He had told her he was saving his money to buy a ring and a house when he found a pretty girl to marry. Then he’d changed his mind and said they could all live together because he didn’t want his sister to be alone. Molly hadn’t been entirely sure when or if her younger brother would find the right girl to fill or appreciate a heart as big as his, but loved the fact he had included her in his plans. He was the sweetest brother a girl could ever hope to have and she felt blessed every day.
She had signed up to a temp agency knowing it would assist in the short-term. The long-term prospects were potentially dire if she couldn’t return to her nursing, but the long shifts were close to impossible to manage in her current situation. At least now, with the pay rise, for the time being she could relax. Her life that had been wound very tightly had now slightly loosened.
Leaving Tommy to arrive home to an empty house, cook and eat alone at night had not been an option so she had chosen a lower-paid role to ensure she was home when his bus pulled up each night. After dinner, he would happily watch television with her or sometimes he would go to his room and watch one of his favourite shows in bed.
The remuneration as an office manager up to now hadn’t been close to that of an anaesthetic nurse with Molly’s skills, but it had meant she wouldn’t be caught up in Theatre in a longer than expected operation and not be able to be there for Tommy. The stress of that occurring was too much for her to deal with on a daily basis.
‘How was work today, Tommy?’ Molly asked as she plated their special dinner of grilled salmon and steamed vegetables courtesy of Ryan’s generous offer.
‘Good,’ he told her as he tucked his napkin into the belt of his trousers and sat waiting at the table for two in their small but clean home. The structure was old and worn but the atmosphere was always happy. The table was set with a pretty floral tablecloth, two glasses of water and a small basket with some sliced bread. The butter was nearby and Tommy had already buttered one slice for himself and one for Molly. ‘I like it. I have lots of friends.’
They had an agreement. Molly cooked and Tommy would wash up afterwards. It worked out well. Tommy loved his sister’s cooking and he clearly felt good about contributing by cleaning up the dishes that he very carefully washed and dried.
Molly smiled as she carried the plates to the table and Tommy dropped his head closer to smell the hot food on the plate she had placed in front of him.
‘Yum,’ he said with a big grin. ‘My favourite.’
‘I know,’ she replied as she sat down, put her napkin on her lap and gave a little sigh of relief to have survived a day that had begun so terribly. ‘I bought enough for two nights so we can have it again on Wednesday.’
‘Wow, we must be millionaires!’
Molly laughed. ‘Not quite, but I did get a pay rise on my first day.’
All was good in the world, she thought as she looked over at her brother, who was enjoying the food she had prepared. He was eating the vegetables first as he always did so he could save the best for last. Conversation was at a standstill as Tommy was concentrating on the task in front of him. Sitting in the happy silence they shared, Molly knew that there was nothing she would change except to one day provide a larger home for them both.
At that moment, the six-forty-five train raced past so close the windows rattled and she amended her plan to ensuring their new larger home was in a quiet suburb and out of earshot of a train line.
* * *
The next morning as they both left on time for work, Molly noticed Tommy watching her intently as she locked the front door. It was still bitterly cold and they were both rugged up against the chilly morning air, but at least it wasn’t raining.
‘Is everything all right? Did we forget to pack something?’ she asked with a bemused look.
‘No,’ he told her without hesitation.
‘Is there something you want to tell me...or ask me?’
‘I have a girlfriend.’
Molly spun on her heels to face him, completely blindsided but thrilled by his announcement. Suddenly it made sense. That was the reason Tommy had been paying more attention to his appearance and so excited to get to work. She wasn’t sure what the title girlfriend exactly entailed or how serious it was, but her brother was obviously very happy so she wanted to tread carefully.
‘That’s wonderful.’
‘Honey’s pretty.’
‘I bet she is and she has a very pretty name.’
‘She’s clever. We eat lunch together every day.’
‘That’s lovely.’
‘She’s not tall but I don’t mind.’
Molly smiled as she slipped the house keys in her handbag, zipped it closed and together they walked to the gate. ‘She doesn’t need to be tall. I’m sure she’s just perfect.’
‘She is perfect.’
Their steps were a little slower and she playfully pulled his shoulder closer as she became acutely aware that her brother was a young man apparently falling in love. He was a loveable and wonderful young man and she prayed the young woman was just as sweet.
Suddenly she felt an unexpected ache in her chest as she realised perhaps it wouldn’t just be Molly and Tommy in the future. It was bittersweet and she was so happy for Tommy. Perhaps her brother had found a sweetheart to share his life. It made the moments they shared even more precious. She had been through some heartbreaking times with Tommy and their bond had become even stronger. Because they had each other to lean on they had survived and she had not considered a future without him right by her side.
But now she had to think about it. With all her heart, Molly hoped that his feelings were reciprocated. She was thrilled that Tommy might have found someone to love and he deserved that. Everyone deserved to feel loved.
With the beeping of the bus horn by the waving driver, Molly was snapped from her wandering and somewhat jumbled thoughts. Maybe for Tommy it was just a simple infatuation, not a lifetime commitment, she reminded herself. She really was getting ahead of herself.
