Page 71 of Lost in Love
Chapter 21
Katherine popped a couple of paracetamol in her mouth and washed them down with a glass of water. It was never advisable to drink to forget, but last night it had been her only option. She’d had to stop herself from ringing Anna twice and once from going over to her house to apologise.
She eventually settled it with herself, over far too much whisky, that although she didn’t feel great about what she had said, it had needed saying and Anna was best left to deal with it. At least she had no surgery that day, although she could have used the distraction.
She regretted making the pact with Rebecca about how many hours she should work, but Rebecca had said it was in place for moments such as these when she was tempted to use work as a distraction from her problems. Technically it was only paid work she had promised not to take on, and Katherine had had an idea that might circumvent the pact.
A trip to the tearoom was in order, as was one of Gloria’s vitamin drinks. The cabinet was just being restocked as Katherine entered; it was overflowing with inviting cakes. She always got the munchies with hangovers and looked away to resist temptation.
“Anna’s back on the coffee; seems your effect on her has worn off.”
On any normal day Katherine might have given Gloria a piece of her mind, but today she needed to extract some information from her, so settled for a smile instead.
“Vitamin juice for you, or have you moved on to the strong stuff too?” Gloria continued.
Katherine frowned. “Juice, please.”
“Have you heard about Harry?”
“Yes, I’ve been — ” Katherine stopped herself before she could reveal too much; she knew she had to be more careful until she could establish who had reported her to the GMC. It had to be someone in the village, and although it seemed as if Gloria and Anna had a bond, Katherine didn’t trust her. “Yes, I did. Poor man.”
“More to add to that poor girl’s woes.”
Gloria disappeared into the kitchen. Katherine took the opportunity to have a nose around. She spotted what she was hoping to find, a notice board. Pinned to it was one of Gloria’s amusing business cards, a removals business card, someone advertising their services as a cleaner and someone looking for a cleaner.
“Looking to advertise, doctor?” Gloria asked, having suddenly reappeared.
Katherine jumped. “No. What do people do around here for entertainment or exercise?”
Gloria pouted and rubbed her chin.
“They go to the pub, I suppose.”
Katherine was about to ask about the exercise aspect and realised Gloria most likely meant the walk to the pub covered that element.
“Are there no groups in the village?”
“Groups?” Gloria tilted her head.
“Walking groups, that sort of thing,” Katherine suggested.
“There used to be, but the woman running it moved away and it stopped.”
“What about fitness groups?”
“Well, there’s nowhere to hold things like that, is there?”
Gloria sounded as if Katherine should know that, so she decided to answer the question with a question. “Is there not?”
“No, the village hall burnt down, didn’t it? They built a playground on it rather than rebuilding it.”
Katherine sucked on her straw as Gloria proceeded to fill her in on the shortcomings of the parish council and local council.
The phone rang out through her handbag and gave her the chance to escape the tearoom now that she had harvested the information she needed. She answered the call from Rebecca as soon as she stepped out onto the high street and the tearoom door was firmly shut behind her.
“Hey, how’s Harry doing?”
“Fine, I think. He had his operation yesterday.”
