A Puppy and a Christmas Proposal Page 5

  ‘Aha. And sleeping with Button on your chest? How’s that fit into your heartless excuse?’

  He let go of the pup and stood up. Caught in the act of caring. ‘Actually, it was more a case of not sleeping with Spike on my chest. Haphazard dozing, propped up with pillows and at high risk of being licked to death.’

  She imagined him on a pile of pillows snuggling with the dog and her heart kicked hard against her rib cage. She ignored it. Tried to. What she wanted to do was ask him what the hell he’d been thinking eight years ago. Why he’d disappeared and treated her so cruelly, and why he was showing her now that there were still remnants of the man she’d loved...why? Why?

  But this was not the time or the place and, even though she wanted answers, she didn’t want to hear that he’d simply fallen out of love with her, so instead she tugged her vet hat back on tightly. ‘Don’t tell me you let a puppy onto your bed? That is not a good idea for either you or him. You have to set boundaries.’ As she was trying to.

  But he smiled sheepishly. ‘What choice did I have? It was either that or be kept awake by the howling downstairs.’

  ‘So, you’ll be glad if we find his owner today.’

  ‘Absolutely.’ He gave Button a quick pat and didn’t look glad at all.

  ‘And if we don’t? You’ll pick him up after your clinic.’ It wasn’t a question, just an affirmation.

  But he stepped back. ‘It’s Saturday night. Me and the lads from the climbing club are going to go to the indoor climbing wall in Kendal.’

  ‘Now you have commitments you’re going to have to rethink that.’ She noted he hadn’t said he had a hot date with a woman and chose not to note the shiver of relief skittering through her. ‘If I have him all day then you’re going to have to take him tonight. That’s only fair. I can’t have him bothering Mum and her place is a mess of packing boxes that he’ll get into. Our house just isn’t set up for a puppy.’

  ‘Can’t I just have him tomorrow?’

  ‘I thought you were working the whole weekend? Surely it’s better if I have him during the day and you have him at night.’ And sure, she was setting herself up for seeing him at each handover, but there was a puppy here who needed caring for.

  A hopeful eyebrow rose. ‘Tomorrow night, then?’

  ‘And tonight.’ Button had started to whine so she picked him up and held his front paw out to wave goodbye. ‘Alex, this is a baby. You can’t drop him just because you want to go out with your friends. Imagine if you do that when you have human babies of your own.’

  His jaw set at that, his eyes darkened and he shook his head, and for a minute she thought he was going to growl at her. But he took a deep breath and ground out through a very tight mouth, ‘That, Beth Masters, is a scenario that will never happen. I’ll cancel my plans. Just try to find the owner in the meantime.’

  Then he grabbed his bag and stalked out of the clinic, leaving her confused and stung by his tone. For a little while she’d been impressed by his generosity and compassion, but she was seeing the true side of Alex Norton now.

  And for the first time in a few long years she was starting to think their break-up had been a very good thing indeed.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  KIDS. KIDS. KIDS.

  Every time Beth mentioned them Alex’s gut knotted. He’d reconciled that he wasn’t going to be a father and he’d worked through all of that over the years. But now, whenever she mentioned them she had such a wonderstruck look in her eyes that it brought back all their plans and promises, and he found himself reeling back to before the diagnosis.

  She’d wanted a football team because she’d been an only child and he’d agreed to it because he’d loved her so much he’d wanted to give her whatever she wanted. Even now she talked about children as if they were a definite, as if conceiving was going to be a walk in the park. She talked about them with a certainty. She was going to be a parent.

  He wasn’t.

  He wasn’t going to let her distract him any more, either. The morning clinic had dragged on and on and all he’d been able to think about was the way she’d looked when Dennis had cried, and how much he’d wanted to comfort her.

  ‘What a busy morning, Alex. I can’t believe the rush we’ve had on. All those winter colds and flu. Looks like you’re fully booked this afternoon too.’ Out in Reception Maxine handed him some papers to sign. It was good to have her back, happy and well, following her heart operation. Things at the practice were running smoothly. Not that they hadn’t when Beth had helped out, but at least he could breathe for a few hours every day now. ‘You look exhausted already. I hope you’re not burning the candle at both ends? I know what you young, free and single men are like.’

