Page 13

CHAPTER 13

HEL

H el groaned and stretched. The bed she was lying in was so comfortable, far more comfortable than her usual bed. That was weird. Why wasn’t she in her bed?

She peeled open her eyes and glanced across to see Clara sleeping on the pillow next to her, quiet snores coming from her friend.

The events of the previous night rushed back to her. The fire. Her things being gone. Clara coming to fetch her and then telling her about the problems with her and Taylor’s new house. It turned out their new house and the cottages were death traps, with poor workmanship and dodgy wiring everywhere—which they found out when one of the cottages caught on fire.

They had one of the cottages renovated, which they were now living in, while the other two and the main house were completely redone.

Hel quietly pushed the covers back and grabbed her phone, tiptoeing out of the bedroom into the living area.

“Good morning, darling.” An American voice drawled from the kitchen.

“Hi, Gloria.” Hel strolled over and gave the woman a hug.

Gloria was Taylor’s mum and had become a firm favourite amongst all the doctors in the pub quiz team, as she insisted on attending the quiz every time she was visiting and always made the evening a lot more fun.

“I saw the note that you were here. I’ll make breakfast when Clara wakes up. How are you feeling?” Gloria asked as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of champagne.

“I’m alright. I don’t think reality has hit yet.” She sat down at the breakfast bar, raising an eyebrow as Gloria began pouring the champagne into two glasses. It was nine in the morning!

“I’m making mimosas. Remove that shocked look from your face, young lady,” Gloria chastised her gently.

That was another thing they all liked about Gloria: she loved to mother people and had semi-adopted all the doctors, especially the ones who didn’t have any family nearby.

Gloria topped up the glasses with orange juice and handed one over to Hel, who glanced at the bottle of champagne and blanched. It was a very expensive bottle of wine.

“Have you been raiding Taylor’s wine cellar again?” Hel asked as she took a sip.

“I will neither confirm nor deny the accusation,” Gloria said with a wink.

“Right.” Hel chuckled and took a bigger drink. Then she thought about things for a moment. “You know what, I don’t have to work today, and I had a bloody awful night last night. Can I have a proper glass of champagne?”

“Absolutely.” Gloria grinned broadly and grabbed them both another glass. “I’ll join you. It would be rude not to.”

By the time Clara woke up, Gloria had poured them both a second glass, and Hel was much more relaxed about being homeless.

“Gloria, you’re a bad influence,” Clara muttered when she saw the two rosy-faced women drinking and giggling.

“Thank you, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law. I will take that as a compliment.” Gloria raised her glass to Clara.

“You’re a menace.” Clara walked over and kissed Gloria on the cheek, giving her a quick hug. “If I didn’t love your son, you would be out on your ear.”

Gloria waved airily. “No, I wouldn’t. I am fabulous company.”

Hel covered her mouth so she didn’t laugh as the two bantered. They were always like this when they were together, and Taylor would roll his eyes and smile indulgently at the pair of them.

“What time do you need to go back to the house? I’ll drive you.” Clara eyed the bottle of champagne.

“You don’t need to. I’ll call a taxi,” Hel offered quickly.

“Nah. You’ll never get a taxi to come out here. I’ll drive you, it’s no problem. I can have a glass when we get back.” She turned to Gloria, a stern expression on her face. “That is a hint that there had better be some of Taylors good wine left when I get home!”

Gloria saluted. “Of course, darling. I’ll nip to the cellar and grab another bottle.”

Clara rolled her eyes, as that was obviously not what she meant.

“Knock, knock.” A voice called from the door before Sadie let herself in without waiting for a response. She had a shopping bag clutched in each hand.

Hel looked in question at Clara, who supplied. “I texted her.”

Sadie dumped the bags by the door and rushed across, pulling Hel into a hug. “I’m glad you’re alright. I drove past your place on the way over.”

Sadie pulled back as she said it, and Hel knew by the expression on her friend’s face that it wasn’t good news.

“The house is gone?”

“Yeah. There’s only rubble left. I’m sorry,” Sadie said sympathetically.

Hel murmured, “I hated living there.”

Clara jumped on that. “Why didn’t you say anything? You could have lived in my house.”

“I couldn’t afford the rent,” Hel muttered, looking at her feet. She huffed deeply and finally confided in her friends about her financial issues. “Dad needs back surgery, and the public won’t do it, so I’m saving for him to go private, and I send money each month to Mum and Dad as well. It doesn’t leave me with enough to rent on my own.”

Sadie’s arms were back around her, and Clara joined the hug.

“You wouldn’t have needed to pay me rent,” Clara told her.

“I know, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. You’re too generous, and you know I couldn’t have accepted.”

