The fifteen-minute walk to the clinic took half an hour if you took a detour, stopped at the coffee shop and then went down to the beach to stare at the sea while you drank. Pebbles scrunched under him as Euan sat down on the shingle.
Sam didn’t fool him. She was accomplished, driven and successful. Under all of that there was someone who was lost enough to believe that other people’s expectations of her were what really mattered. He’d gone too far in trying to get her to open up about things she obviously preferred to keep private, and instead of just telling him to butt out Sam had reacted by transforming overnight into someone else.
He spun a pebble towards the sea, and it fell short by twenty feet. It was ridiculous to suppose that the images of Sam that had haunted him last night were anything other than dreams. He didn’t have any space in his life for a relationship, let alone with someone as high maintenance as Sam, and he’d proved beyond all doubt that his talents lay elsewhere.
‘Right.’ He addressed a seagull, which was eying him cagily from the top of one of the wooden windbreaks. ‘Calling her high maintenance isn’t really fair, is it?’ The high-maintenance part was only because he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The seagull didn’t reply. Taking that as a prompt to get his act together, Euan swirled the dregs of his coffee, draining them in one gulp, and got to his feet. He could do better than this. He would do better.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SAM WAS FULLY aware of how much she’d missed Eua
n. She’d had twenty-four hours to explore the extent and nature of the feeling, and she’d worked almost every waking moment in an attempt to give herself something else to think about.
She saw Liz walking in front of her and ran to catch her up, falling into step beside her. ‘Are you going to the clinic today?’
‘Just for the morning.’ Liz was looking summery and relaxed. ‘I’ve got my book club this afternoon.’ She patted the cloth bag that hung from her shoulder. ‘I’m only halfway through the book.’
‘Well, I guess you’ll get more out of the end once you’ve discussed the beginning.’
Liz laughed. ‘S’pose so. I think I’ll just keep quiet, the others don’t like it much if you haven’t read the book when they have.’
‘You could always bluff it out...’
‘I’m not very good at that kind of thing.’ Liz reached inside her bag and displayed the cover of her book. ‘It’s a good read so far. Would you like to borrow it when I’ve finished it?’
‘Yes, that would be great. Thanks.’ It would be ungracious to refuse, but Sam didn’t have much time for reading these days. She’d probably keep it for a week and then gave it back, untouched.
Liz used a key for the outer door of the clinic and then rang the buzzer, a succession of short, sharp rings to announce herself, and then waved up at the security camera. The door buzzed open, and Sam followed Liz inside.
Euan was leaning over the reception desk to reach the door release button, and he turned to greet them. Every time she saw him he seemed to impress Sam all over again, as if her imagination wasn’t big enough to hold him and the reality was always better.
‘Hey, Liz. Sam.’
‘Morning.’ Liz bustled past him. ‘I’m going to make a cup of tea before the rush starts. Sam?’
‘Oh. Yes, thanks.’
‘Euan?’
‘Thanks, but I’ve had one already.’
Liz disappeared into the kitchen, and Sam swallowed down the lump in her throat and reminded herself that she wasn’t sixteen any more.
‘I overstepped the mark on Sunday.’ Euan’s habit of getting straight to the point flustered her even more.
‘No...no, you didn’t. I just—’
‘Don’t want to talk about it. I should have respected that.’
‘Thanks. I... We’re not going to have to start all over again, are we?’
He laughed, and suddenly all the worries that had kept her sitting in front of her laptop far into the night dissolved in a puff of smoke. ‘Not unless you want to. But personally speaking, I think we’ve made some good progress. Be a shame to waste it.’
Her fingertips began to tingle. Either she was getting another migraine or Euan just had that effect on her. ‘Yeah.’ She was going to say ‘Me too’ but that was two words too much at the moment. ‘So, did you manage to set up the group session?’
His gaze softened into a gorgeous heat, which threatened to melt every last one of her defences. ‘I did.’