you can manage some toast. I can't eat alone, and I happen to be ravenous.'
'Well, in that case, thank you.' Her hair hid her face as she looked down at the dog, who growled at her and backed away, showing his teeth.
'Mind your manners, Buzz!' Simon told him off. 'He takes time to get used to strangers,' he explained. 'He's one of the wary kind.'
Simon shut the dog back in the house before escorting Anna up the sideway and into the back garden, which was a surprise when compared with the front.
'Do you approve?' he asked, his eyes on her face.
'I certainly do!' From the patio on which he seated her, she looked down at the sloping lawn, at the herbaceous borders flaring with colour, at the rose-beds and lily pond. The enclosing lichened stone walls, which were pleasing to the eye, were of just the right height and stoutness to afford protection against the gales.
'I'll show you round properly when we've eaten.' Simon disappeared to get the tray of food before coming back to say, after pouring the coffee and passing Anna toast, 'I inherited from my predecessor John Duran his private patients, his nurse/secretary, and Buzz.'
'Buzz? Oh, of course, the dog. But fancy leaving him behind!'
'I suppose it was understandable in the circumstances, you know. John and his wife were emigrating, and as Buzz was elderly they didn't think it fair to transport him to the other side of the world. They arranged for James Petersen, the ENT surgeon, and his wife to take him in. They live just opposite here, and they dote on dogs.
'So over the Square went a perplexed little dog but he was very soon back again, barking at the kitchen door until someone let him in. After a month of this the Petersens and I did a deal—Buzz became mine and came back to his home, which had been his plan all along! He's fourteen now; we're used to one another, and he's not alone all that much. My daily, Mrs Gill is here every weekday until five, and I'm home very soon after that.'
'I hope he doesn't growl at your patients.' Anna spread honey on her toast.
'He's not allowed near the front door, nor up in the consulting-rooms. He knows his place; he's been well trained. Miss Benson, my secretary, would throw a fit if he so much as breathed up the stairs.'
'Did you mind having a built-in secretary?' Anna asked, after a pause.
'If I'd minded seriously we'd have had to part,' Simon grunted. 'I wouldn't say we're the perfect team but Amy knows the work from A to Z and she's loyal too, if a trifle condescending. After working for John, who was in his late sixties, she looks upon me as a learner consultant which, in some respects, I am.'
'Medical people learn all the time, however young or old they are,' Anna said stoutly, thinking what a cheek the Benson woman had.
'True.' Simon refilled her cup, and a little silence fell, but not an uneasy one. Sitting there, looking down on the garden in the company of this man whom she'd once thought resembled Daniel, Anna was aware of an inexplicable warmth that was nothing to do with the sun.
'Tell me,' he spoke so suddenly that she gave a little jump, 'last Tuesday, when I barged into your office, why were you so shocked? I don't usually make quite such an impact—' his grey eyes twinkled '—so am I right in thinking that you mistook me for someone else?'
'Yes, I did... For my.. .for Daniel.' Anna set down her cup. 'I'd been thinking about him a few minutes earlier, then you came in and although you're not like him, not feature by feature, you're the same physical type—tall and fairish—and for a second or two I thought I'd conjured him up!' She laughed as she spoke, but not very naturally. He remained serious.
'I'm so sorry.'
'Not your fault.'
'You must miss him.'
'Yes.'
Another silence fell between them, a far less comfortable one—twanging with unasked questions on his part, and determination on Anna's not to divulge or let slip one single thing more. She wished she hadn't lied about Daniel—about saying
'Well, in that case, thank you.' Her hair hid her face as she looked down at the dog, who growled at her and backed away, showing his teeth.
'Mind your manners, Buzz!' Simon told him off. 'He takes time to get used to strangers,' he explained. 'He's one of the wary kind.'
Simon shut the dog back in the house before escorting Anna up the sideway and into the back garden, which was a surprise when compared with the front.
'Do you approve?' he asked, his eyes on her face.
'I certainly do!' From the patio on which he seated her, she looked down at the sloping lawn, at the herbaceous borders flaring with colour, at the rose-beds and lily pond. The enclosing lichened stone walls, which were pleasing to the eye, were of just the right height and stoutness to afford protection against the gales.
'I'll show you round properly when we've eaten.' Simon disappeared to get the tray of food before coming back to say, after pouring the coffee and passing Anna toast, 'I inherited from my predecessor John Duran his private patients, his nurse/secretary, and Buzz.'
'Buzz? Oh, of course, the dog. But fancy leaving him behind!'
'I suppose it was understandable in the circumstances, you know. John and his wife were emigrating, and as Buzz was elderly they didn't think it fair to transport him to the other side of the world. They arranged for James Petersen, the ENT surgeon, and his wife to take him in. They live just opposite here, and they dote on dogs.
'So over the Square went a perplexed little dog but he was very soon back again, barking at the kitchen door until someone let him in. After a month of this the Petersens and I did a deal—Buzz became mine and came back to his home, which had been his plan all along! He's fourteen now; we're used to one another, and he's not alone all that much. My daily, Mrs Gill is here every weekday until five, and I'm home very soon after that.'
'I hope he doesn't growl at your patients.' Anna spread honey on her toast.
'He's not allowed near the front door, nor up in the consulting-rooms. He knows his place; he's been well trained. Miss Benson, my secretary, would throw a fit if he so much as breathed up the stairs.'
'Did you mind having a built-in secretary?' Anna asked, after a pause.
'If I'd minded seriously we'd have had to part,' Simon grunted. 'I wouldn't say we're the perfect team but Amy knows the work from A to Z and she's loyal too, if a trifle condescending. After working for John, who was in his late sixties, she looks upon me as a learner consultant which, in some respects, I am.'
'Medical people learn all the time, however young or old they are,' Anna said stoutly, thinking what a cheek the Benson woman had.
'True.' Simon refilled her cup, and a little silence fell, but not an uneasy one. Sitting there, looking down on the garden in the company of this man whom she'd once thought resembled Daniel, Anna was aware of an inexplicable warmth that was nothing to do with the sun.
'Tell me,' he spoke so suddenly that she gave a little jump, 'last Tuesday, when I barged into your office, why were you so shocked? I don't usually make quite such an impact—' his grey eyes twinkled '—so am I right in thinking that you mistook me for someone else?'
'Yes, I did... For my.. .for Daniel.' Anna set down her cup. 'I'd been thinking about him a few minutes earlier, then you came in and although you're not like him, not feature by feature, you're the same physical type—tall and fairish—and for a second or two I thought I'd conjured him up!' She laughed as she spoke, but not very naturally. He remained serious.
'I'm so sorry.'
'Not your fault.'
'You must miss him.'
'Yes.'
Another silence fell between them, a far less comfortable one—twanging with unasked questions on his part, and determination on Anna's not to divulge or let slip one single thing more. She wished she hadn't lied about Daniel—about saying
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