Calling All Dentists (Calling All... Book 2), page 1
Calling All Dentists
by
Tara Ford
Is ignorance really bliss? Never take it for granted
Copyright © 2014 Tara Ford
All rights reserved.
ASIN: B00J1KCHH4
Other titles by Tara Ford
Calling All Services
Acknowledgements
Thank you to every single person who has supported me throughout my writing journey, once again. A special thank-you goes to my family and friends who attended the launch party for my first book (Calling All Services) – Mum S, Brian, Nigel, Liam, Zak, Abbie, Luke, Mum F, Sharen, Lewis, Chloe, Annalise, Benita, Clair, Angie, Reid, Paula, Rosie, David, Jo, Sarah C, Dawn, Jane H, John H, Michelle, Jane F, Sarah N, Katt, Suzi, Stevie-Eve, Will, Sarah F, Tasha, Nicola, Debbie Warford (Yay!) – she will be smiling now and Basil Kupersamy who I need to say a big thank-you to, for all of his support from day one and for always managing to make me look half decent in a photograph. Amazing feat.
I would also like to thank everyone (past and present) at EJS for their continued support – they are like a second family to me. Thanks to Sarah Boyce for her enthusiastic, positive appraisal of my first book and for passing it around to the neighbours. Thanks to Tilli Stevens for her keen interest in the release of this book and for downsizing me at an appropriate time in my life. Thank-you to Colin, Karen, Lynda and two members of the fishy crew – Caroline and Debbie L. for their continued support and last but by no means least, thanks to the world for giving us beautiful people like Sarah Bennett (Mini-Me).
A big thank-you to Jane Hessey for all of her valuable help and expertise even though it caused her tears, screaming and torment, but here’s to the next one if she can bear it.
Thank you to all my Twitter followers and Facebook friends – I appreciate every one of you for your kind support.
The biggest thank-you goes to you for taking the time to read this book and if it is the second one of mine that you are reading – thank you even more so.
Tara Ford
http://taraford.weebly.com/
Twitter: @rata2e
Facebook: Tara Ford-Author
For Pat
Chapter 1
“I would rather give birth to an elephant,” said Emma with a devilish glint in her eye.
“Oh that’s ridiculous Em, you must do something about it,” replied Ruby, chewing her fingernails vigorously and looking rather nervously at her friend.
“No – actually I would rather give Pete oral sex.”
“That’s not very nice at all Emma.”
“That’s exactly my point – it’s a dreadful thought isn’t it?” Emma let out a huff and turned back to stare intently into the bathroom mirror.
“No, I mean that’s cruel of you to say that about Pete and rather rude, if I might add.” Ruby looked hurt in an odd sort of way.
“Well, would you?” asked Emma, intent on getting the required response. Ruby shrugged her shoulders, said nothing, then sloped off to her bedroom and closed the door quietly behind her.
“What’s the matter? Have I upset you?” asked Emma as she opened the door and peeped in to the room, feeling somewhat guilty.
Ruby was perched on the end of her single bed, clutching her latest Mills & Boon novel tightly in her hands.
“No not really,” she said half heartedly, “You always make fun of Pete though and he’s one of the kindest people I know and I’m sure he’s madly in love with you. It’s just not fair to say horrible things about him.”
“I think you like him more than you let on Ruby Winters,” said Emma, joining Ruby on the end of the bed.
“Oh don’t be silly. Besides, he would never be interested in anyone like me anyway.” She sighed deeply and fingered the pages of her book.
“You fancy him don’t you?” screeched Emma as she threw herself back on the bed and crossed her hands behind her head.
“No, I… I just think you’re unkind sometimes. He would do anything for you. You could click your fingers and he’d come running at a moment’s notice.”
“You do fancy him – I knew it,” squealed Emma, excited at the thought of her secret plan to fix up her flat-mate, work colleague and best friend with Pete, the office wimp, who she had no interest in herself – whatsoever.
