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Kristie leaned back and rubbed her stomach, groaning. ‘No way. I couldn’t eat another single thing.’
Rhuaridh was watching them both with a smile on his face. ‘Well, I’m still trying to make up for the fact you spent a few days here eating hardly anything.’
‘Are you trying to take care of me, Dr Gillespie?’ she teased.
He shook his head. ‘No way. You’re far too difficult a patient.’ There was a twinkle in his eyes as he said the word. He glanced at Gerry, obviously not wanting this conversation to become too personal. ‘What are your plans for filming this time? Do we need to make up for lost time?’
Kristie shifted a little uncomfortably, not quite sure how to tell him about the episode that would go out in a few weeks, but Gerry got in there first. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said with a wave of his hand, ‘we’ve got that covered. We had some old unused footage and just mixed it with the fact that Kristie was pretty much out of action.’
‘Oh, okay.’ Rhuaridh seemed to accept the explanation easily. ‘So what about this time?’
Kristie had given this some thought. ‘We’ve got quite a bit of footage of some of the patients in the cottage hospital. Christmas is a big deal. I know we’re not actually here for Christmas Day, but it might be nice if we could get some film of how the staff deal with patients who they know will have to stay in hospital for Christmas.’
Rhuaridh lifted his eyebrows. ‘You mean, you actually want some heart-warming stuff for Christmas instead of some kind of crisis?’
Gerry laughed. ‘If you can whip us up a crisis we’ll always take it, but I think we were going to try and keep with the season of goodwill. On a temporary basis, of course.’
Rhuaridh looked carefully at Kristie. ‘Do you feel okay about filming in the hospital?’
Gerry’s eyebrows shot upwards. He had no idea that she’d shared her secret with the doc. Kristie cleared her throat awkwardly, trying to buy a bit of time. But she could come up with nothing. It seemed that honesty might be for the best.
‘He knows about Jess. I told him.’
She couldn’t decipher the look Gerry gave her. ‘Okay, then,’ he said simply.
She took a few moments. She’d thought about this when Louie had suggested it. Everything previously had seemed like a diktat—it had been required for the show so she’d had to grit her teeth and get on with it. She’d been so fixated on how she felt about hospitals, deep down, that she hadn’t taken the time to reconsider how her perspective might have changed a little. ‘We’re talking about the older patients who are too sick to get home. You know I met some of them before?’
Rhuaridh nodded.
She smiled as things seemed to click in her mind. ‘I actually really enjoyed talking with some of them. They’re not patients. They’re people. People who’ve lived long, very interesting lives and have a hundred tales to tell. Maybe we should try and film an update on a few of the people we’ve spoken to before—and maybe we should ask them about Christmases from years gone by. How did people normally celebrate Christmas on Arran? Are there any special traditions?’
Rhuaridh and Gerry exchanged a glance and looked at her, then at each other again.
Gerry leaned over the table. ‘What do you think’s happened to her?’
‘I think she’s turned into some kind of Christmas holiday movie. You know—the kind that play on that TV channel constantly at Christmas.’
Kristie laughed and nudged both of them. ‘Stop it, you guys. Maybe I’m just getting into the spirit of things. First time I’ve seen snow. First time I’ve been in a place that’s cold at Christmas. All my life I’ve spent my Christmases in sunshine next to a pool. Give a girl a break. I’m just getting in the mood.’
As soon as she said the words she felt her cheeks flush. She hadn’t quite meant it to come out like that. Gerry didn’t seem to notice, but she knew that Rhuaridh did as he gave her a gentle nudge with his leg under the table.
‘It’s settled, then,’ said Gerry as he raised his pint glass towards them. ‘Tomorrow we go be festive!’
