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Alice gasped. “Why?”

“Because I’d die of sleep deprivation! You’d keep me locked in the bedroom, feeding me miniature packets of biscuits and demanding orgasms.”

Alice chewed her bottom lip. “Would that really be so bad?”

Ash answered with the sort of kiss that made Alice grateful she was horizontal.

25

CASSEROLE

“All set then, George?”

With a small smile, George patted the holdall full of the things Alice had brought from his house, as well as half a dozen packets of biscuits. Dressed in the furry black coat he’d been wearing the night Alice found him, he unfurled his tall frame from the chair.

Not for the first time, Alice wondered how on earth she’d managed to drag him into her car that night. He’d got off relatively easy with just a minor head injury.

“Thanks again for breaking me out of here, Alice. Your formidable friend, Doctor Truscote, said you pulled a few strings to speed things up. Who knows when they’d have let me out otherwise?”

“I’m pleased I could help. Was Truscote okay with you?”

“No nonsense. That’s what I like in a doctor. She’s let me out for good behaviour on the proviso that I attend a course of follow-up sessions to work through everything that led up to…” His bottom lip trembled, and Alice squeezed a hand on his arm.

They stopped by the nurses’ station so George could thank them and say goodbye. Marjorie even stepped out and reached up to give him a hug.

“You mind how you go now, George,” she said, her words almost smothered by his coat. Pulling away, she swiped her damp cheeks and wagged a finger at him. “I don’t want to see you back here again.”

George looped an arm through Alice’s and they walked the corridor towards the lifts. “I called ahead to let Trish know I’ll be home.”

“Will she have got some groceries in for you, or should we stop?—”

“Wait up!” A voice called out.

They spun around to Ash, jogging up behind them.

“Good… I didn’t… miss you,” she said, bending to catch her breath.

Alice tried to suppress the smile sweeping over her lips before George saw.

She and Ash had been inseparable for the remainder of the weekend. They’d enjoyed most of it horizontally. They’d missed check-out by over an hour, then somehow lasted the entire drive home before reuniting on Alice’s couch, finally ending up in her bed, where they’d woken with limbs entwined that morning.

They’d kissed goodbye in the hospital car park and had no further plans to see each other that day. Alice had practically floated to George’s room. Despite all that, they’d agreed to take things slow, which meant keeping it just between themselves for now. A secret affair, but this time without all the bullshit that had come with Fran.

If Ash’s stupid grin and flushed cheeks were anything to go by, the whole ward would know within seconds. George glanced between them and released a low whistle, but perhaps reading the room, he didn’t pass comment.

“I, er… swapped shifts. It means I’ll get a sucky double later this week, but I didn’t want you having to get an Uber. So, I’ll drive you.”

“Really?” Alice’s voice came out so high there’d be dogs howling in France.

George raised his bushy eyebrows.

“Yeah, really. Come on,” Ash laughed.

* * *

The crooked littlecottage looked less creepy, more quaint than when Alice had come by with Maggie just over a week ago.How had that only been a week ago?As they clambered out of the car, the front door swung open, and Trisha came trundling down the path with a wiry black dog yapping in tow.

“Pyglet!” George held his arms open, and the dog jumped into them, yelping as it snuffled into his beard.