Rescued by Dr. Rafe (3 page)

‘I'll be there.' She waved across to the group on the other side of the river and ended the call. Thankfully, Rafe had decided not to make good on his threats and was already unclipping the remaining rope from around the tree, watching as it was hauled back across the water.

‘We're going.' It was an obvious statement, but it made Mimi feel good to be the one to say it. Turning away from him, she started to walk back towards the road as the rain started falling again.

They made the journey in silence. Perhaps Rafe was figuring out what he was going to save her from next. When they reached the stricken ambulance, he walked over to it.

‘I don't think I'm going to be able to tow you out...' He was peering underneath the vehicle. ‘In any case, it looks as if there's a fair bit of damage, here.'

‘I'm going to call for a tow truck.'
Thanks, Rafe, but you're no longer needed. You can go now.
Treacherous regret tugged at Mimi's heart at the thought.

‘Don't forget the CD safe.' There was a barb in his tone.

No, she hadn't forgotten the controlled drugs that the ambulance carried, and she did know that she had to remove them.

‘I'll let you get on.' She turned, making for the back doors of the ambulance, and felt his grip on her arm.

‘Let me go, Rafe.' She pulled against him, but he didn't relent.

‘What are you expecting me to do? Leave you here with no shelter and no transport?' He gave an incredulous shake of his head. ‘Think again.'

‘Let. Go.' Every time he touched her, it was the same. The memories were almost like solid, living things, tearing at her heart and reminding her that once upon a time, in a land far, far away, she'd craved Rafe's touch.

He uncurled his fingers from her wrist. Not too fast, not too slow. Rafe had always been a master of the art of good timing.

‘Stay if you must. I'm calling for the tow truck.' She forced herself to look away from him, scrolling through the list of numbers on her phone for the vehicle recovery company.

* * *

If he had to put a name to that look, Rafe supposed that hostile arousal might just about cover it. He had no doubt that the hostility was there, but the arousal was probably just wishful thinking on his part.

He supposed he didn't deserve anything else, but she didn't have to ram it down his throat. It was obvious that she could cope without him, but he wasn't entirely surplus to requirements. If she thought that leaving her hadn't hurt him as well, then she could think again.

Rafe kicked disgruntledly at the tyre of the disabled ambulance. Mimi had taken hold of her life with both hands, gained a qualification and got a new job. His life was back on track, too. When he'd left, he'd made the right decision and now was no time to start re-examining it.

The ambulance was tipped at a slight angle in the mud, but it was wedged firmly against a tree and seemed stable enough. Rafe gave the vehicle a good shove and it stayed put, so gingerly he opened the back doors and climbed inside, looking around to assess the damage.

‘They're sending a truck out. The tow company's pretty busy, but they're giving me priority, so they should be here inside an hour.' She was standing in the rain, outside the ambulance, looking at him thoughtfully.

‘Good. Not long to wait, then.' This couldn't be easy for her. Medicine was all about teamwork, and he knew that the nature of the ambulance crews' work tended to forge the tightest of teams. She must be feeling very alone right now.

She looked up at him and he thought he saw a flicker of confused warmth in her face. ‘How much of the ambulance equipment can you take in your car?'

‘Pretty much everything that's portable.' Rafe surveyed the inside of the wrecked vehicle. ‘Apart from the stretcher.'

‘I was reckoning on leaving that.' Mimi was standing stock-still, her arms folded. As if she knew what she had to do but just couldn't bring herself to start. Rafe picked up one of the bags, stowed away under the seat, and climbed out of the stricken vehicle, making his way to his car.

* * *

Rafe's sudden appearance seemed to have peeled away everything she had built up in the last five years, like a bad skin graft sloughing off a wound, leaving it red raw. And now she was leaving Jack behind and stripping her ambulance of everything that could be moved. She could almost reach out and touch the feeling of loss.

She
had
to get a grip. Mimi repeated the words in her head, in the hope that they might sink in.

As usual, it was practically impossible to see what Rafe was thinking, but as they worked quietly together the atmosphere between them seemed to relax. He watched as she checked through the contents of the Controlled Drugs safe, countersigning the inventory, and then set to work helping stow as much as they could from the ambulance into his car.

Typically, the rain seemed to slacken off just as they were finishing, and the tow truck chose that moment to arrive as well. Tired and shivering, Mimi clambered into Rafe's car and hung her dripping jacket in the back.

