A Family This Christmas (6 page)

Got the name right. Great. ‘Thanks.’

‘That cat’s far too fat,’ came an acerbic comment from the kitchen.

‘Should I have put her outside, Cam?’ Like that would be easy in her current situation.

‘Good luck with that.’ Cam strolled into view. ‘How was your afternoon?’

‘Excellent.’ Joined the local theatre group and did a turn in the mussel-opening shed. ‘It’s unbelievably quiet here. I haven’t done anything to help with dinner, I’m sorry.’

‘You weren’t expected to,’ Cam glanced at her.

‘We’re having a barbecue.’ Marcus bounced around the room until he found the TV remote.

‘We always have barbecues,’ Andrew explained in a bored tone.

Every time one boy spoke the other added his say. So like her and Alison it made her heart crunch. She’d stopped talking very much in those first months after Alison had left her because she’d found herself pausing and waiting for Alison to speak. Every time she hadn’t, it had hurt all over again.

‘Barbecuing is the easiest way to cook,’ Cam muttered. ‘Especially in summer.’ Did he feel pressured about the meals he provided for his boys? They weren’t exactly looking malnourished.

Licking her lips exaggeratedly, Jenny said, ‘Barbecues are my favourite. Yummy food and no slaving over a hot stove.’ Like she ever slaved over any kind of stove.

‘Turn that TV off, Marcus. You haven’t done your jobs yet. The washing needs bringing in.’ Cam reached for the remote, tugged it from Marcus’s hand. He raised his voice. ‘Andrew, empty the dishwasher. Now. Bring your lunchboxes out to the kitchen first.’

Jenny grimaced. ‘Can I do anything? Make a salad or peel some potatoes?’ Sitting here while everyone else did the chores made her uncomfortable. She hadn’t even noticed the washing on the line.

Cam was already returning to the kitchen. ‘Stay where you are. We have a routine.’ He turned and gave her a reluctant smile. ‘For want of a better word.’

‘I’d be in the way.’ She got it. But tomorrow surely she’d be able to get around a bit better, and then she’d make herself useful.

‘You would,’ Cam agreed too easily.

The man looked so tired she wanted to insist on helping in one way or another, but she could see any interruption to his routine might be more of a hindrance than a help so she stroked the cat, which had returned to sprawl across her thighs, instead.

Marcus staggered in with an overladen washing basket and dropped it on the floor in the middle of the lounge.

‘Push that over here and I can fold everything.’ She nudged the cat aside and got a hiss for her effort.

‘There’s a novelty,’ quipped the man himself, as he strode past to the glass doors opening on to the deck and that barbecue he was so fond of.

‘Dad tips the clothes onto the table in the laundry and we take what we need when we want it.’

She had noticed the rumpled look worn by all three males in this house. Tomorrow she’d balance on her cast and iron some shirts.

‘Give away all my secrets, why don’t you?’ Cam returned, ruffling his son’s hair on the way past.

‘I don’t know anyone who likes ironing.’ Except Alison had, driving her crazy with her fussiness when it had come to clothes. The memory tugged, sent a small wave of warmth through her. She held her breath, waited for the explosion of pain that followed such memories. It didn’t happen. Now, there was a first. The day was going from weird to weirder. First she’d sent an email to Mum and Dad that had involved more than
hello, how are you.
Now she’d recalled something about Alison that hadn’t sent her heart plummeting to her toes.

Marcus said, ‘Dad says it’s a waste of time.’

‘Your dad’s a busy man.’ She didn’t dare look around to see if Cam had heard. She’d bet her crutches he had. The man had ears everywhere. Putting a folded towel on the couch beside her, she reached into the basket for another one. ‘I bet he does the most important things first, and then there’s probably no time left for other jobs like ironing.’ Sticking up for Cam now, eh? What was that about? Plain old empathy for a man who at times appeared overwhelmed with everything, that’s what.

