by Kate Hardy
‘My turn.’ He did the same with her hiking trousers, teasing her by sliding his fingertips underneath the waistband and stroking her skin, and then finally undoing the zip and sliding them down. She copied what he’d done with his own hiking boots, and he smiled when he saw her socks. ‘Pink and fluffy.’
‘They’re warm, and they stop my boots rubbing.’
He dropped to his knees before her and removed her socks. ‘You have beautiful feet. Pretty toes.’
Her toenails were painted an in-your-face scarlet.
‘I don’t wear nail polish at work. This is my indulgence,’ she said.
‘And it’s a nice one.’ He rocked back on his haunches and looked at her. ‘You’re beautiful, Hayley. And I want you. More than I’ve wanted anyone in a while.’
‘It’s the same for me.’ She dragged in a breath. ‘But I’m not on the pill.’
‘I have condoms,’ he said. ‘Not because I habitually seduce a girl in every group I take out—more like my big brother’s idea of a flat warming present.’ His mouth twitched. ‘But he also got me a coffee machine, so I’m good.’
‘Coffee and condoms.’ She couldn’t help smiling back. ‘It’s an interesting combination.’
‘I can think of a more interesting combination.’ He stood up, and brushed his mouth against hers. ‘And a more comfortable place.’ He took her hand, and led her to his bedroom.
It had the same clean lines as the other rooms in his flat, all pale wood and cream walls and slate-coloured linen.
And then she stopped thinking as he kissed her again, cupping her face and catching her lower lip between his. When he deepened the kiss, she tangled her fingers in his hair. He drew her closer, and unhooked her bra, then let her breasts spill into his hands.
‘So beautiful,’ he whispered.
She wasn’t sure which of the two of them finished undressing the other, but at last they were naked. He pushed the duvet aside, then lifted her and laid her gently against the pillows. She tipped her head back, and he traced a necklace of kisses across her throat. She caught her breath, wanting more and pushing up towards him. He slid one hand between her thighs, teasing her with clever fingers as he stroked upwards; by the time he reached her sex, she was quivering.
But he hadn’t finished. By any means. He shifted on the bed so he could stroke her skin with his hands and his mouth, until she was simmering like the volcanoes the island was built upon.
‘Now?’ he whispered.
‘Now.’
He reached into the drawer of his bedside cabinet and retrieved a condom, then ripped open the foil packet.
‘My turn,’ she said, and rolled the condom on, taking it slowly. By the time she’d finished, his breathing had quickened.
And then at last he knelt between her thighs and eased his body into hers.
It felt good. Strange—his weight and the feel of his muscles weren’t what she’d been used to, what she’d been missing—but good.
And when her climax hit unexpectedly, spilling through her, she held on to him very tightly, feeling the answering surge in his own body.
* * *
Once he’d dealt with the condom, he turned to her. ‘Help yourself to anything you need in the bathroom—the towels are all fresh.’
‘Thanks.’ She enjoyed the shower; she was getting used to the slightly sulphurous smell of the hot water, and she still found it amazing that the water was heated purely by geothermal energy. Iceland really was the land of ice and fire.
When she came back to the bedroom, wrapped in a towel, he’d pulled on a pair of jeans, though he hadn’t bothered putting on a shirt.
‘I know your hotel’s only just down the road,’ he said, ‘but would you like me to put your clothes through the washing machine?’
She hadn’t thought that far ahead—about having to leave here tomorrow in the same clothes she’d been wearing all day, even if she was only going between here and her hotel to change. ‘Actually, thanks, that’d be good. Then I won’t have to stop in at the hotel in the morning to get clean clothes.’
‘Here—put this on, or if you’d prefer to wear one of my shirts then help yourself to whatever you want in the wardrobe.’ He handed her a soft, fluffy towelling robe, then gathered up her laundry and headed out to his kitchen.
Sam was strangely domesticated for someone who seemed so at home in the wild landscape. And she rather liked that.