  He laughed. If only he had the chance to burn the candle at one end, but work and Spike had him otherwise occupied. ‘Actually, I had a very sleepless night trying to entertain a particularly perky young thing.’

  ‘Oh! No! I do not want to hear about your escapades.’ She put her fingers in her ears and laughed too, because not a lot could shock their seasoned receptionist.

  But just in case... ‘It was a puppy, Max. Don’t worry.’

  ‘Oh? Taking on a puppy is a big commitment. Does this mean you’re settling down? About time too.’ Something glittered in her eyes, something that made Alex panic slightly.

  ‘No. It’s a temporary thing until we can find the puppy’s rightful owner. Actually, talking of dogs and owners, have you seen much of Dennis Blakely recently?’

  ‘I haven’t, but then I was off work for a while so I could have missed him.’ She tapped on the computer keyboard and read from the screen. ‘Not since Nancy passed away, not really. He’s picked up a repeat prescription for his blood pressure tablets a couple of times, he saw Joe a while back for a cut on his hand...’

  ‘Yes, I saw all that. I don’t suppose you know of any friends or people around here who’d be able to look in on him every now and then?’

  She frowned. ‘Why? Is he okay? Is something wrong?’

  ‘I don’t know. Just a hunch I have. Could be nothing.’ But Beth had thought along the same lines too.

  And there he was, thinking about her again.

  Maxine tapped on the keyboard. ‘I’ll ask around. He’s never been one for friends, to be honest. Nancy was the one who did the socialising. He’s always been a bit of a loner. Sad, really—he doesn’t look his best these days.’

  In that case he’d definitely drive by and check in on the old man. ‘Okay, thanks, any information is good.’

  Maxine smiled gently. ‘Oh, and the new doctor called to say he’ll be arriving in Oakdale next Saturday and will be ready to work sometime the week after. So, there’ll be some relief for you.’

  ‘Yes, once I’ve done the orientation, which is enough work on its own. Let’s hope he’s as good as Joe says he is.’

  ‘I’ve heard he’s wonderful. You all are. Mostly...’ She grinned, because pulling people’s legs was her speciality. ‘And, last question—if we get a quiet moment can you give me a hand to get the Christmas decorations down from the top shelf in the staff room? It’s about time we made it festive in here.’

  He tried not to prickle at the thought. ‘Sure.’

  ‘And bring the tree in from the back door. Ralph dropped it off earlier but he had to make a few more deliveries so I told him to leave it there and we’d sort it out.’

  ‘Sure. Decorations. Tree. Yes.’ It wasn’t as if he had an aversion to the actual tree or the tinsel per se, just the memories this time of year brought, bombarding him with emotions he preferred not to have.

  But it wasn’t until the very end of the clinic that they both had time to catch breath and fetch the tree and box of decorations. As Alex carefully lowered the fir into a prepared stand, Maxine stood back to make sure it was straight. ‘Can you give me a hand to decorate it?’

 
He fought the rising memories of Beth and tinsel and her wonderful smile as he’d proposed, and wondered how he could extricate himself from this without offending his receptionist.

  But before he could open his mouth the door swung open. Frank Entwhistle, one of their regulars who had the farm next to Dennis, shuffled in. ‘Doc! Please... Can you help?’

  Frank’s colour wasn’t good. He was pale and breathing too fast and too shallow. Alex ran over and helped him into a consultation room. The very last thing he wanted was to decorate a tree, but he didn’t want Frank to have to be wounded just as an excuse.

  And he’d driven down from the farm to the clinic in this state? Those farmers were so damned stoic. ‘What’s happened? Take your time. Take a deep breath.’

  ‘I... I...was...rammed by a bloody ram.’ The man held his arm tight across his chest and it quickly became clear taking a deep breath wasn’t possible. ‘Hurt.’

  Alex gently prised the man’s arm away and undid Frank’s wool shirt. ‘Let’s take a look at you. You’re saying you were attacked by a ram?’

  ‘Aye.’ He grimaced and rocked forward, biting his lip. ‘Grandson...was teasing it...charged.’

