St Piran's: The Fireman and Nurse Loveday (5 page)

As for what Tom himself needed…he wasn’t going to examine that too closely.

‘I’ve got a day off on Monday. I don’t have anything planned, so I could start then, if you like?’ Flora suggested.

‘Actually, I’m off myself on Monday and Tuesday—I work four days on and then four days off,’ he said. ‘But if you can do Wednesday to Friday this week, that’d be brilliant.’

‘What time does your shift start?’

‘I work seven until seven.’

‘So what happens in the mornings,’ she asked, ‘if you have
to be at work at seven and school doesn’t start until a quarter to nine?’

‘I’m still working on that,’ Tom admitted. ‘I’ve been dropping him at Carol’s at half past six.’

She shrugged. ‘Well—I don’t start work until nine, so you can do that with me, too. I’ll have plenty of time to take him to school on the days you’re at work.’

Tom stared at her. ‘Really?’ Usually, if something was too good to be true, it usually was. It couldn’t be possible to sort out his hours and Joey’s so easily—could it? ‘Half past six is really OK with you? ‘

She smiled. ‘I’m used to being up with the chickens, even though I don’t have to feed them myself any more. And it’ll be nice to have breakfast with someone in the mornings.’

She was so calm about it, so serene. Did she know what an angel she was? Tom wanted to hug her, but he had a feeling that she’d find it as awkward as Joey did. Something told him that Flora wasn’t used to people hugging her. Except maybe some of her younger patients—he’d already noticed that she had children’s drawings stuck to the door of her fridge with magnets.

‘I’ll need your contact numbers. And you’ll also need to tell the school,’ Flora added.

‘Sure. If you have a piece of paper and a pen, I’ll write my numbers down for you.’

Flora handed him her mobile phone. ‘Better still, you could put them straight in there.’

Her fingers brushed against his and a wave of awareness swept down his spine. Not that he’d dare act on that awareness. Apart from the fact that she was shy—with him, not with Joey—if he messed this up, he’d lose a friend as well as help that he badly needed right now. He needed to keep a lid on this. Trying not to think about how soft her skin was and wondering how it would feel against his mouth, he keyed in
his home number, his mobile and the number of the fire station. ‘I’ve already got your numbers. I assume if I need to get you at work I should ring the surgery?’

‘Yes, or try my mobile—I don’t answer if I’m driving, though, so it’ll go through to voicemail,’ she warned.

‘Good—that’s sensible. I’ve had to cut too many people out of cars when they’ve been trying to talk on the phone and drive at the same time. Why they couldn’t just pull over and make the call safely, or use a headset…’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Sorry. Preaching to the converted. And, as a medic, you know all that already.’

Flora smiled. ‘Yes.’

She went quiet and shy on him again once they’d finished with the practicalities, but Tom was aware that he was eking out his coffee, putting off the moment when he’d have to leave here. Scared of being on his own with his nephew and failing to connect with him yet again? Or something else? He didn’t want to analyse that too closely. And this really wasn’t fair to Flora, taking up her day. ‘Come on, Joey. Remember we said we’d go and play football in the park?’

‘Can Banjo come?’ Joey asked.

‘No, Flora has things to do,’ Tom said, before Joey could suggest taking up even more of Flora’s time.

‘Can we come back tomorrow?’

Tom was searching for an excuse when Flora said, ‘I don’t mind. I don’t have anything much planned.’

‘Tell you what, maybe Joey and I can take you out to lunch.’ The words were out before he could stop them and he could see the surprise on her face—and the wariness. Help. He needed to take this down a notch. Make it clear that he was inviting her out with both of them, not on a proper date.

Though he was horribly aware that he’d like to have lunch with Flora on her own and get to know her better—a lot better.

‘I mean, you fed us on Friday so it’s our turn to feed you—right, Jojo?’

Joey nodded.

‘And I know a place that does a really good Sunday roast, just down the road from here.’ Tom smiled at her. ‘So, can we take you to lunch tomorrow?’

‘That’d be lovely. Thank you.’

‘Great. We’ll pick you up at half past eleven.’

It wasn’t a proper date, Flora told herself as she stood in the doorway, waving as Tom’s car headed down the driveway. They were just acquaintances who were on their way to becoming friends. Nothing more than that.

And she’d better not let herself forget it.

D
ESPITE
her resolutions to be calm and sensible, Flora found herself changing her outfit three times the next morning. She really should’ve asked Tom whether she needed to dress up for lunch.

