The Doctor She'd Never Forget. Annie Claydon

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      ‘Come in.’ Sophie pulled herself together and gave the young woman who entered a composed smile, watching as she set a covered plate on the table and got water from the fridge in the tiny kitchenette at the far end of the living space.

      ‘Would you bring another plate, please?’

      ‘For Dr Taylor? Sure.’ The woman turned to Drew. ‘What would you like?’

      ‘Anything’s fine.’ Sophie’s sudden turnaround was a surprise, but if accepting lunch meant that she was going to let him stay a while longer then he would eat whatever anyone put in front of him.

      ‘Chicken in a cream sauce, sautéed potatoes, green beans…?’

      ‘Sounds great. Thank you.’

      The woman nodded. ‘Back in a tick.’

      He picked up the bottle of water from the table and filled her glass, aware that she was watching every move he made. ‘Thank you.’

      ‘Don’t get any ideas. It’s only lunch. We’re not best friends yet.’

      ‘I know.’ She’d obviously come to the conclusion that she couldn’t get rid of him so she was calling a truce. Drew nodded at her plate. ‘Don’t wait for me, yours will get cold.’

      He knew. It was one thing for people to speculate, but he was a doctor and his word held some weight. And he wasn’t just speculating, he knew. The only way out of this mess was to stop denying the obvious and try to get him to keep quiet about it.

      Lunch gave her an opportunity to think. The doctor never mentioned anything to do with her memory until they were sipping their coffee, but Sophie knew this was temporary. He was biding his time, in just the same way she was.

      ‘There’s something I have to know.’

      ‘Okay.’ He handed her the mint chocolate that had come with his coffee. He must have noticed that she’d eaten hers straight away. He seemed to notice far too much.

      ‘I need you to be discreet.’ She unwrapped the chocolate, nibbling at the edge of it.

      He nodded. ‘Carly’s already taken care of that.’ He reached into his pocket, taking out a couple of sheets of paper, stapled together. Sophie wondered if he’d been carrying them around with him in anticipation of just this moment.

      She scanned them carefully. A standard confidentiality agreement, with his signature and Carly’s on the bottom. ‘You plan to honour this?’

      ‘Yes. Even without it, anything you say is confidential. I’m a doctor.’

      ‘I don’t recall asking for your professional services.’ The jibe came out of nowhere, from the place where everything was a threat and no one could be trusted.

      ‘No, you didn’t. I’m offering them anyway.’

      She shrugged. ‘Do you understand how dangerous rumours like this can be? No one wants to employ an actress who can’t remember what comes next. In big-budget projects like this, it’s too much of a financial risk.’

      ‘I understand. And it doesn’t matter what your reasons are. Confidentiality is confidentiality.’

      Sophie supposed that she would have to take him at his word. ‘I want to make it clear that I’ve never taken drugs and I don’t have an alcohol problem. My accident was nothing to do with either of those things.’

      ‘Okay.’

      ‘You believe me?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Right. Thanks.’ He could have believed her in a few more words but a yes would do. It was unequivocal enough, particularly when said the way he’d said it.

      ‘I know it’s tough, Sophie. When you remember some things and not others in what seems to be a completely random way. And the toughest thing is knowing that your memory’s not working properly, and never being sure if there’s something you’ve missed.’

      ‘If you say so.’ Actually, that was a pretty good description of how she felt. Never being sure of anything.

      ‘Is it all right if I ask you some questions?’

      ‘If I say no, you’ll only ask them anyway. So you’d better get on with it.’

      ‘Okay.’ He grinned at her, and suddenly it seemed so much easier to just go along with him. He did have a very nice smile. ‘This all started around the time of your accident?’

      ‘Yes. It was much worse at first, and it’s been improving over time.’ There had been no recurrence of the lost days that she’d experienced right after the accident. And she didn’t want to tell him about them. She didn’t even want to think about the photographs that had appeared on the internet afterwards. Sophie couldn’t bear to see the judgement in his beautiful grey eyes.

      ‘Any clumsiness, loss of co-ordination?’

      ‘I used to drop things quite a lot. And I’d forget how to do little things, like how to turn the shower on. I knew about traumatic brain injury from my father talking about it, and I knew that I could practise and relearn things.’

      ‘That must have been very hard to do on your own.’

      ‘I’m an actress, I’ve been taught how to be aware of movement and gesture.’

      ‘Even so, it’s a huge achievement. You should be proud of yourself.’

      ‘Thanks.’ This was the first time that someone had understood. The first time that anyone had praised her for the little things that had been so hard for her. She felt lighter than she had done for a very long time.

      ‘That’s good to see too…’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Your smile.’ His gaze dropped from her face, as if that was the one thing he was embarrassed to have noticed. ‘You’ve never seen a doctor about any of this?’

      ‘No. I have to keep it quiet.’

      ‘I understand that but you need to have a proper diagnosis. I can arrange for you to see someone discreetly. No one will know.’

      ‘I’ll think about it.’

      ‘Don’t put this off, Sophie.’

      ‘I’ll think about it. Don’t push me. I can still have you thrown off the set.’

      His gaze held hers for a moment, and then let go. They both knew she wouldn’t do that now.

      ‘All right. So shall we concentrate on getting through today, then? Leave the other things until later.’

      That would be good. ‘What do you suggest?’

      ‘Why don’t you lie down for half an hour then I’ll go through your lines with you. See if we can crack this scene together.’

      The СКАЧАТЬ