From Christmas to Eternity. Caroline Anderson

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СКАЧАТЬ phone rang just before eleven that night, while he was printing off the hated assignment. HR? Really?

      Really.

      ‘Oh, you’re kidding, Steve! Not again.’

      ‘Sorry, Andy. There isn’t anyone else. James isn’t back in the country until tomorrow, or I’d ask him. It’s just one of those things. I’ll sort a new locum first thing on Monday, I promise.’

      He gave a heavy sigh and surrendered. ‘All right—but this is the last time, Steve. And you owe me, with bells on.’

      He hung up, and sat there for a while wondering how on earth he was going to tell Lucy. She’d skin him alive.

      And deservedly so.

      He swore softly but succinctly under his breath, stacked the papers together, clipped them into a binder and put the assignment into an envelope without even glancing at it. It was too late to worry. It had to be there on Monday, and it was already too late to post it. He’d email it, but the hard copy would have to be couriered.

      He’d do that on Monday morning, but now he was working all day tomorrow there was no time for any meaningful read-through before he sent it on its way. He’d only find some howler and, frankly, at this moment in time it seemed insignificant compared to telling Lucy that yet again he wasn’t going to be there for any quality time with her and the kids.

      It was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

      She was asleep by the time he went upstairs, and he got into bed beside her and contemplated pulling her into his arms and making love to her.

      Probably not a good idea. He didn’t have the energy to do her justice and he had to be at work in seven hours. Cursing Steve and the sick locum and life in general, he shut his eyes, covered them with his arm and crashed into sleep.

      The alarm on his phone woke him long before he was ready for it, and he silenced it and got straight out of bed before he could fall asleep again. Hell, he was tired. He stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the shower and got in without waiting for it to heat up.

      The cold shocked him awake, and he soaped himself fast, towelled his body briskly and then ran the razor over his jaw. His hand was trembling again, he noticed, and he nicked himself.

      Damn. It was the last thing he needed. He dried his face, leaving a bright streak of blood on the towel, and pressed a scrap of tissue over the cut to stem the bleeding while he cleaned his teeth.

      He went back into the bedroom, leaving the bathroom door open so he could see to get his clothes out without putting on the bedroom light. He didn’t want to disturb Lucy—because he was hoping to sneak out without waking her? Probably, but it was too late for that, apparently.

      ‘Andy?’ she murmured, her voice soft with sleep. ‘Are you OK?’

      Was he? Frankly, he had no idea. He pulled clothes out of the cupboard and started putting them on, and she propped herself up on one elbow and stared at him.

      ‘What are you doing, Andy? It’s Sunday morning. We don’t need to get up yet.’

      ‘I have to work. Steve rang last night, and I promised to do another shift—’

      ‘No! Why?’ She shoved herself up in the bed, dishevelled and sleepy and so beautiful she made his heart ache, her eyes filled with recrimination and disappointment. ‘Andy, you promised me! Why on earth did you agree? We don’t need the money, but we need you. The kids need you. I need you.’

      ‘And the hospital needs me—’

      ‘So put it first. Again. As always. Go on, go ahead—if that’s more important to you than us.’

      ‘Of course it’s not more important!’

      ‘Then don’t go!’

      ‘I have to! There’s nobody to cover the department.’

      ‘So they’ll have to shut it.’

      ‘They can’t. They can’t close the ED, Lucy, you’re being totally unreasonable.’

      ‘Well, you know what you can do, then. Go, by all means, but don’t bother coming home tonight, or any other night, because I can’t do this any more.’

      He stared at her, slightly stunned. ‘Is that an ultimatum?’

      ‘Sounds like it to me.’

      ‘Oh, Lucy, for heaven’s sake, that’s ridiculous! You can’t make me choose!’

      ‘I don’t need to. Strikes me you already have. You come home after the children are asleep, you leave before they’re up—and when you’re here in the evening, you’re shut in your study or sitting behind your laptop screen totally ignoring me! What exactly do you think you’re bringing to this relationship?’

      ‘The money?’ he said sarcastically, and her face drained of colour.

      ‘You arrogant bastard,’ she spat softly. ‘We don’t need your money, and we certainly don’t need your attitude. I can go back to work for more days. I’m going back anyway next month for three sessions a week. They’ve asked me to, and I’ve said yes, and Lottie’s going to nursery. I’ll just do more hours, more sessions. They want as much time as I can give them, so I’ll give them more, if that’s what it takes.’

      He stared at her, shocked. ‘When did they ask you? You didn’t tell me.’

      ‘When exactly was I supposed to tell you?’ she asked, her voice tinged with bitterness and disappointment. ‘You’re never here.’

      ‘That’s not true. I was here all day yesterday—’

      ‘Shut in your study doing something more important!’

      ‘Don’t be silly. This is important. You should have told me. You don’t need to go back to work.’

      ‘Yes, I do! I need to because if I don’t, I never get to have a sensible conversation with another adult, because you certainly aren’t around! You have no idea what it’s like talking to a seven month old baby all day, every day, with no relief from it except for the conversation of her seven and five year old sisters! I love her to bits, I love them all to bits, but I’m not just a mother, I’m a doctor, I’m a woman, and those parts of me need recognition. And they’re sure as hell not getting them from you!’

      He sucked in his breath, stung by the bitterness in her voice. ‘Luce, that’s not fair. I’m doing it for us—’

      ‘No, you’re not! You’re doing it for you, for your precious ego that demands you never say no, always play the hero, always step up to the plate and never let your patients down. But you’re a husband and a father as well as a doctor, and you’re just sweeping all that under the mat. Well, newsflash, Gallagher, I’m not going to be swept under the mat any more. I don’t need the scraps of you left over from your “real” life, and nor do your children. We can manage without you. We do most of the time anyway. I doubt we’ll even notice the difference.’

      He felt sick. ‘You don’t mean that. СКАЧАТЬ