‘Here.' He rummaged for a moment on the back seat, unzipped a bag and produced a sweater. ‘Put this on.'

He ducked back out of the car, closing the door, and Mimi picked up the sweater. She didn't particularly want to follow his orders, nor did she want to wear his clothes, but refusing might give him the idea it meant something to her. And when she pulled it over her head it was warm and all-enveloping.

The key was in the ignition and she started the engine, putting the heaters on full and directing the ventilation up on to the windows. As they began to clear she could see Rafe, talking to the vehicle recovery men as the winch slowly pulled her ambulance out of the mud and on to the back of the truck.

He jogged back to the car and got in. ‘I'm ready whenever you are.'

‘Yes. Let's go.' She blurted out the instruction, knowing that he wouldn't go anywhere unless she allowed it, and realising that somehow that didn't put her in charge.

‘Hospital?'

‘Yes, thanks. We need to get the controlled drugs back there.'

He nodded, leaning forward to start the engine. Even in these conditions it wouldn't take long before they were back at the hospital and then she could thank him and wave him goodbye.

CHAPTER THREE

R
AFE
WAITED
WHILE
Mimi argued with the ambulance control supervisor. They'd both turned around at the same time, to look at him for a moment, and then Mimi had turned away again, her eyes dead, as if he mattered rather less to her than the chair he was sitting on. The supervisor beckoned her into his office and she followed him, protest leaking from every movement she made.

He'd loved her fire. That unquenchable, unstoppable thirst for life that made the best out of everything had enchanted Rafe. It had challenged all the assumptions that his family had taught him.
Boys don't cry. A man should take care of the women in his life. He must handle his problems alone, not needing to talk about them.

And Rafe had come so close to quenching that fire. When his mother had been diagnosed with cancer, and his family had descended into a state of restrained crisis, Mimi had wanted to help, had fought him to let her in. But Rafe couldn't. He'd already perfected the art of hiding whatever pain life threw at him and he didn't know how to do anything else.

He didn't blame her for giving up on him, but it had hurt all the more because Mimi never gave up on anything. Lying with her in their bed, unable to either sleep or to share his anguish, had taught Rafe the nature of true loneliness. Leaving had been his way of keeping her safe from the silence that had descended on their home.

That was all history now. He'd thought it could never change but, as the door of the supervisor's office opened and he saw Mimi walk towards him, he began to wonder. He'd measured his failure in their relationship by the lack of emotion she'd shown when he left, but now anger was stamped all over her face and he had little doubt that most of it was directed at him.

‘Everything okay?'

She shook her head. ‘There are no spare vehicles and no one for me to partner with. They're sending me home...'

‘Unless?' Rafe had seen enough of the situation here to be able to guess what Mimi's options were.

Her face was set in an expression of almost believable remorse. ‘I apologise for what I said. I should have thanked you for getting me out of the way of that rope when it broke.'

Mimi was still thinking about
that
? Then Rafe realised that this was the precursor to something else.

‘You're welcome. I apologise for what I said too. I had no real intention of tying you to a tree.' However appealing the thought had been at the time.

‘No. It didn't really occur to me that you did. I think we were both letting off a bit of steam.' She screwed her face into a frown. ‘My controller... He says that if you need any help I could always tag along with you.'

Deep down inside a primitive sense of triumph pulled at him. However much she disliked the idea, Mimi needed him. Rafe tried to think dispassionately. Two would be more effective than one, and he'd be able take more calls. Unless, of course, they spent the rest of the evening bickering over old grudges.

‘Do you think that's going to work?'

Mimi took a deep breath, as if she was suppressing the urge to solve the problem by killing him and taking his car keys. ‘I'll make it work, Rafe. I can't sit this out; I'll go crazy at home.'

There wasn't even a decision to make. Turning down any assistance, let alone that of a trained paramedic, would be reckless at a time like this. ‘Happy to have you along. I'd appreciate the help.'

That was that, then. There was a lot of unresolved anger between them, but if they could put that aside this could work.

They stood for a moment staring at each other and then Mimi broke the silence.

‘Look, this is difficult, but we could make it a lot easier.'

‘Yeah, I guess we could. I'd like that...' Rafe remembered not to call her
Mimi
this time. That was just the kind of thing that might shatter this unstable truce.

‘We'll make a new start, shall we?'