“Oh please, stop trying to change the subject Emma, you do need to get that…” she pointed to Emma’s mouth, “sorted out.”
“Hmm,” replied Emma, deep in thought. “Maybe I will one day.”
Pushing her glasses up her nose, Ruby opened her book and pulled the leather bookmark out. “I’ll make the appointment for you if you like,” she said as she flicked the pages backwards and forwards and finally settled for the page just before her bookmarked place.
“No, I’ll sort it out soon, don’t hassle me,” huffed Emma as she got up and left the room.
Back in the bathroom, Emma smiled and pouted in the mirror. Then she spoke in an exaggerated way to open her mouth wider, exposing her beautifully white teeth. “Heelllooooo… mmmyyy… naaameeee… is Emmmaaa…” Tutting to herself, she knew Ruby was right. She had to see a dentist and pretty soon.
At twenty six years old she’d built up a deep-set fear of dentists. Hearing horror stories, from practically everyone she knew, just made the matter worse. Emma hadn’t seen one for at least eight years and until now hadn’t had any plans of ever seeing one again – well not while she was conscious at least.
The last time Emma plucked up the courage to visit a dentist, it had been a horrific experience and she barely tolerated the root canal surgery she had needed for her gum disease, but thanks to her mum, who was in attendance, she scraped through. She then had a dodgy filling which caused the same tooth to break in half a week later, right in the middle of a fancy dress party. At first Emma thought the sausage rolls on the buffet were exceptionally crunchy until she discovered she was chewing part of her own tooth. She had spent the rest of that evening worrying that the half tooth could be seen and desperately trying to talk through gritted teeth as the searing pain of sensitivity from the exposed nerves was constantly triggered by the air she breathed. It was then that Emma vowed she would never see a dentist again.
Now, she feared she’d left it all too late. Most of her perfectly aligned teeth were wobbly, four of them felt like they were hanging by threads and her gums had receded so far that there were gaps forming between each tooth. She couldn’t eat crusty bread or apples anymore, in fact there were many things she could no longer munch her way through, and being an avid food lover, it was a pretty miserable existence. She’d noticed that everyone seemed to talk to her teeth now and Emma knew she had to do something about it quickly before they all started to drop out. Reaching for her baby toothbrush, she tentatively began the painstaking task of brushing them like they were ancient artifacts being discovered on an excavation site.
Ruby peered around the bathroom door and smiled, “Sorry Em, I don’t mean to go on at you all of the time. I… I just get worried about you.”
Emma shot a cursory glance at her toothpaste grin in the mirror and then spat out the contents of her mouth. “I know you aren’t mean Rue. I just need to do this in my own time. I know it needs to be sooner rather than later but I get so anti when I think about it.” Emma turned to the mirror again and grinned widely.
“Your teeth are so perfect Em, I’m sure the dentist could do something to your gums to stop them receding.”
“Yeah – probably give me more of that root surgery stuff or something even worse.”
“Um,” replied Ruby, “well you’ve got to save your teeth whatever it takes, haven’t you?”
“Suppose,” said Emma and began to brush them again rather obsessively.
It was the weekend and both Ruby and Emma usually spent one day shopping (usually together) and the other one cleaning their small flat and doing the washing and ironing in preparation for the busy working week ahead. Today was shopping day and as there were only two weeks left before Christmas, Emma realised that she really needed to start buying some presents for her family and of course, the secret Santa present, which was always an embarrassing episode at work.
The office staff equated to just six people, two of whom were Ruby and herself, the rest were men. Sadly, the men had no idea what to buy for each other, let alone the girls if they had the misfortune of picking their names out of the hat. So the whole idea of an office secret Santa was a bit silly and pointless – but they all took part in it just the same.
“Who did you get for your secret Santa?” called Emma as she went past Ruby’s room to her own.
“I’m not supposed to tell you Em, it’s a secret.”
“Oh come on Rue – no one will know will they.”
“Ok.” Ruby paused and then added, “It’s Dave.”
