Janet would know he had used the extension in the forge. She would also work out who he had phoned. He couldn’t go back inside yet. Talking wasn’t what he needed right now. He had watched Cara since she had arrived in Bristol with her parents as an eighteen-year-old. He had watched her fall in and out of love. Then, he had fallen in love himself from a distance. Now, that they had finally met, he knew things were going to change no matter how he tried to stop it. Why was she reading books on immortality? There were too many unanswered questions here. What did she know? The forge was cool. Anyway, he wanted to work on his latest statue. He ran his fingers over the cool surface of the new slab of soapstone. As before, his mind could almost make out the shape waiting to be released. The slab was about eighteen inches high and four foot long. He had intended to turn it upright. Now, he knew that wasn’t necessary. Easing the slab onto a trolley, he moved the cart by the window so he could get the benefit of the natural light.
