Beyond Fear by Jaye Ford Read Free Book Online

stepped over the threshold. Good-humoured crowd sounds led them down a short corridor to a glass door. She saw Louise’s mass of crazy, shoulder-length corkscrew curls at the bar, bobbing about as she talked to the barman. Behind her, a group of drinkers raised their arms as one and cheered. Jodie pushed open the door and as Corrine hobbled through ahead of her Jodie saw Lou turn and the ‘Oh my God’ on her lips.
    ‘Oh my God,’ Louise said again, standing on her toes to reach up and wrap them in a hug. ‘Are you okay? You must be freezing. You’re wet, too. Thank God you’re here.’ She took Corrine’s other arm, talked as she walked them past milling drinkers to the opposite side of the room. ‘Your car’s fine. It’s locked up at the garage. Hannah sorted out the key for the B & B, got directions off the guy in the shop. Bought milk, too. Look, Hannah, they’re here.’
    Hannah stood up from a tight group of four chairs around a low table and led Corrine to a seat. Jodie was glad to hand Corrine over, glad Hannah’s attention was focused on Corrine’s sprained ankle. She needed a moment to pull herself together before she could do the fun-girls-away thing. She peeled off her damp coat, hung it over the back of a chair and took a deep breath.
    ‘Lou, pass my jacket,’ Hannah said. She’d helped Corrine into another seat and was supporting her injured ankle above the low table. One-handed, she took the jacket from Louise, bunched it into a cushion and tucked it under Corrine’s leg. ‘Can you move your toes?’ she asked her.
    Jodie watched as Hannah rolled up Corrine’s trouser leg, unzipped the boot, folded back the stiff leather. There was no fuss in the way she did it. She looked like she’d done it a hundred times. She probably had. She’d been a nurse since she left school, had only taken three breaks from the job, one for each child. ‘You’ve got some swelling starting. And a good bruise,’ Hannah said. Without looking up from the ankle, she raised her voice, waved a hand about in the general direction of the chairs. ‘Louise. Anti-inflammatories in my handbag. Side pocket.’
    Lou lifted her eyes briefly to Jodie’s. A ‘don’t say anything or I’ll laugh inappropriately’ look. Hannah, bless her, meant well and they had all benefited from her ministrations at one time or another but the occasions tended to take on the tone of an intensive care unit. Jodie figured it was exactly what any of them would want if their life was in Hannah’s hands but when it was all for a cut finger or a bad headache, it just felt like overkill. And after listening to Corrine carry on about the stupidity of walking about in the dark, seeing Hannah treating the sprained ankle as a major trauma was like salt in the wound.
    Thank God for Lou’s sense of humour. She’d dragged Hannah’s big, brown leather satchel onto her lap, unlatched a side pocket the size of a briefcase and was looking back at Jodie with a mischievous grin. She pulled out scissors, a roll of tape, rubber gloves, an eyebath, gauze bandages, a syringe, lining them up on the low table like evidence. ‘You’ve got half a hospital in here, Hannah.’
    ‘It’s just the basics.’
    Lou pulled out a disposable scalpel. ‘For open-heart surgery maybe. Hey, you got any of those electric paddles for jump-starting the heart? I’ve always wanted to say, “Clear!” Maybe Corrine can go into cardiac arrest for us.’
    ‘Louise, I’m in pain here,’ Corrine said.

    ‘Can we focus on the anti-inflammatories, do you think?’ Hannah said.
    Lou looked at Jodie, pulled her mouth down, an ‘oops, too far’, and Jodie felt the tension in her own mouth soften. Lou found a packet, slapped it onto Hannah’s upturned palm like a nurse on a TV hospital drama, said, ‘Anti-inflammatories, Doctor.’
    Hannah cracked a smile then. So did Louise. So did Jodie, at last.
    Corrine said, ‘I need some water.’
    Hannah found a bottle of water in her