Saved by the Single Dad by Annie Claydon

person who doesn’t know is the consultant at the hospital. When I asked Mrs Hughes if she’d spoken to him, she said she didn’t like to.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    Cass shrugged. ‘Because he’s far too important. And clearly far too busy to be worrying about his patients’ health.’
    Jack gave a resigned groan. ‘Okay. He’s actually a good man, and very approachable. I’ll be making the situation clear in my notes and he’ll follow up.’
    â€˜Thanks.’ Cass swerved off the road and climbed over a stile, jumping down on the other side. ‘Short cut.’
    Jack had almost completely lost his bearings. Here, on the other side of the village from the river, the land sloped more gently and houses were scattered between fields and copses of trees. The ring of water that surrounded the area spread out into the distance, encroaching wherever it could through gullies and streams and into homes. But Cass seemed to know every inch of the place, and so far they hadn’t even got their feet wet.
    â€˜Any other bits of interesting gossip I should know about?’ It sounded as if the villagers knew who needed medical help long before anyone else did.
    â€˜Don’t think so. Joe Gardener pulled a muscle yesterday, carrying my kitchen door.’
    â€˜He mentioned that last night when I saw him. The tube of vapour rub from the chemist is for him. What about you?’
    â€˜Me? Nothing wrong with me.’
    Jack had expected her to say that. But he’d heard a little village gossip too, last night. ‘It’s just that if there was someone who’d been up all night on more than one occasion in the past few weeks, who’d been holding down a physically demanding job, digging ditches and looking after a pregnant sister...’
    She shot him a warning glare, compressing her lips into a hard line. Jack ignored it.
    â€˜...rescuing kids, and then going through the trauma of having her own house flooded, I’d be a bit concerned.’
    â€˜Would you, now?’
    â€˜Do you want to talk about it?’
    She stopped short, almost tripping over a tree root when she turned to face him. ‘What’s all this about, Jack? I’m fine. I told you.’
    â€˜Okay. Just asking.’ If she wasn’t going to talk about it, then he couldn’t make her. ‘But if you do need anything.’
    â€˜So I’m needy now, am I?’ She frowned at him.
    â€˜No. You might be human, though. And if it turns out that you are, and you need a friend...’ He shrugged. Why should she turn to him? She was surrounded by friends here and she never seemed to want to take any help from anyone.
    Suddenly she seemed to soften. ‘Jack, I...’ She shook her head and the moment was lost. ‘Will you do something for me? As a friend.’
    â€˜Of course.’
    â€˜Will you just shut up?’
    * * *
    He’d obviously gone too far and Cass was withdrawn and quiet as they circled the low-lying areas of the village, dropping off prescriptions and visiting anyone who might need medical support. But, whatever sadness she concealed, and Jack was sure by now that she was hiding something, she never hung on to it for long. Cass was nothing if not resilient, and by the time they’d walked back up the hill to Miss Palmer’s cottage, she was smiling again.
    â€˜I can’t wait to see what Bathsheba’s going to get up to next.’ Cass grinned at Miss Palmer. While Jack had been checking her over and doing the INR test, Cass had produced an MP3 player from her pocket and plugged it into a laptop which lay on a side table.
    â€˜Oh, I think you’ll be surprised.’ Miss Palmer smiled enigmatically.
    â€˜Miss Palmer’s reading Thomas Hardy. I can read it myself, but it’s easier when she does it for me.’
    â€˜You can concentrate on what’s happening, you mean?’ Jack liked the idea, and it