Alex grinned up at Carol, getting to his feet. ‘He’s a great little chap.’
‘Thanks. He can be a bit of a handful.’ Carol was smiling now. ‘I’ll see you, then...?’
‘I hope so.’ Alex gave her a smile and Carol turned and hurried away.
‘What was all that about?’
Marie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Something about the friend she was with a moment ago. She wouldn’t say.’
‘You think she’s in any danger?’ Alex’s first question was the same as Marie’s had been. It was always their first question.
‘No, Carol says it’s embarrassing.’
He nodded, tipping his glass towards hers. ‘Here’s to your first patient, then. Congratulations, you’ve pipped me to the post. I haven’t got any yet.’
‘Thank you. I dare say that’ll change, but I’m quietly triumphant over having beaten my excellent and glorious co-director.’
Marie took a sip of her lemonade and saw the corners of Alex’s mouth quirk downwards. Maybe the joke was a little too close to the mark for him.
‘All right. Never say that again.’ His face was serious for a moment, and then he smiled, knowing he’d fooled her. ‘I might consign you to the dungeons.’
‘How about Your Majesty? I suppose that’s out as well?’
He chuckled. ‘Definitely. That’s a throwing-from-the-battlements thing...’
‘Get back to work, Alex.’ Marie drained her glass, handing it back to him.
CHAPTER FIVE
MARIE HAD MADE no secret of the fact that staying away from the courtyards was driving her insane with curiosity. Alex had escorted her off the premises at five o’clock and gone back to work, sorting out the best of the bricks and discarding those that were damaged.
The second day of Alex’s practical introduction to laying pavers had involved an early start and a concentrated burst of work, but by the afternoon he was surveying the newly swept paving with Charlie, the lad Jim Armitage had sent to help him. Alex suspected Charlie had also been instructed to report back to Jim if it looked as if he was about to make a complete mess of things, and it was a matter of some pride to him that Charlie hadn’t gone to seek out his boss at any point.
‘What do you think, Charlie?’
Charlie nodded sagely. ‘Nice job. Are we going to lay out the planters now?’
‘Yes, I think so. Then we can show it to Marie.’
‘She can put her flowers in. She’ll like that.’
Charlie spoke with the certainty of all his nineteen years, and Alex smiled. The warm colours of the brick had made all the difference to the space.
‘Yes, I think she will. Thanks for all your hard work.’
Charlie nodded, obviously pleased.
They set out the planters from the chart Marie had given them, and Alex left Charlie to bring some of the shrubs through from the other courtyard while he went to find Marie.
She was sitting in the reception area, where she could keep an eye out for anyone whose curiosity had brought them to the door, staring at the screen of her laptop.
As soon as she saw him she jumped to her feet. ‘Is it finished?’
‘Yes. You want to come and see it?’
‘There are a few things I have to do, but I’ll have a look later on...’ Alex’s face must have shown his dismay and she laughed. ‘Of course I want to come and see it!’
‘Okay.’ From his pocket he produced the extra-large handkerchief he’d brought from home that morning, brushing a speck of brick dust from it. ‘Stand still for a moment.’
‘You’re going to blindfold me? Seriously?’
‘Charlie’s worked hard on this. I think it deserves a little bit of a ceremony, don’t you?’
The blindfold was nothing to do with Charlie. Alex just wanted to see the look on Marie’s face when she saw the paved courtyard.
‘Yes, okay, then. Hurry up!’
He tied the blindfold carefully over her eyes, trying not to breathe in the scent of her hair. Then, just for good measure, he turned her around a couple of times. Marie flung out her hand, her fingers brushing his chest, before they found a secure hold on the sleeve of his T-shirt. Alex shivered as tingles pulsed down his spine. They were almost in an embrace.
‘Enough, Alex! Take me there or else!’
‘Okay. Hold my arm.’
She clung on to him as he walked her slowly along the corridor. When the idea of blindfolding her had occurred to him this morning Alex hadn’t taken into consideration how good it would feel to have her walking so close, hanging on to him. He was glad he hadn’t foreseen it, because if he had he might have thought better of the idea. And it would have been a shame to miss this moment.
Charlie opened the door for them, standing back with a huge grin on his face.
‘The step’s right in front of you...’ Alex held her arm firmly so she couldn’t fall, and Marie extended her foot. ‘That’s it. A little further.’
When her foot hit the surface of the bricks she gave a shiver of anticipation, her fingers tightening around his arm. Alex’s knees almost gave way, and then suddenly his body was taut and strong again, ready to catch her if she fell.
Marie stepped out into the courtyard carefully, letting him lead her into its centre.
‘You can take the blindfold off now.’ He heard his voice catch on the lump in his throat and knew he dared not do it for her. If he touched her hair again he might forget himself.
Marie reached up, fumbling a little with the knot. She was silent for a moment, her hand to her mouth as she looked around.
‘Herringbone! I didn’t expect that!’
Alex and Charlie exchanged smug looks. The herringbone pattern meant that there had been extra work in cutting the bricks at the edges, but they’d both agreed it would be worth it. Now, it was definitely worth it.
