Page 60 of Lost in Love
“Everything all right, love?”
“Yeah, fine.” Anna shoved the letter back in the envelope, folded it, and shoved it into her back pocket. “I’ll get your lunch sorted, and then I’ve got to nip somewhere before I head back to work.”
She couldn’t wait until after work. She needed to have it out with Katherine as soon as possible and ascertain what the hell she had been thinking ever pursuing a relationship with her when the letter quite clearly stated it was outside the GMC rules.
All her respect for Katherine had abandoned her. She felt used, like Katherine had picked her up for a few weeks to play with and then just thrown her in the corner when she got caught playing with the wrong toy.
* * *
Unable to bring herself to knock using the naked-lady knocker, Anna banged hard on the door itself. Too hard. “Shit.” She cradled her hand in the other and winced in pain.
Katherine opened the door and, spotting her, did a quick check around. “Anna? You shouldn’t be here.”
Anna barged her way past Katherine and into the house.
“Why shouldn’t I be here, Katherine? Are you afraid someone will see us?”
Katherine shot a look at Anna but remained silent.
Anna waved the letter at her. “So you knew the GMC were investigating us? Does that have something to do with the space you needed? Hm?”
Katherine lowered her head and took a deep breath before answering. “Come through.”
She walked into the sitting room, followed closely by Anna.
“You give me some bullshit about not being ready to get close to me when really you were trying to save your career.” Anna couldn’t help herself; all her bottled-up disappointment over their split boiled over, and she let it rip. “Did I mean nothing to you?”
Katherine turned sharply to face Anna; her face flushed. “Do you really think so little of me that you could believe that to be true?”
They stood glaring daggers at each from across the sitting room.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were sharing.”
“Yes, but not burdening.” Katherine took a seat at one end of a sofa. “Saving my career was farthest from my mind; being able to be able to remain Harry’s doctor was at the forefront. I’m sorry you can’t see that. I know how important it is to you.”
Anna let out a deep breath, and sat at the other end of the sofa. “You should have spoken to me. We could have found a way.”
“Involving you would have put you in an impossible position.”
Anna couldn’t understand how and shook her head.
“I wasn’t going to put you in a position where you had to choose between me and your father. You’ve already given up so much to look after Harry; you’ve worked yourself into the ground to provide for him. I couldn’t have you resent him for coming between us, and if I’m being honest, I couldn’t face being rejected by you, so the only choice I had was to break it off.”
“Well, a masterly plan, I’ll give you that, but you didn’t account for one thing.”
Katherine looked at her and shook her head.
“I would have chosen you.”
“You say that now. You know I would have had to pass Harry on to another doctor.”
“Yes, I get that, but you taught me to trust. But at the first test of that trust, you didn’t trustmeto be brave or even let me decide or… have the decency to discuss it with me. I would have chosen you because then he wouldn't have been your patient, but he would have been your father too. We would have been a team. I trusted you as Katherine, not your position as Dr Atkinson. Perhaps it’s you who has the trust issues, not me.”
The room fell silent.
Katherine lowered her head. “I guess I underestimated the depth of your feelings for me.”
“Seems that way, doesn’t it? You seem to have underestimated a lot of things.”
