It was the first time that Briar had ever received flowers at her office, and it was also the first time that Thomas had ever followed her around with an interest that pertained to something other than the practice.

"You received flowers, Dr. Lindquist."
"Yes, Thomas.  Clearly I know.  I'm carrying them down the hall, as you can see."
"There is no one named Alessandro that is a patient here."
"There is not.  And this is a good thing, don't you agree?  If that was the case it would be a terrible conflict of interest."
"Do you intend to keep them?"
"It is customary to do so when a man sends such a gift to a woman."
"I didn't realize you dance.  I...happened to see the card."
"A turn of phrase.  Alessandro Bellarmine owns the dance studio that opened not far from here."
"Oh.  I see."
"Good."  Briar opened the door to her private office.  Turning in the doorway, she faced her administrative assistant with a neutral expression and a businesslike tone.  "Please buzz me when my patient arrives?  Thank you, Thomas."

With that, she shut the door in his face, well aware that he had something else to say which she had cut off with the act.  A sigh followed, and a roll of her eyes.  She was not amused by his interest in her personal affairs, and hoped that was an isolated incident.

Now that Thomas was taken care of, she walked the flowers over to the large antique structure that sat behind her desk.  One couldn't call the tall structure a bookshelf, or an armoire, or a desk, because it was all of those things.  Now it was a place for the flowers, too.  After setting them down, Briar chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully.  The bouquet was beautiful, every flower perfectly formed, but what would happen to them after they were denied light from the sun?

Unfortunately Briar had no solution for that.  Her and sunlight did not mix, so sunlight and this office would not mix.  And no one was allowed in the office when she was not in it, not even Thomas.  Nor did she want to ask him to draw the curtains in her practicing office before her first appointment each night, that would be an unorthodox request that would likely cause him to pry again just like he had tonight.  That she could not allow.

"I hope artificial light will do."  It was spoken to the flowers, as she took a seat behind her desk.  Instead of calling or writing to thank him, Briar thought it would be far more polite to drop by the dance studio.  So she would do that the first night she had availability at a reasonable hour.  Until then, she would enjoy the flower s.  Ironic as it may be, yellow was one of her favorite colors.