Despite her determination not to look for him, her gaze drifted sideways, searching, finding him standing in the middle of the kitchen, a plate of chops in one hand, a bottle of cooking oil in the other, and a bemused expression on his face.

She winked.

His bemusement intensified.

Astonishment made her mouth gape. Since when did she do winks? Never, ever. So she’d just proved what a moron she was, winking at the man who’d opened up his home to her. Winks and lechery were synonymous.

‘You’re dribbling.’ Cam winked back.

A deep-bellied laugh rolled up her throat and spilled between them. A muscle-relaxing, heart-warming, pants-wetting-if-she-wasn’t-careful laugh. Smudging her moist eyes with the back of her hand, she struggled to contain the merriment before she embarrassed herself.

Cam probably already thought she was nuts.

But when she finally looked at him he wore that smile, only this time it was wider, softer, more heart-melting than she’d seen before.

He said, ‘You’re nuts.’

See? ‘I know.’ And I haven’t laughed like that for a year.

Caution, Jenny. Two days after meeting Cam you’re lightening up on the stress levels, the gloom is lifting and you’re starting to see the world in colour rather than a grey monotone. Be very careful. You could be in for a fall.

‘You’ve got a message,’ Marcus called from out on the deck. ‘Want your tablet?’

‘Yes, please.’ She hadn’t meant to leave it outside but when she’d realised what she’d done she’d been comfortably ensconced on the couch. Not that she ever got much in the way of emails these days. She had to stay in touch with people for that.

Mum had replied. No surprise there. She’d be worried about her accident, had probably booked a flight up to see her and make sure she was looking after herself.
I shouldn’t have told them.

Darling Jenny, sorry to read about your broken ankle. That can be debilitating. The doctor sounds nice, taking you in like that when he’s probably already very busy. I expect that you’re doing all you can to help him. Big hugs and lots of love, Mum.

Huh? Where were the questions? The demands to be careful? The details of the flight she was arriving on? Was this Mum’s way of telling her it was time to stop moving and settle somewhere?

‘Who emailed you?’ Marcus asked.

‘My mother.’ I think.

‘You’re lucky.’ That sweet little face turned sad.

‘Yes, I am. But you’ve got your dad and Andrew.’ Neither replaced his mother. She got that. She had her parents but they didn’t fill the gap left by Alison. ‘They love you heaps.’ She wouldn’t say they’d always be there for Andrew because no one could predict that with absolute certainty. Look what had happened to her for believing she’d have Alison in her life for ever.

‘I love my mum heaps.’ Marcus stared at the floor, his hair falling across his eyes.

Reaching out, she pulled him near and sat him on the couch beside her, away from the washing. ‘Of course you do. Mums are special.’

Still staring at the floor, he nodded slowly. ‘Ours is.’

‘So are dads and brothers.’

The nodding continued. ‘Mine are the best.’

‘See? You’re very lucky. I bet they think you’re the best, too.’

Finally Marcus raised his head and looked at her. ‘Are you really a twin?’

CHAPTER SIX

C
AM
HELD
HIS
breath and waited for Jenny’s withdrawal from Marcus. He should interrupt, tell Marcus to stop asking questions and get his homework, but something in the way Jenny didn’t sink in on herself the way she had that morning made him pause. Besides, if he was being honest, he wanted to hear this, too. Letting Marcus do his dirty work?

‘Yes, I am. I...’ She stopped, swallowed hard, then kept going. ‘My parents had two girls. I’m the oldest. Alison was the bossy one, always telling me what to do.’

‘I’m the bossy one
and
the oldest.’

True.

‘Who’s the brainiest?’ she asked. Deflecting the twin subject?

Marcus’s chest puffed out. ‘I am.’

Not quite so true.

‘No, he’s not,’ Andrew yelled across the kitchen, where he was still slowly putting the clean dishes away, one piece of cutlery at a time. Why didn’t he understand that if he just got on with the job it would be finished and he’d have more time for fun things? ‘I got ninety-five for maths, you got eighty-one.’

