WHAT AM I EVEN DOING HERE?! #2
That would all be fine with her, but to pull it off a mere four weeks from the initial idea to the workshop actually starting – today!
– was nuts! The rushed schedule had given Anna far too little time to craft a meaningful concept in the depth she would have liked.
But she had mentioned the retreat in her penultimate podcast episode, and now she actually had five sign-ups.
Five people she didn’t know were prepared to travel to the Highlands for her workshop.
Not just that; they were willing to pay four hundred and fifty pounds for it!
Plus accommodation! Two women had rented a twin room in the pub, a couple had rented a cottage at the Thistle, and someone who had given their name simply as Len had not opted for accommodation at all, meaning she had no idea where they would be staying.
With a sigh, she reached for her cup of coffee but found it empty.
Her sky-blue jumper was covered in croissant flakes.
“More mindfulness at breakfast,” she scolded herself and brushed the puff pastry off her sweater as discreetly as possible.
“Come on, Elvis, it’s time for work.” The retreat didn’t start until three o’clock that afternoon.
Plenty of time to take care of her bread and butter: the health of Kirkby’s residents.
It was only a few steps from the bakery to the beautifully renovated house she had bought from the previous GP with a flat upstairs and the practice downstairs.
When she had left for breakfast half an hour ago, the premises had been dark and quiet.
Now, all the lights were switched on and her receptionist Maggie was sitting at her desk with a welcoming smile.
Anna shooed Elvis up the stairs to her flat but without much commitment.
She knew only too well that it was pointless to try and control her cat’s whereabouts.
Elvis made best use of the cat flap, but she knew from experience that it was not his only way out of the building.
If needed, he could also open windows and doors, and Anna fully expected to see Elvis mingling among the patients in the waiting room or setting out on an extended jaunt of the town sooner or later.
“Good morning,” said Maggie, a former nurse in her mid-fifties who was still thrilled to have landed a job in her hometown.
“Any patients in yet?” Anna enquired.
“Your regular eight o’clock slot and two unannounced people who seem to have the flu,” Maggie replied cheerfully, handing her boss the three patient files. “Looks like it’s going to be a busy day.”
“In that case, we’d better get started,” replied Anna and entered her consulting room to wash her hands and get her things in order. The more patients she had, the less she would be able to think about the afternoon and weekend ahead.
“What am I even doing here?!” Lennox whispered the words almost inaudibly, but they echoed all the more loudly in his mind.
Seriously, what on earth was he doing? Why had he ever thought coming back to Kirkby was a good idea?
That was a rhetorical question, of course.
He knew only too well what had lured him here: that bloody podcast he’d been listening to for the past few months.
By now, he was a true fan of “Highland Happiness”, despite the stupid name that should have kept him from tuning in in the first place.
Yet the host’s voice had captivated him right from the start.
He had stumbled across the podcast back in spring when he was in Spain and feeling homesick.
Homesick! Now that he was here, he shook his head in disbelief.
Under the Spanish sun, in a bright, bustling city, he had yearned for these green hills, the peaty, barren expanses, the low-hanging dark clouds and the mysterious lakes?
What was wrong with him?! In any case, the podcast had caught his attention, and Anna had been part of his life ever since.
Even though, or perhaps even because, she was located in his hometown of Kirkby.
He barely knew the first thing about Anna.
She rarely talked much about herself, although she had mentioned that she was a recent transplant to the Highlands and that everything she experienced still remained a great adventure and an even greater source of happiness to her.
The way she described the landscape made the once-familiar place more appealing than he had ever seen it, and he had increasingly found himself craving to see the region with new eyes, her eyes.
Anna also regularly interviewed guests on her show.
Half his family had been on already, and it was Anna’s conversation with his favourite sister Isla that had fuelled his long-supressed longing.
When had he last seen her? It must have been more than three years ago!
Even longer for the rest of his family, but he didn’t miss them nearly as much as Isla.
Or so he told himself, somewhat successfully.
Well, moderately successfully at least. Okay, to be honest, not successfully at all.