“Oh no,” laughed Emma, “What are you going to get him? Maybe a pink tutu would be nice for the works party.”
Giggling into her book, Ruby replied, “I couldn’t do that, I’d be too embarrassed.”
“Why? He wouldn’t know it was from you would he?”
“No, I can’t. I’ll get him some aftershave or something like that.”
“Ah, you’ve got to have a laugh Rue – go on buy him something funny. I’ll help you choose it.”
“Who have you got?” Trying to change the subject, Ruby put her book down and went to the bathroom.
“Pete,” laugh
“Ah don’t be horrible, get him something nice,” said Ruby, sensing the mischief in Emma’s laugh.
“Yeah, I was thinking of getting him a nice blow up doll so he can have a really fun time at Christmas.” The bathroom door closed quietly and Emma knew that Ruby was going to sulk in the shower.
Although the two friends were both work colleagues and flat mates, they were completely opposite in their personalities but they got on together surprisingly well. Emma was the dominant one in their home while Ruby was the quiet, unassuming geek who plodded along aimlessly. Ruby dreamed of white weddings, white Christmases and white fluffy clouds and anything else that she could dream about that might be white or fluffy – or both.
Her appearance matched her geeky personality well, as Ruby’s wardrobe consisted of a selection of sloppy plain jumpers, five blouses (one for each day of the working week) several pairs of cheap jeans and 3 pairs of black, straight-legged trousers (three identical pairs, for work). She had never had a real boyfriend, unless you could include her school-crush, Justin. She had kissed him on the lips once, when she was fourteen, behind the communal wheelie bins of the block of flats where her parents lived. When Justin returned for a second round, a few days later, his chapped lips parted and they kissed momentarily, but then Ruby put a halt to it and ran home disgusted by his attempt to put his tongue in her mouth. She didn’t see him ever again.
Emma, on the other hand, was the complete opposite to Ruby in every single way imaginable.
“Come on are you ready?” called Emma, pulling her heavy coat on.
“Coming,” replied Ruby as she tiptoed through the hall, stopped short of Emma and gave a geeky grin. Dressed in her usual grey rain coat, grey Ugg boots, grey knitted hat with a pink pompom on the top and grey mittens, Ruby looked her usual, unfashionable self. Drab, was a more appropriate description.
“Right, presents first and then we’ll go to New Look and have a look at their party dresses,” said Emma as she linked arms with her little ‘book-geek’ and pulled her out of the front door.
The shopping arcade was heaving with frantic Christmas shoppers, weaving in and out of the countless shop doorways. Bright red ‘Sale’ signs dominated almost every window, showing the percentage reductions of the products within. The main café, in the centre of the enclosed shopping arcade was full to overflowing with hungry bargain hunters, tired mums and miserable dads.
“Where do you want to go first?” asked Emma, scanning the expanse of the retail centre, as they descended on the escalator from the multi-storey car park above.
“I don’t mind. Shall we just walk along each side and then we could pop in all of them?” suggested Ruby (which was unusual because she never suggested anything outright and was far too timid to voice any opinions of her own).
“Fine by me,” chirped Emma as they stepped off the escalator and began to move slowly through the crowds of people, pushchairs and over-sized carrier bags.
Laden with countless bags, wads of receipts and aching feet, Emma grabbed the two dresses and shoved Ruby towards the changing rooms. “You are going to look totally awesome in this Ruby.” She smiled reassuringly, realising her geeky friend was already panicking about looking anything like ‘totally awesome’.
Knowing exactly what she had been looking for, Emma slipped the black, ruched dress over her head and pulled it on. Peering in the mirror, she turned from side to side, admiring her slim figure and then turned back to face the mirror full on. As long as she didn’t open her mouth too wide, she decided that she looked pretty good. Scooping up her long brown hair which tumbled down over her shoulders, Emma tied it up in a rough high bun and liked the look even more. “Have you got it on yet?” she called over the cubicle’s partition wall.
“Yes,” replied Ruby quietly.
