The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler

Author:Jackie Kabler [Kabler, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-03-16T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

‘Everything OK? Any issues I should know about?’

‘All good thanks, Beth. Everything all right with you? How’s Finley’s ankle?’

Lorraine, her arms full of dressings and blood bottles, smiles at me and I smile back.

‘Doing really well, thanks. He’s in a walking boot now and pretty much running around on it. Should be fine in another couple of weeks. Kids recover so quickly, don’t they?’

‘They do. Right, must get on. See you later.’

She deposits her supplies on her desk and I tick her off the list on the clipboard I’m carrying and head back to my own office. I’ve just done the rounds, checking that all the staff are all right and seeing if any of them have any problems that need to be sorted out. The irony of this hasn’t escaped me. Me, the practice manager, checking on everyone’s welfare when I’m only just managing to hold onto my own wellbeing and sanity by my fingertips. What a weekend. Eloise was still barely speaking to me when Jacob brought the children home last night and this morning wasn’t much fun either. Robin was still icily polite when she turned up to do the school run.

At least when I got to work I was greeted by a wide smile and a hug from Ruth who’s in high spirits today, having been told by her son yesterday that he and his young family are hoping to fly over from Canada for a visit in June or July. Deborah, on the other hand, is still definitely not herself.

‘That’s great news, Ruth,’ she said quietly, as Ruth bounced around the staffroom. Then, head down, she shuffled out of the door and headed off down the corridor, not looking back. I stared after her for moment, then turned to Ruth.

‘Right, enough of this,’ I said. ‘Come on, Ruth. You must know what’s up. I need to know – on a professional level if nothing else.’

Ruth stopped skipping up and down the room and, pink-cheeked, shook her head.

‘She’s fine, honestly,’ she gasped, then clutched a hand to her throat and waved the other at me, signalling that she needed a moment to get her breath back.

‘Really? I don’t think so,’ I said.

Ruth gulped in some air.

‘Just feeling her age, you know. Now, I need to get reception sorted,’ she said, and scampered off, leaving me feeling puzzled and a little left out.

What is it they aren’t telling me? And why aren’t they telling me? We’ve always told each other everything …

The sense of being sidelined, of not being trusted with whatever is clearly going on, has made today’s low mood even lower, but I force myself to keep going, deciding at lunchtime to pop across the road to see Nadia.

‘Hey Nadia, how are you?’

She’s been reading but she’s already put her book down, having spotted me crossing the road, and she smiles her gap-toothed smile. She’s still working her way through the novels I gave her, I notice with pleasure. The Clocks is her current read.

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