Page 19 of Harbor Lights

Con smiled with more confidence than she felt. “I have a freezer, too. What do you fancy?”

Shiv shrugged as she walked toward the door. “Anything. Vegetarian, preferably. Thanks.”

Con watched her go, then went to the cavernous pantry the size of most of her patients’ kitchens. She dug around in the big chest freezer until she found a packet of vegetarian sausages and a pot of homemade tomato sauce one of her patients had brought her during the summer. She reached for the pasta jar. This level of cooking she could manage, and doing it for someone else motivated her. She wondered why she so seldom did the same for herself.

She left the ingredients to thaw while she went in search of Shiv, following the intrusive drilling noise.

“That’s the hinge back on.” Shiv stood back and eyed her handiwork. “Now I’ll get the door re-hung and we’ll be done.” She looked out at the darkening sky. “It’s getting a bit late for painting, though. Do you mind waiting until I can get over on another dry day?”

Con folded her arms. “Do I mind that you’ve transformed the front of my house in a few hours? I think I can live with a little missing paint.”

She stepped away, then turned back.

“Do you need help with the door?”

Was it rude to ask? Shiv looked as though she could handle most things, but it was a very large door.

“Uh, yeah that would be helpful while I get the hinges lined up.” Shiv looked her up and down. “Do you want to get changed first?”

She looked down at the still crisp shirt under her tweed waistcoat, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Did Shiv think she was ridiculous to dress like this every day when her very surroundings were falling down around her?

“That’s a really cool suit. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for it getting damaged.” Shiv’s steady gaze held her. “The hinges are pretty oily, though I’ve cleaned them.”

Con hesitated. Her clothes were her armor against the world. She rarely went out without a suit or a smart blazer. Her casual clothes were not for wearing in public.

“This is a work suit. I never know what it might get covered in. It’ll be okay.” That Shiv liked her suit mattered for some reason. Was it because someone younger didn’t think she was an unfashionable old dinosaur, or something else?

“Let’s get to work, then.” They lifted the door together until it was close to the hinges.

“Can you hold the weight while I lift it into place?” Shiv looked across, her biceps flexing with the effort.

Con managed a nod, her own muscles screaming from lack of use. How had she got to this? Her rowing had always given her good upper body strength, and shoulders that made her suits jackets hang well. But those days were long gone.

She grunted as she took the full weight of the door, but managed to keep it stable while Shiv got down low and hoisted it onto first one hinge, then the other. Con relaxed.

Shiv swung the door, and it moved freely above the flagstones. It closed with a satisfying click. “That’s more like it. I thought I might have to plane a little off the bottom, but it’s all good.”

“Thank you so much, Shiv.” Con swung the door back and forth. “You have no idea how long this has been bothering me.”

“No problem.” Shiv expertly packed away her tools.

“When you’re done, why don’t you use the guest bathroom to clean up? I’ll get dinner ready.” She turned and went to the kitchen, suddenly aware of the short amount of time she had to feed Shiv before the last ferry. She could invite her to stay again, but she didn’t want to make it weird. The poor woman needed to feel like she could come to the surgery without it turning into an overnight stay.

She prepared the food, chopped the sausages into the pasta sauce and had it served up when Shiv entered with damp hair, but looking cleaner.

“I had a shower. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course it is. I could’ve loaned you some clean clothes.” Shiv was so tiny, she wasn’t sure what, but she would’ve found something.

“I’m good. It’s a treat to use a proper shower, though.” Shiv sat at the table and helped herself to water from the jug.

“Oh, Jesus, Shiv. There’s no bathroom in that cabin, is there?” She pictured the old-fashioned house. She recalled an outhouse and a kitchen, of sorts, but no shower or bath.

“It’s cool. I use the hose out back. It teaches you to shower quick.”

Shiv’s attitude toward simple living was a little extreme, but it was refreshing in a world where people expected so much. Con placed a bowl in front of her and sat down to her own.

“You are welcome here any time to use the shower, or whatever else you need. That room and bathroom are always available.”

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