She borrowed a T-shirt from his wardrobe so she had something to sleep in, and wrapped the robe round herself before following him to the kitchen. He poured her another glass of wine, and they curled up on his sofa and watched the final rays of the sunset. Then he gently led her back to bed and made love to her again.
And it was so, so good to feel another body curved around hers as she finally fell asleep.
* * *
The next morning, Sam woke Hayley with a kiss. ‘What would you like for breakfast?’ he asked. ‘I have to admit to developing a waffle habit out here—Martin bought me a waffle iron and some maple syrup to go with the coffee machine.’
‘I’d love waffles. Thank you.’ She smiled. ‘Can I do anything?’
‘There’s very little that needs doing so, no, it’s fine. I’ve put your dry clothes in the bathroom, by the way.’
She appreciated his thoughtfulness. ‘Thank you.’
By the time she’d showered and changed, she could smell waffles cooking. She thoroughly enjoyed them, and was amused that he’d also provided a dish of blueberries and a dish of Icelandic yogurt in a nod to healthy eating.
‘So would you like to see the geological stuff today?’ he asked.
‘Yes, please. And I’d also like to take you out to dinner,’ she said, ‘as it’s my last day.’
‘Thank you—I accept.’
She insisted on doing the washing up while he had a shower; then he drove her to Thingvellir National Park.
‘The name means “Parliament Meadows” and it’s where the original parliament was located,’ he explained.
They walked down through a path in a canyon whose walls were dark brown and it felt to Hayley like some kind of lunar landscape.
‘So is this rock basalt?’ she asked.
‘Lava lobes,’ he said. ‘We’re walking between two tectonic plates—this is where you can actually see the drift between the North American and Eurasian plates.’
‘The place where the earth actually splits.’ And where new land sprang up. ‘Maybe this is a lesson for us,’ she said. ‘Even when something breaks and changes utterly, life still goes on—the land here grows and changes.’ Just as they would grow and change from the wreckage of their old lives.
He looked at her. ‘Maybe.’
Maybe, she thought, they were both starting to heal. And last night with Sam had shown her that she was ready to move on. To learn to love someone else. And she’d always be grateful to him for helping her get past the place where she’d been stuck.
After a day’s exploring, they ate a final dinner in the city centre, then stopped for an ice cream in the Old Harbour area and walked back along the sea wall to her hotel, where they sat with their arms round each other and watched the final gold, orange and red of the setting sun.
‘Thank you for making this week so good for me,’ she said. There was a lump in her throat; right at that moment, she didn’t want to leave. ‘I have a ridiculously early flight tomorrow.’ And she had a feeling that what she would miss most about Iceland was Sam. ‘So I guess...’ She swallowed hard. ‘I guess this is goodbye.’
‘I’m not very good at goodbyes,’ he said.
‘Me, neither.’
‘So let’s do it in Icelandic. Bless,’ he said.
‘Bless,’ she repeated.
He kissed her lightly. ‘Safe travels.’
‘You, too.’ She wasn’t going to get clingy with him now. ‘And thank you for everything.’
‘Pleasure. Be happy, Hayley.’
‘You, too.’ She stroked his face.
He kissed her a last time, then turned and walked away.
Their paths would probably never cross again. Though she had a feeling that their holiday fling had done both of them some good.
And now it was time to get on with the rest of her life.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘HE’S UTTERLY GORGEOUS—he reminds me of that American actor I like,’ Danielle said, looking through the photographs on Hayley’s laptop. ‘I’m not surprised you fell for the guy.’
‘I didn’t fall for him,’ Hayley protested.
Danielle scoffed. ‘Of course not. That’s why he’s in half your photographs.’
‘That’s simply because he was there, showing me round the island. He was kind.’
‘In those pictures, he doesn’t look at you as if he was just being kind,’ Danielle pointed out. ‘And you don’t look at him that way, either.’
Hayley felt the colour burst into her face.