“Let me see then.”
Stepping out of their cubicles at the same time, they stared at each other.
“Wow… I mean a big wow. You look gorgeous Rue,” said Emma, transfixed by her friends’ voluptuous figure, barely contained within the sleek red material of the dress. With a plunge neck line and a crossover knot tied centrally above the waste, the dress accentuated Ruby’s ample bust while the length highlighted her long, slender legs from just above the knees. “Bridget Nielsen, eat your heart out,” said Emma, trying to plump up Ruby’s cropped blonde mop. “You should spike your hair up a bit – you’d look like a super model.”
“Um… not sure,” said Ruby as she shyly glanced at the long mirror opposite the cubicles. “Who’s Bridget Nielsen anyway?”
“Just some glamorous supermodel, from my mum’s era. You have got to get it Rue – you look stunning. It’s about time you made a change from those ‘special black trousers’ that you always wear when you go out.”
“I don’t know Em.” Removing her purple rimmed glasses, Ruby squinted in the mirror.
“Oh my God – you have got to buy it and you have got to wear your contact lenses that you never bother with.” Emma couldn’t take her eyes off this new image of Ruby. “Please buy it Rue, I’m not kidding; you could have Pete falling at your feet looking like that. I know you like him.” Emma had already decided that they would actually make a perfect couple – two wimpy geeks together in happy geeky-wonderland, which would no doubt be very white and fluffy.
“He should like me as I am, shouldn’t he?” she replied only slightly huffily.
“He’s probably never noticed you. In fact no one notices you Ruby because you hide behind your baggy blouses and sloppy jumpers.” Emma held her breath anxiously waiting for the tears but thankfully they didn’t come.
“Oh nobody is interested in me, I know that Em. I’m not boyfriend material,” she sighed.
“Yes but you could be, if only you put yourself out there a bit more. You’re like a wilting wallflower. I hope I’m not upsetting you Ruby but you need to find your own Mills & Boon sweetheart and live in the real world.” Slinging an arm around Ruby’s shoulder, Emma empathised with her. “Actually, don’t buy it.” Grinning slyly, she winked at Ruby. “I’m going to buy it for you, for Christmas.”
“No you can’t do that Em. Please it’s far too expensive,” said Ruby with a panic stricken look on her face.
“Yes I can, come on hurry up and get it off.”
Slithering back in to her cubicle like a sand snake, Ruby continued to reason with Emma about the possibilities of not having the dress, over the partition wall, while they changed back in to their clothes.
“I’m buying it and that’s that, you can have it as an early Christmas present. All you need to get now are some shoes to go with it and maybe a handbag too. I refuse to allow you to wear your lace up Hush Puppies with that dress and you’re not taking your rucksack to the party!” Emma burst into raucous laughter and then she heard a sigh coming from the other side of the wall.
“Ok,” replied Ruby, faintly.
The bookshop was filled with old age pensioners, middle aged couples, bookworms of all descriptions and a few younger women who were checking out the latest Chick Lit novels.
Heading straight for the fictional romance section, Emma assumed Ruby would be directly behind her. “What are you buying this week?” asked Emma as she turned around to see an elderly lady peering strangely at her. “Oh sorry, I thought my friend was behind me.”
The small woman raised her bushy grey eyebrows and smiled an oddly familiar semi-toothed grin. Emma managed to smile back but with lips tightly closed as she scanned the book aisles for Ruby. Across the central aisle, Emma could just make out the almost fluorescent pink pompom on the top of Ruby’s hat, sticking up above the shelves. Strangely, she was in the reference section.
“There you are I’ve been looking for you. Thought you were behind me,” said Emma as she stood alongside her friend. “What are you doing here?” she asked, surveying the animal reference books.
“I just thought you could get Pete a nice book about dogs for his secret Santa present.”
“Seriously?” said Emma, amazed by Ruby’s thoughtfulness over a cheap, jokey office gift. “You really do like him don’t you – admit it.”
