Page 10 of Lost in Love
Chapter 3
Anna tapped the glass of the fish tank from her seat beside it, causing the fish to scuttle to the nearest hiding place. She never understood why doctor’s surgeries always had a fish tank. Usually, it was one that looked like the water was never changed and often had a dead fish floating around the top, hardly a good advert for a surgery if they couldn’t even keep the fish alive. She’d felt sorry for them as a child. She’d sit next to the tank if she could and watch them swim around and around, trapped. Now she realised she was the fish.
Her fainting episode had given her a chance to stop and assess; it had been a frightening experience. She knew she was overdoing it, but she didn’t have a choice. There was nothing she could do, and thinking about it just made her situation worse. She felt her lungs tightening as she sat, waiting for her name to be called, and took some shallow breaths.
The worst part of it all was Katherine being there to witness her collapse, not to mention her posh friend. Anna felt so embarrassed and was relieved to see Carrie so she could escape.
Katherine was a complete contrast to her and obviously wealthy. Carrie told her that she’d caused quite a flutter at the visitor centre after buying a lifetime pass. The new doctor had been the talk of the town when she moved into Abbey House a month ago, only seven weeks after Anna had moved home herself, something she was glad of, as the locals had someone new to talk about, and boy, had they done that. Katherine was self-confident and popular around the village. No doubt she had a string of friends that she would have over for dinner in her enormous kitchen. She was the sort of woman everyone wanted to be, more so as she was so annoyingly beautiful.
All the abbey staff had seen the sales catalogue once the neighbouring house had gone on the market. They had listened to the renovations going on for six months and were overjoyed when it was finally finished. The interiors were sublime; it was everyone’s dream house, but with a price tag of one million, it would remain everyone’s dream house.
Although Katherine had been kind to her when she’d fainted, Anna had put that down to professionalism; she had simply been doing her job. She would continue to think of Katherine as the snooty doctor who had put her in her place without knowing any of her past experiences. Admittedly she found Katherine attractive. You would have to be blind and insane to not want to spend the night with her given the opportunity. Anna chastised herself, knowing it was wrong to demean the woman to a sex object.
Anna checked her watch, though only through force of habit. She was in no rush to get back to work. Carrie had insisted that she take the time off work for her appointment. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long, and she could check in on her dad on the way home.
A door opened, but not the one she expected. Katherine walked into the waiting room, and Anna gulped. So much for avoiding her.
“Ah, Anna. Dr Lomax got called to an emergency, so I’m covering his surgery this afternoon. Is that okay?”
Anna stood up before her brain had even had a chance to process this news, and she soon found herself sitting opposite Katherine in her office. She felt as if she had no control over herself when Katherine’s commanding presence was around. It was beyond frustrating.
Katherine leaned forward. “Before we get started — ”
“I’m sorry, my behaviour… before,” Anna interrupted her. She knew that Katherine was going to raise the issue, and she was determined to get in there first to try and lead the conversation. That way she might have some control over it. “I’ve, we’ve — I mean, my dad and I.” Anna cursed the doctor; she was making her tongue-tied. She tried again. “We’ve had bad experiences with doctors before. We’re a little cautious, to say the least.”
“Understandably so. You only want what’s best for your father,” Katherine replied, visibly shocked by her apology.
“Yes, that,” Anna agreed, annoyed that Katherine could state her thoughts more clearly than she could.
“Right, let’s see if we can work out what’s wrong with you, shall we?” Katherine smiled and stood. “Come over to the couch and let’s have that jumper off.”
Anna removed her green abbey jumper and sat on the couch in front of Katherine as instructed.
Katherine took the stethoscope from around her neck and warmed it with the palm of her hand.
“May I?”
Anna nodded her consent, and Katherine tucked her stethoscope inside Anna’s polo shirt. She could feel the warmth of her hands radiating through her skin and her calm, soothing breath on her face. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Katherine’s breasts were directly in her eye line.
“How did you know to catch me?” Anna asked, suddenly feeling the need for a distraction.
“I noticed you had started wiping your brow a little while before. The temperature was warm but not enough to cause heatstroke or for the average person, moving sedately as you were, to work up a sweat.”
“You were paying attention,” Anna said, looking up at her.
“You were very captivating,” Katherine responded. “I moved closer to you to get a better look at you, by which time I could see you were about to faint. I just happened to get there in time.”
Anna had never been told her tours were captivating before. She’d had compliments, lots of them, but that was the best so far.
“Well, thank you. You probably saved me from splitting my head open.”
“You’re very welcome. I’m glad I was there to catch you,” Katherine replied as she moved the stethoscope around.
Anna inhaled whiffs of her fresh, light, floral perfume as she moved; she smelt divine.
Katherine hooked the stethoscope back around her neck and collected a blood pressure monitor from her desk.
“Any possibility you are pregnant?”
