Roland’s laptop was loaded with ideas, snatches and whole chapters of works that he was determined to plunge ahead with. Jane’s locum had earned her one or two bad marks by mistaken diagnoses but at least he had walked Sheba and, with Helen’s help, had left the house and the surgery almost clean and fairly tidy. Sheba, the young Labrador, was suspicious of these newcomers for a few minutes and then, when recognition surfaced, went half mad with joy at their return. It took only a day to restore the familiar muddle. Soon, Roland was engrossed in printouts. Jane, for her part, found that some clients had put off consulting the locum about lumps and limps until they could get Jane’s personal attention, even if they had to wait for an appointment some days ahead. Jane was in the middle of breaking the worst possible news to a devoted cat owner when Ian telephoned. ‘I am sorry,’ Jane told him, sounding more stressed than sorry. The relaxing effect of a holiday seldom lasts much longer than the journey home.
