‘She should never have been out on her own anyway, especially when she wasn’t wearing any shoes, but there’s not much we can do about that now,’ Eleanor said, turning to glare pointedly at Lily. ‘The main thing is that we deal with this cough and make sure there are no other underlying symptoms.’
‘I’ve not got underlying anything,’ said Moira. ‘I just have a very bossy granddaughter.’
Jake was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had opened up his black bag and taken out a stethoscope and a thermometer and was gently monitoring Moira’s pulse and breathing.
‘What’s your name, doctor?’ she asked.
‘I’m Dr Jordan, I work at the local surgery.’
‘Well, it’s nice to meet you,’ Moira simpered, putting her head on one side. ‘Extremely nice. Do you want me to take my nightie off?’
‘No!’ said Eleanor and Lily, at the same time.
‘That’s fine, Mrs Spencer. I can listen to your chest like this.’
‘The thing is, she has got dementia,’ whispered Eleanor. ‘It’s not particularly far advanced yet, but it means we need to be extra vigilant about what she does and where she goes. To be honest, doctor, there are times when she really can’t be left alone.’
‘Oh, shut up about my dementia,’ Moira said. ‘I can hear every word you’re saying, Eleanor, you fuckwit.’
‘See what I mean?’ Eleanor said, sotto voce, to Jake. ‘Completely unpredictable.’
‘It’s because you’re discussing her like this!’ Lily couldn’t resist putting in. ‘She is right here in front of us, Eleanor. Show some sensitivity!’ She had been standing at the side of the room, not saying a word. As soon as Eleanor managed to pull open the bedroom door and she and Jake stumbled through it, her daughter had taken over; it was actually just as well, because Lily wasn’t sure if she would have been able to act normally and hold a conversation with Jake while he examined her mother.
‘This whole trip was a ridiculous idea,’ Eleanor was now saying. ‘I tried to point out that it would only end in tears, but of course my mother thought she knew best.’
‘The consultant agreed it was a good idea,’ Lily said, through gritted teeth. She didn’t want to have a showdown with her daughter in front of Jake, but nor could she bear to just stand there while she got slagged off – yet again. She would have been angry with Eleanor anyway, but it was even more galling that Jake was hearing all this. She knew she’d been a rubbish daughter; she knew she should have taken better care of Moira. But she could do without this man hearing all the sordid details.
‘You’ve obviously got a nasty cough, Mrs Spencer,’ he was saying now. ‘There is a slight rattle on your chest and you have a moderately raised temperature. But there are no other signs of an infection, and I don’t think it’s viral, so I’m going to prescribe you a short course of antibiotics, just to make sure we knock this on the head. The good news is that we’ve caught it early, so I’m confident you’ll be fine.’
‘Well, that’s a relief,’ said Eleanor. ‘No thanks to some people though.’ She glared at Lily again, and this time Jake saw it.
‘I don’t think your barefoot walk yesterday made things any worse,’ he said, turning back to Moira. ‘Some people might suggest that dancing on damp grass is very good for the circulation.’ He smiled and Moira beamed back at him.
‘Oh, you are a lovely boy!’ she said. ‘I wasn’t dancing when I went out on my walk, but I’m quite good at it. Ken used to take me to the Ritz Dance Hall, near Gloucester. Do you know it? I don’t really like taking pills, but if you think it’s a good idea, I’ll give them a go.’
‘Marvellous,’ he said, pulling out a prescription pad from his bag. ‘I’ll write this out now and maybe your granddaughter could take it straight down to the chemist?’
‘What, me?’ Eleanor looked taken aback.
‘Here you are,’ said Jake, ripping off the form and handing it to her. ‘If you go now, you’ll catch Boots before they shut. That would be a great help because she really needs to start taking these tonight.’
‘Right,’ Eleanor said. ‘I see. Well, okay then.’
As the door closed behind her, Moira lay back on her pillows. ‘She can be a right witch!’ she whispered to Jake.
‘Mum! That’s an awful thing to say.’
‘Fucking true though.’
Jake laughed. ‘Nice to meet you, Mrs Spencer. Take it easy for a couple of days and then you should be well enough to head home.’
‘Oh, I’m not going home,’ said Moira. ‘We’re going to Durham next.’
‘I’ll show you out,’ Lily said, more loudly than she needed.
Once they were both outside in the corridor, she pulled the bedroom door shut behind her.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were a GP?’ she whispered.
‘I did!’ he whispered back. ‘I told you all about it.’
Lily crossed her arms in front of her chest. She had no recollection of any of that. ‘So, if you live in Keswick, why were you staying in the hotel?’ she asked.
Jake grinned. ‘Blimey, you really were drunk. Don’t you remember?’
‘No! I don’t. I don’t think we discussed any of that. We were too busy… too busy doing other things.’ She looked up and smiled back at him.
‘That’s true, we were quite busy. But I did tell you all about myself,’ Jake said. ‘My house has just been sold, I’m moving into a rented flat at the other end of the town, next week. In the meantime, I’m staying at the Hamilton.’
Lily grimaced. ‘Really? I don’t remember.’
‘And my wife is divorcing me.’
‘Shit, I should have remembered that.’
‘You should, but we did drink quite a lot,’ he said, and put his hand up to her cheek.
‘Lily!’ Moira’s voice sounded quavery from inside the bedroom, then she started coughing.
Lily put her hand on top of his and leant forward. Her eyes closed as their lips met and she breathed in the smell of his skin, the underlying scent of that aftershave. Something lurched in the pit of her stomach.
‘Lily!’ Moira was still coughing. ‘Where have you gone?’
‘I ought to go,’ he said. ‘I have a long list of home visits to make this afternoon.’
‘Lily! I need some water!’
‘I’m coming!’ she called, then turned back to him. ‘It’s so good to see you again. I’m sorry about running out yesterday morning. I had such a shocking hangover and I was in a panic about Mum, I wasn’t thinking straight.’
‘I thought you weren’t that interested in me,’ he said.
‘No! That really wasn’t the case – the opposite. I mean, I just wasn’t thinking…’
There was a crash from the bedroom and the sound of glass breaking.
‘Fucking fuckers!’ yelled Moira.
Jake stepped away from her and raised his hand awkwardly. ‘You need to go,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘Bye then.’ She stood and watched him walk away down the stairs, and her heart – which had just been dancing with delight at having him so close by – felt as if it was plummeting down into the soles of her feet again.