How To Save A Marriage In A Million. Leonie Knight

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      CHAPTER THREE

      RICHARD wasn’t sure what Jodie Francis’s job description was, but he was grateful she’d contacted him the previous day to enquire if he needed assistance to find accommodation. He’d forgotten about the block of half a dozen terraces tucked away two streets from the hospital and used as temporary lodgings for ‘homeless’ employees. In the past they’d been leased to visiting, top-level professionals who had temporary appointments such as post-graduate fellowships or academic posts. At the moment he was living in a holiday apartment, about half an hour’s drive from Lady Lawler, and he hadn’t thought far enough ahead to consider more permanent housing. He was eager to find out what Jodie had to offer.

      He knocked on the door of a small office in the administration wing.

      ‘Come in,’ the owner of the youthful voice sang out.

      By the time he’d opened the door she was out of her seat and headed in his direction with her hand extended in greeting.

      ‘Hello, I’m Jodie, and you must be Dr Howell.’

      The woman, who Richard estimated to be in her late twenties, grasped his hand and beamed.

      ‘That’s right. You phoned and left a message on the ward yesterday.’

      He waited for her to sit down before settling in the austere, grey-upholstered chair opposite her desk.

      She thumbed through a folder of papers and extracted a single page, which she placed on the top of the pile. ‘I understand you’ve been back in Western Australia for less than a week and, er…’ It was the first time the confident young lady had shown any sign of hesitation and Richard second-guessed what she was trying to say.

      ‘You assumed, since I’d been away for so long, I might be looking for somewhere to stay?’

      ‘Exactly.’ She paused again. ‘And am I right to assume…um…that you’re on your own?’

      ‘Yes.’

      His heart rate quickened as a painful memory of a bleak conversation with his wife popped into his mind. When he and Jo had parted, he’d fully expected the break to be purely down-time to allow wounds to heal and that they would eventually reconcile. Their dream home, purchased midway through Joanna’s pregnancy and lovingly renovated and decorated to accommodate the needs of their expanding family, had been a symbol of his wife’s vision of their future together.

      When Sam had died, that vision had been irreconcilably shattered.

      Before he’d departed for the U.K. he’d assured Joanna the house was hers as long as she wanted it, but six months after he’d left she’d sent him a matter-of-fact email stating she wanted to sell the house and move into something smaller. ‘More suited to a single woman’ had been her exact words. But he’d suspected what she’d really wanted to say was without the memories.

      It had broken his heart, and his phone call to her had done nothing to reassure him Jo had been coping any better than when he’d left. She’d stated calmly, when he’d offered to return to Australia, that it would be a waste of time and she didn’t want to see him.

      It would upset her too much, he read between the transparent lines of her conversation.

      He had a sudden thought that he didn’t even have her current address.

      ‘You were saying?’ the ebullient Jodie cut into his reverie, and he frowned, trying to remember the last thread of their conversation.

      ‘Ah, yes. I’m separated and in the process of getting a divorce.’ The words were out of his mouth, like a confession, before he had a chance to stop them. She’d not asked for any information on his marital status but he’d felt the need to explain why a thirty-nine-year-old consultant didn’t have the wife and family that were often expected of someone of his age and position.

      Jodie looked embarrassed and busied herself rearranging the papers on her desk.

      ‘So what do you have to offer?’

      The girl blushed crimson and Richard suddenly realised what he’d said.

      ‘I didn’t mean…I’m not…’ he stumbled, and then they both laughed.

      ‘I know.’

      ‘Shall we start again?’

      Twenty minutes later, Richard had signed a lease, organised for the rent to be deducted from his salary and taken possession of a set of keys to number 6B Peppermint Mews, the second house in the row of quaint terraces that the hospital owned. He’d made the decision without even viewing the place, on the basis that it was the only empty house in the row at the present time. The fact that it was fully furnished, he had a three-month lease with the option of staying longer and he could move in straight away added to its attraction. There was a tiny light at the end of a very long dark tunnel, he thought as he said goodbye to Jodie and strode off towards the main part of the hospital.

      * * *

      Joanna was in Richard’s thoughts for most of the day and into the evening as well. She was a remarkable woman, an amazingly dedicated nurse and she had stated, without hesitation, that she wanted to go ahead with the divorce as soon as possible. Before their private talk that morning he’d nursed the tiniest hope she might still have some feelings for him. He was not deluded, though, and didn’t expect to recapture what they’d once had. He’d thought more in terms of the remnants of their former relationship being intact; a starting point; a foundation from which to rebuild.

      It wasn’t going to happen.

      Joanna had changed, while he was stuck in the past.

      So what he had to do was cast away any thoughts of rekindling СКАЧАТЬ