Summer Kisses

by Sarah Morgan

  He was watching her now, with that steady gaze that unsettled her so much. ‘The islanders hold it every year, to raise funds for the lifeboat and the air ambulance. You’re supposed to bring a dish that will feed four people. And wear a swimming costume.’

  ‘Well, that’s the end of that, then.’ Somehow she kept it light. ‘I can bring a dish to feed four people, but I don’t own a swimming costume.’

  ‘Swim naked,’ Hamish said. ‘Been done before.’

  ‘And the culprits spent the night sobering up in one of Nick’s four-star cells,’ Ryan drawled, a sardonic gleam in his eyes. ‘It’s a family event. You can buy a costume from the Beach Hut, four doors down from here.’

  Jenna had been into the Beach Hut twice, to buy clothes for Lexi. She hadn’t bought anything for herself. ‘Well—I’ll think about it, thanks.’

  Hamish scowled. ‘You have to go. Isn’t that right, Dr McKinley?’

  Ryan was silent for a moment. ‘I think Jenna will make her own decision about that.’

  Jenna flushed. He wasn’t going to coerce her. He wasn’t going to tell her whether she should, or shouldn’t go. He was leaving the choice up to her.

  And that was what she did now, wasn’t it? She made her own choices.

  She decided whether she owned a dog and whether she was going to eat fish.

  She shivered slightly, barely aware of the other customers who had entered the shop. She was only aware of Ryan, and the multitude of confusing feelings inside her. If she had to make a decision, what would it be?

  She wanted to ask him whether he wanted her to go. She wanted to apologise for the fact that the islanders were matchmaking. She wanted him to know it had nothing to do with her.

  Hideously embarrassed, she muttered that she’d think about it and walked out of the shop, her cheeks flushed.

  It was crazy to feel this way about him, Jenna thought faintly. A man like him wasn’t going to be interested in a divorced woman with a teenage daughter. And anyway, for all she knew he could be involved with someone. She couldn’t imagine that a man like him could possibly be single.

  Frustrated with herself, she hurried to her bike. She had to stop thinking about him. Even if he were interested in her, she wouldn’t follow it through. For a start being with him would make her so nervous she wouldn’t be able to eat a morsel, and to top it off Lexi was only just starting to settle into her new life. She could just imagine her daughter’s reaction if her mother started seeing a man.

  Thinking about Ryan occupied her mind for the cycle home, and she was still thinking about him as she propped her bike against the wall of the cottage and picked some flowers from the garden.

  She walked into the kitchen to find Lexi sprawled on the kitchen floor, playing with Rebel.

  Jenna put the flowers in a vase. ‘How was the archaeology dig today?’ Despite her complaints, it had taken Lexi only a matter of days to settle in and start enjoying herself. ‘Did you have fun?’

  ‘Yeah. Fraser found a piece of pot—everyone was really excited. I’m going to meet him for a walk on the beach later. I’ll take Rebel. What time are we eating? I’m starving.’

  Fraser? Lexi wanted to go for a walk on the beach with a boy?

  ‘We’re eating in about twenty minutes. So…’ Retrieving the salmon fillets from her bag, Jenna tried to keep her voice casual. ‘You haven’t mentioned Fraser before. Is he nice?’

  ‘He has a nose ring, five tattoos, long hair and swears all the time.’ Lexi rubbed Rebel’s glossy fur with her hands. ‘You’re going to love him—isn’t she, Reb?’

  With a wry smile, Jenna put the salmon under the grill. ‘Lexi, you wait until you’re a worried mother—’

  ‘I’m not going to be like you. I’m going to trust my kids.’

  Jenna sensed this was one of those moments when it was imperative to say the right thing. ‘I trust you, Lexi,’ she said quietly. ‘You’re a bright, caring, funny girl. But you’re still a child—’

  ‘I’m nearly sixteen—you’re so over-protective.’

  ‘I care about you. And you are still a child. Child going on woman, but still…I know all this has been hard on you. And being a teenager isn’t easy.’

  ‘What? You remember that far back?’ But Lexi was smiling as she picked up Rebel’s bowl. ‘We’re having fish again? I’m going to start swapping meals with the dog.’

  ‘I thought you liked fish.’

  ‘I do. But you never used to cook it in London. Now we have it almost every meal!’

