‘I’ll do my best to get something suitable,’ Dan said softly, thinking of the house he had set his heart on a few days earlier. He’d have to talk to the bank, organise a bridging loan, just until he could offload his own apartment in London and tell his mum and dad that he wasn’t planning on living there anymore.
He sat for a while longer, enjoying the peace. He deserved a break. He’d worked hard to get the novel down in just a few weeks and now, he was going to enjoy a few days with absolutely no writing or thinking, plotting or planning.
27
Elizabeth
Elizabeth couldn’t help being just a little disappointed when the auctioneer rang to say that a generous offer had been made on the house next door to Jo’s.
It was hit-and-miss timing. That offer had come in a week ago and now, there were two buyers interested in it, and Elizabeth knew, even if she had freed up the cash from the sale of the surgery, it would be madness to get into a bidding war on the little cottage.
Still, she knew there was a lot to be thankful for. Lucy was buying the surgery and that alone meant that she could easily clear the debts and if a cottage on one of the little side streets should come up that she liked, she could buy it without having to wait for her own house to sell. The best part of it all, apart from the news that Lucy would be staying on in the village was that she’d offered Elizabeth a full-time job.
She, Elizabeth O’Shea would be a full-time receptionist in the practice. Lucy had gone out and purchased a brand-new computer and a very comfortable chair that was practically designed to make Elizabeth feel as if she was made for the job. With Niall at her elbow for the first few days showing her how to navigate around the new desktop, she was soon feeling as if she’d been doing it forever.
‘I don’t know what to say.’ She had started to cry that evening, when Lucy told her she absolutely wanted her to stay on.
‘You’re going to say, yes, of course,’ Lucy said. ‘Don’t we make a great team: you, Alice and me? I have no intention of changing that; in fact, it’s the best part of coming to work here every day.’
‘Oh, Lucy, I’d love to continue working here. You have no idea what it means to me.’ She couldn’t begin to put it into words. It was more than just giving a mental two fingers to Eric who never believed she could do anything more than keep house and play bridge. Although, she knew that thinking of him looking down on the surgery now, well, it tickled her to know how much her working here would probably really annoy him. No, rather it was the fact that they wanted her. She’d done a good job, sorting out a proper filing system, looking after patients while they waited to see either Lucy or Alice, making sure that everything ran smoothly. From the first few days, Elizabeth had organised everything from lunch to cashing up the night’s takings.
‘I’m just so glad you decided to stay,’ Elizabeth said to Lucy after they told Alice about the plans for the surgery.
‘I would have decided much sooner, if it wasn’t for…’ Jo’s cancer hung on those unsaid words. ‘Really, when I look back, I’d have been eaten up with regret if someone else had come in and taken over.’ She smiled then. ‘I couldn’t imagine going back to Dublin now.’
‘You’ve come home,’ Alice said simply.
‘Yes, I suppose I have,’ Lucy said.
‘There’s a lot to do, to bring it up to the kind of standards you’ve been used to in the hospital,’ Elizabeth reminded her.
‘We don’t have to do anything immediately; we have time to think,’ Lucy said, looking about the waiting room fondly. ‘And anyway, it’s a profitable practice. It won’t be long until I can start ploughing some of the takings back in again.’
‘I can’t wait to see it transform,’ Elizabeth said. She had no doubt that Lucy would make it into the best surgery for miles around and she was right, of course. Since Elizabeth had started to receipt every patient who came through the door, it was obvious that Eric was making a lot more money than she ever realised. Of course, now there were more overheads, three decent wages to pay to Lucy, Alice and Elizabeth, but still she shuddered as she imagined how much Eric had frittered away in the pub and the bookies.
‘To Ballycove medical practice.’ Alice raised her coffee cup. ‘And many more years for all of us working here together.’
‘To us,’ Lucy said and they clinked glasses happily. ‘We’ll have to organise some champagne and toast it properly when all the papers are signed off,’ she said laughing then and Elizabeth had a feeling it would be only the first of many celebrations to come.