by Heidi Swain
‘Yes,’ I said, before he suggested adding Minnie to the collection Mags had already hinted he had. ‘I want her.’
‘So how’s your day been?’ Mags asked. ‘Apart from the unexpected delivery, of course,’ she added, putting Minnie back on the path, where she immediately began to skitter around Ed’s feet like an over-exuberant puppy.
‘Interesting,’ I admitted, thinking of the discovery of the caravans and the impromptu liaison in the shower, ‘very interesting. Have you got time to stay for a cup of tea?’
‘Not really . . . ’ she began.
‘Oh, go on, Mum,’ said Ed, tugging at her sleeve. ‘Then I can go and check out the field.’
‘Well, all right then,’ she relented, ruffling her son’s hair. ‘But you have to put Jack in the shade first and then take Minnie with you so Lottie and I can have a proper chat.’
‘Deal!’ he shouted, punching the air in triumph.
Chapter 7
I had literally just put the key in the lock when the phone in the hall began to ring.
‘Do you mind if get that?’ I asked Mags as I gave the door its customary shove. ‘I know it’s rude, but I’m expecting a call from my solicitor.’
‘No,’ she insisted. ‘You go ahead. I’ll put the kettle on, shall I?’
‘That would be great,’ I agreed, snatching up the phone. ‘Thanks.’
She went through to the kitchen and I turned my attention to the telephone.
‘Charlotte?’
My heart sank as I realised it wasn’t my solicitor at all, but my local, bathroom-busting, pet-abandoning vet.
‘William,’ I bit back.
‘Touché.’
‘What can I do for you?’ I snapped.
‘I was just wondering how Minnie’s settling in,’ he asked equably.
‘You are kidding?’
‘Of course I’m not,’ he said. ‘That poor little dog has been through a lot these last few months.’
‘Not least the latest trauma,’ I cut in, ‘of being tied up by someone she thought she could trust and then being abandoned with no one other than a complete stranger to rescue her.’
‘I think that’s a bit strong,’ he said defensively. ‘You’re hardly a complete stranger.’
‘Still not the most professional way for a so-called animal lover and vet, to boot, to behave though, is it?’ I hissed, hoping Mags couldn’t hear my snarky side of the conversation.
‘Well, you didn’t exactly give me much choice, did you?’
‘Don’t turn this around and put the blame on me,’ I laughed sarcastically. ‘You were the one who dumped her.’
‘And you’re the one who should have been paying attention to what David was telling you Gwen had wanted for her rather than jumping up and down because you were going to get your hands on Cuckoo Cottage!’
I slammed the receiver down and snatched my hand away in shock. How dare he say that? How dare he presume how I felt about Gwen’s legacy? At least now I knew one of the people Chris had been referring to when he said that not everyone had been impressed by Gwen’s decision to leave her home to me. I was surprised her alleged friend had even remembered to call me Charlotte rather than ‘cuckoo’.
‘Are you all right?’ asked Mags, her head appearing around the door frame just as the kettle came to the boil. ‘Shall I fill the pot?’
‘Yes,’ I said, letting out a slow breath. ‘Sorry. Not the call I was expecting. Yes, please go ahead.’
I was just about to say I was now coming to help when the phone rang again. I stood, rooted to the spot and loath to answer it, but I couldn’t bear the thought of listening to Gwen’s answerphone message again, so I reluctantly picked it up.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Will, even before the receiver touched my ear. ‘I really shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean a word of it and it isn’t what I think at all.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me.
‘But I am worried,’ he tried again.
‘Well, don’t be,’ I snapped. ‘Chris warned me to expect this kind of attitude from certain people.’
‘But not me,’ he insisted. ‘Like I said, I don’t feel that way at all. I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have let my temper get the better of me.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘You shouldn’t.’
‘It’s just been really hard having Minnie with me,’ he went on.
‘I can imagine.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘you can’t. It isn’t just because it’s her. It would have been tough with any dog.’
‘What do you mean?’
