I felt uncomfortable even thinking this, but I wondered if he was paying them rent? It seemed intrusive to ask; it was none of my business and it wasn’t really the reason I was concerned. So, what was it then? My parents had told me they were fine, and they’d seemed happy enough, but it was just so bloody odd. That was it: it was odd. He was odd. I resolved to visit them more often, if only to check in.

When I reached the journey’s halfway point at Monaghan, my concern about what I was leaving behind began to fade and what lay ahead seeped in. I started to think about all I had left behind in Donegal.

My practice, I hoped, had been left in relatively capable hands. Mitch had suggested a solicitor from Castleblaney to take over while I was gone, but I’d found my own locum surprisingly easily, someone who’d had kids, taken ten years out of work and was now anxious to return: a solicitor named Marina Connor from Sligo, a town a good 170 kilometers from Glendara. From what I could gather, Marina had been through a rough time; her parents had recently died, her kids were in their teens and her marriage had broken up, which was, I suspected, the real trigger for her return to work. I was happy to give her a chance. She’d done a few stints covering maternity leave before stepping into my shoes for six months, so she hadn’t been starting afresh and, in any event, Leah was there as a rudder. Also, I’d said that I’d be on the other end of the phone if either of them wished to talk to me at any stage.

Which neither of them had, strangely. I hoped that was a good sign. When I’d rung every week just to check, I always got the same response from Leah. Everything’s fine. Everyone misses you, looking forward to getting you back. When I tried to press her for detail, she found some reason to get off the phone, as if she was afraid that she’d let something slip if she stayed on too long. Which left me wondering if there was something she wasn’t telling me. But that was probably just my usual paranoia. Today was Thursday which meant that Marina would work a full day, and then hand the reins over to me tomorrow so I could start back properly on Monday. At the weekend she could leave and go back to her life in Sligo. I wondered if she would heave a sigh of relief or of sadness.