Page 5 of Doc Hollywood

Clara and Sadie’s friendship had grown quickly once Clara had finished training, but at that point, they hadn’t been friends, and she went round to the office with trepidation. She was panicking that with only six weeks left of her fellowship, only six short weeks from becoming a consultant and achieving the job she had strived so long for, that something awful must have happened.

When she walked into Sadie’s office, her heart began to pound. There was a box of tissues front and centre on the desk.

“Hi, Doctor Albright. Is there a problem?” Clara asked nervously.

“Not with your work. No,” Sadie said.

“That’s good.” Clara slumped into the chair in relief. She had been afraid the turmoil she was undergoing at home had affected her work.

“How are things going with you?” Sadie spoke carefully, maintaining eye contact with Clara.

“Oh, you know. Too much work and too little time. And obviously, we were disappointed that the college turned down Jack’s last appeal; he was so hopeful.” Clara leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk.

“Yes. His appeal.” Sadie frowned.

Clara looked long and hard at Sadie, realisation washing over her. “He said you supported his appeal and wrote a letter of recommendation to the college.”

Sadie glanced down at her desk, avoiding eye contact with Clara.

“You didn’t write a letter for him though. Did you?” Clara questioned.

She had asked Jack if she could read it, and he had declined, saying it wasn’t anything she needed to worry about. She hadn’t pushed it as the burn he had given her by forcing her arm against the oven door when she had asked him to stop leaving his clothes on the floor and put them in his washing basket was still healing, so she had dropped the subject not wanting to get hurt again.

But now, sitting in front of Sadie, she could tell by the other doctor’s expression that Jack didn’t let her read the letter because it didn’t exist.

Sadie finally met her eyes. “No. He asked me, and we discussed it. He didn’t have any extenuating circumstances. He used all five attempts, and he failed. I didn’t write him a letter.”

Clara nodded in resignation. He had lied to her. “Okay, thanks for being honest with me. Jack told me he had the department’s support. I guess he was lying to me.” She couldn’t help it; she felt tears welling in her eyes and reached for a tissue, dabbing at them.

“I went down to the city for a conference this weekend.” Sadie met Clara’s gaze without flinching.

Clara wiped the tears away, taking a second to catch up, confused about the sudden change in direction of the conversation. “Oh, um, great. The one on regional blocks?”

“Yes. It was a real treat to stay in a nice hotel in the city. It had a lovely bar overlooking the harbour. It was the first time I’d been away from the kids in so long. I sat on the balcony in that bar for hours looking at the view.” Sadie’s eyes shone with sympathy.

“That sounds great.” Clara was getting more and more puzzled.

Sadie pushed her phone across the desk to Clara, opening up a video as she did. “I’m sorry.”

“What? I?” Clara frowned and tried to make out the figures in the badly lit video.

A fair-haired man was walking across the screen, and a petite woman wearing a short, short dress was clinging tightly to his arm. They were oblivious to anyone around them, not looking anywhere except at each other. As they drew nearer to the camera, Clara’s hand flew to her mouth.

It was Jack. What the hell was he doing? He was visiting his parents last weekend. Wasn’t he?

She wanted to push the phone back, to stop watching. But she wasn’t stupid and wasn’t a coward. She watched Jack and the woman stop at the railing, they looked at the view for a few seconds before they turned to each other.

Clara’s eyes closed when she saw him push a lock of the other woman’s hair behind her ear. Then she forced them open again, so the next image burnt into the back of her retinas. It was a long time before she didn’t see the picture of him kissing the other woman behind her eyes every time she closed them.

She watched them kiss gently at first and then passionately. The video cut off as his hand moved from the back of her head toher waist and down to her bottom, pulling her as close to him as he could.

“I’m so sorry.” Sadie looked at Clara, waiting for the younger woman to react.

“I know.” She blinked, willing the tears that wanted to fall to stay where they were.

“You don’t need to come in for the rest of the week.” Sadie reached over and took hold of her hand.

Clara nodded, her eyes unseeing, with the images of her boyfriend; ex-boyfriend’s infidelity playing over and over again.

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