  ‘I didn’t cook it in London because Dad hated it.’ But Clive wasn’t here now, and she was cooking what she wanted. And loving it, Jenna mused, mixing a teriyaki sauce to add to the salmon.

  ‘Given that you’re into all this healthy lifestyle stuff, I assume I can go for a walk on the beach with Fraser later?’

  Jenna felt as though she was treading over broken glass. If she said no, she’d be accused of not trusting, and that could trigger a rebellious response. If she said yes, she’d worry all evening. ‘Yes,’ she croaked, washing a handful of tomatoes and adding them to the salad. ‘All I ask is that you’re home before dark.’

  ‘Why? I can have sex in daylight just as easily as in the dark.’

  Jenna closed her eyes. ‘Lexi—’

  ‘But I’m not going to. Credit me with some sense, Mum. You know I’m not going to do that. You’ve given me the sex, love, marriage talk often enough.’

  ‘You’ve got it in the wrong order,’ Jenna said weakly. ‘And you’ve missed out contraception.’ It was impossible not to be aware that Lexi was only a couple of years younger than she had been when she’d become pregnant.

  Lexi rolled her eyes and then walked over and hugged her. ‘Just chill, Mum.’

  Astonished by the unexpected show of affection, Jenna felt a lump in her throat. ‘That’s nice. A hug.’

  ‘Yeah—well, I’m sorry I was difficult about moving here. It’s a pretty cool place. I didn’t mean to be a nightmare.’

  Jenna felt a rush of relief. ‘You’re not a nightmare, baby. I’m glad you’re settling in.’

  ‘It would be great if you could worry less.’

  ‘It would be great if you could give me less to worry about.’

  ‘OK. If I’m going to do something really bad, I’ll warn you.’

  ‘Lexi—about Fraser…’

  ‘If you’re going to talk to me about boys, Mum, don’t waste your time. I probably know more than you anyway.’

  Jenna blinked. That was probably true. She’d only ever had one boyfriend, and she’d married him at eighteen.

  And he’d left her at thirty-two.

  Lexi stole a tomato from the salad. ‘We’re just friends, OK? Mates. He’s really easy to talk to. He really gets stuff. His dad—’ She broke off and then shrugged. ‘His dad walked out, too. When he was nine. That’s why his mum came here.’

  ‘Oh…’

  What had happened to her had happened to millions of women around the world. She wasn’t the only one in this situation. Lives shattered and were mended again, and she was mending, wasn’t she? Slowly. She stared at the dog lying on her kitchen floor, and the bunch of flowers on her kitchen table. Life was different, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t good.

  ‘You can go for a walk on the beach, Lexi.’

  Lexi visibly relaxed. ‘Thanks. We’re just going to hang out, that’s all. Fraser says there’s really cool stuff on the beach once the tide goes out. He knows the names of everything. I feel like a real townie.’

  ‘You’ll have to teach me. Have they dug up anything else interesting at the castle yet?’

  ‘Bits of stuff. They found these Viking combs—weird to think of Vikings combing their hair.’

  ‘Perhaps their mothers nagged them,’ Jenna said dryly, hugely relieved that Lexi appeared to be more like her old self. ‘What’s the castle like? I must go up there.’

  ‘It’s awesome. Fraser showed me this steep shaft into the dungeons. He fell
down it a few years ago and had to have his head stitched up.’

  ‘It sounds dangerous.’

  ‘Only to you. You see danger everywhere.’

  ‘I’m a mother. Worrying goes with the territory.’

  ‘Fraser’s mother doesn’t fuss over him all the time. She just lets him live his life.’

  Jenna bit her lip, trying not to be hurt, well used to being told what other mothers did. ‘I’m letting you live your life. I’d just rather you didn’t do it in a hospital or an antenatal clinic. Wash your hands, Lex—dinner is nearly ready.’

  ‘Do you want me to lay the table or do drinks or something?’

  Hiding her surprise, Jenna smiled at her. ‘That would be a great help. There’s lemonade in the fridge—Evanna gave it to us as a gift.’

  ‘It’s delicious. I had some at her house.’ Lexi opened the fridge door again and pulled out the bottle. ‘She makes it by the bucketload, all fresh lemons and stuff. She’s a good cook. I told her you were, too. Are we going to the barbecue on Saturday, Mum?’

