Page 80 of Lost in Love
Chapter 25
Rebecca baked her legs on a sun lounger as Katherine stepped out onto the patio with a jug of Pimm’s and two glasses.
Rebecca grinned. “Ah, what a pleasant sight.”
“Me or the Pimm’s?” Katherine questioned.
“The Pimm’s of course.”
Katherine pretended to look hurt and poured her a glass.
Rebecca eyed it. “I’ve worked late every night this week; not a drop of alcohol has touched my lips. Have you heard anything from Adrian or the GMC since we last spoke?”
Katherine passed Rebecca a glass. “Well, a lot has changed, even since this morning.”
“Do tell.” Rebecca gulped at her Pimm’s and gesticulated at Katherine for a top-up.
“I emailed Adrian this morning, asking him to pass an updated response to the GMC. I’ve admitted everything, and I’ll take my punishment.”
Rebecca dropped her sunglasses down her nose and shifted on her sun lounger. “Seriously?”
“It’s what I should have done in the first place; Anna was right. I am a dishonest doctor, and it doesn’t sit right with me.”
“You did it for the right reason.”
“Is there such a thing as being dishonest for the right reason? If I ever want a future with her, it must be with a clean slate. I couldn’t walk around the village with her, having denied it to the council. People would never stop gossiping. You know it shows everything about the case online and will likely be leaked to the local papers at some point.”
“I’m confused. Surely if you get suspended you can’t be his doctor anymore.”
Katherine took a seat on the sun lounger beside Rebecca. “I’m not his doctor. His care home is out of our district; in fact, it’s over the county border, so it belongs to a completely different council altogether. He already has a new doctor, Dr Wilson. I contacted him as soon as the transfer request came into the surgery yesterday, and he’s already been in to see him.”
Rebecca squinted and shook her head. “But I thought the care home is just temporary?”
“It was as far as I knew. The last time I saw Anna, her intentions seemed to be sorting the house out for Harry’s return.”
“Shit… I wonder how Anna took all that. Won’t she be pissed that you’re not his doctor anymore?”
“I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough, and the glory of it is that it won’t be my fault. Finally she can’t be mad at me for something.”
“It also means you’re free to date.” Rebecca winked at Katherine and put her sunglasses back on.
“It’s a stretch that she’ll ever speak to me again, let alone date me.” Katherine stretched back on the lounger and poked at the fruit in her glass with a straw. “But one can hope, and at least with the council off my back, there will be nothing in my way at least.”
“She loves you; that has to count for something, even if she hates you.”
“Wait, what?” Katherine sat bolt upright.
Rebecca nodded. “She told me the Sunday we had lunch.”
Katherine’s mouth fell open. “You didn’t think to tell me that before now?”
“Oh no. I thought about it, but it wasn’t up to me to tell you. If she had been ready to tell you, you would know.” Rebecca raised her eyebrows at Katherine; she stuck out her tongue in return.
They had been in a very different place then. Katherine was under no pretence that Anna would still feel that way after everything that had happened. It was gutting to think that Anna had at some point fallen in love with her; she had felt the same way, but neither party had said anything. Perhaps if they had been more honest about it, they would still be together.
“How’s your latest project coming along?” Rebecca asked, sensing perhaps that a change of conversation was in order.
Katherine relaxed back on to her lounger. “I spoke to the trustee who seems to run the abbey, Margaret. She mulled over what I said and came back to me with a proposal. The trustees want the abbey to be very much part of the village. The next stage of their development plan is converting that old barn that runs down our boundary wall into an event space. Due to the way they had to split the properties, it ended up being on their side.”