Pretend that none of it had ever happened? That he hadn't loved her and then left her, and that resentment wasn't colouring everything they did now. It was a tough prospect, but if that was what it took... It was, in fact, an opportunity. If there
was
unfinished business between them, then maybe now was the time to finish it for good.

‘Yes. Okay, I'd like that. New start.'

* * *

Mimi felt better now that she'd had a chance to wash her face and comb her hair. She folded Rafe's sweater, making a conscious effort not to bury her face into its softness, trying to catch one last trace of his scent. This was hard.

She stuffed the sweater into a bag, dragged her jacket on and marched out into the rain. He was sitting in the car, waiting for her. Her colleague. The one she'd slept with once upon a time, but that had been a mistake and it was all finished now.

‘Ready?' She settled herself into the front seat of the car.

He nodded, turning the radio down until it was just a gentle beat, swallowed up by the drumming of the rain on the windscreen. ‘Yep. First one's near Shillingford. We'll have to go through Eardwell.'

Her home village. ‘Yes, that's the best way.'

‘You want to call in on Charlie?'

‘He's... I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He says everything's okay.' Mimi wished that Charlie would accept her help a little more readily, but she knew better than to fuss.

‘How's he doing?'

‘A lot better. He plays in a wheelchair basketball team now.'

‘Sounds as if he's a great deal more independent.'

‘Yeah. As time went by we all learned how to make that happen.' The cottage that she and Rafe had rented, just across the road from Charlie's place, had been a factor in that. Close enough to help, without crowding her brother. When Rafe had said he was moving, to take up a new job and be closer to his mother, he'd known full well that Mimi couldn't abandon Charlie and follow him.

‘I don't suppose he's got a spare flask he can lend us. If he could fill it up with coffee it would be even better.'

She couldn't help but smile. Rafe and Charlie had always got on well, and it seemed that Rafe still cared about her brother enough to find an excuse to pop in and see whether he was all right. ‘You want a sandwich as well?'

‘Sounds good. Call him and tell him we're coming.' Rafe swung the car out of the hospital car park and on to the road.

* * *

Rafe drove the familiar route, which he'd used to call the road home. He hadn't reckoned on it being quite so hard. When he stopped outside their cottage, it looked just the same as it always had, the white render gleaming pale in the pouring rain like a ghost from his past.

‘You're still here?' He tried to make the question sound as casual as possible, as if there hadn't been a time when he had dreamed about walking back to that door every night.

There was a slight pause, as if she was weighing up whether it was all right to answer. ‘Yes. I bought the place.'

‘Mrs Bates died?' The elderly woman who had owned the cottage had gone into a nursing home and her family had rented the property out.

‘Yes. Four years ago. The family didn't want the cottage and decided to sell, so I put in an offer.'

‘Smart move...' Rafe bit his tongue. He wasn't in a position to give Mimi advice on what to do with her life any more. All the same, he'd thought more than once that if the roomy cottage they'd rented ever came on to the market they should put in an offer for it.

She nodded as if she didn't want to discuss it any more, and rather unnecessarily pointed to the driveway of Charlie's one-storey house, right across the road. It had only been five years, not a century. And Rafe hadn't forgotten.

He got as close to the front door as he could and switched the engine off, leaning back in his seat in an unequivocal signal that he'd wait. Turning up here with Mimi wasn't the most tactful of things to do.

‘Come and say hello to Charlie.' She shot him a pretty fair counterfeit of a welcoming smile.

‘I thought... Wouldn't you prefer me to stay here?'

‘I told him you were here when I spoke to him. He's not going to eat you, Rafe.'

Maybe he would and maybe he wouldn't. But Rafe had often wondered how Charlie was doing and he wanted to see him. Mimi had already got out of the car and was running up the ramp which led to the front door, her jacket over her head. It opened as she approached and Rafe saw Charlie inside.

Rafe swung out of his seat, following Mimi to the front door. Charlie looked great. Strong and smiling as he pulled Mimi down for a kiss. ‘You just couldn't resist, could you...'

‘What?' Mimi broke free, giving a look which was far too innocent to be believed, and Charlie grinned at her.

‘Couldn't resist checking up on me.'

‘All I want is coffee. Then we'll go. If you want you can go lie on the floor and I'll step over you on the way out.' Mimi turned her back on her brother and walked towards the kitchen area at the far end of the open-plan space.

‘You can finish making the sandwiches...' Charlie called after her and then turned his attention to Rafe, his face suddenly impassive. ‘You're back then.'

