Page 2 of Harbor Lights (Inishderry Island Romances #3)

ONE

“What the hell is wrong with this house?” Constance “Doc” Scott kicked at the base of the door, where it caught on the flagstones. “It’s got it in for me.”

She finally dragged it open and dropped her luggage inside the hallway. When she tried to close the door, it stuck fast. She gave it another kick and left it ajar. Her immediate priority was a cup of tea.

She filled the kettle from the antique faucet. “At least that’s still working.”

She appreciated the efforts of her friend, Joey, who tried to help with the maintenance of the house, but it was a never-ending struggle.

No sooner was one thing fixed, something else broke.

But Joey had a demanding job fishing the local waters, and they were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship with their girlfriend, Marianne. She couldn’t keep asking.

Con knew she could do some repairs herself.

When her hot flashes kept her awake at night, she made a mental list of the tasks she could start the following morning.

Then she’d wake up unrested, and in the cold light of day, the scale of repairs seemed insurmountable.

So, she’d move the list to the back of her brain, promising she’d pick it up again soon.

She took her mug and collapsed onto her favorite couch in the lounge.

The lack of view from the window was yet another reminder of jobs that needed doing.

The beautiful sea vista had been obscured for the past few years by shrubbery that hadn’t been trimmed since Majella left.

Majella. She had to stop agreeing to all these visits her ex asked of her.

The buzzing of her phone diverted her thoughts. She pulled it from her blazer pocket and smiled to see Joey’s name.

Are you back? Just returning from deliveries. We could grab a coffee at Tina’s in twenty minutes if you’re free?

Con typed out her response immediately.

Would love that. See you there.

She finished her tea and stood, a weight lifting from her shoulders. She’d been happy beyond words to see her best friend finally find their soulmate. Joey was too good and kind to be without the love they deserved.

She’d fretted that an already overstretched Joey would have even less time for their old friend.

But to her surprise, if anything, they’d become closer.

Joey had decided Con, with her experience of a long-term partner, was the perfect person to share their worries and concerns about their own first serious relationship.

Not that it wasn’t going smoothly, but Joey tended to overthink things, and Con knew exactly how to tease them back on the right track.

She wished she could do the same for herself, but if Joey’s relationship worked out better than her own had, that would bring her some happiness.

She was very grateful to have Joey in her life.

She washed out the mug in the farmhouse sink and hauled her bags to the bedroom.

She could unpack later. She checked her appearance in her full-length mirror.

A little wax to fix her hair back in place and a drop of cologne on her wrists made her feel more presentable.

She straightened the crumpled linen of her green blazer and was content enough with her appearance to face the village.

She hauled on the door as she left and was relieved when it ground across the tiles and closed behind her.

She’d ask down in the Harbor Bar, next time she was there, if anyone could spare the time to fix it.

She didn’t like to ask because the locals felt obliged to help her out, and then she’d have to insist on paying.

But she had to have a door her patients could open.

She glanced at her battered Land Rover sitting in the yard, and turned away toward the cliff path that passed below her house. She’d spent too much time today behind the wheel or crammed into a budget airline seat. A brisk walk down to the village would do her good.

As the path wound below her uncultivated garden, the undergrowth thinned and the harbor of Portrinn came into view.

The afternoon had brightened after a rainy morning and the sun glinted off the waves in the bay.

The harbor itself lay snugly within the stone walls, the water calm and protected from the ocean.

Joey O’Hara’s small white fishing boat, Queen Maedbh, sat bobbing near the quay.

Con was fond of her village. Aside from studying, and a short time traveling, she’d lived here all her life. As had seven generations of her family before her.

Majella had considered it too simplistic, inconveniently placed for commuting to the university at Galway, where she’d found a lecturing job after Con came home to join her father’s practice.

But she’d seemed to settle, putting her mark on the rambling house Con’s father signed over to her upon his retirement, and hosting parties for her academic friends. It had been enough.

Until it wasn’t.

Spending the weekend with Majella, her wife Audrey, and Audrey’s family had brought all the old regrets back to the surface.

Con hadn’t wanted to go to the wedding, but Majella had convinced her it would do her good, and Majella would have a much better time with her oldest friend by her side.

But they weren’t friends, were they? Friends didn’t have a painful history; a day one of them could remember like it was yesterday.

A day when everything changed, and the world became a darker place.

Putting the brakes on her morose train of thought, Con scoured the parking lot on the quay.

There was no sign of Joey’s white refrigerated van, with its instantly recognizable lobster logo emblazoned along the side.

She hoped they wouldn’t be long. She wanted to offload about the wedding so she could put it behind her.

She reached the bottom of the hill and stopped to catch her breath. If walking downhill had this effect on her, she was in for a treat on the way back up. She really had to do something about her fitness. She was too young to feel this old.

When she reached the door to Tina’s café, the O’Hara’s Lobsters van was pulling up across the street. Warmth filled her at the sight of her dear friend. Joey pulled their long frame from the cab of the van and turned.

“Hey, Doc, how’s it going?” Their smile was as wide as her own. Joey wasn’t one to hide their feelings. They crossed the street and pulled her into a warm hug.

“It’s okay, this is my delivery jacket. It only smells slightly of seafood.”

“I don’t care how you smell; I’m just pleased to see you.” She pressed her face into the fleece of Joey’s coat to hide the tears that whelmed up.

“Hey.” Joey pulled back and held her at arms’ length. “Seriously, are you okay? You’ve only been gone for four days.”

