The Promise of Summer

by Bella Osborne

  ‘Terrific!’ Adrian jangled his car keys.

  It was only a twenty-minute journey and Kim and Adrian chatted on the way. She found it was easy to talk to Adrian. Now she was on her way to the shelter she was starting to think about what sort of dog she would like – something small and well trained would fit the bill perfectly, she thought.

  They pulled into a gravel car park and were met by a distant choir of barking and when they got out of the car, a border collie herded them over to a porta cabin.

  ‘Hello, Adrian,’ said a rosy-faced woman as she came down the steps. ‘I’m Margaret,’ she added, thrusting a hand at Kim.

  ‘Kim,’ she said as Margaret gave her arm a thorough workout.

  ‘You don’t mind if I rope you in for a spot of walkies, do you? Only, one of our volunteers has twisted her ankle. This way.’ Margaret didn’t wait for a reply; she was already striding off towards a series of farm buildings with the collie at her heels.

  The barking grew louder as they made their way through a series of mesh doors, which were bolted firmly behind them. ‘QUI-ET!’ shouted Margaret and the sound rung in Kim’s ears for a few moments afterwards. The barking dwindled. ‘We’ll do a full questionnaire and home check if you find a match today but just a couple of questions first, so we know we’re not wasting our time. Okay?’ Margaret fixed her with a steely gaze.

  ‘Er, yes. Of course.’ Kim felt like she was on a game show and the star prize was resting on her next few answers.

  ‘Do you have a garden or nearby open space for exercise?’

  ‘Yes, a garden,’ said Kim.

  ‘Any other pets or children?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘How many hours a day will the dog be left alone?’ Margaret’s stare intensified.

  ‘None because I was planning on taking them to work with me.’

  ‘Right answer,’ said Margaret. ‘Now then, what sort of dog are you after? And please don’t say something small and well trained.’ Margaret laughed hard.

  Master plan thwarted. ‘Oh, um. Not too big. Calm. Nice nature.’

  Margaret nodded. ‘Let’s see who we have that fits the bill.’

  Margaret rattled off a series of do’s, don’ts and warnings as they walked along the kennels. They were greeted with barks and wagging tails from a variety of dogs in all shapes, sizes and colours. The kennels had indoor and outdoor sections with beds and toys but it nevertheless felt a bit like doggy prison, seeing them jump up at the mesh. There were two she rather liked: Jo-Jo the little Yorkshire terrier who walked on three legs due to an old injury and Sam, an eight-year-old chocolate Labrador with diabetes. Margaret had gone to fetch leads and harnesses so they could take them both out for a stroll. Kim and Adrian waited by the last kennel.

  ‘Thanks for bringing me,’ said Kim.

  ‘That’s okay. And thanks for last night … Goodness sorry, that sounded like I was thanking you for sex. I wish I hadn’t said that. Sorry.’ He stared off into the distance.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Kim, trying hard not to smile at his awkwardness.

  ‘Not that I wouldn’t thank you … I’m not suggesting that we … I think I should stop talking now.’

  ‘I enjoyed it too,’ said Kim, checking out the kennels. It was easier than looking at each other. She was aware of a high-pitched whine coming from around the corner and she went to investigate. ‘Adrian, come and see this one.’

  In a kennel around the corner Kim found a splodgy blur of a dog who was racing around so fast it was hard to focus on him.

  She crouched down and tried to get a better look. ‘Hello,’ she said gently. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Boomerang!’ bellowed Margaret from the indoor side of the kennels, giving Kim quite a start.

  Adrian chuckled beside her. ‘I think Margaret’s ventriloquist routine needs some work,’ he quipped as he joined Kim in crouching at the mesh.

  ‘Hello, Boomerang,’ said Kim to the blurry dog careering around his pen at breakneck speed. An arm, presumably Margaret’s, appeared on the inside of the kennel and threw a bone across the concrete. The dog dived on it and began chewing. Kim now had a better view of the tan and white creature. ‘Well, aren’t you a sweetie?’

  ‘I think he’s a spaniel,’ said Adrian. ‘Hello, fella,’ he said putting his fingers through the wire. But Boomerang was engrossed in demolishing his bone.

  ‘Careful, he might bite them off,’ said Kim – she’d heeded all of Margaret’s warnings.