‘This is beautiful. It’s perfect. Charlie, you must have worked so hard...’
It was just like Marie to praise the younger member of the team first. Charlie had worked hard, he’d made sure everything was exactly right, and he deserved it. Alex smiled as Charlie’s cheeks began to redden.
‘And you’ve set out all my planters as well. Thank you so much.’
Charlie nodded. ‘Would you like to see the drainage gulley?’
‘Yes, please.’
Alex watched as Charlie led her to one corner of the courtyard, showing her where excess rainfall would drain away from the surface and into a waste pipe.
‘You’ve made such a good job of it. When we put some flowers and seating out here it’s going to be a lovely place for people to sit.’
Charlie was grinning from ear to ear, and had obviously taken about as much praise as one young man could stand from a beautiful woman. He muttered something about having to report back to Jim, and made his escape. Then Marie turned her gaze onto Alex.
No words. Just a smile. But Alex felt just as pleased with her reaction as Charlie had obviously been.
‘You like it?’
‘You really need to ask, Alex? I love it.’
Alex nodded. This was everything he needed. It was well worth the hard manual labour, the aching muscles and the scraped fingers.
‘Our garden...’ Marie turned around as if she could see it right now. Flowers and seating—everything as it would be when it was finished.
‘Yes. I like the sound of that.’
‘Me too. I could really, really hug you. If you weren’t so dirty.’
He could really, really hug her too, and love every second of it. It was just as well that he was covered in grime, with streaks of adhesive all over his jeans.
‘I think I’ll go and give the showers in the gym changing rooms a trial run. Then I’ll go to my office.’
‘This has been keeping you from your other work...’ Marie
shot him a guilty look.
‘There’s nothing so urgent that it won’t wait until tomorrow. I just really need to sit down.’
‘Then come out here. I’ll fetch you a chair and a cold drink, and you can sit and watch me work.’
The idea was much more enchanting than it should be. He could survey his handiwork with a sense of pride at something started and finished amongst a list of tasks that never seemed to end. Better still, he could watch Marie. Her dress brought a splash of colour to the monotonous pale walls of the clinic, and the way she moved injected life and fluidity. He loved the way the light glinted in her hair and—
Enough. He should confine himself to appreciating the colours of the brick. He might even allow himself a moment of self-congratulation that all that tapping with a mallet had borne fruit and they were perfectly level.
‘I’ll be back in ten minutes.’
He grinned at her, leaving her standing in the middle of the courtyard, still looking around, while he headed for the shower.
* * *
Marie couldn’t wait to get started. By the time Alex had returned she’d brought the rest of the pots and seed trays through from the other courtyard and was shifting the planters around into different configurations.
‘Stop!’ Alex was leaning back in his seat, drinking lemonade. ‘That’s the one I like.’
Marie stood back. ‘Yes, me too. Then there’s space for some seating.’
Alex nodded. ‘Where are you thinking of getting that from?’
Now or never... The idea had occurred to her yesterday, and since then Marie hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. ‘I had my eye on some old garden benches I saw in a junk shop. They’d scrub up nicely. But...’
Suddenly she felt as if it was too much to ask. As if this little garden with its recycled pots and bedding plants grown from seed wasn’t really good enough.
‘But what?’
Marie must have shown her embarrassment, because Alex was suddenly still, looking at her thoughtfully. There was no way out now...
‘I thought... Did your mother like flowers?’
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. The question had come so much out of the blue.
‘She loved her garden. She was always out there, planting things and helping the gardener. Whenever my father wasn’t around, that is. He reckoned she shouldn’t get involved with any actual work.’
‘I thought... Well, I know this garden’s never going to make the Chelsea Flower Show, but you made it... And you know how they have seats in the park with people’s names on them...?’
She couldn’t quite say it, but Alex had caught her meaning and was nodding slowly. Marie held her breath, hoping Alex wouldn’t take offence at the suggestion.
‘My mother would have loved this garden. And I’d like to buy something for it in memory of her.’
Marie let out a sigh of relief. ‘You’re sure, Alex? I know it can’t do your feelings for her justice.’
He shook his head. ‘My father thought cut flowers and ostentatious wreaths did her justice. I hated her funeral and I wanted to go away and do something simple for her on my own, but I never could find the right thing. This is the right thing. You said you wanted a water feature?’
‘Yes? Do you think that would be better than seating?’
‘Much better. She liked the sound of water; she used to say it was soothing.’ Alex thought for a moment. ‘No brass plates with her name, though. I don’t want that.’
His obvious approval for the idea gave Marie the courage to suggest another. ‘What was her name?’
Hopefully it wasn’t something too long...
‘Elise.’
Perfect. ‘If you wanted we might spell her name out? With the plants we choose to put around the water feature?’
He smiled suddenly. ‘I’d love that. Thank you for thinking of her, Marie. She’d be so pleased to be part of this garden.’
‘Good.’ Marie’s heart was beginning to return to something that resembled a normal pace. She felt almost light-headed.
