Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,32

to explain, Charles, but we both know that anything we had is dead and long gone. There’s no way I could possibly trust you again after what happened. I’m over it now and I want to forget about it. That’s all in the past and we’ve both moved on since then.’

‘So does that mean you’ve found somebody else?’

The simple truth was that she hadn’t, but that was no business of his. ‘It means it’s all over. You and I were together and now we aren’t, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.’ As she spoke, she did in fact feel a sense of release, of closure, and she drew strength from this realisation. ‘We’re both going to be working here and that’s all. We’re colleagues and whatever I may think of your behaviour towards me in the past, I have a lot of respect for you as a doctor. Let’s keep it like that. Okay? Compris?’

‘Compris.’ He shook his head sadly but then looked up again, a brighter expression on his face. ‘Still, it’ll be good to work with you again. You’re a great surgeon and I respect you a lot too.’ He sat back and visibly relaxed. ‘So tell me all about Africa.’

That afternoon Lucy found herself repairing a hernia and removing a gall bladder. She didn’t recognise the glamorous owner of the gall bladder, but from the length of the woman’s finger nails, this was somebody who didn’t go in for manual labour. Mind you, she reminded herself, she was now in the realm of the rich and famous – or infamous. The operation went well and she felt sure the patient would feel a lot better as a result and that, she told herself, was all that counted. The hernia patient was a more famous face, this time a Jamaican athlete. When he came round from his anaesthetic she sat with him for some time, telling him that all had gone well and reassuring him he would only be out of his sport for a matter of weeks. He was very pleasant and very grateful and she reflected that if all the patients here were like him she wouldn’t complain.

Thoughts of famous sportsmen took her up to the physio department at the end of the afternoon where she found Louisa and, with her, David Lorenzo. Considering how grumpy he had been the last time she had seen him, she found herself questioning why she should have chosen to visit him again. His wounds would be well healed by now. She was still trying to come to a conclusion when her eyes alighted upon him and, to her annoyance, that same little spark of attraction stirred within her. She did her best to suppress it as she studied him.

The tennis player was stretched out, face-down, with weights strapped around his ankles, engaged in a series of leg and knee exercises. Lucy smiled at Louisa and then waited until he had finished his set before speaking to him.

‘Good afternoon, Mr Lorenzo. How’s it going?’

He rolled over onto his good side and looked up. ‘Doctor Young. I’m doing good, thanks.’ As ever, his tone was detached, but at least he was being a bit more polite than the last time she had seen him.

He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts which meant that she couldn’t see his scars this time. She was just wondering whether to ask if she could take a look when he reached down and pulled the T-shirt up, exposing his muscular abdomen and lower back.

‘I suppose you want to check things out?’

She bent lower and was very pleased to see both scars now almost fully healed. She gave him an encouraging smile. ‘That’s great. It looks as though you’re back to normal.’

A cloud spread across his face. ‘My side, maybe. Just not the rest.’

All Lucy could do was to offer support. ‘Well, if the side’s anything to go by, you heal quickly. You’ll get there, I’m sure.’

He caught her eye for a second or two, during which she read the depth of his despair, but then he rolled back down onto his front and started the knee exercises once more. Lucy exchanged shrugs with Louisa, bade them both farewell and left, determined to take a look at his records, just to see how hopeless his case really was.

As she walked off down the corridor, she found herself wondering whether the degree of closure she felt she had gained with regard to Charles might be responsible