  ‘He won’t bite,’ said Margaret, appearing with the Yorkshire terrier and the Labrador at her heels. ‘But I think you can see the issue we have with him.’

  Watching him now he looked like the perfectly well-behaved dog she was looking for.

  ‘How do you mean?’ She’d got Kim interested.

  ‘He was from a raid on a puppy farm. He’s lived most of his life in kennels vying for attention. We’ve tried rehoming but he keeps coming back.’

  ‘Hence the name?’ said Adrian standing up.

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Oh, that’s awful.’ Kim looked at Boomerang and he looked directly at her with big sad eyes, his tongue lolling out as he panted. Kim thought her heart would break. ‘Poor soul. Can we take him for a walk?’

  Margaret shook her head. ‘He won’t walk. We’ve got an animal psychologist coming out to him again this week but I fear he’s a lost cause.’

  Adrian pressed his lips into a flat line. ‘Um, what does the future hold for him then?’ he asked.

  ‘Not a lot I can do with a dog I can’t rehome. I will try to find another shelter who will take him long-term but if not …’

  She didn’t need to finish the sentence.

  ‘That’s awful,’ said Kim. Poor Boomerang was either going to be put down or, if he was lucky, spend the rest of his life in doggy prison.

  ‘Let’s take these two for a walk, shall we?’ Margaret handed Kim and Adrian a lead each but Kim already knew neither of these was the dog she wanted to take home.

  Ruby spent a while playing with her iPhone. She’d been puzzling over when Curtis had bought it and worked out it must have been when she’d been mooching around the fancy shoe shop. She wrote down her new number and tried very hard to memorise it. She tried calling her old phone. Same thing again – straight to voicemail. She thought about Lewis. He was lovely and she wondered what had happened with his proposal. A thought struck her and she began trawling social media in the hope of finding him. When ‘Lewis engagement’ returned nothing useful she resigned herself to having to find him the hard way.

  She logged into her email and fired off a message to all her close friends saying she’d lost her phone and could she have their mobile numbers. She set up a new file to keep the replies in so she always had a backup – Curtis would be proud.

  Ruby added Curtis’s number to her new phone and sent him a text message – Hey Curtis. Here’s my new phone number. You can test me on it on Monday. CU then. Ruby x

  She always signed off with a kiss. She stared at it for a moment and then she deleted it. He was her boss now after all – well sort of. She didn’t want him to think she was being inappropriate.

  Her phone pinged and she leaped on it but then was embarrassed at her own desperation. It was Curtis – What is your email address? I will send over contact information and suggested actions following yesterday’s meeting. Regards, Curtis.

  It was very formal but then she’d expect nothing less. She sent back her email address in reply and then wished that all those years ago she’d chosen something more sensible than roonicorn @ her email provider but it had done her proud, why change it now?

  Curtis replied – Thank you, Curtis.

  There was a short delay and her phone pinged again – And thank you for your hospitality, Curtis.

  She replied – Any time

  Ruby took a few selfies, played about with the filters until eventually the fun was over and she was bored and feeling alone again. This was how she f
elt most evenings. She put the phone down and looked around. She liked her little flat. The first couple of months it had kept her busy with painting and decorating and now it was finished it looked clean and modern. It wasn’t as nice as the terraced house she’d shared with her mum but it had been too hard to live there without her, like she was squatting in her mother’s life. So she’d made the decision to move.

  Ruby lolled her head back on the sofa and her mother’s photograph came into her peripheral vision. She missed her mum. She missed her so much. It was like a gnawing ache inside her. Ruby had always been popular and had a lot of friends but none, she now realised, that she was particularly close to. And the reason for that was her mum. She had been both parents as well as her best friend. Something that had been brilliant but now she was gone it was a double whammy of heartache. Ruby had never been this lonely in her life.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kim sipped her tea. She had enjoyed walking the dogs and they had both been well behaved. The Yorkshire terrier lay down at one point and Margaret said she always did that in the hope someone would carry her the rest of the way – Kim sympathised. She’d left her details with Margaret and said she needed to have a think about the dogs, which was true. It was all she could think about despite now being in Adrian’s very large and well-appointed kitchen. She had a picture of Boomerang in her head and it wouldn’t go away. Even his name made her sad. Poor soul.

