Vital Signs
Page 21
Callie stroked his hand. Since the night he’d come to collect her at the scene of Mrs Savage’s death, he’d seemed a little remote, as if something was on his mind, and she hadn’t had the courage to ask him why. She wondered if Jeffries had said something when he answered the phone, when she was in the back of the ambulance with Miller. She knew the sergeant could be malicious, but somehow, she didn’t think he would have done, after all, there wasn’t anything to tell, was there? It wasn’t like hugging a friend at a time of great stress was the same as being unfaithful, was it? Although, it had felt a bit like it at the time, she had to admit.
“What’s up?” she finally asked, knowing that she couldn’t relax until she knew.
“I’ve, um…” Billy seemed uncertain about what he was about to say, or about how she would react. “I’ve accepted a placement with a group practice. You know, one of the ones approved by the Home Office.”
“Oh!” Whatever else, she hadn’t expected him to say that. “Congratulations. That was quicker than I expected.”
“Quicker than I expected as well.” Billy seemed relieved to have finally told her. “I applied all over the place, thinking I would just go on a waiting list, but they came back straight away. I had an interview last week, well, a virtual interview, that is and they offered me the job.”
“Just like that!” She smiled at him. “Where is it based?”
“Erm.”
He shuffled his feet a little, hesitating before replying and she realised that the clue was in the fact that he had a virtual interview rather than a face-to-face one. It was somewhere far away.
“Northern Ireland,” he said finally.
“Not an easy place to commute to,” she said, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she went over the logistics of a long-distance relationship. Getting to an airport, flying to Belfast. It would seriously reduce the amount of time she could be on call for the police. If not stop it entirely. Did she want to do it? Did she want to move with him to Northern Ireland?
“I know it’s not going to be easy,” he said by way of an apology. “But I need to do this, Callie. You do understand that, don’t you? I need to go.”
She did understand.
“And I need to stay here,” she told him and could see that he had never expected her to up sticks, leave her job, her family and her friends to go with him. He had made the decision to go, knowing that.
“But once I have a few years’ experience there, I can apply for posts in England. I won’t be gone forever.”
But they both knew that wasn’t true.
THE END
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