Here came the war. Cam intervened, ‘You’re both intelligent in different subjects. Now, Marcus, set the table for dinner. Andrew, put four plates on the bench and get that dishwasher unpacked, will you? Before Christmas, if possible.’

Jenny stood up. ‘I’ll start hobbling towards the deck and hopefully I’ll make it by dinnertime.’ The smile she sent him was full of understanding and gratitude and warmth. She’d diverted the boys from asking more questions and he’d kept them diverted.

That’s how it should be between parents, each backing the other subtly. Yet Jenny wasn’t the boys’ parent, didn’t have kids of her own, and she’d managed to do that. Margaret had never done it, always looking for ways to come between him and the boys, finding an excuse for an argument. Was his main problem with Margaret that he’d chosen the wrong woman for himself? He’d loved her, deeply. Had he expected too much from that love? Something to think about when next he started getting serious about a woman. Huh. He’d better start thinking about that now then.

The knife fell from his hand to clatter into the sink. What the hell?

‘You okay?’ asked the woman responsible for his crazed brain.

‘Sure.’ Picking up the knife, he began slicing cucumber with a healthy regard for his fingers. Then he smiled.

Smiling used to come naturally. In fact, at one time he’d worn an almost permanent one. But that had been before everything had gone pear-shaped.

‘Smells like burnt meat out here,’ Jenny called, as she levered herself across to the barbecue. ‘Nothing like a bit of crispy chop.’ She started deftly flipping the chops over so the other sides could cook.

Great. Jenny’s fault for distracting him so easily.

Note to self:
keep focused around Jenny Bostock or more than the chops are going to get burned.

Another note to self:
make those appointments for the boys’ haircuts.

* * *

‘Did you tell your parents about your fracture?’ Cam asked, after he’d seen the boys to bed.

‘Yes,’ Jenny replied. ‘They don’t seem overly concerned, which is a relief, I guess.’

Jenny clicked shut the web page for the local bus company. There were plenty of choices for getting from Havelock to Blenheim if she chose to leave and find a motel. Maybe not tomorrow but the day after when she was bit more nimble.

‘You making school lunches?’ The guy hadn’t stopped doing chores all evening.

Cam spread margarine on slices of bread. ‘Yes. Every day except Friday when I let the kids buy their lunch from the bakery as a treat.’

‘What other things need doing before you take a break?’ He should be sitting down, watching TV or reading a book, talking to her over coffee, not moving from one job to the next. No wonder he looked exhausted all the time. Tomorrow she’d make sure to do some tidying up for him.

He glanced around the kitchen and shrugged. ‘Think I’m nearly done. Did I mention you’ve got an appointment with Angus tomorrow? He called me, said I was the only contact he had for you. Hope that’s all right. I kind of intimated I’m your GP for now.’

‘What happened to calling my cell?’ But he had been looking out for her yet again.

‘I’d say Angus just phoned me without even considering checking your file. I made your appointment for the afternoon so that you can hitch a ride into Blenheim with me and I’ll bring you home at the end of the day. You’ll have to entertain yourself for a few hours after your appointment, that’s all.’

‘I can manage that.’ Presumably there were cafés in Blenheim. Or she could find that motel she should be moving into. ‘Thanks,’ she added, as an afterthought. Cam had gone out of his way to help her and she’d neglected to be appreciative. ‘Again, you’ve been more than helpful. I do appreciate it.’

‘Even having me as your GP?’ He gave her a glance that from anyone else would’ve been cheeky. With Cam she couldn’t tell.

‘Beggars can’t be choosers.’ She smiled. Amazing how easy it was to smile with him. Why wouldn’t it be? He was a ten on the sexy scale. Any female with half a brain would be smiling at him.

‘Where is your GP? Which town?’ Cam spoke tentatively, as though afraid she’d tell him to mind his own business.

Which she normally would do. But what the heck? It wasn’t as though she’d be giving anything major away if she answered. ‘Dunedin. That’s where I grew up and went to med school.’

