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Kristie dressed carefully. For the first time since she’d come to the island she wore a dress. It was still summer here—even though it was much cooler than LA. Her hair didn’t usually give her much trouble, so she just ran a brush through it as usual. Her makeup took her no more than five minutes. She’d even applied it once in a dark cupboard with no light.
Gerry gave her a smile as she emerged from her room in their rental. ‘Special occasion?’
She shook her head, and pretended she didn’t notice the rush of heat to her cheeks. What on earth was she doing? Maybe she’d just imagined that moment on the beach. Maybe it had been nothing at all. She’d only wanted to warn him about the hype. Or had she?
Truth was, she never really watched herself on TV much. It seemed too egotistical. But watching the episode between her and Rhuaridh had brought all those emotions back to the surface. She couldn’t ever remember a guy getting under her skin the way Rhuaridh Gillespie had. And on the way over on the ferry this time she’d been nervous. Something else that was unusual for her.
Maybe it was the apparent popularity of the show. She’d already had a few interview requests. Last night when she’d logged onto her social media account she’d seen over four hundred comments about the show. What would happen when the third show went out?
Gerry was leaning against the wall. He looked paler than normal. ‘Okay?’ she asked.
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Just a bit of indigestion. It’s my age.’
She gave a nod and headed to the stairs. They were filming at the surgery today, covering one of the paediatric clinics and immunisation clinics.
Screaming babies. Just her kind of thing. Not.
Gerry fumbled in his pocket and some lollipops landed on the floor. Kristie bent and picked them up. ‘Since when did you like candy?’
He tapped the side of his nose. ‘It’s my secret weapon. It’s in case we have unco-operative kids at the clinic today.’
She shook her head and held up one of the bright red lollipops. ‘It’s a pure sugar rush. No way will they let you hand these out. Think of the tooth decay.’
He winked. ‘I’m wiser than you think. They’re sugar-free.’ He started walking down the stairs in front of her. ‘Don’t let it be said that an old guy doesn’t have any new tricks.’
‘What about the additives?’ She stared at the colour again.
He shrugged in front of her. ‘Can’t think of everything.’
She shook her head and stuck some in the pocket of her dress. She could always eat them herself.
The clinic was chaos. It was a mixture of development checks, immunisations and childhood reviews.
Most of the mothers were delighted at the prospect of their child being filmed, so permissions were easy.
Rhuaridh was wearing a pale pink shirt today and dark trousers. She hated the fact he always looked so handsome. He moved through the waiting room easily, picking up babies and toddlers and carrying them through to the examination room, all while chatting to their mothers. He seemed at ease here. It was as if he’d finally decided to accept they’d be around and was doing what they’d asked him to do right from the beginning—ignore them.
But it made Kristie’s insides twist in a way she didn’t like.
Some of babies squealed. She didn’t blame them, getting three jabs at once was tough. She didn’t have much experience around kids or babies, so watching Ellen, the health visitor, do the development checks was more interesting than she’d thought.
She watched the babies follow things with their eyes, weight bear on their legs, and lift their heads up in line with their bodies. The older ones could grab things, sit up and balance on their own, and babble away quite happily.
Her favourite was a little boy just short of two years old. He came into the room with the biggest frown on his face. When Ellen tried to persuade him to build some bricks, say a few words or draw with a crayon he had the same response to everything. ‘No.’ His mother looked tired and sat with another baby on her lap, apologising profusely for her son’s lack of co-operation.
Ellen took some measurements and laughed and turned to Kristie. ‘As you can see, he has a younger sister. I’ve been in the house a dozen times and know he can do all these things—if he wants to.’
