Chapter Fourteen

B eing woken by the ferocious cries of a wet and hungry two year old was not, as it turned out, the start that Cordelia really wanted to her morning.

She lay in bed, listening to the screams, hearing Lydia attempt to calm Toby, and wondered if it would be different if it were her own child. Obviously it would have been different. Different to wake up with Hunter here by her side, anxious to get to his son, with the two of them swapping chores and trading off holding the baby so the other could shower.

Just different.

She sighed, got up, dressed herself, and prepared for the day. It was only when she was opening her bedroom door that she remembered it was Friday. Magda’s appointment was today. And here she was bitching about being woken up by a crying child.

Christ, she needed to do better. Grumpy and untouchable was one thing, being an outright bitch was quite another.

By the time she and Lydia had fumbled Toby into dry and clean clothes, fed him, redressed him in new dry and clean clothes, and closed the front door behind them, they were already running late.

“I’m not a babysitter,” Cordelia said, as they walked quickly down the pavement.

“I didn’t say you were. But I can’t exactly have a child sitting in the surgery with me, can I?” said Lydia. “I’ll take him at lunchtime and whenever I’m not with a patient. The rest of the time he has to stay in the waiting room.”

Cordelia sighed. Like she had a choice. “Fine.”

She had had a choice, however, when she’d foolishly offered to be Lydia’s date the night before. No, rewind that. She’d been indignant and in the right when she’d offered to help Lydia get the kind of job she wanted and couldn’t get because she was single.

She’d been foolish in not realizing that actually, that did sound an awful lot like proposing some kind of date to Lydia.

A thought that had kept her awake last night and that still niggled at her slightly.

Not that Lydia was unattractive. But really. A date with her? A date with any woman? A date with anyone at all in the whole history of the world that would probably just turn out to be as big an arsehole as Hunter had been? Right.

When they finally trotted up to the surgery, Toby in Lydia’s arms and Cordelia searching for the keys that once again she seemed to have lost, Max was standing in the doorway, a pile of things beside him.

“What’s all this?” Lydia asked as Cordelia rooted through her bag.

“Help,” Max said. “In return for taking care of this little one.” He took Toby from Lydia and Lydia pulled the surgery keys from her pocket.

“You left them on the table by the door,” Lydia said to Cordelia. “I grabbed them on the way out.” She turned back to Max. “What kind of help?”

“Well, there’s a high chair there, and a pushchair as well, so you can take him out for walks. There’s a spare pack of nappies too.”

“Wonderful,” Lydia said, unlocking the front door. “Thanks.”

“Thanks but… He’s not moving in, you know,” Cordelia said. “One house guest is very much over my maximum limit of house guests.”

“I’m on it,” said Max. “I swear. It’ll be a couple of days at most. But in the meantime, you can’t have the boy eating off the floor, can you?”

Cordelia sighed and picked up the high chair. “Fine.” She carried it in. Lydia went to unlock her office and Max trailed in still bouncing Toby in his arms.

“I’ll get this sorted as soon as I can,” Max promised, sliding Toby into the high chair that Cordelia had placed behind her desk. “You’re doing a good thing though, thank you.”

Good things weren’t particularly high on Cordelia’s list of things to do. Staying alive things and private things and being alone kind of things were all far higher. Still, Max owed her something at this point. “Listen, we need to talk about the doctor,” she said.

“What about her?” asked Max, looking toward Lydia’s door. “She seems competent, nice, a great addition to Whitebridge, I’d say.”

“Well, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” said Cordelia, lowering her voice a little. “She shouldn’t have to be an addition to Whitebridge. And that wasn’t the doctor I was talking about, anyway. Technically, we’re supposed to have our very own doctor. And listen, I know what you’re about to say, Doc Morris is an adult and can do as he pleases, but this has gone on long enough. I want to report him missing.”

“Missing?” Max said, dark eyes widening in surprise. “The doc? Why?”

Cordelia looked around, bending down to peer under the coffee table. “Well, unless I’m a complete idiot, he doesn’t appear to be here. In fact, one might go as far as to say he’s… missing.”

“Ah,” said Max in a way that told Cordelia that he knew more than he was letting on.

“Ah what?” She glared at him. “You know where he is, don’t you?”

Max held up both his hands. “Cordelia, I can’t tell you anything. This is a matter of confidentiality and it’s not my job to let you know what’s happening. All I can say is that the doc isn’t missing, that he’s as safe as he can be, and that I’m sure he’ll contact you when the time is right.”