Danielle laughed. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. I’m glad you kept up the spirit of the Year of Saying Yes. That trip did you a lot of good.’
‘It was just one night,’ Hayley muttered. ‘Anyway, have you done anything on that front?’ she asked, trying to deflect her best friend’s attention.
‘We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. Besides, I haven’t met anyone who’s really caught my eye, whereas you have.’
‘It was a holiday romance. A fling,’ Hayley said. ‘I enjoyed it while it lasted, but now it’s over and I’m fine with that, too.’
‘But it did you good. Now you can really start to move on. You know Evan wouldn’t have wanted you to lock yourself away.’
‘I know.’
‘And it’s the Year of Saying Yes.’
‘Right now I’ve only got time for work and training,’ Hayley pointed out.
‘We’ll see,’ Danielle said.
* * *
On Monday morning, Sam cycled to Muswell Hill Hospital and walked into the emergency department, ready for his first shift in his new job. As he’d expected, there was some admin to sort out first, including getting his hospital identity badge; and then Michael Harcourt, the head of the department, took him round to introduce him to the other staff.
‘Ah, Dr Clark—just the woman I wanted to see,’ Michael boomed as a woman in a white coat came out of a cubicle. ‘Hayley, meet your replacement, Samuel Price. Sam, Hayley’s just been promoted to senior registrar and you’ve taken over from her. You’ll be working together.’
Of all the places...
Sam hadn’t told Hayley that he was about to start a new job in London, and she hadn’t told him where she worked. London was a massive city with quite a few hospitals. What were the chances that they’d end up working together? The way her pupils expanded momentarily told him that she was just as shocked and surprised as he was.
This was going to make things awkward. They’d had a fling in Iceland, agreeing that it would be nothing more than that, and they’d said goodbye. What now? Would she want to see if their fling could be something more, something deeper? Or had he just been her transition person, the one who’d helped her to move on after her partner’s death, so she wouldn’t want to pick up where they’d left off?
The problem was, he didn’t know what he wanted, either. He’d really liked the woman he’d started to get to know in Iceland. But then again he’d liked Lynda, too—and his ex-fiancée had let him down so badly. Could he even trust his judgement any more? Would he be making a huge mistake if he started seeing Hayley?
She recovered first, holding her hand out. ‘Welcome to Muswell Hill Hospital, Dr Price.’
So she was going to pretend that they’d never met before? OK. That was probably the safest way and saved any awkward explanations. ‘Thank you, Dr Clark,’ he said, giving her a polite nod and shaking her hand.
‘We usually work on first-name terms here,’ she said. ‘Everyone calls me Hayley.’
‘And I’m Sam,’ he said.
‘I’ve got a patient coming in any second now with a suspected broken hip. Want to come in at the deep end?’ she asked.
‘The deep end suits me fine,’ he said.
‘Good, good. Just as it should be. I’ll leave you in Hayley’s more than capable hands,’ Michael said, and clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Look after the lad for me, Hayley, there’s a good girl.’
‘You know we always look after our own in the Emergency department, Mike,’ Hayley said with a smile. ‘Let’s go and find our patient, Sam.’
When the head of department had gone, Hayley looked straight at Sam. ‘We probably need to talk and clear the air—but now isn’t the time.’
Yes, they definitely needed to clear the air and establish a few boundaries—the more so because he still felt that physical pull towards her. ‘Right now the patients have to come first—but I agree, we need to talk.’
‘Lunch?’ she suggested.
‘Works for me.’
They went to the ambulance bay to meet the paramedics for the handover.
‘This is Mrs Ethel Baker,’ Dev Kapoor, the lead paramedic, said.
‘Hello, Mrs Baker—can we call you Ethel?’ Hayley asked.
At the elderly woman’s nod, she said, ‘I’m Hayley Clark and this is Sam Price, and we’re going to look after you—we just need to talk to Dev first, if you don’t mind, so he can tell us all about what’s happened to you and save you having to go all through it over again.’
