elegance.’
‘It reminds me of the sea,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘Not surprising. It’s called “ Le Onde ”—The Waves. The first time I heard it, it reminded me of walking on the beach here on a calm summer evening, with the waves lapping at the shore.’
‘I was just going to get myself a glass of wine. Would you like to join me?’ he asked.
‘Thanks, that’d be nice.’
He could see the wariness on her face and knew it was because he’d asked her to have a quick chat with him. Did she think he was going to bring up this morning? They’d have to talk about it at some point, he knew, but right now he wanted to pick her brains about Mrs Cooper—and he had a feeling that was going to be just as awkward a subject. If you’d had enough of your job, to the point where you were taking an open-ended sabbatical, the last thingyou’d want to do would be to discuss it. So it would be mean of him to ask.
Then again, wouldn’t any doctor in his shoes do the same thing—put their patient’s needs first?
‘Back in a tick,’ he said. He poured two glasses of pinot grigio from the bottle he’d left chilling in the fridge and took them back to the conservatory.
Amy accepted the glass with a smile and took a sip. ‘This is very nice.’
‘My vice,’ Tom said. ‘The occasional glass of decent wine.’
She laughed. ‘Not like in your student days, when you’d drink anything going?’
He pulled a face. ‘Thanks for making me feel middle-aged. I’ll have you know, I’m thirty-four.’
‘Same as me. Yeah, you’re middle-aged,’ she teased.
But despite her bantering tone, she looked strained.
Guilt flooded through Tom and his chest felt tight. Was he just about to make everything worse for her? And yet…maybe it would help her to talk. ‘There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Given that I’m trying to stick to boundaries, this is probably breaking the rules,’ he warned.
Amy was silent for so long that he was about to apologise and offer to leave her be, then she nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘If you had a patient, say,’ he suggested, ‘and it was a tricky case, and you had the chance to talk to someone who wasn’t going to be involved in your patient’s treatment but had much more expertise in that particular area than you did…would you take it?’
She blinked. ‘You want to talk to me about work?’
He nodded. ‘I know I’m asking a lot. But my patient is worried sick and I want to reassure her—properly, I mean, so she doesn’t think I’m just being bright and breezy and fobbing her off. I have no idea whether you know her, butI’m not going to tell you who she is or give you enough detail to work it out for yourself, so I’m not infringing patient confidentiality. And I could really do with some advice.’
‘Uh-huh.’
He could see the struggle in her face. The doctor in her wanting to help, and yet the woman who was on sabbatical not wanting to talk about anything to do with work. ‘Amy, if you’d rather not, I do understand—it’s not a problem. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.’
‘But you need to help your patient.’ She bit her lip, clearly torn; like him, then, it seemed she’d gone into her profession to help people and make a difference to their lives. ‘I’m not sure how much use I can be but, OK, tell me about her.’
‘She’s in her fifties, and has pain in her right cheek and upper jaw that she describes as feeling like an electric shock,’ he said. ‘The lightest touch makes it hurt and it doesn’t help that she has hay fever—every time she touches her nose or sneezes she’s in pain. She’s had X-rays from the dentist and everything’s fine there.’
‘Sounds like a classic presentation of trigeminal neuralgia,’ Amy said. ‘Though it could be neuritis, especially if she’s a diabetic. Is the pain constant?’
‘She says it’s not—and she’s not diabetic,’ he explained. ‘She’s been on anticonvulsants
‘It reminds me of the sea,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘Not surprising. It’s called “ Le Onde ”—The Waves. The first time I heard it, it reminded me of walking on the beach here on a calm summer evening, with the waves lapping at the shore.’
‘I was just going to get myself a glass of wine. Would you like to join me?’ he asked.
‘Thanks, that’d be nice.’
He could see the wariness on her face and knew it was because he’d asked her to have a quick chat with him. Did she think he was going to bring up this morning? They’d have to talk about it at some point, he knew, but right now he wanted to pick her brains about Mrs Cooper—and he had a feeling that was going to be just as awkward a subject. If you’d had enough of your job, to the point where you were taking an open-ended sabbatical, the last thingyou’d want to do would be to discuss it. So it would be mean of him to ask.
Then again, wouldn’t any doctor in his shoes do the same thing—put their patient’s needs first?
‘Back in a tick,’ he said. He poured two glasses of pinot grigio from the bottle he’d left chilling in the fridge and took them back to the conservatory.
Amy accepted the glass with a smile and took a sip. ‘This is very nice.’
‘My vice,’ Tom said. ‘The occasional glass of decent wine.’
She laughed. ‘Not like in your student days, when you’d drink anything going?’
He pulled a face. ‘Thanks for making me feel middle-aged. I’ll have you know, I’m thirty-four.’
‘Same as me. Yeah, you’re middle-aged,’ she teased.
But despite her bantering tone, she looked strained.
Guilt flooded through Tom and his chest felt tight. Was he just about to make everything worse for her? And yet…maybe it would help her to talk. ‘There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Given that I’m trying to stick to boundaries, this is probably breaking the rules,’ he warned.
Amy was silent for so long that he was about to apologise and offer to leave her be, then she nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘If you had a patient, say,’ he suggested, ‘and it was a tricky case, and you had the chance to talk to someone who wasn’t going to be involved in your patient’s treatment but had much more expertise in that particular area than you did…would you take it?’
She blinked. ‘You want to talk to me about work?’
He nodded. ‘I know I’m asking a lot. But my patient is worried sick and I want to reassure her—properly, I mean, so she doesn’t think I’m just being bright and breezy and fobbing her off. I have no idea whether you know her, butI’m not going to tell you who she is or give you enough detail to work it out for yourself, so I’m not infringing patient confidentiality. And I could really do with some advice.’
‘Uh-huh.’
He could see the struggle in her face. The doctor in her wanting to help, and yet the woman who was on sabbatical not wanting to talk about anything to do with work. ‘Amy, if you’d rather not, I do understand—it’s not a problem. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.’
‘But you need to help your patient.’ She bit her lip, clearly torn; like him, then, it seemed she’d gone into her profession to help people and make a difference to their lives. ‘I’m not sure how much use I can be but, OK, tell me about her.’
‘She’s in her fifties, and has pain in her right cheek and upper jaw that she describes as feeling like an electric shock,’ he said. ‘The lightest touch makes it hurt and it doesn’t help that she has hay fever—every time she touches her nose or sneezes she’s in pain. She’s had X-rays from the dentist and everything’s fine there.’
‘Sounds like a classic presentation of trigeminal neuralgia,’ Amy said. ‘Though it could be neuritis, especially if she’s a diabetic. Is the pain constant?’
‘She says it’s not—and she’s not diabetic,’ he explained. ‘She’s been on anticonvulsants
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