Lucy understood intuitively that Amel was trying to help her dissolve the divide between patient and doctor; but she responded in a somewhat subdued manner; she shed her wrap and gave it to her surgeon, who draped it on a chair. Alex had quickly been drawn into a conversation with the six-foot-tall Zarina, as though they had picked up on something serious from earlier in the day, but he tugged Lucy gently toward them to try to include her. She appreciated the gesture, and listened and smiled for some time, putting in answers to questions she was prompted with; she felt surprisingly shy, though, and apart from the group. She observed the subtle interplay of relationships that passed among all of these people, and felt out of her depth. Their lives existed in a kind of rarefied bubble, she thought, which displayed the entire panoply of human behavior. Perhaps not that different from her TV world, but with a different cast. Would she ever get back to work? The thought trailed across her mind, while she was at sea with a new social dynamic here. Well, at least she was still on the planet, thanks to this gathering.

“Lucy.” She heard her name. “Lucy, do you know the river?” It was Courtney Denham, with his melodic Trinidadian accent. He was standing close by with his wife, listening to the exchanges, observing her insecurity. He looked arresting as Othello.

“Hello.” She was relieved by his attention, and slipped away from Alex for a moment. “No, not very well.” She wasn’t sure what to call him off duty. She still saw him professionally on a weekly basis. “But I should. I’ve lived here long enough. Isn’t this where the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race takes place?”

“Not bad for a colonial. Yes, from the bridge we passed under a while ago at Hammersmith, past the Eyot at Chiswick up there. Catherine, my wife.” He broke off and introduced his Desdemona, who was a full-figured and sexy woman as tall as her husband. She smiled back with energy at Lucy.

“Courtney has mentioned you to me, Lucy.”

“We live just behind those trees, off Castelnau, in Barnes,” her doctor continued. “Then we will come onto Mortlake shortly.”