Molly readjusted his backpack. She couldn’t stop herself from fussing over him the way she always had.
‘I’d love to meet her one day.’
‘I will bring her home for tea. Maybe lamb chops,’ he said, not bothered at all by his big sister’s fussing. ‘She looks like a princess.’
‘She sounds lovely.’
‘I know her favourite flower and her favourite colour,’ he told her before he leant in for Molly to kiss him goodbye. He didn’t kiss her back but he did allow her to plant her lips on his ruddy cheek. ‘Bye, Molly.’
‘Have a lovely day, Tommy,’ she called out as she watched him climb onto the bus and take his seat.
Molly tried to peer through the window to see if he was seated next to the lucky girl, but Tommy had taken a place on the other side so whether his girlfriend was on the bus or not she wasn’t sure. But the moment he had stepped inside the bus she couldn’t help but notice that he was smiling from ear-to-ear.
Walking briskly to her bus stop, she thought ruefully that perhaps one of the Murphys would be lucky in love after all.
And the other one had a well-paid job for at least a month.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘OF COURSE I don’t mind if you buy a new dress. You’re my date at the AMA dinner tonight and I want you to have whatever you want. Buy two if you like and get some shoes and a bag too. I put my credit card on your bedside cabinet this morning. You were still asleep when I left.’
As she hung her heavy winter overcoat in the closet near the kitchen, Molly felt a tug at her heart hearing Ryan speaking so warmly on his phone to the woman he was apparently taking to dinner that night. It was Friday, her fifth day working in the practice, and, as much as she didn’t want to admit even to herself, with each day her admiration for her boss had been growing; realising that Ryan had a woman in his life had
an unexpected effect on her.
She had kept her distance in an effort to control the way she had reacted to him in the kitchen that day. She knew any stirring feelings she had would lead nowhere. While her body was reacting to him, she was resolute that she didn’t want to ever get involved or make herself vulnerable again. She wouldn’t survive another heartbreak so she wasn’t interested in even thinking about a relationship.
Standing there in the hallway, she couldn’t help but wonder, if all of that were true, then why did she feel a twinge of jealousy?
She had made small talk but kept it to a minimum and kept him at arm’s length so she had more control of her emotions, but still hearing him speaking that way to another woman had affected her.
While she could try to label her feelings as an appreciation of him as a doctor, she knew she had stepped outside those boundaries. She couldn’t deny it.
He worked long hours and after he finished consulting at the practice, and he had visited all his home rounds, she noticed on his calendar that he had two hours put aside from eight to ten o’clock three nights a week to provide medical services to a residential care facility for single mothers. For a young, eligible medical practitioner, his life could have been very different, but instead of leading a hectic social life, Ryan appeared to be dedicated to his profession and providing services to those who needed him most.
Molly realised it was more than simple admiration and she didn’t want to feel that way, particularly as she overheard the conversation that morning. She hadn’t wanted to eavesdrop but she couldn’t hang her coat anywhere else and she had hoped to make a coffee before she started for the day. She heard him laugh and wondered about the woman’s response.
The woman with whom he’d obviously shared the previous night as he’d dropped his credit card beside her bed while she’d still been sleeping.
Molly pulled the knitted woollen cap from her head and absent-mindedly ran her fingers through her hair, all the time wondering what his date would look like. Against her better judgement she let her thoughts wander. She mentally pictured the woman lying across satin sheets, in her silk lingerie. Perfectly waved, long blonde hair, no doubt. Beautifully manicured nails. She felt fairly confident she knew the type of woman who would be the perfect match for Ryan in looks and sex appeal.
The antithesis of herself, she thought with a sigh as she self-consciously flicked her slightly frizzy curls away from her face.
She no longer even window-shopped at high-end boutiques. The variety of stores she frequented had nice neat clothes, they were simple, with hundreds of the same style hung in racks all over the city in every size, but they were new and clean. She had different priorities. Designer clothes and accessories weren’t included.
‘My tux is at the practice, so I’ll change here and whizz by about seven to pick you up,’ Molly heard him say. She did wonder if she wasn’t moving more slowly than needed so she could hear just a little more about her boss and his date. She knew that, against her own will, Ryan was having an effect on her, and it was borderline masochistic to hear him talking to another woman but her curiosity was piqued. Where was the elegant soirée to be held? She knew that AMA was the Medical Association dinner so no doubt it would be at one of the city’s five-star venues and the ladies would be dressed as if they were to meet royalty. Like a twenty-first-century Cinderella ball. But there was no fairy godmother for Molly and the only pumpkin she would see was in the soup she and Tommy would be having for dinner that night along with home-made shepherd’s pie.
Maybe it was good to hear the banter, she reminded herself, as it also made her realise he was taken or a player, which either way set the boundaries for her. And with her feelings escalating for the man little by little each day, she needed the reality check. Ryan McFetridge was never going to be more than her boss.
‘No. Of course, I don’t want to rush you. Sure...uh-huh...okay, I’ll pick you up at seven-fifteen so you have time to get back from the hairdresser and get dressed.’