  Still reeling from the compliment, Jenna turned the salmon. ‘How do you know about the barbecue?’

  ‘Fraser mentioned it.’

  Fraser, Fraser, Fraser—

  Still, at least Lexi seemed happy. Relieved, Jenna put the salmon on the plates. ‘Do you want to go?’

  ‘Why not? Might be a laugh.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘How did you hear about the barbecue?’

  ‘In the fishmonger’s.’ Jenna omitted to say who she’d bumped into there. ‘It’s amazing to be able to buy such fresh fish.’

  ‘It’s amazing what old people find exciting.’ Lexi suppressed a yawn as she picked up her plate. ‘Let’s eat in the garden. So how many lives did you save today? Did you see Dr Hot?’

  ‘Dr who?’

  ‘Dr Hot. Ryan McKinley. I bet women who are perfectly well make appointments just to spend five minutes with him. Fraser says he’s brilliant.’

  Even at home there was no escape, Jenna thought weakly, taking her plate and following her daughter out into the sunshine.

  She wasn’t going to think of him as Dr Hot.

  She really wasn’t.

  * * *

  ‘She was playing on the deck with a water pistol and she slipped and crashed into the fence—the bruise is horrendous. I’m worried she’s fractured her eye socket or something.’ The woman’s face was white. ‘I tried to get an appointment with one of the doctors, but Dr McNeil is out on a call and Dr McKinley has a full list.’

  Jenna gave her shoulder a squeeze. ‘Let me take a look at it. If I think she needs to be seen by one of the doctors, then I’ll arrange it. Hello, Lily.’ She crouched down so that she was at the same level as the child. ‘What have you been doing to yourself?’

  She studied the livid bruise across the child’s cheekbone and the swelling distorting the face. ‘Was she knocked out?’

  ‘No.’ The woman hovered. ‘I put an ice pack on it straight away, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference.’

  ‘I’m sure it helped.’ Jenna examined the child’s cheek, tested her vision and felt the orbit. ‘Can you open your mouth for me, Lily? Good girl—now, close—brilliant. Does that hurt?’ Confident that there was no fracture, she turned to Lily’s mother. ‘I think it’s just badly bruised, Mrs Parsons.’

  ‘But she could have fractured it. Sorry—it isn’t that I don’t trust you.’ The woman closed her eyes briefly. ‘And I know I’m being anxious, but—’

  ‘I know all about anxious. You don’t have to apologise.’ Seeing how distressed the mother was, and sympathising, Jenna made a decision. ‘I’ll ask Dr McKinley to check her for you. Then you won’t be going home, worrying.’

  ‘Would you?’

  ‘I’ll go and see if he’s free—just wait one moment.’ Giving Lily a toy to play with, Jenna left her room and walked across to Ryan just as the door to his consulting room opened and a patient walked out.

  She paused for a moment, conscious that she hadn’t seen him since Hamish had embarrassed them both the day before.

  ‘Ryan?’ Putting that out of her mind, Jenna put her head round the door. ‘I’m sorry, I know you’re busy…’ And tired, she thought, looking at the shadows under his eyes. He worked harder than any doctor she’d ever met.

  Or were the shadows caused by something else?

  ‘I’m not busy—what can I do for you?’ The moment he looked at her, Jenna felt her insides flip over.

  ‘I have a patient in my room—I wondered if you could give me your opinion. The little girl is six—she’s slipped and banged her face. The bruising is bad, but I don’t think there’s a fracture—there’s no flattening of the cheek.’

  Work always helped, she thought. After Clive had left, work had been her healing potion. It had stopped her thinking, analysing, asking ‘what if?’ And she’d discovered that if you worked hard enough, you fell into bed dog-tired and slept, instead of lying awake, thinking all the same things you’d been thinking during the day.

  ‘Flattening of the cheek can be obscured by swelling—’

  ‘It isn’t that swollen yet. It only happened half an hour ago, and her mum put an ice pack on it immediately. I can’t feel any defect to the orbit, and she can open and close her mouth without difficulty.’

  ‘It sounds as though you’re confident with your assessment.’ His long fingers toyed with the pen on his desk. ‘Why do you need me?’

  ‘Because the mother is so, so worried. I thought some reassurance from you might help. I know what it’s like to be a panicking mother.’