‘I'm here to help out, that's all.' Mimi seemed to be busy in the kitchen and Charlie was showing no inclination towards following her. Rafe sat down. If Charlie wanted to give him the third degree, he could do it face to face.

‘I hear that Jack's marooned, and the ambulance was towed?' Charlie seemed to be fishing for information, and Rafe guessed that Mimi hadn't told him the whole story.

‘Yeah, that's right. The river broke its banks near Holme and the bridge has been washed away. Jack got pretty wet, but we hear he's okay. Mimi had walked back up the hill to make a phone call.'

‘Yeah. That's what I heard too. Did she try to get across the river?'

‘She... Perhaps you should ask her.'

Charlie leaned forward. ‘I'm asking
you
, Rafe.'

‘I thought she might. I didn't give her the choice.' Rafe decided that telling Charlie he'd had to lift Mimi off her feet before she ran headlong towards a wall of water wasn't a particularly good idea. And if she hadn't mentioned anything about her plans for getting across the river he'd keep quiet about them as well.

‘Yeah. I reckoned that's what happened.' Charlie seemed to relax a bit. ‘Thanks.'

‘My pleasure. Although I'm not sure it was Mi...Miriam's.' Mimi's full name sounded strange and very cold on his lips, but Rafe had made up his mind to play it safe and use it, since she seemed to object so much to his using her nickname.

‘Miriam...?' Charlie's face broke into a grin. ‘She
is
giving you a hard time, isn't she?'

‘Do you blame her?' Somehow Rafe couldn't quite leave it at that. ‘There were reasons, Charlie. For my leaving...'

‘I dare say there were. That's between you and Mimi. She told me to mind my own business enough times.'

A quiver of unexpected warmth jabbed at Rafe's heart. Mimi could have said whatever she liked about him, and it was only to be expected that she'd bad-mouthed him to Charlie. He hadn't realised until this moment how much he'd wanted her not to.

‘Do me a favour, though...' Charlie interrupted his reverie.

‘Of course.' Rafe had absolutely no intention of trying to rekindle anything between him and Mimi, and sex for old times' sake definitely wasn't on his agenda. He could reassure Charlie on that score, at least.

‘I know Mimi's job has risks attached to it, and I also know she doesn't tell me about half the scrapes she gets herself into...'

‘They're not scrapes, Charlie, and she doesn't get herself into them. She's a trained professional.' Rafe surprised himself by springing to Mimi's defence.

‘Yeah, I know.' Charlie ran his hand through his hair. ‘Look after her, will you? You know Mimi. She thinks she's superwoman sometimes.'

‘You have my word on that.' Rafe held out his hand, wondering if Charlie would take it. He did so without hesitation. He was so like Mimi, in both looks and mannerism, and it felt doubly warming that Charlie seemed ready to forgive.

‘It's good to see you.' Charlie's irrepressible grin broke through his reserve. ‘I've missed our little talks.'

Rafe chuckled. Their
little talks
usually lasted until closing time in the local pub, when Mimi was working a late shift. ‘Me too. We should do it again some time.'

‘Yeah. That would be good.'

* * *

Things were going okay. Not good, but okay. They were adults and there was no reason in the world why she and Rafe couldn't play nicely until the situation eased. There was just one thing that needed clearing up.

‘I heard what you said to Charlie.'

‘Yeah?' He didn't turn his gaze from the road ahead but Mimi supposed she shouldn't expect that. She wouldn't have done if she'd been driving either.

‘It's quite unnecessary.'

‘Which bit of it in particular?'

‘About looking after me. There's no need.'

Rafe's shoulders moved in a tight shrug. ‘You want me to go back on my word?'

‘Far be it from me to get in the way of any male bonding that you've been engaging in, but I'd rather you didn't involve me in it.' Mimi shut her mouth tight. That sounded sharper than it should, but when she'd heard Rafe and Charlie's quiet words she'd felt a little more hurt than she should too.

‘I didn't say it to impress Charlie. It's what I intend to do.' The side of his jaw hardened in an obstinate line. She knew that look, and it had frustrated her when she'd been living with him. She didn't need to put up with it any more.

‘I've been looking after myself for the last five years, Rafe, and I've met all the challenges that life can throw at me. I'm sorry if that tears a hole in your masculinity, but that's the way things are. I don't need you to look after me, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around pretending that I did.'