Prognosis Baby Daddy - Amy Andrews Page 0,71

the next block being one, but an aging reception staff hadn’t helped either. Veronica was twenty-five and a total godsend.

She was bright and perky with a sparkly personality. And the patients adored her.

‘Fine,’ Madeline responded distractedly. Not even Veronica’s enthusiasm could curb her indefinable restlessness. ‘Who’s on today? George, Andrew or Tom?’ she asked, looking around at the empty waiting room.

‘George. He’s at a house call.’

George Blakely had been her father’s partner since the dawn of the practice. He and his wife Mary had also taken Madeline and Abby under their wing when their parents had died within a year of each other in Madeline’s final year of high school.

Andrew Baxter had also been one of the founding partners. Thomas Wishart was a newer edition, a thirty-three-year-old father of four, brought in by Madeline a year ago. He was an excellent practitioner Madeline had first met at med school. They had desperately needed new blood to bring in new clients and Thomas, who lived locally, had been perfect.

Both George and Andrew would be retiring in the next five years so it was important to put strategies in place for that eventuality.

Thomas had been an excellent start.

The practice was building back up again and Madeline hoped that it would be thriving when George and Andrew hung up their stethoscopes.

‘Quiet day?’ Madeline asked.

‘Forget that!’ Veronica said, her blue eyes sparkling merrily, ‘tell me all the gossip. I want to know everything!’

‘I went to an international general practitioners’ symposium, Veronica. No gossip to tell.’

Veronica rolled her eyes. ‘In London, Madeline, London! Don’t tell me you didn’t take my advice?’

Madeline smiled. ‘About the rebound sex?’

The younger woman nodded her head vigorously. ‘Those English lads love Aussie girls.’

‘Ahh, it’s not really me, Veronica.’

‘Well, of course it’s not,’ she said exasperatedly. ‘That’s the point. Simon dumps you just before a six-week overseas working holiday. It’s perfect for rebound sex. Perfect.’

Madeline smiled at Veronica’s grab-life-by-the-balls attitude and envied the younger woman. She herself was more tiptoe through life cautiously. One-night stands, rebound sex...she’d been with one guy for ten years.

And, besides, their split was just temporary.

‘I didn’t really fancy anyone,’ she said lamely as Veronica continued to look at her expectantly.

Now, if Marcus Hunt had been there...

‘Madeline,’ Veronica sighed.

‘Hey, no one offered either,’ she said defensively.

‘I don’t reckon that helped,’ said Veronica, tapping Madeline’s ring with the end of her pen.

Glancing down at the two-carat diamond Madeline was inclined to agree. But it had been part of her hand for four years. Even if it was really over between them, she wasn’t ready to take it off yet.

And, the truth was, it did keep men away.

If she counted Simon, that was four people she’d loved and lost - she wasn’t sure she was capable of any kind of entanglement. Emotionally capable.

The clock behind the reception desk said five. ‘Why don’t you go home? It’s time. I’m going to do a bit of catching up, I’ll lock up when I leave.’

‘Okay, okay. I get it, I get it. Mind my own business,’ Veronica grumbled good-naturedly as she gathered her stuff then dropped a quick peck on Madeline’s cheek on her way out.

Alone, Madeline walked around the surgery, absently re-familiarising herself with the tastefully decorated waiting area. She checked the appointment book and whistled out loud, recognising quite a few of her regulars. It was going to be a busy Tuesday!

Her colleagues had insisted she didn’t start work again until then, to fully recover from her jet lag.

The odd restlessness returned again and she yawned as she wandered into her office. Man... she was tired. But she refused to succumb. It was still too early for bed so she might as well hang here for a while.

Sitting in her chair she picked up the various drug company toys she kept on her desk to amuse children and opened her drawers, checking she had plenty of prescription pads and stationery. Her gaze fell on the framed photo of Simon. Something else she wasn’t ready to ditch just yet.

She remembered Veronica’s pursed disapproving lips at her lack of action in London. But that just wasn’t Madeline’s style. Veronica had spent her teens and early twenties having a good time, experimenting with men and life, secure in the arms of a loving family.

Madeline had spent hers reeling from one tragedy to another while trying to study hard and be there for Abby, too. Simon had stuck by her side through all of it.

She traced her fingers over his face. So he wasn’t