Keely followed her down the corridor, waited while she hassled the two SHOs into joining them and then walked out into the bitterly cold January night and across to the pub.
The pub was warm and cosy and a welcome alternative to her chilly flat.
'I need to find somewhere decent to live.' Keely sipped her orange juice and passed her crisps to Nicky. 'Because I was living and working in London until last week, I didn't have much time to hunt around so I took the first thing I saw. Believe me, it's less than exciting and, frankly, the landlord gives me the creeps.'
'My wife and I are renting a house in Ambleside until we decide where we're going to settle,' Adam told them, savouring his beer with obvious enjoyment. 'What about you Fiona?'
'Oh, I've got an aunt who lives about ten minutes from the hospital, so I'm staying with her for now. She's great fun, actually.' Fiona ripped open another packet of crisps. 'Where do the rest of the staff live?'
Nicky settled back in her chair and stretched out her hands towards the log fire. 'Well, the senior consultant, Sean, lives about fifteen minutes' drive away in a converted barn with his wife and three utterly delectable children. Zoe, the staff nurse you probably met today, lives with her boyfriend in Ambleside and I live with my husband in a cottage about ten minutes away towards the Langdales.'
'Nice. I want to live somewhere more rural. At the moment I'm stuck in a tiny flat in the middle of town.' Keely pulled a face. 'What I really wanted was to live in a rural retreat. You know, views of the fells, sheep at the bottom of my garden and an appalling trip to work every time it snows.'
Nicky laughed. 'In other words, somewhere totally impractical.'
'That's me.' Keely beamed at her. 'I came up here to escape from the city. If I wanted the city I'd still be living in London.'
'So why the Lakes?'
Keely shrugged and took a sip of her drink. 'Because this unit has a good reputation and because I love walking.'
And because it was sufficiently far away from her totally oppressive family to give her some much needed breathing space.
'I like walking.' Nicky munched at the crisps. 'So does Sean. He was in the army before he trained as a doctor so he's a real expert at climbing and things. And Zach loves the outdoors too.'
That explained the athletic body...
'Well, I'm going to go and see some rental properties as soon as I get a free moment,' Keely muttered, pushing thoughts of Zach's body away and glancing at her watch. 'I suppose I'd better be going. I've got some serious studying to do.'
Fiona lifted an eyebrow. 'Studying?'
'Yes, studying.' Keely gave a wry smile, deciding to confess. Even though they'd only worked together for a week, she already liked her new colleagues enormously. 'The last time I saw Zach I was sixteen years old and he obviously still sees me that way. I need to impress him.'
'Sixteen?' Nicky put her drink on the table with a thump and stared at her in amazement. 'How did you come to meet Zach at the tender age of sixte
en?'
'He trained with my brother,' Keely said, carefully missing out that he'd also worked for her father. The less people knew about her family the better. 'He used to come and stay sometimes.'
'Wow.' Fiona gave her a saucy wink. 'I bet he played havoc with your hormones at sixteen.'
Keely managed a weak laugh. He was playing havoc with her hormones at twenty-four, too.
'Anyway, I clearly have to work harder to impress him than everyone else.'
Nicky frowned. 'I don't think that's true. You impressed him yesterday—you told him that the man had taken tricyclics.'
'Yes—and I was the one who didn't know the answer,' Adam reminded them with a sheepish grin. 'If anyone needs to go home to study it's me.'
'No.' Keely stared into her now empty glass. 'Zach doesn't see you as a teenager.'
Nicky wiggled her toes in front of the fire. 'If I were you I'd just be yourself. From what I've seen today you're going to make a great casualty officer. You're good humoured, you don't panic in an emergency, you're friendly to everyone and you're nice with the patients. Zach will see that for himself soon enough.'
Would he?
Keely wasn't so sure. After the way he'd reacted this week it was fairly obvious to her that Zach thought he needed to keep an eye on her.
She'd give it a few more days and then she'd have to have a word with him.