Clearly there was some meaning behind his admission, but I wasn’t a mind reader.
‘I’m sorry but I can’t explain,’ he sighed, ‘and besides, it isn’t really relevant. I just wanted to make sure she was OK. I’m truly sorry for what I said to you just now and I hope you believe that I really do care about Minnie.’
‘But you have to admit you’ve got a funny way of showing it,’ I said, still unwilling to forgive and forget what he had done. ‘Tying her up like that and driving off is pretty low, don’t you think?’
‘How was I supposed to know you hadn’t realised you were responsible for her?’ he shot back, sounding nettled again.
‘I would have thought my reaction would have been a bit of a giveaway.’
‘Well, it hardly matters now, does it? I had her in the truck, I had an emergency to attend, she’d got a whiff of where she was and I couldn’t have taken her away again. That would have been too cruel.’
‘More cruel than panicking her by tying her to the gatepost, you mean?’
‘Oh God,’ he shouted. ‘Charlotte!’
‘Lottie,’ I reminded him.
‘This is ridiculous,’ he huffed. ‘Just tell me, is Minnie all right?’
‘Yes,’ I said, thinking how happily she had trotted after Ed when he set off to reacquaint himself with the field. ‘She’s fine.’
‘Well that’s something,’ he sighed.
‘So you needn’t worry about her any more and actually, while we’re on the subject, you can take her off your books.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I think it would be best all round if I found a new vet for her,’ I said. ‘Give her a completely fresh start now she’s living with me.’
‘Oh right,’ said Will, ‘and you’re sure about that, are you?’
‘Absolutely,’ I said firmly.
I was going to go out of my way to make sure my path and Will’s had absolutely no reason to cross from now on.
‘Well, I wish you the very best of luck with that one,’ he chuckled and with that he hung up.
‘What do you know about a local vet called Will?’ I asked Mags once we were settled with tea and biscuits under the cherry tree.
‘Not much,’ she said, trying to hide her smile behind her teacup. ‘His background’s a bit of a mystery, to be honest, but he’s incredibly dishy.’
‘Well,’ I said, reaching for another bourbon biscuit, ‘that so-called dish saw me naked this morning.’
‘What?’ she spluttered, sitting up in her seat and rattling her cup against her saucer. ‘You aren’t serious?’
‘Unfortunately,’ I said, biting my lip and still not really wanting to believe it, ‘I am.’
I relayed the details of shower-gate and the subsequent argument which surrounded the transferral of Minnie from Will’s care to mine while Mags listened, sometimes gasping, sometimes frowning, but always with laughter on her lips.
‘So anyway,’ I said when I had reached the point where our call had just ended, ‘I’m going to find Minnie a new vet and then I won’t have to see him ever again.’
‘Good luck with that,’ laughed Mags, swilling the pot and pouring us both another cup.
That was exactly what Will had said.
‘What do you mean?’ I frowned.
‘You won’t find another practice to take her round here,’ she said.
Her words were more a statement of fact than supposition. ‘She’s on the banned list.’
‘Vets don’t have banned lists.’ I laughed nervously. ‘Do they?’
‘Not as a rule,’ she tutted. ‘But this is Minnie we’re talking about, remember?’
She had a point.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘whatever. I’ll just have to draft in someone from further afield to take her should she fall ill or need a jab or something, because the less I see of that man the better.’
Mags shook her head.
‘Are you talking about Will?’ asked Ed as he sidled up to the plate of biscuits having just finished checking on Jack.
Minnie, panting hard at his side, came and threw herself down at my feet. She’d clearly had a good workout tearing around the field and I hoped this would bode well at bedtime. The last thing I needed was a sleepless night ahead of my sizzling cycle ride to Wynbridge, assuming David had managed to bag us another appointment with the bank, of course.
‘We sure are,’ said his mother as she passed him a biscuit. ‘Not for Jack,’ she said firmly before releasing it to Ed’s grubby hand.
