Isla sits back on her heels and watches him with a smile, then winks at me. “He’s happy.” She tips her head to the side. “And you don’t look sad, either. Been seeing Beth?”
I chuckle, pulling up one of the plastic chairs and sitting. “Yeah, she came around yesterday. We’re taking it slow, but it’s going well.”
“I’m so glad,” Isla says, pulling out a few more weeds. “I’ve been worried about her for a while. It’s funny because I’ve been there myself, trying to give life support to a relationship that died a long time ago. I’m sure everyone else could see it was over, but it takes time to come to terms with it because you don’t want to fail, you know? Especially when you’ve invested so much time and energy into it. But they have to invest the same amount, and Jude just wasn’t.”
“It helps to know you think so.”
She gets to her feet, stretches, then sits in one of the chairs and studies me thoughtfully. “I hope you’re not blaming yourself for their breakup.”
“No…”
“Because it absolutely wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah, I guess I know that. They’ve both told me it was over. I do wonder, though, if Beth and I hadn’t gotten together, if they might have tried to make a go of it…”
“And that would have been a bad thing,” Isla says firmly. “A disastrous thing. If you did stop it, it was for the best.” She smiles. “Beth’s very quiet and gentle, and it’s easy to think she’s easily manipulated, especially because when she was with Jude she took the route of least resistance at times. But that doesn’t mean she can’t stand up for herself. Has she told you about what happened when we did our work placement at the Riverside Clinic?”
“No.”
She picks up a water bottle and unscrews the top as she speaks. “The clinic was huge and understaffed, and they worked us into the ground. The practice manager was a woman called Vicky. She treated the students as free labor and made us do all the jobs nobody else wanted to do. One day, she wanted us to come in on a public holiday for a stock take. We were both going away for a long weekend, but I wasn’t brave enough to say no. But Beth told her we wouldn’t be coming in.”
Isla chuckles at the memory and has a mouthful of water. “The point is,” she continues, “she didn’t back down. She stood her ground even when Vicky turned nasty and threatened to write a bad report for our placement. Beth said she’d go and speak to the course coordinator and tell her never to send students to the clinic again. That shut Vicky up.”
I smile at the thought of the young, feisty Beth fronting up the bossy older woman. “I bet that was a sight to see.”
“It really was. She doesn’t shy away from doing the right thing, even if it’s hard. And she won’t do something just because someone tells her to. She’s with you because she wants to be. She just needs time to work her way through the forest, that’s all.”
“Is Archer around?”
I turn at the sound of a male voice and see Tyr Donovan talking to Isaac. “Thanks,” I say to Isla, “that helps.”
“I’m glad.”
I get to my feet and go inside, and Tyr thanks Isaac, walks up, and shakes my hand.
“Good to see you,” I tell him.
He looks around. “It’s a big place.”
“Yeah, and it’s going to look great when it’s done.” I wave as I see Dane Harper coming through the open front door. “Hey, Dane. Good of you to come.”
“Hi,” he says.
I introduce Tyr and Dane to each other, and they shake hands. My heart then gives a significant jump as I see Natalie Price walking up the path… with Beth. I clear my throat; I hadn’t expected her to turn up. “Oh, and here are our other visitors, bang on time… Hey everyone.”
They wave as they see us and cross the room. “Hello!” Natalie says brightly.
“Hey.” Beth smiles at me. “I hope you don’t mind me coming. I thought I’d join in on the tour.”
Joy fills me at the thought that she’s considering working here. “Of course not, I’m really glad you made it.” I introduce them all to each other, and they all shake hands. “Thank you all for coming,” I say. “I thought I’d kill all the new members of staff with one stone, so to speak, and show you all around together.” I wince as I realize what I’ve said. “You know what I mean.”
“They’ve been here two minutes and you’re already committing murder,” Isla jokes as she tosses more weeds into the bucket.
I grin as the others laugh. “This is Isla Markham. She’s going to be our Practice Manager. Isla, this is Tyr, Dane, and Natalie. You know Beth, of course.”
“Hello!” She holds up her hands in their dirty gloves. “I won’t shake! But it’s nice to meet you.”
“I think some of you might know Cullen,” I add as he comes in with Ghost and Queenie. They all greet each other while I fuss Queenie and tell her she’s a good girl for practicing her recall.
