Chapter Sixteen

M agda came into the surgery with the brightest of smiles on her face and Cordelia realized that she’d still been worried, worried right up until this second when she could see that Magda was okay.

Lydia was spooning apple sauce into Toby, who was sitting behind the reception desk in his high chair, she grinned when she saw Magda too. “Good news, I take it?” she said.

“Good news,” confirmed Magda. “And I need to thank you. I don’t know why Doc Morris didn’t notice, but you did and as much as I wish I hadn’t needed to be so worried for the last few days, I am glad that you found what you did.”

“Found what?” Cordelia asked in frustration.

Magda put her bag down on the desk. “The doc here saw some… abnormalities in the scan,” she said. “Something that didn’t look right, so the hospital took a more detailed look and, well, there are abnormalities, but nothing life threatening. It’s something called...situs inversus?” She stumbled a little over the unfamiliar words.

“It’s very rare,” Lydia said, holding a spoon out in front of Toby. “Around one in ten thousand births. Your little one is quite special.”

“Special how?” asked Cordelia, still frustratingly feeling like she was being left behind in this conversation.

“The baby’s organs are all inverted, like a mirror image,” explained Magda. “But they did a detailed scan and some tests at the hospital and they say that bump is perfectly healthy, there’s no complications. There’ll be some extra precautions at the birth, but everything should go fine.”

Cordelia let out her breath. “Thank god for that.” And there she’d been, so wrapped up in all this ridiculousness with Toby and Lydia and Doc Morris. All inconsequential things compared to what Magda had been going through.

“Um, are you two babysitting then?” Magda asked, frowning.

“I’m not a babysitter,” Cordelia said promptly. She rolled her eyes at Lydia. “Not like that, he’ll never eat it, you need to do the train in the tunnel thing.”

“Maybe you should feed him,” Lydia said, starting to move the spoon and make train noises.

“I’m going for lunch. I’ve had him all morning. Don’t forget to change him. Oh, and don’t let him sleep after lunch or he’ll be a bear tonight.”

“Yes, boss,” Lydia said, pulling a face that made Toby laugh.

“Um, tonight?” asked Magda. “Wait…” She looked from Cordelia to Lydia. “Are you two…?”

“No,” Cordelia said hurriedly. “There’s no ‘us two’. We’re just… it’s complicated.”

“It’s not complicated,” said Lydia as Toby took another spoon of apple sauce. “We’re just looking after Toby here. Oh, and I’m staying with Cordelia since it was somewhat my fault. Which reminds me, did you find an outfit for the mixer on Saturday?”

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at Lydia. “Just look after the baby until I get back.”

“But… what? What’s going on?” asked Magda.

Cordelia took her arm and propelled her out of the surgery. “I’ll fill you in on the way.”

By the time they got to the little cafe on the high street, Magda was fully up to speed. Or at least she had all the facts, letting them sink in was probably going to take a little time.

“So, why are you going to a mixer? That’s a party, right?” she asked, taking a seat .

“I told you. Lydia can’t get a job at a family practice because she’s not attached, so I’m doing her a favor and going with her.”

“As her girlfriend.”

“Well, yes, I suppose. But not actually, I mean not that there’s anything wrong with that. Or with her, for that matter, but, it just… Listen, I told you it was complicated.”

“She’s quite attractive,” said Magda thoughtfully. “I mean, she is attractive. Those eyes, and that long dark hair. And of course, she’s got that delightful air of efficiency, that’s quite sexy too.”

“Lydia is not sexy.”

“Oh, I don’t know, that’s the new doctor, isn’t it?” Cass, part-owner of the cafe, was tableside, order pad at the ready. “I thought she was a bit of alright.”

“See?” said Magda. “She is attractive.”

“Who’s attractive?” asked a blonde head popping over the counter, Amelia, the other owner of the cafe.

“The new doctor,” said Cass.

“Haven’t met her,” said Amelia, disappearing again.

“I do like that practicality of hers,” said Magda. “It makes you think that she’d be, well, good at things. All things. You know?”

“I know what you mean,” said Cass. “Plus, she’s a doctor, so, you know, she knows where everything is.”

Magda laughed. “That would make a refreshing change.”

Cordelia coughed. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, right,” said Cass. “Orders?”

“We’ll both take quiche,” said Magda. “And I’ll have a water with lemon.”

“Same,” Cordelia said. Cass left to pick up the food. “And I wasn’t disputing that Lydia is attractive. Just that things are complicated and there’s nothing like that going on.”

“Really?” Magda asked. “Because the two of you were sounding like an old married couple back there.”

“Very funny. She’s irritating, constantly tells me what I should be doing in a way that’s disturbingly reminiscent of Hunter, and she’s only around for a handful of days.”

