“Want to explain?”
“I’m on leave from my hospital in London. A sabbatical, I guess you could call it.”
“Emergency medicine?”
“No, obstetrics, actually.”
Jess lifted her eyebrows.
“I know. I know.” He held his hands up in surrender. It was ridiculous. This whole thing. The acting. The running. Hiding in plain sight, as if he could pretend his way into another version of his messed up life. “Art mimicking life. I can’t seem to get away from it all, even when I try.”
“Do you want to? Get away from it all?”
How did this woman hit him so directly? Like she’d read his mind and asked the exact question he didn’t want to answer. “That’s the million dollar question.”
“Are you going to answer it?”
“You know, in England, we have a certain etiquette around what you can ask an acquaintance.”
Jess’ eyebrows lifted. “We’ve slept in the same bed and shared a meal off the same plate. I think we’ve passed the acquaintance barrier.”
Hard to argue with that.
“I’m not saying we’re friends,” she interjected, making Nate laugh.
“Wasn’t assuming you were.”
“And…?”
She really wasn’t going to let this drop. Nate placed his hand in his pocket and fiddled with his keys, wondering whether he should let this conversation continue. The car he’d been allowed to borrow while filming was across the street. He could make anexcuse and leave. Ignore her questions and go back to the safety of anonymity.
Something about this woman, though, made him want to share, but it was likely just the adrenaline from saving a life together. Not even his parents knew why he was in New Zealand and yet, here he was, feeling the urge to tell everything, every last painful secret to someone who was practically a stranger.
It would feel so good to unload all the hurt and anger. To air it all.
“I guess, yes, is the answer you’re looking for. I was wanting to get away from some of it.”
“From your job?”
“No, not the medicine. I love my work. But there were other factors….”
12
NATE SAT IN THE CAR AND DIALLEDhis parents’ number. It would be evening in London, and if he didn’t call now, he’d have another whole day of avoiding the conversation he knew he had to have. Jess finding out about him at the cafe made him realise he couldn’t run from reality forever and, surprisingly, it was a relief to get it all out in the open. She’d been far more understanding of the whole situation than he’d expected.
Hopefully, his parents would be too.
“Nate?” Hearing his mother’s voice, he bit the inside of his lip with guilt. The concern was obvious, even in how she said his name.
“Where are you? We’ve been so worried. Your father and I rang Samantha, but she wouldn’t tell us anything. She seemed upset. Said you’re gone, and she didn’t know where.” Her voice switched to the stern tone she’d always used when he was in trouble as a teenager. She wasn’t someone you lied to.
“What’s going on, Nathaniel?”
“I’m so sorry, Mum. Samantha and I aren’t good. I’m—” his voice cracked and he shifted the phone away from his chin to clear his throat. “I’m okay. I took a job in New Zealand and—”
He wanted to tell her how, since finding out about Samantha’s infidelity, it was like someone had shoved him in a washing machine and turned on the spin cycle. Nothing made sense, and he couldn’t get a handle on his own emotions. He was exhausted, wrung out, couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down.
Instead, he let his voice drift off.
