‘And thank you, Fudge.’

The couple turned and Tara leaned back into her doorway so they wouldn’t see her. As they walked down the hall, the wife hissed, ‘Ray! Don’t say bang to rights, like we’re in court!’ and the husband replied, ‘Well, it feels like that! It’s like he knows what I’m going to say before I say it!’

‘What do you expect?’ she hissed back. ‘He spends his whole day listening to people lying their heads off.’

The dog swung his tail from side to side as he trailed out between the pair of them, towards the wide stairs that led down to the foyer and the street outside.

David watched them leave, tapping his fingers thoughtfully on the door frame, and as he turned back into his room, caught Tara staring at him.

‘Hello there!’ She tried to style it out with an awkward wave.

‘Hello.’ He flashed a quick, not unfriendly smile in return, then stepped back inside his room before she could say, ‘I’m Tara.’

‘Oh,’ said Tara aloud, surprised, as his door clicked shut.

David had been at the Centre nearly a month, but she still hadn’t found a good moment to introduce herself. He’d arrived while Tara was on annual leave, moving into her mother’s house; she’d just recycled the final box when the first fat drops of the record-breaking rain began blotting the patio tiles. After that, Tara had been out of the office organizing the town’s volunteer effort, offering emergency counselling while fitting in her own clients as best she could; David’s welcome drinks had clashed with an Environment Agency meeting. But she’d heard a lot about him from Jacqueline. A lot.

‘He’s tremendously experienced, and comes with quite exceptional references, and he’s been published in journals!’ Jacqueline swooned in one of her long email updates. Bryan, another senior CBT therapist, had been a bit more specific in the kitchen that morning. ‘Seems like a solid bloke, proper psychologist, none of your angels-and-auras bilgewater. Bit aloof, maybe, but can you blame him with half the claptrap that goes on round here?’

And yet there was Dr David, letting clients bring their dog into session. How’d he got that past Jacqueline?

Unless, Tara conceded, the couple had insisted on bringing their dog as part of the family unit. People round here were a bit like that.