  Frank’s chest and abdomen were covered in bruises showing extensive blunt force trauma. Alex sucked in a breath. Nasty. ‘Made a pretty pattern.’

  ‘Tupping season’s over...aggressive.’ The old man closed his eyes. ‘I’ll be okay. Give me a minute...’ He slumped back against the pillow.

  ‘Frank? Frank.’ Alex tapped the man’s hand and got barely a weak murmur as a reply. He checked his pulse. Thready. Blood pressure dipping too low. Time was running out. ‘Frank. Frank.’

  ‘Everything okay?’ Maxine was at the door. ‘I heard you shouting.’

  No. Everything was not okay. ‘Phone for an ambulance. Tell them we have high velocity blunt injury trauma. Probable internal bleeding. No, make that definite internal bleeding. I’ll put in a line. Bring the resuscitation trolley and ECG. This would be a very good time to have an ultrasound scanner.’ And another pair of hands that weren’t Maxine with her recent heart stent operation and arthritic legs.

  ‘Right you are.’ She rubbed Frank’s hand. But the man was still barely responsive. ‘Hang in there, Frank.’

  As he waited for the siren Alex slipped an oxygen mask over Frank’s face, put up some normal saline and administered pain relief while monitoring his patient’s labile blood pressure. Just when he thought he’d managed to get it stable with the added fluids, it started to drop again. Which told Alex his patient was bleeding somewhere that Alex couldn’t see.

  He was preparing to insert a chest drain when the paramedics rushed into the room. Relief rushed through Alex. Many hands helped in these circumstances and this was a basic rural GP clinic, not a hospital. He didn’t have the right equipment or enough qualified staff here to deal with such severe internal injuries.

  He described what had happened and his observations so far. ‘He’s had a serious chest and abdominal injury. He’s hypotensive. In a lot of pain, although I’ve administered pain relief. He has ipsilateral decreased breath sounds so I suspect a tension pneumothorax. We need to do a needle decompression asap.’

  ‘Got it. Righto. Let’s do it.’ Andrew, the lead paramedic, set up and between them they slid a large bore angiocatheter into the left midaxillary fifth intercostal space. Blood drained into the chest drain and Andrew grimaced. ‘Let’s get him to Lancaster double quick.’

  Alex nodded. This was not looking good. ‘I’ll phone ahead.’

  Within minutes they’d transferred their patient to a trolley and closed the ambulance doors and Alex finally managed to breathe properly himself. Even if Frank survived the journey to the hospital he had a fight on his hands. These Lakes farmers were hardy, but he certainly wouldn’t be dealing with sheep for a while.

  As he watched them head off Alex wondered how Dennis managed on his own up at the farm—especially if his mental clarity wasn’t as acute as it once had been—and how Alex was going to deal with the sticky conversation that might eventuate. And then his thoughts drifted from Dennis and, somewhat inevitably, to Beth.

  As he made his way back inside the clinic he allowed his mind to wander, in a moment of pure selfishness and respite from the intense hour with Frank, to the gentle ribbing she’d given him over letting Spike sleep on his bed. She’d smiled and laughed, and things had slipped a little way towards how they’d once been and, with it, so had his mood. Simply, she made him feel better. She made him feel a lot of things: happy, hot, calm and yet desperate. For her kisses. For her heat.

  And he realised with a sharp pang of regret that he’d never got over her. And never would.

  But he had to, otherwise he’d go mad being around her. He shuddered as Maxine closed the door on the cold air and said, ‘Just when you thought it was safe to put the closed sign up we have an emergency. It’s a good job you were here.’

  Alex refocused. ‘Did you manage to get hold of his wife?’

  Maxine nodded. ‘She’s out of her mind with worry, but got her son to take her over to Lancaster General. Thank God for family.’

  ‘Indeed.’ Unless you were Dennis, and didn’t have one. He made a mental note to suggest the old farmer came down to the pub more often, or joined in some of the community activities—at least that way there’d be more people looking out for him. Alex knew only too well what staring at the same four walls day in and day out could do to a man’s brain.

