‘Okay,’ Jamie said slowly. Dr Morrison’s movements were sharp as she collected her things into her handbag. ‘Well, shall I just take Rosie and find Libby so that – ’
‘I …’ Dr Morrison took a deep breath and turned towards him, but spoke to his shirt collar. ‘I was entrusted with the child. I can’t let you take her.’ She was gripping her handbag so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and her other hand was balled into a fist at her side.
‘Hey,’ an out-of-breath Libby said as she came running round the corner, stopping dead when she noticed Jamie holding Rosie’s hand. ‘Oh, uh …’
‘I was just dropping something off for Pavlos and I found this.’ He lifted Rosie up and she immediately started squeezing his cheeks. Meanwhile Dr Morrison slipped past him, muttered a goodbye to Rosie, and practically ran out of the department. ‘So weird,’ Jamie muttered under his breath as he watched her leave.
‘Dr Morrison,’ Libby shouted, running a little way after her, ‘thank you …’ She trailed off, realizing Dr Morrison had disappeared; that woman could move surprisingly fast given the height of her heels. Libby turned back to where Jamie and Rosie were standing, pushed her hair out of her face, and put her hands on her hips.
‘Rosalie Penny, I’ve told you before:stopsqueezing Dr Grantham’s cheeks.’
Rosie huffed and scrambled down Jamie until she was on her feet again.
‘Look, Libby, I’ve been driving you to work every morning for a week now – I think you can start calling me Jamie,’ Jamie said with an edge of impatience. He’d actually grappled with the idea of letting her use his first name – the whole ‘Dr Grantham’ thing was a good and sorely needed reminder to keep his distance. And it appealed to his sense of order and propriety. But after he cracked and told them both to call him Jamie a few days ago, he was growing more and more frustrated that Libby had yet to actually say his first name.
‘Right,’ Libby replied, giving him a cautious smile as she took Rosie’s hand. ‘Okay, well; thanks for the lift this morning. We better get going. And … um, Brian will be fixed after the weekend; so don’t worry about picking us up on Monday.
Jamie raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh? How have you … I mean, I thought you didn’t have the …’ He glanced at Rosie, then back at Libby. He’d actually decided to get Brian towed himself this weekend and fixed at his local garage. The plan was to be a little creative with Libby about the price of the repairs and tell her there was no time limit on paying him back. After he’d formed this plan he was strangely looking forward to his knight-in-shining-armour routine. He was a little sad that it had been scuppered.
‘Mummy’s working this weekend,’ Rosie chipped in. ‘She getslotsof money when she works. I’m going to stay with Gwanny and Bumpa.’
‘Oh, right.’ Jamie smiled at Rosie, suppressing his frown of confusion. ‘That’s great.’ He looked up at Libby and opened his mouth to ask what she did for work, but she had spun around and was walking away. Jamie watched them leave, then shook his head to clear it. What Libby did and where she went were none of his business. How they were getting home was none of his business. Plus, taking an unhealthy interest in a student was inappropriate and beneath him.
But when he drove his car out of the multistory and saw the two dejected figures sitting at the bus stop, what was or wasn’t his business went out the window.
Chapter 8
‘Pinky pwomise?’
‘Get in,’ he shouted out of his window.
‘We’re fine thanks,’ Libby shouted back, managing a feeble smile and giving him a pathetic thumbs up. Rosie gave her mother a disgusted look and slid off the seat to run over to Jamie’s car through the rain. Libby looked down at her feet for a moment; her shoulders slumped before she followed her daughter across the pavement and into the back seat at a much slower pace. Jamie glanced behind him and took in the two beautiful drowned rats dripping on his upholstery. For once he didn’t care about the state of the Italian leather. Their dark hair was plastered to their heads and they were both shivering. ‘You really didn’t have to – ’
‘Your flat is on my way home,’ he lied smoothly, cranking the heating up as high as it would go.
‘Well … thanks. But if you drop us at the next bus stop along I can get a direct one to – ’
‘Why was Rosie in Dr Morrison’s office?’ he cut in, glancing back at her in the rearview mirror.
‘Oh, I had some stuff to finish and the nursery closes at six so I – ’
‘Well, it’s not exactly ideal,’ Jamie pointed out. He didn’t like to think of Rosie being palmed off on anyone who was available, and Dr Morrison had the ability to scare grown men; he dreaded to think what kind of company she would be for a child. ‘I mean, wasn’t there any other arrangement you could make?’
His question was met with stony silence. He looked in the rearview mirror and could see Libby’s profile as she looked out of the window; her jaw was clenched and her mouth was set in a grim line.
‘Who’s Dr Morrison?’ Rosie asked.
‘The lady you were with when I found you,’ Jamie explained.
‘Oh!Millie. But she’s not a grumpy crabby-pants,’ Rosie explained. ‘She just scares easy. And she didn’tmeanto make Mummy cry.’
‘Shewhat?’ Jamie said, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. He’d never particularly liked Dr Morrison but for some reason when he thought of her making Libby, who had been stoic in the face of some pretty harsh criticism (most of it, unfortunately, from him), cry he felt murderous.
‘Hey!’ Libby snapped as the car swept past the next bus stop at speed. ‘What are you doing? You’ve gone past the – ’
‘You two are not getting on any bus in that state,’ Jamie told her as he pulled out onto the main road. Libby groaned.
‘Dr Gr – ’ Jamie gave her a sharp look and she swallowed. ‘I mean, Jamie. You can’t do that again. The bus from that stop is a direct route to our street. I can’t let you – ’