  ‘… and I thought that’s funny, and took a photo.’ Adrian held his phone in front of Kim’s face and she realised she’d completely zoned out.

  Kim tried to focus on the picture of a squirrel hanging upside down from a bird feeder. ‘Oh, that is funny.’

  ‘Come on, what’s the matter? It’s Boomerang, isn’t it?’

  ‘Spot on. I keep seeing those eyes and the thought that he might live the rest of his life in a shelter is haunting me.’

  ‘Then why not have him?’

  She’d been mulling over this exact question all the way home. ‘Margaret said he wasn’t up for rehoming. And anyway, what do I know about dogs? He probably needs some dog whisperer if he’s to live a normal life.’

  Adrian did a slow rise and fall of his eyebrows, something she’d noticed he did sometimes before speaking. ‘Before we had Hayley, just before she was born, I had a bit of a meltdown.’

  ‘Really?’ Adrian didn’t strike her as the meltdown kind of guy.

  ‘Yep. I was worried I’d be a useless dad. My parents were quite distant and I was worried I was going to be the same. But Justine said something that helped. She said, “We will both monumentally stuff this up because that’s what parents do but our baby will be loved and that’s all a child really needs.” And she was right.’

  Kim found she was smiling. ‘Basically you’re saying I will be a crap dog owner but if my heart is in the right place then it’s okay?’

  ‘Precisely. You might be Boomerang’s last chance.’

  ‘Oh heavens. Don’t say that.’ The pressure was instant.

  Adrian held up his hands. ‘Sorry. Look I’ll pledge to help however I can. Come to dog training classes with you. Take him for a … run because he doesn’t do walks. Maybe introduce him to the theatre. We’ll find a solution.’ The way Adrian looked at her made something flip inside her.

  ‘I would love him. I’m sure of that. I feel like I’ve got a connection with him already. Does that sound daft?’

  Adrian briefly scanned her face. ‘No, not at all.’ He blinked. ‘I loved Hayley from the moment I saw her. And she was hairless and screaming at the time and covered in this disgusting goo.’ He pulled an exaggerated yuk face.

  ‘That’s a baby though. This is a dog.’

  ‘Love is love,’ he said and returned to his coffee.

  ‘I wanted to have children.’ As soon as she’d said it, she wished she could rewind and suck the words back in.

  ‘And Vince?’ His voice was gentle, making her feel it was safe to share and he already knew her biggest secret.

  ‘He seemed keen. We tried everything. Lots of rounds of IVF but it wasn’t meant to be.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Adrian.

  ‘It’s okay. I mean it wasn’t at the time. I was a mess. I felt like I’d failed – as a woman and as a wife. It was rubbish. And then we considered adoption. We did the course, the many many interviews and form filling and we waited. Eventually they matched us with a little girl. We were waiting for a date for the match to be made official when Vince had his heart attack.’ Her voice cracked. Kim hadn’t expected to get emotional. She took a moment to compose herself. ‘And, you know the rest. He buggered off to Mablethorpe with the acupuncturist and with them they took my dreams of motherhood.’

  ‘Oh, Kim, I’m sorry.’ Adrian rested his hand on hers and she was grateful for the contact. ‘Couldn’t you have gone ahead on your own?’

  ‘I was a mess. I could barely feed and dress myself let alone a toddler.’ She wiped away a stray tear. ‘I suppose some things aren’t meant to be.’

  ‘And maybe some things are,’ said Adrian. Their eyes rested on their now clasped hands.

  A rap of knuckles on the kitchen window made them both spring apart. A young woman was glaring at them.

  ‘Hayley,’ said Adrian, getting to his feet. He went through to the utility room to let her in. Hayley kept her glare firmly trained on Kim.

  On Monday morning Ruby woke early and was feeling quite excited about the day ahead. Curtis had messaged her to say he was staying at Woodford Hall until his house was safe to move back into. She’d meet him there this afternoon before they headed off to Leeds. Today was the first day in her new job. Ruby dressed in the most conservative clothes she had and those she felt were befitting an executive assistant and happily set to work on her day off.

