by Sheila Agnew
‘And funny,’ she added.
I thought I would prefer if Finn didn’t like me at all rather than think I was a sweet, funny kid, but I just said, ‘thanks.’
‘Camille wasn’t always this bad’ said Tamara. ‘You guys know that Uncle Andre spent the whole summer in France and he’s divorcing Aunt Joan.’
‘No, we didn’t know,’ said Kylie.
I felt a ripple of sympathy for Camille.
‘I have to go,’ said Tamara. ‘Good luck with getting into Sebs, Evie. Call me if you need any help.’
The atmosphere in the clinic that afternoon was light and giddy and special, just like the last day of school before summer. Joanna and Scott were treating an anxious-looking roan and black Great Dane called Dodger. They teased one another and laughed a lot. I thought that we didn’t need the lights on because Joanna was so radiant that she could have powered the entire building.
Joanna held Dodger down while Scott swabbed his ears to test for infection. Karen walked in as I carefully carried the microscope from the side cabinet towards the table under the window.
‘There’s a man out there who wants to see Evie,’ she announced in a peculiar voice.
‘Who is he?’ Scott asked casually, pulling the swab of cotton wool out of Dodger’s left ear.
Karen hesitated.
‘Who is he?’ Scott repeated, looking up.
Karen looked confused.
‘He says he’s her father,’ she said slowly.
A heartbeat later, there was a massive commotion as Scott and Joanna both jumped forward at the same time to catch me before I hit the floor, managing to whack their heads together. The microscope crashed to the ground, sending a thousand shards of glass and metal flying through the air, and Dodger grabbed the opportunity to leap from the table in a single bound, knock down a shelf containing fifty-five cans of dog food and dash out the exit.
But I only found out about all that later. I have never fainted before. I wouldn’t recommend it, but I can say it was a very interesting experience.
The Evie Brooks
story continues …
Coming Soon
Turn the page for a taste of what’s to come!
Everything was almost perfect. Scott has been appointed as a consultant veterinarian at the Central Park Zoo. Evie has decided that she wants to stay in New York after all, so it looks as if her life is going to be one of helping out at the vet clinic, going horse-riding, making more friends at her new school. Then this stranger shows up, claiming to be her father, the musician who ran out on her mum before Evie was even born.
And now he has filed a lawsuit to try and get custody of her.
‘It’s nothing for you to worry about,’ Scott tells her. ‘My lawyer says we will easily beat it.’
So Evie tries to put it to aside and get on with her life, supported by Kylie and Greg, and someone new, Lorcan, the guy who sits next to her in school, and may turn out to be a boyfriend.
But behind the day-to-day animal dramas at the clinic, Joanna’s major falling out with Scott, and a rather too close encounter with a foraging bear, there is the continuing drama of the custody case.
It hasn’t been easy to fight, as Scott promised it would be, especially when there are unscrupulous people, like Camille, and Tamara’s slimy twin brother Coltan – who hates Evie, for some unknown reason – who are prepared to lie in the courtroom about her and Scott. And who is behind this conspiracy? Of course, the vengeful Leela.
How will it all turn out? Will Evie really have to go to live in Australia with her father?
About the Author
SHEILA AGNEW was born in New York and grew up in Dublin with her sister and two brothers. They liked to pretend to be the children in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Although Sheila couldn’t quite make it to Narnia, she set out to experience what she could of this world. After graduating from UCD., she practiced as a lawyer in London, Sydney and New York and got to work in such far-flung places as Accra, Cairo and Bratislava.
Sheila has wanted to be a writer since she was seven and fell in love with Danny, the Champion of the World. In 2002, she took time-out from her legal career to write and to travel around Asia. In 2011, she moved to Argentina to learn Spanish and work on a horse farm. The following year, she relocated to Dingle in County Kerry where she wrote Evie Brooks. Sheila based the character of ‘Ben’ on her own black-and-white spaniel of dubious lineage.
Sheila now lives and writes in New York City.
Copyright
This eBook edition first published 2014 by
The O’Brien Press Ltd,
12 Terenure Road East,
Rathgar, Dublin 6,
Ireland.
Tel: +353 1 4923333
Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.obrien.ie
First published 2014
eBook ISBN: 978–1–84717–652–3
Text © copyright Sheila Agnew 2014
Copyright for typesetting, layout, editing, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd
UNAUTHORISED COPYING IS ILLEGAL
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, visual or audio, or mounted on any network servers, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Carrying out any unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
For permission to copy any part of this publication contact
The O’Brien Press Ltd at [email protected].
Illustrations courtesy of iStockphoto
The O’Brien Press receives assistance from