Of course I don’t want to rush you... You must go to the hairdresser, Molly repeated in her head as she rolled her eyes.
She cringed as she shut the closet and made her way to her desk, shaking her head. She didn’t resent the woman, or want to be her, she reminded herself sternly. But as she shuffled down the corridor the sinking feeling that wasn’t subsiding made her wonder if that was true.
Life for Molly was getting back on track but there was something about the way Ryan made her feel whenever he was close that she needed to manage. And hearing conversations like that should have made it easier. But for some reason it hadn’t.
Her day would have to begin without caffeine as she didn’t want to intrude further on the intimate conversation. There was no doubt in her mind that there might be some parts she didn’t need or want to hear before she started work. Molly had lots to do that day and listening to any more discussion and giving any more thought to the woman’s preparation for the evening she was going to share with Ryan was just too much to handle.
* * *
The first two hours went smoothly with most of the patients arriving and leaving on time. Molly had continued to make small changes to the appointment scheduling to make the process even more time efficient. She felt confident as she listened to the patients call in that she could schedule sufficient time for each consultation so that Ryan wouldn’t be running late, but not so much that she would waste any of his day. She doubted Ryan would have noticed if he was running either late or early as his mind seemed to be elsewhere. More than likely on his date that night, she surmised.
* * *
‘Tell me a bit about yourself, Molly. Apart from being an anaesthetic nurse who wanted a role with better hours, I know nothing.’
Molly almost jumped out of her skin. She hadn’t seen Ryan standing by the window as she’d walked into the kitchen for a glass of water.
She softly coughed to clear her throat. ‘There’s not much to know, really.’
‘I don’t believe that.’ His arms folded across his broad chest and his look was one of curiosity. ‘There’s not a hospital within this state, or this country, that wouldn’t snap you up in an instant. May I ask if your desire to have regular hours is due to a child or ailing parent?’
‘Neither.’
‘I appreciate your right to privacy in your personal life, so if my questions are intrusive, we can just leave it there.’
Molly studied the man standing so close to her that she could quite literally reach out and touch him. He was handsome, intelligent and the love he had for his daughter was palpable. She wasn’t sure if having a teenage daughter meant that Ryan was hiding his age well or he had been a very young father. But it didn’t matter. It was none of her business. Dr Ryan McFetridge had a close, loving relationship with his daughter, was wonderful with his patients and...had a hot date for dinner that night, she reminded herself. But she didn’t want to be rude and not answer the man who had freed her from Joel’s lecherous plans.
‘It’s family,’ she replied. ‘The reason I need a position with regular nine-to-five hours is my brother, Tommy.’
‘He’s young, then?’
‘No, Tommy’s twenty-five, but, like Lizzy, he has Down’s syndrome and I’m his sole caregiver. He likes routine and he’s happiest when I’m home before he is dropped off from work each night, so I need a job that allows me to give him that.’
Ryan didn’t say anything for a moment but Molly watched as he nodded his head in a knowing way.
‘I had no idea, but then again, why would I?’
Molly shrugged in response. Silently she agreed. Why would he? Molly’s life outside the practice bore no interest to Ryan. He had a daughter, a full professional schedule and a girlfriend, so the frizzy-haired temp’s life would hardly be of any concern to him.
‘I understand completely. I’m all the family Lizzy has t
oo so I pretty much work around her needs. I guess we have a lot in common.’
‘I suppose we do,’ Molly replied politely, all the while thinking they had very little in common.
‘But I wouldn’t change it for the world,’ he added. ‘She’s a blessing and I’m so grateful to have her in my life.’ He drew a deep breath and looked intently at Molly. ‘No doubt you feel the same.’
‘Yes, I do,’ she told him as she looked down at her food to avoid his gaze. He was much too close and the room suddenly became much too warm. ‘Knowing that I will be there every night when his bus pulls up makes him happy. He doesn’t like changes or surprises. Lizzy no doubt doesn’t like surprises either.’
‘Hates them,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘She has to know everything, days ahead.’
Molly nodded. ‘I found that if I can reassure Tommy that nothing will change, then his anxiety levels don’t rise and he more than copes—in fact he exceeds all expectations put on him.’
‘You clearly understand how to manage the challenges he faces on a daily basis.’
‘Not all of them, but I do my best. Tommy is the most loving brother a girl could have and I feel lucky to have him.’
‘I’d say he is very lucky to have you. He chose his sister well,’ Ryan said, then paused, deep in thought. ‘Well... I’d best get back to work.’
‘Ditto, I have quite the pile of correspondence that I need to process.’
* * *
It was just before twelve when Ryan came and perched casually on the corner of her desk. There were no patients as he was running a little early.
‘I have a huge favour to ask you,’ he began.
Molly spun on her nicely padded leather chair. She was enjoying the quality of her seat, as it certainly was an improvement from the last temp assignment that had seen her perched on a rickety stool that had seen better days. She wished immediately that she had not turned to find him so close yet again. His face, freshly shaven, was almost irresistible. Her eyes traced the line of his chiselled jaw down to the cleft in his chin then up to the softness of his lips.
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