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home.’
    ‘That is perfectly all right. Teenage boys have permanently empty stomachs when they’re shooting up into adolescence.’
    * * *
    When she’d gone the three of them tucked into the food, and once their appetites were appeased Owen said, ‘Can we go to Manchester on Saturday, Uncle Luke?’
    ‘Er, yes, if you want,’ he told him. ‘What did you want to do there?’
    ‘Bowling. And the cinema.’
    ‘Fine, but you do realise I’ll be going with you. I’m not letting you out on your own in the city. What about you, Oliver? Do you want to go?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Oliver said, his excited expression reminding Luke of the mothing excursion. ‘But don’t bring Dr Marshall this time, will you? It’s boys only.’
    ‘Sure, no problem,’ Luke agreed, then said in a brisker tone, ‘And now who has homework to do?’
    There was silence.
    ‘Come on, both of you, no slacking. If you don’t do your homework we don’t go bowling. And by the way, Oliver, as well as it being against the school rules, it is extremely rude to use your mobile in class. Don’t do it.’
    When they were settled, one at each side of the kitchen table, doing their homework, Luke went to ring Megan to report on Rebekah Wainright’s first half-day at Woodcote House.
    She might not be interested, he thought, but it would be a chance to hear her voice again, and to let her see that his domestic life was in control.
    It had been good, their second day together in the practice. At least that was his opinion. But he’d started off on the wrong foot with Megan. It didn’t follow that she’d felt the same.
    * * *
    Sighing, Megan flopped down on the sofa. She’d felt miserable when she and Luke had separated at the end of the day, and told herself it had to stop. If all she had in her life was the practice, it wasn’t so for him. He had a grieving family to help get through some of the worst months of their lives, plus a business that he knew nothing about to oversee, and the position of village doctor to hold down.
    She really couldn’t see how she could fit into his scheme of things, even if he wanted her to, and the information, offered casually, that he’d long ago forgotten that she’d sent him a Valentine wasn’t helping.
    It was in the midst of those sombre thoughts that the phone rang and a voice said in her ear, ‘I thought I’d let you know that Rebekah Wainright looks as if she’s going to be a gem.’
    ‘That’s good,’ she told him, suddenly feeling much happier, though she wished it was themselves that he’d rung to talk about. ‘And the boys, are they all right without their mum?’
    ‘They seem to be. They’re doing their homework at the moment, reluctantly I might add. And what have you planned for the evening, Megan?’
    ‘Chores,’ she told him without much enthusiasm.
    ‘Come round for supper, then.’
    ‘I can’t keep butting into their lives, Luke,’ she said hesitantly.
    ‘What about my life?’ he questioned levelly ‘I’m going to need some company to bring me back to adulthood occasionally. We’re going bowling on Saturday and I’ve had instructions that I shouldn’t ask you to join us. It’s boys only.’
    ‘That’s fine with me,’ she said with feeling. ‘And in any case, I’ve already got something arranged. In Manchester, too, as it happens.’
    He was immediately curious. ‘Anything interesting?’
    ‘To me, yes. I’m going to have a leisurely afternoon going around the shops and then I’m meeting one of my friends from university for a night at the ballet.’
    ‘Sounds good. Is she anyone I might remember?’
    ‘It’s a he.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ he said flatly, and wished he hadn’t been so nosy. It served him right for not thinking there might be someone already in her life. Red-gold hair, green eyes and a fluid mover like Megan were not going to go unnoticed by his own sex.
    ‘Am I likely to remember him , then?’
    He was glad this conversation was taking place over the