‘You’ve been in hospital?’ she shot back, her eyes wide. ‘What happened? Why didn’t you let us know?’
‘Because it was only overnight. It was nothing, I’m fine. Like I said, there was no need to worry you. A cat bit me and it got infected, that’s all.’
She stared back at me. ‘A cat bit you? I thought you said it happened while you were working.’
‘Yes, Kate. I was looking after a cat who’s not allowed out, but the client’s husband didn’t close the door of her run, and—’
‘You’re looking after your clients’ cats?’
‘Yes!’ I frowned. ‘And dogs. And rabbits, and all sorts. I’ve got a budgie next week, and a hamster soon … what else did you think I’d be doing, as a pet sitter? What’s funny, now?’
‘You’re a pet sitter?’ she said, laughing. ‘Oh my God, Emma, why didn’t you say?’
‘I did! You asked me what sort of business it was, and I know I took a while to get back to you, but I did eventually.’ I hesitated. ‘Didn’t I?’
She bent down and picked up her bag, pulling out a sheet of paper.
‘Listen to this,’ she said. ‘It’s a printout of your email:
Dear sis. Don’t worry, my business is going well. Some clients are lovely, just want me to cuddle them and stroke them. Others are a bit demanding and have a lot of excess energy if you know what I mean, ha ha, I go home exhausted. Got soaking wet with one of them out on Dartmoor, he’s a big beast but very clever and does what I tell him. My favourite is Sugar, she’s playful and really special. I think she loves me too.’
Kate stopped reading, folded the paper, and then looked up at me and we both burst out laughing. Within seconds we were falling into each other’s arms again, on the verge of hysteria.
‘Got very wet with a big beast on Dartmoor!’ I repeated when I managed to catch my breath.
‘Some just wanted you to stroke them!’ She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. ‘You think Sugar is special and she loves you too!’
‘Well, she is, and she does,’ I conceded. ‘But she’s a Burmese cat.’
We both giggled again, and then I noticed the lounge door opening just a fraction, and Holly peeping round it at us, her eyes like saucers.
‘Why are you screaming?’ she said, promptly setting us off again.
I held out my arms to her and she came running to jump on my lap.
‘Sorry, darling. I’m just telling Kate about some of the funny things the animals do, that’s all. We’re happy because we haven’t seen each other for ages.’
‘Mummy said Kate’s your twin sister. I wish I had a twin sister. I keep asking Mummy to get me one but she says she can’t. It’s not fair.’
‘Oh dear,’ I said, glancing at Kate and trying to keep a straight face. ‘Well, at least you’ve got me as a … kind of … big sister, haven’t you.’
‘Sorry, is she being a nuisance?’ Lauren said from the doorway. ‘I’ve been trying to keep her out of your way.’
‘No, she’s fine,’ I said, laughing. ‘We’re fine, now – I hope – aren’t we, Kate?’
‘Yes, despite you worrying the life out of everyone at home, you idiot,’ she said, giving me a playful punch. ‘We’ve all sent countless messages and emails asking you to please explain, but you’re useless at keeping in touch.’
‘Our phone signal and internet here are terrible,’ Lauren started to excuse me, but I shook my head.
‘No, it’s my fault. I’m not very good at writing emails, and I … um … managed to give my family the wrong impression about my work. They didn’t think it was animals I was involved with.’ I glanced sideways at Holly and added quietly, ‘I’ll tell you later.’
‘I’d better call our parents and give them some reassurance,’ Kate said, getting to her feet and trying again to smother a laugh. She got her phone out of her bag and shook her head, remembering about the signal.
‘Use our landline,’ Lauren said at once. ‘And, Kate, I’ve got dinner cooking, and I hope you’re going to stay the night? Or as long as you want, of course. We haven’t got loads of space, but the sofa’s comfy, or there’s a spare mattress you can put next to Emma’s bed?’
‘That’s really kind of you. I’d love to stay tonight, thank you, but I’ll need to get back to the kids tomorrow. My other half’s taken time off to look after them.’
I hugged her again. ‘I’m so sorry I’ve caused so much trouble,’ I said, more soberly now. ‘As usual,’ I added with a sigh.
‘Don’t be daft. I haven’t had such a good laugh in ages!’
Later that night, we moved the spare mattress that was kept under Holly’s bed, into my little room and made up a bed for Kate next to mine. It only just fitted. I had to climb over her when I realised I hadn’t cleaned my teeth, making us both start giggling again.
‘I do miss you,’ I said when I climbed back into bed. ‘I miss sharing a room with you like this, like we did when we were kids.’
‘I miss you too, you fool. I missed you terribly when you were in America, but when you came home it was just so awful for you, and so unfair that you had to go away again.’
I sighed. ‘Well, it was my own fault, as always. If I hadn’t reacted quite the way I did—’
‘Emma, from what you told me, anybody would have reacted the same way. Shane deserved every bit of it. He was lucky you didn’t kill him.’