‘Your folks still live there?’

‘Yes. They’ll never leave, say there’s no place like it. They’re not wrong about that, but whether it’s the best place in the country, I’m not so sure. The weather’s the pits, for starters.’ Too many freezing cold days with snow and ice interfering with plans.

‘Where would you choose?’ He snapped off a length of plastic wrap for the lunches.

‘I have no idea. My last job was in Auckland but I can’t say I liked that city much. Too big and sprawling for me.’

‘Got a favourite place?’

‘I used to have a fixation with mountains. Not as a place to live, though. The sea is appealing, though I’ve never lived on the waterfront.’

‘What changed your mind about the mountains?’

So much for keeping this light. She should’ve kept her mouth firmly shut. ‘I’ve done a lot of hiking, seen more of the back country than most people, and think it’s time to find another interest.’ A safer one. Mum and Dad didn’t need to lose their other daughter.

It was apparent in his steady, sympathetic gaze and the way his smile slowly slid off those tempting lips that Cam knew she’d winged that answer. Thankfully he let it go. ‘Feel like a coffee?’

‘Can I have tea instead? Coffee will keep me awake half the night.’

‘Sure, though I doubt anything’s going to stop you from sleeping when you finally make it to bed. You’ve got serious bags under your eyes.’

‘Charming.’ Any time he mentioned her going to bed her tummy did a little skip. This time, as an added extra, her mouth dried. Bed and Cam in the same sentence were obviously too much to get her head around. He was hot. Scorching hot. But not a reason to get in a dither about. Oh, so her libido was meant to disappear for ever, was it? Was she not allowed to wake up and start looking at men again? It’s not as though she was planning a long-term relationship with Cam. If anything—and that was a big if—she’d only want a fling. A very short one at that because she wouldn’t be staying past Wednesday. A fling implied enjoying herself, something she wasn’t ready for.

Cam said, ‘I trained at Otago Med School, too. But I’d have been four, five, years ahead of you.’

She’d have remembered him. ‘I’m thirty-one, started at university when I was eighteen.’

‘Definitely long gone before you started.’

‘So you’re a geriatric?’ He’d be about six years older than her, she reckoned.

‘Definitely. Milk in your tea?’

Nodding, she asked, ‘So why Wellington for your practice?’

Handing her the mug of tea, he sank into an armchair with his coffee. ‘I went to boarding school there.’

‘Why boarding school?’

‘My parents have been farming in the sounds for forty-odd years. Mum home-schooled us until we were ready for high school.’

‘How’d that go for you?’

‘Loved it. I came home every opportunity, but being in the city was exciting, too.’

‘It must’ve been poles apart from the life you grew up with.’

‘Absolutely.’ He blew on his coffee. Looked around the room, brought his gaze back to her. ‘On Saturday you said you were travelling to Blenheim. Any particular reason?’

Time to drink up the tea and head to that bed he’d mentioned. This time her libido remained quiet. ‘No, not really.’

He didn’t look away or say a word. Just waited for an explanation. It would be hard to hide anything from him. But she didn’t owe him an explanation.

The silence grew, not awkward but none too comfortable either. Gingerly sipping her tea, she thought about being here, doing something as ordinary as drinking tea and idly talking about life. How strange to have someone asking about what she did and where she did it. These past months the few people she’d crossed paths with hadn’t even known she was a doctor. ‘I haven’t worked for a while. Taking a road trip instead.’ And that’s all I’m saying.

‘A long road trip?’

‘I’m nearly done.’ The end was in sight. Except now she had no idea what she was going to do about getting to Kahurangi. Her foot wouldn’t be in any fit state for driving, and there was no other way to get there. Buses went past but being dumped in the middle of nowhere without means of shelter and food wasn’t viable. As for climbing to the accident site—forget it. Impossible.

‘Jenny?’ Cam called softly. ‘If there’s anything else I can do you’ll tell me, won’t you?’