Hel had guessed Clara would want to help after her own struggle with the mountain of debt her shit-head ex-boyfriend left her with. But Hel was too proud and didn’t want to take advantage of her friend.

“I always thought you liked the company. That’s what you always said,” Sadie’s tone was accusing.

Hel pulled out of the hug. “Sorry, I didn’t want you guys to feel sorry for me and offer me handouts.”

“Taylor would—“ Clara began to speak, and Hel cut her off.

“Please don’t suggest asking him for money, that’s not something I would ever do or could ever accept.” Hel knew he could afford it, but that wasn’t the point. She would never ask.

“Okay,” Clara said slowly. Her gaze caught Gloria’s, and she raised her eyebrows. The older woman nodded.

“What did you pay to rent your current place?” Clara asked.

“Two hundred and fifty a week.” Hel couldn’t quite work out where this was going.

“Done. Once all the renovations are finished, which won’t unfortunately be until close to our wedding, you can move into one of the cottages.”

“I can’t—“ Hel tried to refuse.

“Nope, you can. Gloria would rather stay up in the main house when she’s here. You can have her cottage.” Clara gestured at her future mother-in-law, who grinned.

“It’s closer to the wine cellar, and Taylor keeps the best food in his house, so you’ll save me having to look for excuses to raid his stuff. Anyway, the guestroom is at the opposite end of the house to the master bedroom, so I don’t mind moving in with them.” Gloria waggled her eyebrows.

Clara groaned loudly. “No, Gloria. Just no.”

Hel and Sadie glanced at each other and began to giggle, amused by Gloria embarrassing their friend.

“So what do you say, Hel?” Clara had clearly decided to ignore her future mother-in-law, who was laughing gleefully.

Hel hesitated for a moment. Should she refuse? Was it too much to ask of her friends? Staring at Clara, she saw the hopeful expression on the other woman’s face, she really did want to help.

“Yes, please. I would love to move in. Thank you.”

“Yeah!” Clara cheered and grabbed her friend into another hug.

Hel hugged her back and felt some of the weight lift off her shoulders, it would be a little while before she could move in, but when she did, she would have somewhere she could call home for the first time in a long time.

Hel went through the bag of clothes Sadie brought her to see what fit, then raided Clara’s wardrobe so she had some outfits for the next few days.

The incident with Frost kept bubbling to the surface of her mind as they sorted clothes and chatted until she eventually blurted, “I’m a terrible person.”

The eyes of the other three women swung to her.

“Okay. Why is that?” Sadie asked in bewilderment.

“I kissed Frost last night.” Hel flushed, so ashamed of herself. He had a girlfriend, and she had kissed him. Well, it was barely a kiss, but it was still wrong.

“Ohhhh. Tell me all about it!” Gloria exclaimed, her voice full of glee.

“Gloria, it’s not good. He’s got a girlfriend,” Clara muttered.

“Oh. That’s not ideal. Do you like him? Can we get rid of this girlfriend?” Gloria’s tone was very serious, and Hel could imagine Taylor’s mum coming up with a ridiculous scheme to do just that.

“Gloria!” Clara admonished.

But Gloria shrugged unapologetically. “I was only asking.”

Hel put her head in her hands. “It’s stupid. I’ve only just met him. But I really like him, and I don’t know why.”

“Because he’s hot?” Sadie supplied.

Hel’s voice was muffled by her hands. “Yes. No. I don’t know. His girlfriend is young, stunning, and well put together. I don’t even know why I’m thinking about him.”

“And he kissed you as well. It takes two to tango,” Gloria supplied with more eyebrow waggling.

“He was so high, he was practically on the ceiling.”

“He does drugs?” Gloria didn’t sound so entertained now.

“No, he’s an ice hockey player. He broke his leg. I gave him drugs for the pain,” Hel explained.

“Ahhhh. Now I understand. And then he wanted to play doctors and patient?” Gloria was waggling her eyebrows again.

Hel flushed so red her face matched her flaming hair. “Gloria, please stop.”

“See what I have to put up with.” Clara pointed at her soon-to-be mother-in-law.

“Yeah. But it’s so much funnier when it’s happening to you, not me.” Hel fanned at her flaming cheeks.

“What are you going to do?” Sadie asked.

“What can I do? I’ve got a crush, and he’s got a girlfriend. It’s pretty simple: I do nothing.”

“Is the relationship between them strong?” Gloria had a thoughtful look on her face.

“No. He said, when he was drugged to the eyeballs, that he was trying to break up with her.”

“Well, there we go then. It’s totally fine.” Gloria waved her hand.

“You say that, but he hasn’t broken up with her yet, and maybe he won’t.”

“And maybe he will,” Clara said.

Hel tried not to examine the little flutter she felt in her chest when Clara said maybe he will.