Free Capturing the Single Dad’s Heart by Kate Hardy

they’ve had an accident and broken their neck or their spine and it needs fixing?’
    â€˜Nope. There are lots of other spinal conditions not caused by accidents—some are just caused by people getting older, and some are caused by viruses. Sometimes we can help patients go back to a normal life without any pain. Sometimes we can’t get rid of all the pain or they might end up in a wheelchair because the damage is a little bit too much for us to fix, but then we can help them to adjust to a new life.’ Erin smiled. ‘That’s where my sensory garden comes in.’
    â€˜So it’s your garden?’
    â€˜Strictly speaking, it’s a community garden that belongs to the hospital, but it’s my pet project and that’s where a lot of my spare time is going at the moment,’ Erin explained. ‘I know it makes a real difference to my patients, being able to be outside in a garden after they’ve been stuck inside in a bed for months.’ She glanced over Caitlin’s head at Nate and mouthed, ‘Catch us up—you need to hear this.’
    â€˜Did you have much to do with your sensory garden at junior school?’ she asked Caitlin.
    â€˜We had a gardening club and we were allowed to do little bits. We had a tree nursery,’ Caitlin said, ‘where we planted acorns. When the trees were three years old someone would come and take them to a local woodland to be planted.’
    Nate said, ‘I didn’t know you liked gardens.’
    Caitlin rolled her eyes at him. ‘You never asked. Anyway, you’re never home and you never talk to me.’
    Erin said, ‘Hey, truce. When communications break down, there are always faults on both sides. Right now we’re agreeing to disagree, OK?’
    â€˜OK,’ Caitlin muttered.
    â€˜OK,’ Nate echoed.
    â€˜Good. Caitlin, would I be right in thinking you like plant biology?’ Erin asked.
    The teenager looked at her father and scowled, and then nodded at Erin. ‘If my new school actually lets me do biology.’
    â€˜I’ll make sure they do,’ Nate said.
    Caitlin looked as if she didn’t quite believe that he’d fight her corner for her, but to Erin’s relief this time she didn’t argue.
    â€˜You know what—it’s really nice and sunny today, and it’d be a shame to spend a morning like this stuck indoors,’ Erin said. ‘We could give the trampolining a miss and go and look round Kew Gardens instead, if you like.’
    â€˜But you said you wanted to go trampolining,’ Caitlin said, looking surprised.
    Clearly she wasn’t used to her views being taken into account, poor kid. Erin shrugged. ‘We can do trampolining another time—maybe when it’s raining. I haven’t been to Kew for ages. If you haven’t been there before, I think you might enjoy the greenhouses. There’s one with about ten different climates—it’s amazing.’
    â€˜I like the biodomes at the Eden Project,’ Caitlin said. ‘I’ve been there on a couple of school trips—we live not far away, in Devon. Lived ,’ she corrected herself, looking miserable.
    â€˜London’s really not so bad, and there are some amazing gardens in the city,’ Erin said. ‘In fact, there’s a garden right next to the Thames where they have banana trees growing in the middle of a bed of sunflowers. We could go and look at them some time, too. And the Sky Garden. I haven’t been there, yet, and it’ll be nice to have someone to go with.’
    â€˜What’s the Sky Garden?’
    â€˜How good’s your phone?’ Erin asked.
    Caitlin just sighed.
    â€˜That bad? OK.’ Erin took hers from her pocket and handed it over. ‘Look it up on this. Your job today—apart from eating cake with me, talking plants and making your dad see that sensory gardens are totally awesome—is to make a list of