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hard, isn’t it? My last boyfriend ditched me because we never saw each other. How can you court someone properly when you only get half a day off every week? And even then you don’t know when it’s going to be. I was for ever having to cancel arrangements, and in the end he just got fed up. He’s going out with a shop girl now,’ she said mournfully.
    Dora had started to edge back towards the consulting rooms when the double doors opened and Nick Riley came in, pushing a wheelchair. She stood, frozen, as he approached the counter.
    ‘I’ve come to collect a patient for Holmes ward,’ he said gruffly, his gaze fixed on the floor.
    ‘Consulting Room One.’
    Dora listened to the rattle of the wheelchair as it disappeared down the corridor. She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach.
    ‘I know what you’re thinking.’
    She glanced up in dismay. Penny Willard sent her a knowing look. ‘He is rather attractive, isn’t he? If you like that brooding sort, I mean. But I’m afraid he’s taken,’ she sighed. ‘He got married yesterday.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s sad, isn’t it? The best ones get snapped up so quickly.’
    Nick returned, pushing an elderly man in the wheelchair. He didn’t glance Dora’s way as he headed for the double doors.
    ‘I know what you mean,’ Dora said.
    Helen and Charlie heard the guard’s whistle as they were buying their tickets. They reached the platform just in time to see the Southend train disappearing in a cloud of blackened steam.
    ‘Well, there goes our day out at the coast,’ Charlie said, as it rumbled out of sight.
    Helen stared after it. ‘Oh, Charlie, I’m sorry. If Sister Sutton hadn’t insisted on me going to church this morning . . .’
    ‘Don’t worry, love. It’s not your fault.’
    ‘But you were so looking forward to it!’
    ‘I’m sure there’s another train later. We can have a cuppa in the station buffet and wait. We’ve got all day together, after all.’ He took her hand. ‘Come on, I might even treat you to a currant bun, if you’re good.’
    Helen smiled reluctantly as he led her back down the platform towards the buffet. She had been looking forward to their day out too. For the first time in a month she had the whole day off. It was a good day for it; the relentless rain had finally given way to a crack of blue sky and spring sunshine, although darker clouds lingered in the distance.
    Charlie had been keen to show her the seaside town where he’d spent so many happy childhood holidays.
    ‘You mean to tell me you’ve never been to Southend?’ He’d been genuinely shocked when Helen had asked him about it a few weeks earlier. ‘Blimey, girl, you don’t know what you’re missing. There’s all sorts there. The pier, Kursaal amusement park, the planetarium. You can even get a special lift that takes you up to the top of the cliff. Or we could just go cockling on the beach.’ He laughed at her blank expression. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve never been cockling, either?’
    ‘I don’t even know what it is.’ But she knew it didn’t sound like something her mother would approve of.
    They found a table in the window of the station buffet, and Charlie lined up at the counter to order their tea and cakes. Helen offered to help, but he was insistent.
    ‘You spend enough time waiting on people,’ he said, pulling out her chair for her. ‘You deserve to be treated for a change.’
    She watched him standing in line, leaning heavily on his stick. She worried about how he would manage with a tray of tea things, but knew better than to question him. Losing his leg in a factory accident had made Charlie fiercely independent and determined to prove he was just as capable as any able-bodied man.
    He was certainly a man in her eyes. Helen felt quietly proud as she noticed the girl behind the counter smiling at him, so tall, fair-haired and handsome.
    ‘Was she flirting with you?’ Helen teased him when he returned to their