She sniffed and pulled herself together. “I’m fine. It was just a lot, you know?”

Joey led the way into the cafe. “You should stop agreeing to attend every family gathering if it gets you down.”

“I know, I know.”

Joey was right, but it wasn’t as easy as that. “It’s become kind of the done thing. I’m expected to be there.”

“Two teas please, Tina,” Joey said to the woman behind the counter. They turned. “Unless you want coffee?”

“Tea’s fine for me. I don’t need another reason to be wide awake all night.”

Joey led her to a table in the back room, away from the group of fishers chatting among themselves.

The friendly greetings and nods Joey received were very different from the muttered “Afternoon, Doc” aimed at her.

But she was used to it. She’d had it all her life.

From the moment she left to go to boarding school.

Probably before, but she’d just been too young to notice how separate her family was from the rest of the community.

“So, how was it?” Joey pulled their chair close, as though recognizing Con wouldn’t be keen for the locals to overhear her worries. To them she was the GP, and the odd woman who lived in the big house. She didn’t need them to know how much of a mess her life was.

She waited for Tina to deliver the tea and a jug of milk. “Thanks, Tina.” She watched her walk away.

“Oh, I don’t know.” She turned back to Joey. “On the surface it was grand. The wedding was in one of the university college chapels and it was all beautiful. Stephen and Maria looked blissfully happy. A lovely family occasion. What have I got to complain about, really?”

Joey’s gaze didn’t waver. They wouldn’t push for her to expand, but she needed to get it out. “But it’s not my family, is it? Catherine’s baby isn’t my grandchild. It wasn’t my stepson getting married.”

“But you and Majella never wanted kids, did you?”

“That’s what we agreed when we were young. But she seems pretty fucking happy with her new family now.”

“Hardly new, Doc. They’ve been together for a decade.” Joey sipped their tea.

“Don’t I know it.” She rubbed her face, trying to think how to explain logically how she was feeling.

“But every time I’m there, it just reminds me how much they’ve all moved on.

Stephen was a teenager when Majella and Audrey got together.

Now he’s married and about to start his own family.

Vanessa, the youngest, is finishing college. ”

“And you’re still sitting here, grieving your relationship?”

Con shrugged. That was a little close to the truth. “I’m here stuck in the same old routine.”

“Why did you never tell Majella how badly she hurt you? How much you’re still hurting. If you did, maybe she wouldn’t be so quick to push you into every family event.”

Con shook her head slowly. “It’s a little late now. It should’ve been said ten years ago, when she left me with a ring in my pocket, and I said I understood.”

Joey squeezed her arm, then downed the rest of their tea. “I hate to rush off, but I’ve got to get back to pick up Denny from the childminder. Mari’s not back till later in the week.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I know you’ve got a lot to juggle. I appreciate you making time for me.” She stood and gathered their mugs, trying not to show her lack of enthusiasm for returning home alone.

She paid Tina for their drinks then followed Joey outside.

“Is the surgery back open tomorrow?”

“Yeah, first thing. And I’ve got a long day catching up on appointments. So, I’d better get home and unpack before reality kicks in.”

Together, they strolled onto the quay in the late autumn sunshine.

“You should really look at getting a nurse, or another GP. At least a locum so you could get away more. It’s a big practice for one person.”

“But getting smaller as people move away to the fancy new health center in town.” She laughed off the worry that her practice was shrinking.

“No way! People here love you. You and your dad are the only GPs most people around here have ever known.”

She wanted to say that was the problem. Her rambling, dated surgery gave people the impression she was a dinosaur when, in fact, she spent all her free time attending training and briefings on all the latest medical breakthroughs and technology.

She was very proud of how good a GP she was.

It just didn’t always shine through her surroundings.

She really should get someone in to repair the surgery, even if she couldn’t face renovating the whole house.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere.” She pulled Joey in for a hug.

They planted a kiss on her cheek and whispered, “You should tell her. It’s not right to carry on as though everything’s fine.”

Con pulled away and nodded, not daring to look Joey in the eye. “Maybe I will.”

She wouldn’t, and they both knew it. This had been how it was for so long she didn’t see it ever changing. She turned toward the hill that led to her house. “Thanks for the catch up.”

“Come over on Sunday for dinner,” Joey called after her.

She waved over her shoulder. “Perfect, let me know a time.”

The trudge back up the hill warmed her enough she stripped off her blazer as she entered the house.

But the house was almost too warm. The cleaner, Ann, had set the heating before she left.

Ann was a godsend. Without her keeping the house and surgery clean and relatively tidy, Con suspected she would have even fewer patients.

She clicked off the heating. There was no need to waste oil.

She’d never liked an overly warm house, but since the menopause, her default body temperature was set to uncomfortably sweaty.

She made sure her surgery was a pleasant temperature for her patients, but the rest of the house often had the windows wide, even in winter.

She still couldn’t face unpacking her bags and reminding herself of the wedding celebrations, so she wandered into the kitchen.

Briefly, she considered yet another cup of tea, but then her eyes drifted to the half full bottle of malt whiskey on the countertop.

Why not? It was the end of her vacation.

She pulled a heavy lead crystal tumbler from the shelf and poured a generous measure.

Then she headed for her study, the only room downstairs—other than the surgery—with a window unobstructed by shrubs.

She settled in her cozy window seat and stared out at the approaching dusk, watching in silence as the darkness descended and lights blinked on, out on Inishderry.

All those homes with families getting ready for an evening together.

She sipped her whiskey and let the burn warm her inside as she stared into the blackness.