only be broken should he be called out on a life-or-death emergency. Visions of past Christmases spent with people he had loved started to invade his mind. He dismissed them. Those days were gone, those people were gone, and he had moved on now into another life. But still he could not shake off his all-consuming feeling of loneliness. Best thing to help the day pass quickly was to keep himself busy. He could update his accounts. Not a job he liked doing but one that needed to be focused on so no mistakes were made, leaving little room for other thoughts.
He made his way into the surgery, sat down behind the desk and pulled open the bottom drawer where the accounts book was stored. The bottle of whisky that lay hidden beneath it met his eyes like a beacon. A drink seemed a good idea to him then. Might help lighten the melancholy mood he was in. It was Christmas Day after all and a tot of good cheer at this time of the day was acceptable. Taking the bottle out of the drawer and collecting a glass from the kitchen, he settled himself into his armchair by the blazing fire. One small draught led to another, and an hour later the bottle was half-empty. Ty, in a mellow, couldn’t-care-less state of mind, drifted off into a drink-induced doze.
The loud rap on the front door had roused him from slumber. As the good-mannered man he was, he automatically rose to answer it, though he still felt dazed and his mouth was unaccountably dry.
His eyes immediately took in a very attractive face looking up at him. It belonged to a shapely woman, whose attire might be on the shabby side but still looked very becoming on her. But why she was standing on his doorstep, holding a covered plate in her hand and wearing a paper hat on her head, he couldn’t understand.
Aidy meanwhile was wondering what on earth was wrong with her boss. He certainly wasn’t himself. Why was he looking at her as if he’d never seen her before? And she knew a man with an admiring glint in his eyes when she saw one. Then she caught the whiff of alcohol wafting from him and realised he was looking at her through drink-glazed eyes so more than likely wasn’t recognising her.
The fog in Ty’s brain suddenly lifted and, to his absolute horror, he realised the woman he was looking at in a very appreciative way was in fact his receptionist. Having regained his senses, the trouble was that she was still looking rather attractive to him. This wouldn’t do. It was against everything he had ever promised himself after the tragedy had struck.
His dreamy expression hardened and he spoke to her in to a businesslike fashion. ‘If what is on that plate is for me, Mrs Nelson, then I appreciate your offer but I’ve already eaten. Excuse me, won’t you, but I’m in the middle of something and must get back to it.’ He stopped himself from telling her he hoped the rest of the day was a pleasant one for her and her family. He didn’t want her to think for a minute he cared, even though deep down he actually did.
Ty stepped back inside the house and firmly closed the door.
Outside on the damp cobbles, Aidy was left confused and upset. She couldn’t believe her boss had been so rude to her, so unappreciative of her gesture, and after her thinking he wasn’t as bad as she’d first decided as well. Fury erupted inside her. To hell with him, she inwardly fumed. No wonder he wasn’t married. No wonder she never witnessed any evidence of friends visiting him, or relatives either. The way he treated people, he didn’t deserve them to care for him back. She had learned her lesson, though. From now on she would do the job he paid her for and no more. No making cups of tea for him or a sandwich for his lunch. No hanging his wet coat up so it was dry for when he went out next. No straightening the washing he had put on the clothes horse so it dried quicker and wasn’t so rumpled. She would never, ever put herself in a position where he could humiliate her like that again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ty was feeling wretched. The inside of his head was pounding like a drum. His eyes felt gritty, his chest tight. He was having