‘But you’ll always be seeing him,’ he said, nibbling at the corner and spraying the grass with crumbs. ‘Even if Minnie never gets sick.’
‘How come?’
‘Because,’ said Mags, with a smile which suggested she was rather enjoying this little drama, ‘he’s your nearest neighbour!’
‘What?’
‘He lives in the big barn conversion between you and us.’
‘Oh no,’ I groaned. ‘Please tell me you’re kidding.’
‘Nope,’ she said with another laugh. ‘He’s the one you’re going to have to call on if you run out of sugar or your lights go bang again.’
‘No way,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘I’d rather move to the other end of the earth than have to darken his door.’
‘No you wouldn’t,’ said Ed.
‘No,’ I relented, thinking that was perhaps a little over the top. ‘I don’t suppose I would.’
‘It’s perfect here,’ he said with a contented sigh which reminded me very much of myself when I was his age. ‘Why would you ever want to live anywhere else?’
‘And anyway,’ said Mags, gathering together the cups and plates, ‘you just got off on the wrong foot. You’ll love him when you get to know him.’
I looked at her doubtfully.
‘You will,’ she said.
‘Will’s the best,’ said Ed, backing up his mother’s words as he surreptitiously pulled another custard cream apart and starting licking at the filling.
‘He really is a lovely man, Lottie,’ Mags insisted. ‘He looks after our neighbour George and is always on hand to help out in an emergency, even though he’s always snowed under with work.’
‘He helped fix Martha my duck,’ chipped in Ed. ‘And he’s helping out with Jack.’
‘Well, I’ll take your word for it,’ I said. ‘But for now I’m just going to stay out of his way, so the pair of you can put down your pompoms.’
‘Give it a few days and you’ll be wondering how you ever felt like this,’ smiled Mags, determined to carry on with her cheerleading.
‘A few days won’t alter the fact that he’s seen me naked,’ I reminded her in a low tone.
‘He’s what?’ giggled Ed.
‘Never you mind,’ said Mags. ‘Come on, we need to get home. It’s been a long day,’ she yawned, ‘a really long day.’
Suddenly I realised we hadn’t talked about her, or her work or anything. I still didn’t really know anything about her or Ed at all.
‘I’m sorry, Mags,’ I said, ‘I’ve rather monopolised the conversation, haven’t I? I haven’t even asked you about how your day has gone or anything.’
‘There’ll be plenty of time for all that,’ she laughed, ‘besides, what you had to say has been far more entertaining and I only really called in to pass on an invitation.’
‘An invitation?’
Ed ran to the car and fished out a pretty card with my name on it.
‘It’s to a party this weekend at Skylark Farm,’ he said as he handed it over.
‘It’s their Lammas party,’ added Mags, ‘to celebrate the start of the harvest season with a few close friends and neighbours. Their parties are always fun.’
‘Oh,’ I said, turning the card over in my hand. ‘It’s very kind of them to ask me, but I can’t make it, I’m afraid.’
‘Why not?’ The pair chorused.
‘Well, for a start, I have no car,’ I began. ‘So I can’t get there.’
‘I can take you,’ said Mags quickly. ‘I’m taking George and I have to drive right by your door.’
My stomach rolled at the thought of attending my first social gathering just days after I had moved into Cuckoo Cottage. I had been hoping to settle in before I ventured out.
‘There won’t be more than a dozen of us there,’ said Mags, picking up on my hesitation. ‘And the sooner you get it over with, the better.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your first public showing,’ she smiled wryly, knowing exactly what was on my mind. ‘And if you do come there’ll be plenty of opportunity to get to know more about us and make up for hogging the chat today,’ she teased.
‘Oh do come,’ implored Ed. ‘I’ll look after you.’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, my resolve weakening with every plea.
‘Please,’ they wheedled together.
‘Oh all right,’ I yielded. ‘But you have to promise to be my chaperone all night, Ed.’
‘All right,’ he said, going slightly pink about the ears. ‘It’s a deal.’
