Chapter Three

“I don’t understand why you can’t stay here,” Leah said, stirring the pot of spaghetti with one hand, her other hand busy steadying Finn on her hip.

“That’s fine talk from someone who just yesterday afternoon was telling me that she hoped I wasn’t going to stay in her spare room forever,” said Lydia, sliding Riley into her child’s seat and buckling the belt.

“Liddy leaving?” Riley asked.

“Just for a little while,” said Lydia, kissing Riley’s head.

“Here, or she’ll scream,” said Leah, passing Lydia a plate of carrot sticks and celery to place in front of Riley.

“Better give me that one too,” Lydia said, taking Finn and strapping him into his high chair. “There, both imprisoned and unable to escape.” She breathed a sigh of relief. She was always antsy with the kids around the kitchen even if Leah seemed to take things in stride. There were just too many dangers.

“That does make it sound like I’m holding them hostage,” said Leah. “And so, why aren’t you staying here?”

“Because Whitebridge is an hour drive and I’m not willing to wake up at four o’clock every morning.”

“Like Finn isn’t waking you up at that time anyway.”

“Do you know that driving tired is as bad as driving drunk?” asked Lydia.

“Ah, Lyds, always the practical one,” said Rowan, coming in and kissing his wife on the cheek. “If I couldn’t drive tired, I’d never get to work a day in my life.”

Lydia chose to ignore this. She liked her brother in law, really liked him. He was good to Leah, great with his kids, and funny to boot. If he had an unfortunate tendency not to take risks and health matters quite seriously enough, and a propensity toward trying to set Lydia up with every single lesbian he met, she was willing to overlook it. As long as Leah was happy.

“How was work?” Leah asked.

“Fantastic as always. And why exactly is Lydia getting up at four in the morning?”

“I’m not getting up at four in the morning,” Lydia said patiently. “That’s sort of the point. I’ve got a new locum position for a few weeks and I’ll be staying there. The agency have set up a B and B or something for me, since it’s technically a bit out of my range. So you two’ll have your privacy back for a while.”

Rowan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his wife.

“Don’t start,” Leah said. “Two kids is enough to handle, thank you very much.” She started to dish out spaghetti onto plastic plates for the children.

“So where’s this job at then?” Rowan asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Place called Whitebridge,” said Lydia.

“Never heard of it.”

Neither had Lydia until she Googled it that afternoon. It had seemed… quaint. Small. The surgery was only for a single doctor, so the population couldn’t be that big. Not exactly the bustling practice that she’d dreamed of, but then she wasn’t planning on staying there full time.

“Maternity cover?” asked Leah.

“Unlikely,” Lydia said. Though, to be fair, that was the reason for most of her locum work. “The doctor’s a man. But that’s really all I know. They didn’t exactly give me a lot of info.”

“Ah, you’ll see, you’ll fall in love with it,” Rowan said. “You’ll meet the love of your life and settle down to country life and raise cows and goats in the garden. ”

“I don’t think you can raise cows in a garden,” Lydia said. “It would be a health code violation if nothing else.”

Leah put plates in front of the children and Riley immediately began to cry. Rowan raised an eyebrow at his wife. “What’s all that about?”

“She’s decided she doesn’t like food that touches,” Leah said tiredly. “Although how the hell I’m supposed to deal with that when we’re having spaghetti bolognese, I don’t know.”

Lydia picked up Riley’s plate, tipped the portion onto one of the adult plates and grabbed two extra plastic bowls from the cupboard. Into one she put some spaghetti, into the other some sauce. She placed both in front of Riley, who immediately stopped crying.

Rowan grinned. “You know, as much as it might cramp my style, I’m getting used to having practical Lydia around.”

“Who’s cramping your style?” Lydia asked tartly. “You don’t have any style.”

Rowan gave a pained look and Leah laughed. “She’s got a point,” she said. “You still wear the same shirts your dad got you when you left for college.”

“Hey, shirts never go out of style,” Rowan said. “They do, however, get stained with spaghetti sauce, so I’d better go and change.” He dropped another kiss on Leah’s cheek before leaving the kitchen. Leah stared fondly after him.

They were so comfortable together. Lydia wondered how that happened. How two people could know each other so well that the intent behind their words was always clear, that their movements could dance around each other, that they could combine themselves and make little mini versions that walked and talked.

