Their Very Special Marriage by Kate Hardy

He needed to keep Caroline and Rachel apart, at least for a little while. ‘I’ve organised a locum for you this week. If you go in and start asking questions, she’ll feel that you don’t trust her. If she walks out, we’re stuck.’
    â€˜No, we’re not. I can work while Mum keeps an eye on Soph.’
    Oliver raked a hand through his hair. ‘Isn’t the point of Ann coming here to give you a break? If you’re working, you’re not getting any rest. Anyway, I’m sure your mother would like to spend some time with you and the kids, not just be an unpaid babysitter.’
    Rachel lifted her chin. ‘She offered. I didn’t ask.’
    â€˜I didn’t say you did.’ Why, why, why was this turning into a row?
    Tell her , Caroline had said, the night of the party. If he did...he had the feeling that right now Rachel wouldn’t take it well.
    â€˜Rach—’
    â€˜Forget it. I need to put these in water.’ Rachel stomped into the kitchen, carrying the flowers he’d bought her as if they were poison.
    Why was it all going so wrong? And were they ever going to be able to fix it?

CHAPTER SIX
    â€˜Y OU didn’t answer my text,’ Caroline said.
    â€˜What text?’ Oliver asked.
    She folded her arms. ‘The one asking you if you’d told her yet.’
    Oliver shook his head. ‘I didn’t see it. Maybe it got lost on the way to my phone—you know texts aren’t a hundred per cent reliable.’
    â€˜Maybe.’ Caroline didn’t look convinced. ‘How did it go?’
    Oliver winced. ‘Don’t ask.’
    She sighed. ‘You didn’t talk to her, did you?’
    â€˜I was going to, but...’
    â€˜But you wimped out.’
    â€˜I got called out.’ Which wasn’t the same thing—was it? He shrugged. ‘Look, she’s a GP. She knows how the job works. She should understand the situation, surely?’
    â€˜If she was expecting you to spend time with her at the weekend then, no, she won’t understand. I wouldn’t, in her shoes. Why on earth don’t you use a weekend and night call-out service?’ she asked.
    Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t you start. That’s what Rachel says. But this is a family practice. We’ve always done things this way, always . I can’t just dump my patients on a doctor who doesn’t know them.’
    â€˜It depends,’ she said, ‘on whether you want to stay married or not.’
    â€˜I thought you were on my side, Cally?’
    â€˜I’m not on anyone’s side.’ She spread her hands. ‘AndI’ve already told you what I think. You need to get your priorities sorted out.’
    â€˜Yeah.’ He took a swig of his coffee. ‘I hate Monday mornings. Everyone’s saved up their weekend ailments. And because it was sunny yesterday, I’ve got a rash of bad backs because everyone did tons of gardening without bothering to stretch or warm up their muscles properly first. I’ve got a huge list of test results to chase— and I promised Rach I’d pick Robin up, because she’s meeting her mother at the train station.’
    â€˜I could pick him up for you,’ Caroline offered.
    Right. And by the time he got home, she and Rachel would have talked. A lot. And Rachel would be even angrier with him than she was now. Oliver couldn’t face a full-blown row. The coolness between them was bad enough—he didn’t want to risk making things even worse. ‘No, it’s OK.’ Then he realised that he had the best excuse ever. ‘He doesn’t know who you are and we’ve taught him not to talk to strangers.’
    â€˜Fair enough.’
    â€˜I’ll just have to shuffle my appointments about. Unless...’ He gave Caroline his most charming smile. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance you could cover for me this afternoon, is