Later that evening, when David called to give me the revised time for our appointment at the bank, talk naturally turned to how Minnie was coping and then it shifted to Will.
‘I kind of got the impression that he found having Minnie living with him difficult for some reason,’ I said, ‘and not just because of who she is. Am I right?’
David was evasive.
‘That’s not really for me to say,’ he answered. ‘You’d best ask Will next time you see him.’
‘Oh, I won’t be seeing him any time soon,’ I said with certainty. ‘I’m going to find another vet for Minnie.’
‘Well, you can try,’ said David, his tone echoing Mags. ‘But I wouldn’t do that if I were you. It wouldn’t do to go falling out with your nearest neighbour. You never know when you might need him.’
‘I’m pretty sure I can manage living out here on my own,’ I said defensively.
‘But even so,’ he said cautiously.
‘All right,’ I sighed. ‘I’ll leave things with Minnie as they are for now.’
‘Excellent,’ he agreed. ‘And you probably wouldn’t find another vet in the vicinity to take her anyway. See you tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up? It’s getting on for ten miles, you know.’
‘I’m pretty sure I can cycle ten tiny miles.’
‘But in this heat,’ he went on.
‘Really, David,’ I said. ‘I’m sure I can manage. I’ll set off in plenty of time, unless of course another little surprise pops up and I have to cancel.’
‘I think you’ve had all the surprises you’re due,’ commented David.
‘I hope you’re right,’ I said back.
Chapter 8
Up with the proverbial lark the next morning, and wheeling the bicycle back out of the greenhouse, I tried to ignore Minnie, who was looking at me accusingly and refusing all offers to tempt her back inside to eat her breakfast.
‘I really won’t be all that long,’ I promised her. ‘You’ll hardly notice I’m gone.’
She barked back a curt little response and I glanced apprehensively towards the empty lane. I was really going to have to watch this whole ‘in conversation with’ thing I was developing. I knew society in general viewed Crazy Cat Ladies with a certain degree of affection, but I wasn’t sure what the Wynbridg
e locals would make of the ‘cuckoo’ talking to her recently repatriated terrier.
Fortunately the lane was free of spectators and I went back inside to change, feeling grateful that David had secured an early appointment at the bank. At least I would be able to get the first half of the journey under my belt before the heat of the day really hit home. I slipped on the coolest, cotton frock I could find, pulled my hair into a sleek, neat ponytail and set my mind to dreaming up the most innovative way to bribe Minnie back into the cottage.
Needless to say, my efforts failed and I set off, in a somewhat wobbly fashion, with Minnie proudly perched in the basket along with my bag and keys. I hadn’t realised before that dogs could pull off smug, but looking at her perky expression she’d totally nailed it.
‘You didn’t win,’ I told her as I swerved around a particularly deep pothole. ‘I just changed my mind, that’s all.’
Her yappy response suggested she didn’t believe a word, but I wasn’t going to get drawn into an argument. I needed to keep my eyes on the road. It was already getting hot, but not unbearably so, and we hadn’t gone all that much further when I began to relax and look about me, taking in the wider landscape beyond the edges of the narrow road and high verges which were packed with wild flowers.
‘Now, Minnie,’ I whispered when we had gone on a little further, ‘what do you suppose that could be?’
I could clearly make out some movement in the verge ahead, a definite rustling in the long grass that was in no way the result of the light breeze that had so far stopped me from overheating. I had almost reached the spot when out hopped the biggest hare I had ever seen.
The next few seconds became a confused blur. I looked at the ginormous hare, which seemed to be growing with every revolution of the pedals, and the hare looked at me, its wild, amber eyes wide with surprise. Clearly it was shocked to find another silent traveller on the otherwise deserted road. At that precise moment Minnie began to yap excitedly and wag her tail and a distant, but fast-approaching, roar of an engine met my ears.
The hare darted with lightning speed back into the verge, and I steered the bike as close as I possibly could to the side of the road, while simultaneously making a grab for Minnie’s lead should she mistake my slowing down for stopping and attempt to jump out of the basket.