  ‘Hi there!’ Beth called as she breezed through the front door, and Alex’s heart rate trebled at her breathless smile. She looked even more exhausted than before and about three times more beautiful. ‘We didn’t arrange doggy handover, so I wasn’t sure what time...is now okay? I’ve finished and am finally heading home.’

  She let the puppy down on the floor. It careened over to Alex and barked and barked at his ankles and didn’t stop until he bent down and gave him a big stroke and lots of fuss.

  Maxine clapped her hands in delight. ‘How gorgeous. And Beth! Lovely to see you. How’s your mum?’

  As they chatted excitedly and petted the puppy Alex made plans for a quick getaway. ‘Right, well, I’ll be off now.’

  But Maxine frowned. ‘You were just about to help me dress the Christmas tree.’

  Finally, he had the perfect excuse. ‘Not with a puppy. Look at him—he’s going to destroy every last bauble.’

  Beth lifted the box onto the desk. ‘Now he can’t get at it. Look, I really need to go. Mum’s waiting for me. And I can’t wait to get out of these clothes. I’ve been wearing the same thing for two days. I need a long, hot bath.’

  The thought of a naked Beth sinking slowly into a steam-filled bubble bath was not the kind of image Alex needed in his head right now. ‘Can we do the tree tomorrow, Maxine? Seriously, I have to get this little fella home and sorted. He’s had a long day and he needs his rest. Like me.’

  Maxine grinned. ‘There’s a man with the right priorities. Of course, we can do it another time. Puppy comes first, right?’

  ‘Say what? Priorities? You’ve changed your tune.’ Wide-eyed, Beth stared at him before slipping her hand into a large brightly coloured crocheted bag she had slung over her shoulder. ‘Okay, here’s a lead. I thought it was time we taught Button to walk to heel. Or, at least vaguely in the same direction as you, with a reasonable amount of control so he doesn’t venture into the road. Good luck.’

  ‘Whoa. You want me to do this? A lead?’ He tried to attach it to the smart black collar Beth had put on the mutt but Spike was having none of it and playfully turned in a circle, chasing his tail, every time Alex went near him. ‘Hey! Come here, you rascal.’

  Way to make me look totally incompetent, dude. Why couldn’t you have been here when I did the chest drain? I’d have looked a damned sight hotter then.

  ‘Why don’t you show him, Beth? Alex has
to walk past your mum’s to get to his house—why don’t you walk the dog on the lead together?’ Maxine had a grin that told him she was enjoying watching the interaction. She must have known about their past history—everyone in the village had known. His parents had reported back to him that their break-up had been hot gossip for a while. And yet here she was, pushing them back together.

  ‘Oh.’ Beth bit her lip and looked from Maxine to Spike and then at Alex. She shrugged, looking as if a romantic snowy dog walk for two was the last thing she wanted to do. But her cheeks pinked under the gaze of himself and Maxine and a very happy puppy and she eventually nodded. ‘Okay, walk me to my house and then you’re on your own.’

  They fell into step as they crossed the quiet village square. A very slow step, as coaxing Spike to walk with the lead instead of gnawing it was proving difficult. Plus, he needed to sniff every step, plant, electricity pole...

  The snow crunched under their feet and Alex searched for something to say that would generate easy conversation. He finally plumped on, ‘How’s your mum doing?’

  Another shrug. ‘She’s deteriorating. This recent flare-up hasn’t abated and it’s really taking its toll. It’s so sad, it’s like she’s fading in front of me. It’s not just the physical, but emotionally she’s fragile too.’

  He knew well enough how dependent Beth’s mum had been from time to time and how much Beth had had to give up to care for her. She’d almost given up the idea of going to university, but the specialists had found a new drug that her mum had responded well to, which had meant Beth could at least have a life of her own.

  But clearly that drug had only been effective for a while. The pain in her eyes speared his heart and he wished he could do something to help. ‘And you? How are you doing?’

  She sighed. ‘I feel guilty about leaving her. I feel guilty about living in Glasgow, but when I tried to come back after graduating she was adamant she didn’t want me here. But physically she was so much better then, she’d even got a man friend who was helping her and they were coping really well.’