was funny. She wasn’t pushy or flirty, just funny.
‘That was a long time ago,’ Jed said.
‘A volunteer?’
‘Nope, professional. I was paid—it put me through medical school.’
‘So how should I be doing it?’
‘I’ll show you.’ He offered her his hand and pulled her up and they walked towards the water’s edge. ‘Just sit here.’
‘He won’t come.’
‘I bet he does if you ignore him.’
So they sat and chatted for ten minutes or so. Simon grew bored, playing with his sandcastle alone, while the grown-ups didn’t care that they were sitting in the water in shorts, getting wet with each shallow wave that came in.
Jed told her about his job, the one he’d had before medical school. ‘It was actually that which made me want to work in emergency medicine,’ Jed explained. ‘I know you shouldn’t enjoy a drowning …’
She smiled because she knew what he meant. There was a high that came from emergencies, just knowing that you knew what to do in a fraught situation.
Of course not all the time; sometimes it was just miserable all around, but she could see how the thrill of a successful resuscitation could soon plant the seeds for a career in Emergency.
‘So if I drown, will you rescue me?’
‘Sure,’ Jed said, and her blue eyes turned to his and they smiled for a very brief moment. Unthinking, absolutely not thinking, he said it. ‘Why? Is that a fantasy of yours?’
And he could have kicked himself, should have kicked himself, except she was just smiling and so too was he. Thankfully, starved of attention, Simon toddled towards them and squealed with delight at the feeling of water rushing past his feet.
‘Yay!’ Jasmine was delighted, taking his hands and pulling him in for a hug. ‘It worked.’
‘Glad to have helped.’ Jed stood, because now he was kicking himself, now he was starting to wonder what might have happened had Simon not chosen that moment to take to the water.
Actually, he wasn’t wondering.
Jed knew.
‘Better get on.’ He gave her a thin smile, ruffled Simon’s hair and off down the beach he went, leaving Jasmine sitting there.
Jed confused her.
Cold one minute and not warm but hot the next.
And, no, being rescued by a sexy lifeguard wasn’t one of her fantasies, but a sexy Jed?
Well …
She blew out a breath. There was something happening between them, something like she had never known before. Except all he did was confuse her—because the next time she saw him at work he went back to ignoring her.
As well as confusing, Jed was also wrong about her getting right back into the swing of things at work. The department was busy and even a couple weeks later she still felt like the new girl at times. Even worse, her mum was less than pleased when Lisa asked, at short notice, if Jasmine could do two weeks of nights. She had staff sick and had already moved Vanessa onto the roster to do nights. Jasmine understood the need for her to cover, but she wasn’t sure her mum would be quite so understanding.
‘I’m really sorry about this,’ Jasmine said to her mum as she dropped Simon off.
‘It’s fine.’ Louise had that rather pained, martyred look that tripped all of Jasmine’s guilt switches. ‘I’ve juggled a few clients’ appointments to early evening for this week so I’ll need you to be back here at five.’
‘Sure.’
‘But, Jasmine,’ Louise said, ‘how are you going to keep on doing this? I’m going away soon and if they can change your roster at five minutes’ notice and expect you to comply, how are you going to manage?’
‘I’ve a meeting with a babysitter at the weekend,’ Jasmine told her mum. ‘She’s coming over and I’ll see how she gets on with Simon.’
‘How much is a babysitter going to cost?’ Louise asked, and Jasmine chose not to answer, but really something would have to give.
Paying the crèche was bad enough, but by the time she’d paid a babysitter to pick Simon up for her late shifts and stints on nights, well, it was more complicated than Jasmine had the time to allocate it right now.
‘How are things with Penny at work?’ Louise asked.
‘It seems okay.’ Jasmine shrugged. ‘She’s just been on nights herself so I haven’t seen much of her, and when I do she’s no more horrible to me than she is to everybody else.’
‘And no one’s worked out that you’re sisters?’
‘How could they?’ Jasmine said. ‘Penny hasn’t said anything and no one is going to hear it from me.’
‘Well, make sure that they don’t,’ Louise warned. ‘Penny doesn’t need any stress right now. She’s worked up enough as it is with this promotion coming up. Maybe once that’s over with she’ll come around to the idea a bit more.’
‘I’d better get going.’ Jasmine gave Simon a cuddle and held him just an extra bit tight.
‘Are you okay?’ Louise checked.
‘I’m fine,’ Jasmine said, but as she got to the car she remembered why she was feeling more than a little out of sorts. And, no, she hadn’t shared it with her mum and certainly she wouldn’t be ringing up Penny for a chat to sort out her feelings.
There on the driver’s seat was her newly opened post and even though she’d been waiting for it, even though she wanted it, it felt strange to find out in such a banal way that she was now officially divorced.
Yes, she’d been looking forward to the glorious day, only the reality of it gave her no reason to smile.
Her marriage had been the biggest mistake of her life.
The one good thing to come out of it was Simon.
The only good thing, Jasmine thought, stuffing the papers into her glove box, and, not for the first time she felt angry.
She’d been duped so badly.
Completely lied to from the start.
Yes, she loved Simon with all her heart, but this was never the way she’d intended to raise a child. With a catalogue of crèches and babysitters and scraping to make ends meet and a father who, despite so many promises, when the truth had been exposed, when his smooth veneer had been cracked and the real Lloyd had surfaced, rather than facing himself had resumed the lie his life was and had turned his back and simply didn’t want to know his own son.
‘Are you okay?’ Vanessa checked later as they headed out of the locker rooms.
‘I’m fine,’ Jasmine said, but hearing the tension in her own voice and realising she’d been slamming about a bit in the locker room, she conceded, ‘My divorce just came through.’
‘Yay!’ said Vanessa, and it was a new friend she turned to rather than her family. ‘You should be out celebrating instead of working.’
‘I will,’ Jasmine said. ‘Just not yet.’
‘Are you upset?’
‘Not upset,’ Jasmine said. ‘Just angry.’
‘Excuse me.’ They stepped aside as a rather grumpy Dr Devlin brushed passed.
‘Someone got out of the wrong side of bed,’ Vanessa said.
Jasmine didn’t get Jed.
She did not understand why he had changed so rapidly.