Free The Village Nurse's Happy-Ever-After by Abigail Gordon

and the converted barn on Sunday morning.
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    â€˜Guess what I saw when I was out walking my dog yesterday,’ Lucy, the senior practice nurse, said first thing on Monday morning, when all the staff—with the exception of Harry—were warming up in the kitchen as usual.
    Phoebe had just arrived after depositing Marcus at the nursery and joined in the laughter when Leo suggested jokingly, ‘Naturists on the beach?’
    â€˜No,’ she replied in hushed tones. ‘I saw Howard from the estate agent’s showing our leader around one of the nicest houses in the area, Glades Manor!’
    â€˜Wow!’ Leo said, and Phoebe thought miserably wow indeed. So much for their short, thought-provoking acquaintance in the apartments above. She would still see Harry in the surgery, but if he moved out there wouldno longer be the comforting feeling of having him near when their day’s work was done.
    Yet she thought she understood his reasoning. Despite his initial awkwardness, he’d been great with her and Marcus. Most likely because he’d found himself in such close proximity and had felt that being neighbourly was the least he could do, but Harry had his own life to lead, as she did. It stood to sense that he wasn’t going to want to be living in an average apartment for long if he had the means to purchase something as prestigious as Glades Manor, which stood in several acres among the green meadows of the Devonshire countryside.
    Leaving the staff still chatting about the comings and goings of Ethan Lomax’s successor, she went into Reception where the list of calls she had to make would be waiting for her. There she found the man on her mind leaning on the counter and chatting to Millie.
    Harry was observing her keenly as she approached and deciding that Phoebe wasn’t well or something had upset her. Unaware of what was being talked about in the kitchen at the end of the passage, he hoped it wasn’t anything to do with him.
    â€˜Are you okay?’ he asked in a low voice as the phone rang at that moment and Millie was occupied.
    â€˜Yes, I’m fine,’ she lied. ‘I’m just about to sort out my day and then I’m off. Rory doesn’t need me any more, but George Enderby’s leg needs watching and my patient with the insulin injections is still not feeling too confident about giving them to himself.
    â€˜Then there is old Jeremy Davenport, who has developed a bed sore after being confined to bed for so longin hospital with a difficult leg fracture. He’s home now but still incapacitated and the bed sore hasn’t completely gone, so it’s been passed to me.’
    He was nodding gravely. ‘That sounds enough to keep you occupied but, Phoebe, if you get the chance, take note of snowdrops in cottage gardens. The daffodils and crocus won’t be long either. They are some of the things I missed while down under, as well as women with pale unblemished skin that the sun hasn’t tanned. It was the first thing I noticed about you.’
    Was he paying her a compliment or hinting that she looked wishy-washy? she wondered, and in the next moment thought she had the answer as he went on to say dryly, ‘Just as long as you’re not anaemic.’
    She was picking up her bag and about to head for the door. ‘I’m not. My mother’s skin was the same.’
    â€˜And where is she now?’
    â€˜She died shortly after I was married. We lost my father when I was small. Luckily my sister and her husband filled the gap when my marriage broke up. Katie and Rob were there for me every step of the way, and it made all the difference. Rejection slowly turned into revival.’ As the rest of the staff came filing in from the kitchen, Phoebe wished she hadn’t opened up to him about her past so much, and said briskly, ‘I’m off, Dr Balfour, and I won’t forget about the snowdrops.’
    I won’t forget