“Mmm,” said Magda .

“Mmm, what?”

Magda shrugged. “Just mmm. I mean, none of that really commented on whether or not you were attracted to her, they were just excuses.”

“I don’t need excuses, I don’t need anything. There’s nothing going on between me and Lydia Carlisle.”

“Other than the fact that you live together and now have a child.” Cordelia growled and Magda laughed. “Listen, Cord, if there’s really nothing going on then maybe you should think about something going on. You deserve it. And you could do worse than an attractive young doctor.”

“Enough!” The conversation was making her uncomfortably hot.

“Fine, enough,” Magda said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch a nerve. I just… I want to see you happy again, Cord.”

“I know. And I am happy. Happy-ish. I’ll be happier when Lydia and Toby are gone and I get my own house back.”

“Will you?” asked Magda. “Or will you just be lonely again?”

Cass placed two large slices of quiche on the table. “Enjoy,” she said.

Cordelia took the opportunity to change the subject. “Are you and Oliver busy on Saturday?”

“I don’t think so, why?”

“Because Lydia and I have to go to this thing.” She sniffed, realizing how that sounded and quickly moved on. “And if Nat Greene isn’t back, we could use a babysitter.”

“Not a problem,” Magda grinned. “It’ll be good practice. Heard any more about Sylv from the shop, how’s she doing?”

And Cordelia started on her lunch and the gossip began.

AS LYDIA READ, Toby’s eyes began to close. Cordelia watched the two of them, cuddled up in an armchair in the living room. There was nothing between her and Lydia. She hadn’t lied to Magda.

But would it be so wrong if there were something ?

She didn’t need convincing that Lydia was attractive. And competent. And efficient. And, if truth be told, slightly bossy in what could be a sexy way if it weren’t irritating.

She was kind, gentle with Toby, funny sometimes. Having someone in the house had been odd at first, but it wasn’t so bad. Not now that they had Toby to look after. Sharing the responsibility was kind of nice.

She was a woman, of course. But that didn’t particularly bother Cordelia. Attractive was attractive, and whilst the essentials differed she didn’t think it could be as difficult as switching from an iPhone to an Android, say.

It could be convenient even. Having someone in the house like that. Someone who was sure to move on in a short amount of time. That put a time limit on things, didn’t it? A natural ending point, which was no bad thing.

Cordelia squinted her eyes, trying to imagine what it might be like to kiss Lydia, to hold her, and a little shiver went down her back. “You should lean in more,” whispered ghost-Lydia in her ear, ruining the moment.

Yeah, right, her and Lydia. Lydia and her shoulds. Bad plan.

“He’s off,” said real Lydia, nodding down at Toby. “I’ll take him up.”

“It’s my turn tonight,” Cordelia said. “I’ve set up his bed in my room already.”

“Alright, I’ll just be a minute.”

She stood up slowly and carefully, conveying Toby out of the room. And Cordelia noticed a second too late that the precious blue dog that they’d found at the bottom of the bag Nat had left was sitting on the armchair.

She sighed and got up, grabbing the dog. If Toby woke up without it, there’d be hell to pay. She quietly went up the stairs, sneaking into her own bedroom to find Lydia standing over a sleeping Toby, tears running down her cheeks.

“What?” hissed Cordelia. “What on earth’s wrong? What are you crying for?” Her hands started to shake. She wasn’t used to this, hadn’t expected Lydia to be, well, whatever this was. Less than practical.

“It’s nothing,” said Lydia, dashing the tears from her cheeks.

“Bullshit.”

Lydia gave her a watery smile. “It’s just… sometimes I think I’m not as smart as I think I am.”

“In what way?”

“All this,” said Lydia, gesturing at Toby. “I mean, I plan out my whole life, all the steps to becoming a doctor and getting the job that I want, and I forget about something as important as this. I forget that I might want something in my life that isn’t a career.”

“You’re not exactly ancient,” Cordelia said. “There’s plenty of time.”

“I suppose. But it’s so easy to forget how much you might want something when you don’t see it every day, isn’t it?”

Cordelia looked down at Toby and in that instant the thought of him not being there, of him leaving, broke a piece of her heart. Without thinking, she put a hand on Lydia’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re stupid. And I think you have plenty of time to find what you want in life.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure,” sighed Lydia. “I’m not so definite about what I want. Having a crisis of faith or something, I suppose.” She shifted a little.

Suddenly, she was looking right at Cordelia, they were centimeters apart, and Cordelia, who had just been trying to imagine what kissing Lydia would be like, was able to see in exquisite detail how it could happen.

“You should get some black out curtains in here,” said Lydia. “It’d help Toby sleep longer.”

Cordelia let her hand drop. “Right,” was all she said before Lydia walked out of the bedroom.