  ‘Who is the patient?’

  ‘Parsons?’

  Ryan stood up. ‘Lily Parsons? That explains why you have a worried mother in your room. Little Lily had a nasty accident a couple of years ago—almost died. She fell in deep water in the quay and a boat propeller caught her artery.’

  ‘Oh, no—’ Jenna lifted her hand to her throat, horrified by the image his words created. ‘How did she survive that?’

  ‘My predecessor, Connor McNeil—Logan’s cousin—was ex-army. Trauma was his speciality, otherwise I doubt Lily would be with us today. She went into respiratory arrest, lost so much blood—’

  ‘Were you here?’

  ‘No. It was just before I arrived, but Connor’s rescue has gone down in island folklore. Apparently Jayne totally flipped. She witnessed the whole thing—blamed herself for the fact that Lily had fallen in. The child was watching the fish, and a crowd of tourists queuing for the ferry bumped into her and she lost her balance.’

  ‘Poor Jayne!’ To stop herself looking at his mouth, Jenna walked back towards the door. ‘All the more reason why you should reassure her.’

  Without arguing, Ryan followed her into the room, charmed Jayne, made Lily laugh, and then checked the child’s eye with a thoroughness that would have satisfied the most hyper-anxious mother.

  Jenna watched, wondering why someone with his own trauma skills would give up a glittering career to bury himself on Glenmore.

  Something must have happened.

  Life, she thought, had a way of doling out grim surprises.

  ‘You’re right that there is no flattening of the cheek.’ He addressed the remark to Jenna, gave the little girl a wink and strolled across the room to wash his hands. ‘Jayne, I’m happy with her, but that bruising is going to get worse before it gets better, and so is the swelling. I’m guessing your worrying is going to get worse before it gets better, too. I’ll have a word with Janet on Reception so that she knows to slot you in if you feel worried and want me to take another look.’

  ‘You don’t want to X-ray her?’

  ‘No. I don’t think it’s necessary.’ Ryan dried his hands and dropped the paper towel in the bin. ‘Look, why don’t you bring her back to my surgery tomorrow morning anyway? That will stop you having to look at her every five minutes and decide whether you need to bring her back.’

  Jayne Parsons gave a weak smile. ‘You must think I’m a t
otal idiot.’

  ‘On the contrary, I think you’re a worried mum and that’s understandable.’ Ryan scribbled a number on a scrap of paper. ‘This is my mobile number. I drive past your house on the way to and from the surgery—just give me a call if you’re worried and I can drop in. Take care, Lily.’

  Mother and child left the room, more relaxed, and Jenna stared at the door. ‘Do you give your mobile number to every anxious patient?’

  ‘If I think they need the reassurance, yes. Glenmore is an isolated island. It makes people more reliant on each other. They’re in and out of each other’s lives.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘As I’m sure you’ve noticed.’

  She swallowed. ‘I’m sorry about Evanna and Hamish—’

  ‘Why are you sorry? None of it is your fault.’ Ryan sat down at her desk and brought Lily’s notes up on the computer screen. ‘They just can’t help themselves. Matchmaking is like eating and breathing to the people of Glenmore.’

  ‘It happens a lot?’

  ‘All the time—although I’ve pretty much escaped it up until now. That’s one of the advantages of being a doctor. There are a limited number of people on this island who technically aren’t my patients.’

  ‘I expect they’ll back off soon.’

  ‘I wouldn’t count on it.’ Ryan typed the notes with one finger. ‘Do you want a lift to the beach barbecue? I could pick you up on my way past.’

  ‘I haven’t even decided if we’re going.’

  ‘If you don’t go, they’ll come and get you. Come. Lexi would enjoy it. All the teenagers go. She seems to have made friends. Whenever I see her, she’s smiling.’

  ‘Yes.’ Jenna was starting to wonder whether there was something more to her daughter’s sudden change of attitude. ‘What do you know about a boy called Fraser?’

  ‘Fraser Price?’ Ryan stood up. ‘He lives near you. Just along the beach. His mum is called Ailsa—she’s a single parent. Diabetic. Why are you asking?’

  Jenna chewed her lip. ‘Lexi seems to like him—’

  ‘And you’re worrying that he has unsavoury habits?’