Then again, they were going out with Joey, so the restaurant was more likely to be a family-friendly place. Which meant smart-casual rather than trendy—and besides, she didn’t do trendy clothes. In the end, cross with herself for minding, she opted for a pair of smart black trousers, a long-sleeved cerise T-shirt and low-heeled sensible shoes. Hopefully this would strike the right balance.

She was relieved when Tom turned up wearing black chinos and a light sweater. And she suppressed the thought that he looked utterly gorgeous, like a model. He was her
friend.
Right?

Joey’s seat was in the back of the car, but she noticed that Tom included Joey in the conversation, even though the little boy barely answered much above yes, no and—from what she could see in the rear-view mirror—a shrug.

Lunch was as excellent as Tom had promised. Flora noted that Tom helped Joey cut up his meat without making a big deal about it, just a soft, ‘Can I give you a hand with that, sweetheart?’ Tom really was a natural father figure, even though he clearly didn’t think he was good enough. And they
all had fun with the ice-cream machine; Tom helped Joey make a huge mountain in his bowl, and the little boy looked really happy as he added sprinkles and sauces from the toppings bar. He decorated Flora’s and Tom’s ice cream, too.

‘That,’ Flora said, ‘is the best sundae I’ve ever seen.’ She smiled at the little boy. ‘Thank you, Joey. I’m really going to enjoy this.’

‘Me, too,’ Tom said. ‘You’re really good at decorating ice cream, Jojo.’

Joey’s smile said it all for him: right now, all was right with his world.

Flora exchanged a glance with Tom, and her heart did another flip. This felt like being part of a family. And the scary thing was that she liked it. A lot.

‘I think,’ Tom said solemnly, patting his stomach afterwards, ‘we need to walk off all that ice cream. It’s really sunny outside, so how about we go to the park?’

Joey nodded, and Tom drove them there. Even though it was a chilly February afternoon, there were plenty of people walking through the gardens, pushing a pram or with a toddler running on the grass beside them. At the far end of the park, there was a playground with swings, slides and climbing frames; even from this distance, Flora could see that it was busy.

‘Hello, Flora! Fancy seeing you here.’ Jenny Walters smiled at her; she glanced at Tom and Joey and her smile turned speculative. ‘Out to the park for the afternoon?’

‘I, um. Yes.’ Flora felt colour bursting into her face. Oh, no. The last thing they needed was gossip. But how could she explain that she and Tom were just friends, without it sounding like a cover story? ‘You, too?’ she asked, hoping that it would distract Jenny.

‘Just me and Rachel. Damien’s at home watching the football.’ Jenny glanced at her daughter, who was holding her
hand. ‘Actually, I’m glad I’ve caught you. I know I’m probably worrying about nothing, but Rachel’s got this thing on her foot and I don’t like the look of it.’ She bit her lip. ‘Sorry, I can see you’re out with your…’ she paused’ …
friend,
and I know I shouldn’t ask outside clinic or the surgery.’

But it would only take a moment and would stop her worrying. And Flora always felt more comfortable when she was doing something practical. At work, she wasn’t shy because she knew who she was: Flora Loveday, nurse. Plus looking at Rachel’s foot might take Jenny’s mind off the fact that she was accompanying Tom and Joey. She glanced at Tom and Joey. ‘Would you mind if I took a look? I’ll only be a couple of minutes.’

‘No, that’s fine—isn’t it, Jojo?’ Tom said.

Joey nodded solemnly.

‘Thanks.’ Flora smiled at them. ‘Jenny, would you and Rachel like to come and sit down on that bench over there? Then, if you don’t mind taking your shoe off, Rachel, I’ll have a swift look at your foot.’

‘It looks like grains of pepper on the bottom of her foot,’ Jenny said. ‘I thought it was maybe a splinter but she hasn’t been running around barefoot in the garden, not at this time of year. I’ve tried putting mag sulph paste on it with a plaster on top, just in case it was a splinter, but nothing happened.’

From the description, Flora had a pretty good idea what it was, but she needed to see it for herself, just to be sure. ‘Wow, that’s a nice sock, Rachel,’ she said as the little girl took her shoe off to reveal a bright pink sock with black pawprints. ‘Those are pawprints just like my Banjo makes.’

‘I like dogs,’ Rachel said. ‘What sort is yours?’

