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always been attractive—perhaps in an unformed way—but now she was classically beautiful.
    Today was unusual. Every morning he had a cup of coffee and it lasted the fifteen minutes he needed as his thinking time. But now the coffee-cup was empty and he needed another—after just five minutes. Things were bad.
    He fetched himself another coffee and sat at his desk again. He just wasn’t facing up to the present situation. He had been instantly attracted to Alice when he had seen her again. But was this just a hangover from the feelings of his youth? And another thing. He was divorced. Getting divorced had hurt, he had tried, really tried, because he thought that marriages should last. So now he was wary, the last thing he needed was another love affair. He remembered the expression—‘on the rebound’. Well, he was a man, not a tennis ball.
    Then he had to smile. For a moment he had been thinking that all he had to do was decide himself what happened between he and Alice. But what were her thoughts? She’d made them very clear. The last thing she needed was a man. She felt exactly the same as he did. There was no problem.
       
    Alice had intended to look around her new premises, perhaps look at her flat and see how it was getting on. She wanted to ease herself into her new job. She thought she needed a bit of time alone to see what she was about to do. But she wasn’t to be alone. The person with whomshe would share the new premises was already there. Ben made the briefest introductions and then left.
    There was no problem. Alice knew at once that she was going to get on with Morag Watson, the district nurse.
    Morag was in her fifties and in spite of having spent eight years on Soalay had lost none of her Glasgow accent. ‘Born in Glasgow, trained in Glasgow, worked in Glasgow,’ she told Alice. ‘Then I thought I’d come to the islands and take things easy for a while. Easy? It would have been easier joining the Scots Guards.’
    She hustled through the set of her own well-appointed rooms, showing Alice where everything was kept. ‘Now, I’m hoping there’s going to be no territorial problems with medicines and dressings and rooms and things like that. I want to use anything of yours that I haven’t got and I’m expecting that you’ll make free with what is technically my—’
    There was banging that appeared to come from the front door. ‘I suspect we’re in business,’ Morag said as they hastened to open it. ‘Come on, you might be able to help.’
    ‘But I can’t help. I’m not insured yet and—’
    ‘Are you going to tell that to that child who is wailing outside?’
    At the front door was a tearful, white-faced mother, obviously shocked, clutching an even more tearful child. ‘I know you’re not open yet,’ she sobbed as Morag opened the door, ‘but…’
    Morag pulled the woman inside. ‘Take the child,’ she said to Alice.
    The woman went on, ‘Angus there pulled at the kettlewhen I was not looking. I jumped to grab him but he spilt boiling water all over his chest and my hands.’
    ‘We can see to it,’ Morag said. ‘Now, come through and sit down in the clinic. Alice, can you deal with Angus there?’
    ‘I’m fine,’ said Alice, reaching for the child. Morag was right. There was no way she could worry about insurance when there was a child in pain and she had the means to deal with that pain.
    ‘You’re Mrs Allan, aren’t you?’ Morag was saying. ‘Eileen Allan? I’ve seen you in the clinic here. Tell me, Eileen, what did you do when you first got scalded? Did you put any ointment or anything like that on the burns?’
    ‘No. I saw this programme on television, it said just put the hurt bit under cold running water. So I did that.’
    ‘How long for?’
    Eileen looked confused. ‘Just for a minute. Till my hands felt cold and Angus’s chest seemed cold too.’
    ‘If it ever happens again, leave them there longer,’ Morag said. ‘Now, sit down here, don’t