‘As this is Friday, and we’ll be opening on Monday, I’ll have to go to the garden centre this weekend. I don’t suppose you could spare a couple of hours to help me choose?’
Marie rolled her eyes. ‘Where else did you think I was going to be this weekend? Yes, of course I’ll help you.’
* * *
They’d worked hard at the weekend. Alex had chosen an old millstone, with water bubbling from the centre of it, which was a great deal heavier and more expensive than Marie had envisaged. Jim was going to have to construct a base for it, and install the motor and drainage tank, but Alex and Marie had heaved the millstone into the place reserved for it in the courtyard, and it already looked stunning.
She hadn’t stopped Alex from buying plants, some more planters for them, and four wooden benches. This was a labour of love, and the look in his eyes when they’d hauled the first of the planters through into the garden, filled it with compost and arranged echinacea and lavender in it had told her that it meant a great deal more to him than anything money could buy.
On Monday morning everything was ready. Tina, the receptionist, was at her post, and Alex and Marie were sitting in the chairs at the far end of the reception area, along with one of the counsellors, a physiotherapist, and therapists from the pool and the gym. Tina would welcome visitors and summon the relevant person to talk to them.
‘You’re sure we shouldn’t be next to Tina? She looks a bit on her own.’ Alex waved across to Tina, who waved cheerily back.
‘No. We don’t want to frighten anyone away with a horde of therapists waiting to pounce.’
‘But I want to pounce. Actually, I want to go out onto the street and kidnap anyone who walks by.’ Alex was looking a little like a caged lion at the moment.
‘Well you can’t. We’re supposed to be friendly and non-intimidating. We wait, Alex. We’ve got some groups coming soon. Before you know it you’ll have more people than you can cope with.’
‘I hope so...’ He caught his breath, stiffening suddenly as a shadow fell across the entrance. ‘Aren’t they the women you were talking to the other day?’
Carol and Nisha had manoeuvred their pushchairs into the lobby and were standing by the door, looking around. They moved forward to let a group of young mums past, who had obviously just dropped their children off at school.
‘Yes.’ Marie smirked at him. ‘They’re mine, Alex. You can wait here until Tina calls you...’
He grinned at her, obviously relieved that the reception area was beginning to fill up. ‘No one likes an overachiever, Marie.’
‘Too bad. I’m still first.’
She stood up, walking across to where Carol and Nisha were standing.
‘Hi, Marie.’ Carol saw her first, and gave her a wave. ‘We’ve come to check out the mum-and-baby swimming classes.’
‘That’s great. I’ll get you signed up... Would you like to come and see the pool first? It’s in the old gym.’
‘The gym?’ Carol rolled her eyes. ‘That I’d love to see.’
Marie led the way. Both women had been to school here, and by the time they got to the swimming pool the three of them were swapping memories of their years spent here.
‘You’ve worked wonders with it all, that’s for sure.’ Carol nodded her head in approval of the changing rooms and showers, and then stopped short when Marie opened the door that led through to the pool area. ‘Wow! This is a bit different!’
The aqua blues and greens of the tiles and the light playing across the water made this one of Marie’s favourite parts of the clinic. ‘This is the main exercise pool. The hydrotherapy pool is where we’re holding the mum-and-baby classes.’
‘Does it matter if I can’t swim?’ Nisha was looking uncertainly at the pool.
‘No, the hydrother
apy pool is much shallower than this one. You’ll be able to stand up in it. It’s kept at a warmer temperature, which makes it more suitable for babies and children.’
Marie led the way through to the smaller pool, where the same blue-and-green tones lent a more restful, intimate atmosphere. Georgie whooped with joy and started to wriggle in his pushchair, obviously keen to try it out straight away.
‘I think that’s one taker!’ Carol grinned, taking him out of the pushchair and keeping a tight hold on him in case he decided to try and jump in. ‘What do you think, Nisha?’
‘Yes, definitely.’
The matter was settled. Marie had filled two places on the mother-and-baby swimming course, and maybe she’d get a chance to talk a bit more to Nisha.
‘Would you like to come to the cafeteria for some coffee?’
‘That would be nice. There was something I wanted to ask...’ Nisha smiled hesitantly.
‘Oh. Yes—good idea. I’ll leave you to it, then. See you tomorrow, Nisha. Thanks for the tour, Marie.’
Georgie’s protests went unheard as Carol put him back into the pushchair and hurried away, giving them both a wave.
Marie turned to Nisha, who was grinning broadly at her friend’s receding figure. ‘If there’s something you want to talk about we could have coffee in my office.’
‘It might not be anything at all. I’m probably just being silly...’ Nisha twisted her mouth into a grimace.
‘If it matters to you then it’s something. The one thing I’m not going to do is tell you that you’re being silly. You’re the one who tells me what’s important.’
Nisha nodded. ‘It is important to me. I wish you could help me...’
* * *
Half an hour later Marie walked Nisha through to the reception area, which was now buzzing with activity. Nisha was grinning, clutching the information pack and the appointment card Marie had given her. Alex was nowhere to be seen, and it was another half hour before he appeared again.
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