Page 6 of Doc Hollywood

“Clara?” Sadie said gently. “I’m going to drive you home.”

“No. It’s okay.” Clara sniffed. “I just need a few minutes. I’ll be fine to drive.”

Sadie got up from her desk, walked around it, and pulled the other woman into a hug, quietly saying, “I’m here if you need anything. You’re too good for him.”

“Thanks.” Clara began to breathe deeply, not wanting to break down in the office. Finally, she pulled away. “I need to go. Thanks, Doctor Albright.”

“Clara, stop calling me Doctor Albright. You’ll be a consultant in six weeks, and we’ll be working together.”

“Thanks, Sadie. I appreciate you telling me about Jack.” Clara wiped at her eyes.

“I’m going to text you tonight. Okay?” Sadie grabbed her hand and didn’t let it go until Clara nodded.

“I need to go.” Clara pulled out of her grasp, not realising then that Sadie would be one of her biggest supporters over the next few difficult months until they developed a tight friendship. But on that day, Clara turned away from her and hurried off.

“I’ll text you,” Sadie called after her.

Blindly dashing back to the changing room, Clara threw on her clothes and sprinted down to her car, swallowing again andagain to hold back the hysteria that threatened to overwhelm her.

And finally, once her car door closed, she let the tears out.

As the sobs wracked her body, some glimmers of truth began to shine through. He had lied to her about where he was going, who he was seeing, and what he was spending money on. She sobbed harder when she realised that he had no money of his own, no job, and no savings, so she had been the one financing his affair.

She slammed her hands into the steering wheel, screaming incoherently. Crying until she couldn’t cry any more.

The glimmers of truth became wide-open seams of light as she examined the things he had told her that must be lies. Visiting his parents, an explanation of where the new expensive-looking mountain bike had come from and where the money he had drained from her had gone.

However, she didn’t come to the conclusion, sitting alone in the car, that he was abusing her physically, emotionally and financially.

It took her another two years to realise that abusive men like Jack could trap smart women like her.

Two years of picking up the pieces of her destroyed life.

Two years of reconnecting with the friends, who she now realised he had encouraged her to push away until all she had was him.

Two years of working all the hours she could to repair the financial damage he had caused her, to start to pay off the credit cards he had taken out in her name. To get rid of the car loan she had secured for him because the only thing that would make him happy after his third failed exam attempt was a new Jeep.

Two years to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.

She didn’t delude herself; she knew her life was held together with pieces of sticky tape and frayed around the edges, but at least it was hers.

And now, as she stood in the anaesthetic bay of the emergency theatre, laughing and joking with Lauren, she knew she had risen out of the ashes of an abusive relationship and was proud of the woman she had become.

CHAPTER 3

“Hi, Clara. I have Taylor with me.” Sadie strolled into the theatre, with a man at least a head taller than her trailing behind. “Your medical student,” she added for the rest of the staff, who were all staring with interest at the giant of a man walking in the door.

“I’ll be with you in a minute.” Clara started all her infusion pumps, which were injecting drugs into the patient’s drip, and waited for them to lose consciousness; when they did, she lifted the mask over the patient’s face up, supporting their airway.

Then, reaching behind her, she spun the APL dial on the anaesthetic machine so she could ventilate the patient. Once she was satisfied, she turned her head to face the newcomer.

Clara couldn’t see much of him, with the hat covering his hair, the surgical mask covering the bottom of his face, and the dark-rimmed glasses that failed to hide his vivid blue eyes.

However, she didn’t need to see his face to know what he looked like; it was a face that most people were familiar with, staring out at them from movie posters and TV screens.

If he hadn’t had a hat and mask on, she would have seen short jet-black hair, usually worn artfully tousled, and a handsome face with high cheekbones and a square jaw.

What she could see clearly though, was her best friend standing next to him, waggling her eyebrows at Clara while everyone else looked at Taylor.

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