‘He’s a springer spaniel, and he lives up to his name because he bounces about everywhere,’ Flora said with a grin. ‘Guess what colour he is?’

‘Black and white?’

‘Half-right. Guess again.’ Flora kept the little girl distracted by chatting while she inspected her foot.

‘Brown and white?’

‘Absolutely. Hey, do you know a song about a farmer’s dog that almost sounds like Banjo?’ she asked.

Just as she’d hoped, Rachel began singing, ‘There was a farmer had a dog…’

And, to her surprise, when Rachel got to the bit where a letter in the dog’s name was replaced by a clap, Joey joined in.

Tom looked transfixed. And, even though she’d seen enough to have her suspicions confirmed, Flora let Rachel and Joey finish the song before she asked her next question.

‘That was brilliant singing, Rachel—and brilliant clapping, Joey.’

Both children looked pleased.

‘You can sing us another clapping song, if you like,’ Flora said. ‘But first—Rachel, does it hurt when you walk?’

‘A bit,’ Rachel said. ‘It’s prickly.’

‘OK. Well, the good news is, we can do something about that. Sing me another song, and I’ll have a quick word with Mummy.’ She smiled at the little boy. ‘Joey, can you help Rachel with the clapping bits?’

Rachel was clearly delighted to have a younger child join in and, while she explained to Joey what they needed to do, Flora explained to Jenny what the problem was.

‘It’s a verruca,’ she said.

‘But I thought that was like a single big black spot?’

‘Sometimes you get a cluster together, like this one,’ Flora said. ‘It’s actually a wart on the bottom of the foot, so you might hear it called a plantar wart. Because of where it is, it gets trodden into the foot, so that’s why it looks like spots rather than a growth. It’s really common and nothing to worry about; my guess is, she picked it up at swimming.’

‘I had a verruca when I was a kid,’ Jenny said. ‘I remember my mum taking me to the hospital, and this woman put a thing on my foot that burned and really hurt—and she told me off for making a fuss.’

Flora curled her lip in disgust. ‘That’s awful! You can still do the freezing treatment, but you can get something at the pharmacy so you can do it at home, and it’s a special liquid so it shouldn’t hurt. Or you can try duct tape.’

‘Duct tape?’ Jenny looked surprised.

‘It works fairly well, but it’s a little bit more long-winded. What you need to do is cut the tape just to the size of the verruca and put it on—it stops air getting to the skin and so it dies off and lets you get to the verruca,’ Flora explained. ‘Keep it on for six days, then take the tape off, soak Rachel’s foot in a bowl of warm water for five minutes, then dry it and rub the area with a pumice stone to get rid of the dead skin. Then you put more duct tape on, and keep following the cycle. Usually it goes in three or four weeks.’

‘I’ll try that,’ Jenny said.

‘It’s really infectious, so make sure you don’t share towels,’ Flora warned.

‘And I’d better stop taking her swimming for a while.’

‘Nowadays, the advice is just to cover it with waterproof plaster when you’re swimming and use flip-flops in the communal areas,’ Flora said with a smile.

Just when she’d finished explaining, Rachel and Joey sang and clapped the last bit of their song.

‘That was brilliant, Rachel and Joey.’ Flora applauded them both. ‘Rachel, I’ve told Mummy what she needs to do, and you’ll be pleased to know it won’t hurt and you can still go swimming.’

The little girl beamed. ‘Yay!’

‘We’d better let you get on. Sorry we interrupted.’ Jenny
gave Tom an apologetic smile, then patted Flora’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, Flora. You’re such a star.’

Absolutely right, Tom thought, though he noticed how Flora shrugged the praise aside.

‘Sorry about that, Tom,’ Flora said as they headed towards the playground again.

‘No, you’re fine. I guess that’s one of the perils of being a medic—everyone always wants to stop and ask your advice instead of going to the surgery.’

‘I don’t mind,’ she said.

No, he thought, because she was special. She made a real difference to people’s lives. ‘Actually, that was fascinating. I learned a lot from that.’ As well as reinforcing what he’d already guessed: that Flora was patient, was instinctively brilliant with children, and was great at reassuring worried parents, too. And he’d noticed that, even though Flora clearly knew Rachel’s mum, she’d been shy with the woman until she’d actually been treating the child: and then the professional nurse had taken over, pushing the shyness away. Flora clearly had confidence in herself at work, but none outside. And he really couldn’t understand why. Not wanting her to go back into her shell, he kept her talking about work. ‘I had no idea about verrucas. I can’t remember having one as a kid.’

