The gravel crunched under the wheels of Helena's truck as she crawled down the driveway to Mr Gartside's house. Lime trees lined the track and a sign reminded tradesmen to keep to 10 mph. She doubted the effectiveness of this warning.
It was an idyllic scene. A lovely old Georgian farmhouse surrounded by well-maintained gardens, a Victorian brick-built stable yard, manicured riding school and of course, a swimming pool and tennis court. Textbook wealth. Mr Gartside's two daughters had a childhood all girls dreamed of. Now they were at university, it was mostly there for show, although they liked to ride their horses during the holidays.
Helena parked up in the yard and started removing her kit from the boot. Dental work today, nothing too taxing if the horse wasn't a dick.
"Good Morning, Helena! Welcome back," said Mr Gartside, emerging from around the corner, steaming mug of tea in hand. "How are you?" He thrust the mug into her hands.
"It was no sugar, right?"
She smiled. "Yes, Mr Gartside, well remembered. Hopefully a simple case today?"
"Just Bertie's teeth. Something's causing him jip from the rear molars, I think."
"Sounds normal for a horse his age. Can you bring him out and I'll take a look?" He walked off to one of the stables and returned leading Bertie.
"Right, here you are. He should behave himself. Any issues just shout. I'll be in my office running through my casework. Pop over when you're done."
Half an hour later Helena roamed into the capacious house. Finding his office was harder than expected, it had so many rooms and she felt self-conscious about treading dirt from the yard into the obviously priceless floor.
"In here, Helena," called Gartside, hearing her footsteps on the floorboards. "All done?"
Helena poked her head into his office. As expected, it was huge. He was sitting at a large, dark desk near the windows overlooking the lawn. He peered around the side of a monitor, a bundle of papers in his hand.
"Ah found you. Yes, all done. Just a floating needed - he had some sharp edges rubbing his gums so I've shaved them down. He'll probably need them looked at again in a few months but otherwise no other issues that I could see"
"Fantastic. Do I owe you anything now or is that sorted later?" he said, putting down his papers and walked to the door.
"No, nothing now. The office will send over an invoice in a couple of weeks."
"Great. Well, I'll show you out if that's all. Thanks for coming by."
Helena hesitated. Now was the moment she had been preparing herself for for the last two weeks.
"Actually, there was one thing I did want to ask you. I hope it isn't inappropriate."
Gartside's eyebrows raised in expectation that 'inappropriate' was exactly what he was going to be asked.
"A friend of mine had a breast augmentation performed by you last year and recommended you. I was wondering whether I could book a consultation with you." Confusion then relief washed over his face.
"Oh thank God I thought you were going to ask something entirely different!" he laughed. "Of course you can. Let me just get the calendar up." He moved back to his desk and started clicking the mouse. "Whilst we wait for that to load, who recommended me?" he asked.
"Sarah Kagan," she replied.
"Sarah? Hmm...oh about a year ago? Quite tall? Blonde? 30s?"
"That's her."
"Yes I remember her. She was quite keen on a certain look. Well, I'm happy she's happy with the result. Not to everyone's taste but I was proud of my work there. I'm quite partial to creating that...erm, look. Ahem. Right, here we go." He clicked a few more times, frowning.
"Sorry, Helena but it looks like I'm booked up for months for a consultation. We're still clearing the backlog after the Junior Doctors went on strike so I've fewer days of private consulting than normal. Unless...when's your next appointment?"
"I have an hour aside for lunch so it's not for another hour and a half actually."
"In which case, I'll see you now if that works?"