  She logged into her emails and was a bit surprised by how many there were from Curtis. It looked like she’d be earning her money. He’d even sent a spreadsheet for tracking her progress. She had a quick scan of each email and prioritised them. Top of the list was Jonty. She practised what she was going to say with Seymour but he merely looked at her and did the sort of yowl only Siamese cats can do. Although with his wonky eyes Ruby was never a hundred per cent certain where he was looking. When she was happy with her spiel, she dialled Jonty’s number.

  ‘Good morning, Jonty. It’s Ruby Edwards. Curtis’s—’ She didn’t get as far as her title before Jonty was speaking.

  ‘Hey, Ruby. Happy Monday to you. How was your weekend?’

  She hadn’t been expecting the social chit-chat but she was pleased by it. ‘Crazy Friday. A truck crashed into Curtis’s house!’

  She loved the gasp that came. ‘No way?’

  ‘It’s a total war zone. He’s had to move into a hotel.’

  ‘That’s awful. Will it impact our project plans?’

  She’d not been expecting that either. ‘No, absolutely not.’ She crossed her fingers as she spoke. ‘I wanted to firm up dates for the testing recruitment and for when Curtis is on site with you.’ She checked the dates she’d scribbled down from Curtis’s email.

  ‘No problem, but first of all I was talking to a colleague and he thinks he’s worked with you before.’ Her bullshit radar went into overdrive. ‘Did you work at Goldman Sachs?’

  ‘No. I must have a double.’

  ‘Where did you work before this?’ he asked.

  Shit! She could already see her reputation plummeting. She said the first thing that popped into her head. ‘It’s confidential.’

  ‘Really? Do you mean you worked for celebrities?’

  ‘I couldn’t possibly say.’ She was warming to her deception.

  ‘Are you that PA who had an affair with—’

  ‘No! Bloody hell, Jonty.’ The real Ruby was back.

  ‘Sorry.’ She could tell even from the one word how disappointed he was.

  ‘Anyway, I need to book accommodation for when Curtis is on site. I think he’s already explained to Cordelia that t
here’s no need for me to be there. I’ve been looking at hotels in the area and they all seem very similar and business-focused. Are there any you’d recommend?’

  ‘There are a couple we use regularly. They all have good Wi-Fi, gym, swimming pool and room service. I’ll email over the details.’

  ‘Okay.’ Now she was wishing she was going too. ‘Shall we look at dates then?’ She straightened her back and poised her pen. She was serious about this – and she’d prove it.

  The morning whizzed by and she was pleased with what she’d achieved. She made a list to show Curtis and left for his hotel. He’d told her to get the lift to the second floor and follow signs for the Harris Suite. She felt a bit odd just walking into the hotel and heading up to one of the rooms. At least she was familiar with some of the hotel staff from bringing flowers to events there, but what she needed was a badge or even better a badge and a lanyard, to make her look official and not like a sex worker on a client call.

  When she found the room there was a lit-up sign and a doorbell. She’d not seen a doorbell for a hotel room before. This was super fancy. She rang it and waited.

  Curtis opened the door.

  ‘Hiya, Curtis, this is a bit swish and—’ Curtis immediately indicated that she needed to be quiet because he was on the phone. ‘Right. Got it,’ she said in a whisper and for no apparent reason gave him a double thumbs up. She decided to have a snoop around. It wasn’t like it was his home or anything, so she figured it was allowed. When he’d said it was a room he’d been way off. The bit Curtis had let her into had a dining room table and four chairs, a large black desk where Curtis was now seated – and that was just for starters. Further in was a large sofa, which sat opposite the biggest TV she’d seen outside of Currys. A door was ajar, so she stuck her head through into a huge bedroom. A giant bed held centre stage and an ornate chandelier dangled above it. ‘Bloody hell,’ she said under her breath.

  She wandered into the bedroom to be presented with a series of double doors. The first was a wardrobe. The second opened into the largest bathroom she’d ever stepped foot in. Wall-to-wall marble, with a hydro bath, a massive shower and two sinks. Who needed two sinks? She wasn’t sure about the mirrored wall – that might be a bit of a shock if she’d pruned herself in the bath for a few hours, which was exactly what she’d do if she was staying there. She missed having a bath – her little flat only had a shower. She ran her fingertips along the cool marble surround.