‘You must’ve been about the only child who didn’t get one,’ she said with a grin. ‘Does Joey like swimming?’

He had no idea. ‘Susie used to have a paddling pool for him in the garden, but I don’t know if he ever went to a proper pool or had lessons. Probably not, or the swimming teacher would’ve got in touch with me by now, through Carol or something.’ He sighed. ‘I doubt if Joey will tell me himself, so I’ll have to ask Matty Roper.’

‘It might help you get a routine going, if you do things together on certain days—well, obviously depending on your
shift,’ she said. ‘Maybe your first day off after a shift, you could go swimming together. And putting stickers on a calendar will help him remember what you’re doing and when—that might make him feel a bit more secure with you.’

‘I would never have thought of that.’ Tom said. ‘You’re a genius.’

She shrugged. ‘I’m no genius. I work with children, so I pick things up from the teachers and childminders.’

Hiding her light under a bushel again, Tom thought. Why did she do that? Why was she so uncomfortable with praise? Had her parents been the sort who were never satisfied and kept pushing? Or was it something else?

They reached the playground, and Joey made a beeline for the swing.

‘Shall I push you?’ Tom asked.

Joey shook his head, and proved that he could manage on his own.

Flora was sitting on the bench near the swings where she could watch; feeling useless, Tom joined her.

‘OK?’ she asked.

‘Sure,’ he lied. Hell. He needed distraction. And Flora was really, really good at being distracting.

Not that he would ruin things by telling her that there were amber flecks in her brown eyes. Or that her mouth was a perfect rosebud.

Pushing the thoughts away, he said, ‘Did you always want to be a nurse?’

‘I wanted to be a vet when I was small, and I was always bandaging up the dogs and the cats,’ Flora said.

He could just imagine it, and couldn’t help smiling.

‘But I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle putting animals to sleep, and Dad said I was so soft-hearted I’d end up taking in every stray brought in for surgery and I’d have to buy a
thousand acres to house them all—and he was probably right,’ Flora finished with a smile.

‘But the medic part of it stuck?’ he asked.

She nodded. ‘I was going to take my exams to be a children’s nurse when I’d qualified, and work at St Piran’s.’

‘So why didn’t you?’

She shrugged. ‘I realised Mum and Dad were struggling a bit. I couldn’t just leave them to it, so I came home to look after them and did some agency work. The job as school liaison nurse came through last year—ironically, not long after Mum died. She would’ve been so pleased.’

‘Was she a nurse, too? ‘

Flora shook her head. ‘She and Dad, their life was the farm. Loveday’s Organics. Dad believed in it well before it became trendy, and he worked with the Trevelyans on sorting out a veg box scheme. Though I didn’t really want to take the farm over when I left school.’ She gave a wry laugh. ‘Whoever heard of a farm girl being scared of chickens?’

‘You’re scared of chickens?’ Tom asked.

‘Not any more, but I was for years, even as a teen.’ She blushed prettily again, and Tom had to stop himself leaning over to steal a kiss from that beautiful rosebud mouth. Did Flora really have no idea how lovely she was?

‘I think they knew I was nervous and it made them nervous, too, so it made them flap more. And that in turn made me more nervous, and it just got worse. Nowadays, it’s not so bad. Toby taught me how to keep them calm, and I can even go in and collect eggs now.’

Tom was surprised to feel a flicker of jealousy at the other man’s name. She’d said she didn’t have a boyfriend… ‘Who’s Toby?’

‘He manages the farm for me. He’s worked with us for the last four years—he was Dad’s assistant, but I know he took as much as he could off Dad’s shoulders. His wife’s a real
sweetie, too. Their little boy’s a couple of years older than Joey.’ She looked thoughtful. ‘Actually, they live in the cottage at the bottom of the driveway. It might be nice for Max and Joey to play together.’

‘Maybe.’ Tom was even crosser with himself for being pleased that Toby was clearly committed elsewhere. He had no right to be jealous and no right to dictate who Flora saw. ‘Though Joey doesn’t make friends very easily. He keeps himself to himself.’

‘Max is a nice little boy. He’d be kind. Maybe we could do a play-date in a couple of weeks, when Joey’s used to me and has settled in.’ As if she could sense the knot of worry in his stomach and wanted to head him off the subject, she said, ‘So what about you—did you always want to be a firefighter?’