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yours?'
    'Awful.' Janet shut the fridge door and sighed. 'The boys broke the front window and then it started pouring and I had to get a glazier to come and fix it on Sunday. It cost twice as much and the carpet's still soaked. I put the heater on but there's a funny smell.'
    'How did the window get broken?'
    Janet reached for a mug and a teabag. 'Apparently, by an act of divine intervention. Never mind the fact that there was a cricket bat on the lawn and a cricket ball on the carpet. The boys swore it wasn't them.'
    'You mean they lied about it?' Oliver was frowning.
    'It's becoming the first line of defence.' Janet sighed again. 'They back each other up and they're, amazingly convincing.'
    Sophie smiled. She could just imagine Janet's six-year-old twin boys, with their curly blonde hair framing angelic faces, denying yet another misdeed. They were apparently a real handful but Janet seemed to cope admirably with single motherhood.
    Oliver was still frowning. 'What did you do about it?'
    'Well, the window's fixed now and I suppose it wasn't really their fault. The garden's too small to play cricket in and I was too busy to take them to the park.' Janet added two spoons of sugar to her mug.
    'I meant about the lying.' Oliver stood up. 'That's a lot worse than breaking the window.'
    'I know.' Janet looked anxious. 'I don't know what to do. It's so obvious it's funny. We all ended up laughing about it.'
    'Lying's never funny,' Oliver stated. 'It might be obvious at the moment but they'll get better at it. You need to do something about it now, Janet.' For some inexplicable reason Oliver's gaze locked onto Sophie's. 'Take my word for it,' he said seriously. 'Honesty is far too important to compromise.'
    Sophie shifted uncomfortably and her eyes slid away from Oliver's as she tucked her left hand inside her pocket. It was all very well for Oliver to preach. He didn't have complications like boisterous twin sons to raise alone. Or the image of being a happily engaged woman suddenly shattered.
    Toni Marsh came into the room, carrying a packet of sandwiches and an apple. 'I still haven't got the waiting room empty,' she groaned. 'I'm just taking five minutes. Why are Mondays so busy?'
    'Nobody wants to use the after-hours practice on weekends,' Oliver observed. 'They like us too much.'
    Toni pushed the wire frames of her spectacles more firmly into place on her nose. 'Perhaps you could start being rude to a few people, then.''
    'I'll see what I can do,' Oliver promised. 'But you'll have to work on Sophie. Her aura's too good.'
    'Her what?'
    'Never mind.' Sophie rose to her feet to follow Oliver. 'It's about as believable as Oliver being rude to patients. Is there anyone out there for me?'
    Toni nodded, hastily swallowing her mouthful of sandwich. 'Lily Weymouth has brought her baby in. He's running a temperature and is pretty miserable. I put her in the side room so she could try and feed him.'
    Sophie nodded. 'Probably another ear infection. He had one last month.'
    'And there's Mrs Bell. I think she's got the flu.'
    Janet's yoghurt spoon paused halfway to her mouth. 'You've had your flu shot, haven't you, Sophie?'
    'Yes, last week. You gave it to me, remember?'
    'Oh, aye.' Janet nodded and then smiled. 'Seems like a long time ago somehow.'
    It did seem a long time ago. There had been a lot of water under the bridge since then. The current seemed to have increased its speed. More worryingly, it had completely changed direction. No wonder Sophie felt suddenly adrift.
    In retrospect, the change had been coming for a long time. It wasn't really her fault. It wasn't Greg's fault either. Sophie knew exactly where to lay the blame for the catalyst of her life's disruption.
    It was all Oliver Spencer's fault.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    Of course , it was Oliver Spencer's fault.
    Why hadn't it occurred to Sophie earlier? In between sessions in a long afternoon of peering down undersized ear canals, swabbing sore throats and dispensing some