‘No, I was lucky I didn’t kill him,’ I said seriously. ‘Or I’d have the police after me instead of just the paparazzi.’
‘Well, I’m sorry, anyway, that it ended the way it did,’ Kate said, giving my hand a little squeeze. ‘I know how much you loved him.’
I sighed. ‘Yes, I did, at first. But it was a stupid kind of love, wasn’t it – one that made me leave my family and cut myself off from all my friends. And once he got really famous, in the States, I’m not sure I really loved him any more. I loved the lifestyle, if I’m honest. But now, living the way I am here in Crickleford, I look back and think what an idiot I was. It wasn’t real, Kate. It was all just … like I was a character in a film. A rubbish film,’ I added crossly.
‘But you’re happy here, now? Really? You don’t miss anything about your life in America?’
‘I love it here, honestly.’ I lay back and smiled to myself in the dark. ‘It’s the complete opposite of that life. I’ve got nothing of my own now, except my work, but it’s made me realise what matters. There’s only one thing I miss from New York: Albert.’
‘Your cat? Oh, Emma, I forgot about Albert. What happened to him? Has Shane kept him?’
‘No. It took me ages to get an answer from either him or Leo – his agent – and when Leo finally replied, it was to threaten me with legal action if I tried to contact Shane again. I only wanted to know about Albert! I don’t care if I never speak to Shane again, obviously. And all he told me was that Albert’s gone to a good home. It had better be.’
‘Can’t you find out who’s got him?’
‘I don’t know how.’ I fell silent for a moment, then added quietly, ‘Well, there’s only one way I can think of. One person I could ask. But I’ve resisted it, so far.’
‘Her?’
‘Yes. Her. The bitch.’ I snorted.
‘You don’t think she’s got Albert?’
‘No. She doesn’t like animals. Or children. Or anyone who isn’t as blonde, beautiful and rich as her, of course. But she’ll probably know where Albert’s gone. If I can only bear to lower myself to contact her.’
‘Poor you,’ Kate sympathised, reaching out for my hand in the dark. ‘What a mess.’
‘Well, I should have been like you, shouldn’t I. Worked harder, got my exams, gone to college …’ I said. Suddenly I felt like crying. ‘Made Mum and Dad proud,’ I added in a little voice.
‘Emma,’ she said gently, ‘you’ve got to stop blaming yourself for everything. Mum and Dad love you, you know. When you have kids yourself one day, you’ll realise what I understand now: you
never stop loving your children, no matter what. Even when they empty a cup of milk all over your new rug,’ she added, ‘like Rose did last week.’
I gave a short little laugh, but didn’t say anything. She squeezed my hand again and we fell asleep like that, like we used to when we shared our bedroom at home, hands stretched out across the gap between our beds. We always needed at least our fingertips touching, or we couldn’t sleep.
In the morning, I held onto her for so long on the doorstep that she eventually had to gently disengage herself from my arms.
‘I’ve got to go, honey. The kids—’
‘I know. I’m sorry. Sorry you had to come and check me out.’ I smiled. ‘But I’m glad too. Will you come again? Bring Tim and the children? I’d love to see them. There are B&Bs in the town – you could stay for a week. Please say you will?’
‘I’d like that. I’ll talk to Tim about it, I promise. Perhaps later on in the summer. Bye, sis. Be good. Behave yourself with Sugar!’
I was glad she’d made me laugh before she drove off, otherwise I’d almost certainly have been crying.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
May drifted into a showery June, and the animals I was being asked to look after suddenly became as varied as the weather.
‘I’ve got some fish next week,’ I told Lauren when I was checking my Primrose Pets appointments diary one evening.
‘Fish?’ Lauren queried. ‘What, in a tank?’
‘No, Koi carp, in a pond. And a hamster in a couple of weeks’ time. And later on in the summer I’ve got a booking for a budgie.’
‘Well, it makes a change from dogs and cats, doesn’t it,’ she said. ‘I presume you know how to look after all these different creatures?’
‘Most people give me loads of instructions. The fish can’t really be difficult, though, can they? I mean, they just swim around in their pond. I just have to feed them. I can’t exactly take them out for walks, or sit and cuddle them.’
‘Not that you’d want to! Yuck! Slimy!’
She pulled a face, and we giggled together, and I felt a bit better for a few minutes. But it didn’t last.
I’d felt lonely since Kate had left. I couldn’t help it – despite Lauren and I having become quite close now, nobody was quite like my twin sister, and although we’d spent so long apart, now that we’d been together again briefly I found myself missing her more than ever. I was throwing myself into my work with the animals in an effort to stop myself from brooding.
I’d already met the Koi carp before I turned up on my first day. The man who owned them, Gary, seemed keen to show them off.
‘They’re worth a lot of money, you know,’ he told me proudly as I watched them swimming around the big pond in his garden. I wasn’t surprised to hear that. Some of them were as big as a small cat. They came up to the surface, mouths open greedily, as he threw in handfuls of food to show me how much to feed them.
