her, sipping a cup of tea. This time Kristie had been prepared for the ferry crossing, and her anti-sickness tablets seemed to be doing the trick. The older woman smiled. ‘There’s an outdoor centre. They’re all going there to stay for a week. I guarantee tonight not one of them will sleep. But after their first day on Arran tomorrow, they’ll all be sleeping by nine o’clock.’
Kristie nodded half-heartedly. She wasn’t really paying attention. Last night she’d watched the edited first show about the Hot Highland Doc.
For want of a better word—it had been dynamite.
The editing had helped, showing the crabbit doctor—a definitely unwilling participant in the show—turning to a melting puddle of emotion at the death of his elderly patient. The final shot that Gerry had sneaked of him connecting with Mac the dog and saying the words, ‘Looks like it’s just you and me,’ would melt the proverbial hearts of the nation when it was shown in a few weeks.
Louie couldn’t contain his excitement. ‘Play on the fact he doesn’t like you.’
Kristie had been a bit stung. ‘What do you mean, he doesn’t like me?’ She hadn’t realised it was quite so obvious to anyone but her.
‘The audience will love it. You against him. The sparks are tremendous.’
Kristie bit her bottom lip as the announcement came for them all to head to their cars. Last time she’d been desperate to capture anything on camera.
This time around she felt the pressure. The producers didn’t just like it, they loved it. Apparently the limited footage they’d captured had been the most entertaining—in a heart-wrenching kind of way—of any of the other Year in the Life of shows. They hadn’t, of course, shown John Henderson. Gerry had filmed Rhuaridh from the back, leaning over the body, without revealing anything about the identity of the patient.
He’d also filmed ‘around’ Rhuaridh, capturing the essence of the home and the situation, with a particular focus on Mac, and how the professionals had dealt with everything, without sticking the camera in their faces. Kristie was a tiny bit nervous what people would think about it when it finally aired—but she knew it had squeezed at even her heart.
She climbed into the car with Gerry and gave him a nod, handing him a schedule. ‘I’ve had time to be in touch a bit more. We’re spending some time in the A and E department in the cottage hospital and filming one of the regular surgeries this time.’
He gave a nod. ‘Here’s hoping we get something good.’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘No pressure, of course.’
She shot him a glare. He was being sarcastic, of course.
‘Where are we staying?’
Gerry wrinkled his nose. ‘We’ve got a bed and breakfast this time—just down the road from the surgery.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘Guess we won’t need to live on cereal for three days this time.’
She laughed. Neither she nor Gerry was blessed with cooking skills. ‘I’ve decided. We’re eating out every night and putting it on expenses.’
He nodded in agreement, ‘Oh, I can live with that.’
They settled into the bed and breakfast quickly and made their way to the surgery for their scheduled filming. It was obvious news had spread since the last time they’d been there as a number of the patients sitting in the waiting room started talking to them as soon as they appeared.
