Page 19 of A Doctor to Heal Her Heart

The sudden slice of candour made the back of his neck tingle. ‘It’s good to have separate spaces for work and leisure.’

‘Yes. Working at home seemed like a good idea at the time. No fighting my way to and from work on the Tube. For the first six months that was enough to keep me happy. Then the novelty wore off.’

‘And you started to get stir-crazy?’ Euan imagined that there were plenty of days when Sam opened her laptop as soon as she was awake, and only closed it again to go back to sleep.

‘Yes. I make sure I go out every day now.’

‘Coffee shop?’ He could just imagine her, sitting with a coffee, her laptop open in front of her.

‘How did you know?’

‘Just a lucky guess.’ He sat down opposite her, and she handed him the knife she’d used to butter her toast. Taking it from her to butter his own felt like an act of intimacy. ‘If you feel up to it, we can go for a drive after we’ve been to Juno’s workshop. There’s something I want to show you.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yep.’

* * *

Sam had completely lost her bearings as Euan led her through a maze of streets, finally emerging at the back of a row of small shops. They walked along an uneven path and then he shepherded her into a long, low building.

It was shaded inside, and for a moment Sam’s heavy sunglasses rendered her almost blind. When she propped them on top of her head, she gasped. The wall was framed and criss-crossed with shelves. Spun and fashioned glass was displayed there in a blaze of colour and texture, so vibrant that it almost hurt her eyes.

‘Euan!’ A woman’s voice sounded, and Sam turned. She was tall, with short, bleached blonde hair and a pair of work-stained overalls. She stripped off her heavy-duty gloves and grabbed the front of Euan’s shirt. ‘Come here, stranger.’

‘Whose fault is that?’ Euan didn’t resist when the woman pulled him towards her and planted a kiss on his cheek.

‘Yours. Where were you at my show?’ Juno let go of him, and took a swipe at his shoulder.

‘I’m sorry. I would have been there if I could. Bit of an emergency.’

‘Yeah.’ Juno turned to Sam looking her up and down with an unmistakeable air of scrutiny. ‘I’d be cross with him if I didn’t know that’s not an excuse.’

‘Juno had her first show three weeks ago. I hear there was quite a bit of interest in her stuff.’

‘It’s not stuff, Euan.’ Juno protested with a laugh. ‘It’s an unique view of the world through the eyes of a talented young artist.’

‘Right.’ Euan and Juno were chuckling together. ‘This is Sam. She saw one of your unique views of the world in my hallway...’

‘The mermaid?’ Juno swung towards Sam. ‘That’s one of my favourite pieces. I nearly didn’t let him have it, but then...’ She shrugged, as if the rest was already well understood. ‘What do you think?’

‘I love the glass. You made these?’

Juno became suddenly bashful. ‘Yeah. Thanks.’

‘Sam’s working with us for a couple of weeks. Why don’t you show her the pieces you’ve made for us?’ Euan’s quiet suggestion seemed to impel Juno into life again, and she grinned, leading the way to a small side room. Polished pebbles, twisted metal and glass all combined to make four sculptures. On a high shelf a blue and gold figurine, exquisitely crafted from glass, gleamed insistently.

‘It’s a phoenix. I think it’s kind of appropriate.’ Juno lifted the piece down, holding it for Sam to see.

‘Breathtaking.’ Sam murmured the word and Juno’s face lit up.

‘Isn’t it?’ Euan was smiling too. ‘Now all we need is to get the residential centre up and running and we’ll have somewhere to put it.’

Juno snorted with laughter. ‘Since when did you worry about flying in the face of the odds?’

‘I worry about it all the time.’ This seemed to be a private joke between Euan and Juno, and Sam shifted her weight from one foot to the other, wondering if she really ought to be here.

Juno replaced the phoenix on its perch, and turned to face her. ‘These are a thank-you. For what Driftwood did for me.’

---