‘A little bit of bacon’s fine,’ he said with a smile. ‘You’re getting used to her, then.’
‘And she’s getting used to me.’ Georgie was surprised to realise how much she was enjoying having a dog around. Why had she never thought of getting a pet before?
Then, when she reached to take another sandwich from the plate, her hand brushed against Ryan’s—and it felt as if she’d been galvanised.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered, pulling away. But, when she looked up, there was a slash of colour across his cheekbones—as if he, too, had been affected by that brief touch. For a moment, her brain felt scrambled and she didn’t know what to do or say. They were almost strangers. Most of the time they’d spent together so far, they hadn’t even got on well. But she was very, very aware of how good-looking Ryan was—especially when he smiled.
He’d already told her he was divorced and he wasn’t looking for a partner. She wasn’t looking for a partner, either. So it was disconcerting to find herself wondering, what if?
She pulled herself together—just—and said lightly, ‘I’m on a late shift today, so I’m going in to see the car hire people this morning to ask if they’ll swap the car for me.’
‘Good idea,’ he said. ‘I’ll organise dinner.’
‘It’s OK. I’ll have something at work,’ she said.
‘I promised Clara I’d do you a welcome dinner,’ he said. ‘I’m not planning to make it myself. I’m buying it from Janie’s.’
Refusing would be throwing his welcome back in his face. And, as they were just starting to get on, she didn’t want to risk going back to how it had been on her first night here. ‘OK. Thank you. I don’t have any allergies or major dislikes.’
‘So that’s haggis for two, then?’
The Scottish national dish: Georgie knew haggis was a kind of pudding made from sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, mixed with onion, oatmeal and suet. She’d never tried it, but she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to eat it.
‘I, um...’ She bit her lip.
He grinned. ‘Don’t tell anyone, but haggis isn’t really my thing, either.’
He’d been teasing her? She looked at him, outraged. And then that awareness crept back in. The little nudge of her subconscious, wondering what a candlelit dinner with him would be like, The cottage would be all romantic and gorgeous in the soft light; and maybe then he’d put some music on and they’d dance together...
Oh, help. She was really going to have to get a grip. Fantasising about her housemate was a bad idea.
‘I’d better go,’ she said. ‘I cooked breakfast, so you’re on dish duty.’
And that little bit of sassiness was enough to break the spell and stop her blurting out something stupid.
She managed to sort out the car; and her shift was calm until late afternoon, when a mum rushed in with her four-month-old baby, looking distraught.
‘Lewis has got a temperature, and a rash that won’t fade, and...’ She dragged in a breath.
‘Let’s have a look,’ Georgie said gently, recognising the signs of panic and wanting to calm her patient’s mum down. ‘Hello, gorgeous boy.’
The ear thermometer confirmed that he had a fever, and when she gently undressed him the rash was obvious—but it didn’t look like the meningitis rash that his mum was clearly worrying about.
‘So how long has Lewis been ill?’ she asked.
‘I’ve thought he was coming down with something for the last three or four days,’ Lewis’s mum said. ‘He went off his food, he’s got a bit of a cough and he’s been grumpy. I thought it was just a cold starting, but then I saw the rash and I just panicked.’
‘I can tell you now it’s not the meningitis rash.’ Though Georgie wasn’t going to worry the poor woman further by pointing out that meningitis wasn’t always accompanied by a rash. ‘Did he have any spots in his mouth yesterday? Greyish-white ones?’
‘I don’t think so, but I’m not sure.’
‘OK. Did the rash start at his head and neck?’
Lewis’s mum nodded.
‘I think he has measles,’ Georgie said. ‘Do you have any other children?’
‘Yes, a two-year-old and a four-year-old.’
‘May I ask if they’ve had the vaccination?’ She crossed her fingers mentally, hoping that the answer was yes; otherwise there was a strong chance the poor woman would have three under-fives at home with measles next week.
‘Yes. My gran had measles when she was small and it left her deaf in one ear, so I had the boys vaccinated and made sure they had their boosters. Lewis was going to have it when he’s old enough. I...’ She shook her head. ‘How can he have measles?’
‘Measles has come back in the UK over the last couple of years,’ Georgie said. ‘It’s a mixture of people not giving their children the booster vaccination, or thinking they don’t need it because measles isn’t around any more, and then visiting other countries where measles is rife. It’s pretty contagious, so maybe you’ve been somewhere with other children and one of them was coming down with it and their mum didn’t realise because the rash hadn’t come out yet.’
‘It must’ve been at the wear-’em-out play place we went to on Saturday. I let Jake and Ollie run about and do all the slides and the ball pit, and Lewis was asleep in his pram.’ She bit her lip. ‘So Lewis could end up deaf, like his great-gran?’
‘Hopefully not,’ Georgie said.
‘Can you give him anything to stop it? Antibiotics?’ Lewis’s mum asked.
‘I can give him immunoglobulin, which will give him a short-term boost of antibodies and then hopefully the virus will be less serious,’ Georgie said. ‘Measles is a virus, so antibiotics won’t