She clearly saw the end result and was self-aware enough to realize that occasionally she was jealous of her sister. Jealous because Leah had already reached an end point in a task that Lydia hadn’t even started. It was the beginnings that worried her. How did you start building something like this?

“How did you know that Rowan was the man you wanted to marry?” she asked, as the kids chomped down on spaghetti and spread sauce over themselves and every available surface.

“It wasn’t like I had much choice,” Leah said, serving adult portions.

“No, really.”

Leah turned to her in surprise. “Really?” She smiled a little. “I had an inkling, of course. But I think the real moment was when I told him about Riley.” She shook her head. “I’d been putting it off, I was so sure he was going to be… angry or disappointed or something. But do you know what he did?”

“What?”

“He cried,” Leah said simply. “He was so happy that he cried. That’s when I knew. Dunno why, it just… it just made me see him the way he really is, I suppose.”

Lydia digested this far from helpful information. She couldn’t go around making women cry until one of them gave her a funny feeling. Nor could she have a surprise pregnancy.

“What are we talking about?” Rowan said, coming back in wearing a t-shirt with a hole in one shoulder.

“About why I fell in love with you,” said Leah.

“Not like it was hard,” he said with a toothy grin. “I’m very lovable.”

“Occasionally,” said Leah.

“Why? Are you thinking about falling for someone?” Rowan asked Lydia. “Because there’s this woman in accounting—”

“No,” interrupted Lydia. “Thank you, but no. If I need a date, I’ll find my own. Besides, I don’t have time.”

“You don’t make time,” Leah said. “You do know that there are married doctors, right? It’s not like being a priest, you don’t have to stay single.”

“Priests are technically married to God,” said Lydia.

“Does that make them gay?” asked Rowan.

“Gay, gay,” chirped Finn.

Leah grimaced, but Lydia thought that gay was a step up from sex, so she kept silent. Leah served dinner and they ate and talked and laughed at the kids as they got covered in spaghetti sauce. But Lydia was still thinking about relationships when Leah took the children up for a bath and she and Rowan were stacking the dishes.

“Leah said you’d applied for another job,” Rowan said. “Anything good?”

Lydia thought back to the practice prospectus, the shiny desks and tiny computers and online services the surgery offered. She thought about the young and dynamic community of doctors that the prospectus promised, about the opportunities for advancement. It wasn’t quite the same level as the job she’d just lost, but it was close.

“Quite good,” she said, not wanting to jinx things too soon.

“I’m sorry about the place today,” said Rowan. “I know you wanted it. And, not that it helps, but I think it was a pretty shitty thing to say, implying that you weren’t family-oriented enough. You’ve helped me and Leah out more times than I can count and I honestly don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Lydia sighed. “Yeah, I know. But maybe I sort of see their point. I’ve been… focused on my career. Perhaps I’m not balanced enough.”

“You’ve been focused on becoming a doctor,” said Rowan, laughing. “I’d say that’s a pretty good thing to focus on. As for balanced, well, you could maybe do with having a bit more fun.”

Lydia handed him a stack of plates to put into the dishwasher. “To be honest, I’m not really sure I know how.”

“It’s not difficult, and you’re clever, you’ll figure it out,” Rowan said with a wink. From upstairs came the sound of screaming and Rowan gritted his teeth in a look of concern “I’d better go up and help out, it sounds like someone’s getting murdered.”

“Rather you than me,” Lydia said.

“Mmm, you might want to be careful what you wish for,” Rowan said as he wiped his hands on a tea towel. “Being family-oriented isn’t all cute pictures and snuggles you know.” Upstairs Riley began shouting the word no in rapid succession and ascending volume.

“Go on, I’ll finish up here,” Lydia said .

He left and she started wiping the table down. She was at a crossroads, a decision needed to be made here, and she was lost. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Lydia wasn’t entirely sure what to do next.

Having a life plan was all very well and good, but she was starting to see that she might have made a slight mistake in not actually planning any further ahead than becoming a doctor. She pulled out Finn’s high chair and wondered if she should just take it out into the garden and turn the hosepipe on it.

Still, tomorrow morning she’d been in Whitebridge and away from all this. Maybe she’d have a little time to think things through and come up with the next part of her plan.