“Very reassuring,” Cordelia said, tightening her mouth.

Max shrugged. “Not much I can do about it, Cord. I’m sorry. Now, I’d best be off. I should get that BOLO out for Nat Greene. I’ll be in touch.”

Cordelia was frowning after him when Lydia came back through from her office.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lydia asked. “You look like… oh, oh, I forgot, I’m sorry.”

“Forgot what?” Cordelia said.

Lydia stepped up, looking up at Cordelia, her eyes dark and sad, her expression one of deepest sympathy. “About Magda. About your friend. You must be so worried.”

And before Cordelia could respond to that, Lydia was wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug, hand rubbing her back. Cordelia stiffened, but her nose was directly in Lydia’s hair and it smelled nice. Like flowers and things. Nice enough that Cordelia took another sniff and relaxed slightly.

She even leaned in a bit.

Her tummy felt funny. Sparkling and bubbly, like she’d drunk too much champagne. Not that she’d ever done that, except once on her wedding day. And Lydia’s arms were strong and warm around her and she knew that she shouldn’t like it, that she should pull away, but she’d had more than enough of should.

Besides, said her brain, you’re enjoying this.

She was. Enjoying it. And maybe Lydia was too because… wasn’t this a little long for a hug?

Not that Cordelia had much experience but now that she was thinking about it, weren’t hugs just a second or so? Certainly no more than thirty seconds. Definitely not coming up to a full minute of sweet-smelling hair and strong arms and…

Toby yelled and Lydia jumped back.

“Right,” she said brusquely. “I’ll leave everything here in your capable hands.”

“Right,” echoed Cordelia. “Right, right, yes.”

Then Lydia was walking away and Cordelia was shaking her head and wondering what the hell had just happened and Toby was yelling again.

“Okay, okay,” Cordelia said, reaching to lift him from the high chair. “Why don’t you go and play in the play corner for five minutes while I get things set up here. Then we’ll find something to keep you occupied. Want more blue dog?”

“Boo dog,” burbled Toby.

Cordelia looked down at his chubby face. “Wait, you can talk? You could talk this whole time?”

“Boo dog,” Toby said seriously.

“Fine, we should work on that vocab,” Cordelia said, putting him down in the play corner. “In the meantime, try and figure out where your mum might have gone, we’re open to all ideas.”

THE SURGERY WAS quiet, it always was on Fridays, so taking care of Toby didn’t turn out to be an issue. He was sleeping quietly on the play carpet at two o’clock when the phone rang. Cordelia hurried to pick it up, not wanting it to wake him.

“Cord? It’s me.”

Her stomach tightened into a stone that weighed her down. Her hand started to shake. “Magda, are you alright? Do I need to come?”

“Relax, everything’s fine,” Magda said. “It’s serious but not too serious. I’ll tell you everything, I promise. But listen, Oliver’s taking me away for the weekend. He’s got a posh hotel and everything. We were so worried, I just…”

“I know,” Cordelia said, swallowing down what could have happened. “I know.”

“I’m on my way out the door. I’ll come by on Monday and tell you everything, okay? But I swear there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Alright,” Cordelia said.

“And I need to thank that new doctor too.”

“Okay, I’ll slide you into a short appointment,” Cordelia said.

“New business?” asked Lydia, coming out of her office just as Cordelia was hanging up the phone.

“No, that was Magda.”

Lydia stopped. “And?”

For a second, Cordelia considered telling her that it had been a private conversation. But she didn’t have the heart. “And everything’s fine, she’s coming in on Monday to tell us everything.”

“Oh, thank god,” Lydia said.

And before Cordelia knew what was happening, Lydia was stepping behind the desk and bending over, wrapping Cordelia back into another hug. Just as sweet-smelling, but slightly more awkward given that Cordelia was sitting down. Also, slightly shorter, as Lydia seemed to force herself to let go.

“Yeah, right, thank god,” Cordelia said.

Lydia gave a sharp nod. “I’ll get back to writing referral letters then. I’ve got an appointment coming in in ten minutes.”

“Right,” Cordelia said again.

Lydia disappeared back to her office and Cordelia wondered if hugs were going to be a thing now. They were unexpected but not unpleasant. But it made her feel weird to think about them. Weird and sort of warm.

Lydia should definitely stop hugging her.

Probably.