His eyes looked as startled as hers felt, indicating that had come out of the blue as much for him as it had for her. Her eyes widened and a smile stretched her mouth. ‘You’ve already done heaps. I’ll be heading away, out of your hair, as soon as possible.’ Then disappointment rocked her. She didn’t want to move on. Not yet, not until she’d learned more about Cam. But staying would be unfair. He had more than enough to contend with, without adding her woes to his list.

‘Will you eventually go back to working in an ED? Or do you want to change specialties?’ At least he hadn’t out and out asked why she’d given up medicine.

‘Emergency medicine’s always been my passion, and it’s hard to imagine learning another specialty.’ Even she could hear her voice dwindling away, getting quieter and quieter. Not wanting to face any more questions about any of this, she hauled herself upright and scooped up the crutches. ‘Think I’ll hit the sack.’

Cam’s eyes widened, but thankfully he kept whatever had crossed his mind to himself. Instead, after a drawn-out moment he shocked her with, ‘They’re always looking for emergency specialists at Wairau.’

Bang. She was on her butt again and sucking in a pain-filled breath as her ankle protested at the sudden movement. ‘I don’t think so,’ she finally spluttered.

He shrugged as if it was no big deal. Which it wasn’t to him. ‘Fine. Just letting you know. In case you were contemplating staying around.’

Thanks, but, no, thanks. It was one thing to feel disappointment at the thought of leaving, quite another to have Cam make it sound possible to stay. ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’

‘Here, let me help you up.’ Cam stood in front of her, hand extended. ‘That was some thump you took just then.’

‘Not sure what happened.’ Yeah, right.

‘I upset you again.’ Contrition blinked out at her from those disturbing eyes.

Shaking her head from side to side, she said, ‘Not your fault. Anyone would make the same suggestion given the situation.’ Because they had no idea what she was up against. Placing her hand in his, the instant heat that warmed her had her making to tug away, except Cam closed his fingers around hers and held tight, pulling her to her feet.

Raising her gaze to meet his, she sucked in a breath at the need and loneliness and understanding she saw. Just as suddenly she wanted something from him, too. Wanted friendship, closeness—wanted that fling she’d thought about earlier. It was there for the taking. She could see Cam’s need in his eyes, feel it in his raised pulse as he held her hand, smell it in the thick air hanging between them.

Like a chrysalis slowly opening so that what lay inside could spread its wings and try to soar, it was as though her life was starting over. That she was being given a second chance. Her body swayed closer to his.

She didn’t deserve a second chance. She pulled back.

Cam continued to watch her as he leaned close again. She only had to lift ever so slightly on her toes and her lips would be on his. And then she’d know what it was like to kiss Cam, to taste him.

Tugging her gaze away from that beautiful face looking down at her, she glanced around the room. Looking for? Approval? Condemnation? Toy trucks and a helicopter and a plane were stacked messily in one corner.
Toys, Jenny, toys.
Children lived here, with this man. They had first dibs on Cam, not her. She didn’t have any dibs. What had she been thinking? Maybe she
had
hit her head when she’d fallen. She’d sure been acting strange ever since.

Jerking her hand free, Jenny hobbled sideways around Cam. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘I need to get some sleep.’ Then she might be able to put these out-of-left-field thoughts about Cam to rest.

Silently he handed her the crutches, watched as she tucked them under her arms. His face gave nothing away. That need she’d seen moments earlier had been banished. Thank goodness. It was hard enough controlling her own wayward reaction, without seeing the same staring back at her from the man who’d sent her libido into a tango in the first place.

‘Goodnight, Jenny.’

A sharp nod, a curt ‘Goodnight’ and she clomped down the hall to the bedroom she used.

Now she really did have to find somewhere else to stay until she could get around more easily. Staying here any longer wasn’t fair on Cam—or herself.

Tomorrow you’re going with Cam to Blenheim to see your surgeon. You could spend those spare hours afterwards ringing around motels, enquiring about a suitable unit.