‘All right, love,’ Ethel said, her voice sounding very soft and very weary.
Sam noticed that Hayley took the older woman’s hand and held it while she listened to Dev giving them the handover information; he liked the fact that she clearly had compassion and realised that the elderly woman must be in some pain and feeling very scared about what had happened to her.
‘Mrs Baker’s seventy-eight and she lives on her own. She had a fall last night and couldn’t get up again, and she didn’t have a call aid button round her neck. Her carer found her this morning and called us.’
No doubt she was cold, stiff and dehydrated, as well as suffering from whatever had caused the fall, Sam thought.
‘She can’t stand or walk,’ Dev said, ‘and we suspect a broken hip.’
Which could cause problems with future mobility and independence, Sam knew. ‘Is there any medication we need to know about?’ he asked.
‘We’ve brought it all with us,’ Dev said, handing him a labelled bag. ‘The main thing is her Parkinson’s medication.’
‘Thank you,’ Sam said.
‘We gave her gas and air for the pain in the ambulance, and when the carer rang the emergency services we advised her not to give Mrs Baker anything to eat or drink, just in case she needs to go into Theatre. So she hasn’t eaten or drunk anything since last night,’ Dev confirmed.
‘And I’m really gasping for a cup of tea,’ Ethel said. ‘Can I have a cup of tea now?’
No, she couldn’t—not when she might be going into Theatre within the hour.
‘We’ll make you comfortable as soon as we can,’ Hayley promised, ‘though we will need to sort out some tests first.’
Between them, Hayley and Sam wheeled her to one of the cubicles so they could assess her, and all the while Hayley held Edith’s hand. Sam remembered the feel of her skin against his, and had to shake himself. Until they’d talked and worked out how to deal with the situation, he needed to keep a lid on his feelings.
‘Can I ask you, is this the first time you’ve had a fall, Ethel?’ Hayley asked.
‘No—sometimes I
freeze or I trip over my own feet. It’s just how the Parkinson’s is. Sometimes I’m on and sometimes I’m off,’ Ethel said. ‘I know I should have had my call aid button with me, but I just forgot to put it on yesterday.’
‘It’s easily done,’ Sam said. ‘Did you hit your head at all when you fell, or can you remember if you blacked out?’
‘No. I was just cross with myself at being such an old fool as to fall over.’
There was definitely nothing wrong with her mental state, Sam thought; it was pretty clear to him that she hadn’t hit her head. ‘Are you in pain now?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘It really hurts here.’ She pointed to her upper right thigh.
Dev’s assessment of a broken hip was probably right, Sam thought, because Ethel’s right leg looked slightly shorter and was turned outwards; together with her inability to stand or walk and the position of her pain, the symptoms pointed towards a fracture.
‘We can give you some more pain relief,’ he said. Though the fact she’d broken her hip from a single fall worried him. Ethel was very slender, and it made him wonder. ‘Has your doctor said anything to you about osteoporosis or brittle bones?’
She pulled a face and shook her head. ‘Nothing like that,’ she said.
‘When you get older, especially if you’re a woman,’ Hayley said, ‘your bones get less dense and develop a kind of honeycomb structure, which means they break more easily—it’s called osteoporosis. Once we’ve got your hip sorted out, I’m going to ask the ward to refer you for a scan so we can see if your bones are thinner.’
‘If the scan shows we’re right,’ Sam said, ‘we can give you some tablets to help strengthen your bones, so then if you do fall again you’re less likely to end up with a fracture. And we can give you some calcium and vitamin D supplements to help, too.’ He paused. ‘Can I ask, do you smoke or drink?’
Ethel looked slightly guilty. ‘I don’t drink much, just a port and lemon at the Legion on a Friday night with my mates. I’ve been trying to give up the ciggies—I just have the odd one or two. But don’t tell my daughter. She thinks I stopped smoking five years ago. Though my old gran lived to a hundred and she smoked like a chimney,’ she added, a spark of defiance in her voice.