‘Is that all I have to do?’ I asked. It seemed a bit like money for old rope, but I didn’t like to say that, of course.
‘Well, you can talk to them if you like,’ he said – and when I looked up at him in surprise, he laughed and I realised he was joking. ‘Just make sure the level of the water doesn’t go down. It’s not likely to, unless the weather turns hot,’ he said, and showed me how to top it up if necessary. ‘Otherwise, that’s it. But if you have any worries, call my mate – he used to keep Koi himself and he’s a bit of an expert, so he’ll be able to sort you out. I’ll leave his number next to the fish food.’
I did wonder why he didn’t ask his mate to look after the fish while he was away – I’d have thought he was better qualified. But perhaps he was too busy. That first day, after I’d fed the fish and spent ten minutes watching them swimming up and down the pond, I wandered around the garden, went back to the pond and spent another ten minutes watching them, looked at my watch, and wondered if it was really fair to charge him for half an hour’s work: there was no way I could stretch it to any longer. Too late, I realised I could easily have done this job at the same time as another one. I’d know for next time, but now I’d blocked the whole week out of my diary, just to stand here gazing at a dozen big fish in a pond.
The next day, to pass the time, I invented names for all the fish. The big spotty one was Dot, the smaller, spotty one, Freckles. The one with stripes on his back was Tiger. The fat orange one was Tango, and the littlest one, Tiddler. Then I started to get confused because there were several that looked the same. Which one did I just call Nemo? Which was Bubbles? And did it really matter, as they obviously didn’t respond to their names? Anyway, Gary might have named them something else.
The third and fourth days passed much the same way. I was getting so bored of watching them swimming around, I did actually start talking to them. And then, on the fifth day, I looked into the pond – and Freckles was floating on the top, looking rather too much like the previous night’s dinner.
‘Oh my God,’ I whispered. ‘You’re dead, aren’t you? What did I do wrong? And what the hell do I do now?’
I raced back into the utility room where Gary kept the fish food, and found the piece of paper where he’d written his mate’s phone number. It was the first time I’d looked at it. And as soon as I did, my heart sank. How likely was it that there might be another Rob Montgomery in Crickleford? Not very likely at all, it turned out, when I called the number next to his name.
‘I’ll come straight round,’ he said when I explained about the dead fish. ‘I didn’t realise Gary had left you in charge,’ he added as if it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard of. Perhaps it was.
He was there within minutes, and marched straight out to the pond.
‘Pass me that net,’ he said, and promptly lifted out the poor dead fish and inspected it closely. ‘Doesn’t appear to be diseased,’ he muttered. He looked back at the pond. ‘There’s another one there looking a bit unhappy – see?’
He was right. Nemo was tilting to one side a bit and lying on the surface with his mouth open.
‘Has Gary changed the water recently?’ he asked.
I spread my hands. ‘How would I know? You’re supposed to be the expert. I didn’t know you had fish, by the way,’ I added.
‘I haven’t, any more. One member of the family being obsessed with animals is more than enough,’ he said sourly. ‘Look, I think the problem is that this water needs changing. I’ll test it, but my betting is that it’s become too acidic. If you leave it like this, they’ll all die.’
‘What!’ I gasped. ‘But they’re really expensive, aren’t they! And I have no idea how to change the water. Gary never said anything about that.’
‘I’ll show you,’ he said with a sigh. ‘We’ll change twenty per cent of the water today, another twenty per cent tomorrow, and so on, OK?’
‘And then Gary will be back,’ I said, with heartfelt relief. ‘I hope he doesn’t think it was my fault Freckles died.’
‘Freckles?’ Rob said, with a lift of an eyebrow in my direction.
‘Yes. Well, I was bored, so I gave them all names. The one who looks a bit poorly is Nemo. The other spotty one there is Dot, and—’
‘I get the picture,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Well, let’s give Freckles a decent burial, first, then I’ll show you where the outlet pipe is. OK?’
It was strange: I’d been so wary of him whenever I was looking after Sugar for Vanya, but there in Gary’s garden, he seemed different: he was helpful, nice, almost charming. It wasn’t until we’d finished topping up the pond again and I was thanking him for his help, that he started to show his other side again.
‘You’re welcome, sweetheart,’ he said, putting an arm around my shoulders. ‘Anything for my wife’s favourite little cat sitter, eh? And what do I get in return?’ he added in a horrible smarmy tone.
‘I’ve said thank you.’ I tried to shake off his arm, but he pulled me closer.
‘A little kiss, at least, surely? To show we’re still fri
ends? Even though you dropped me in it with Vanya about the bloody cat getting out of her run.’
‘I didn’t drop you in it,’ I retorted. ‘It was your fault! I wasn’t going to take the blame.’
‘Fair enough. And I won’t let you take the blame for Freckles when Gary asks me what happened here today. Unless you’re mean to me, of course.’ His arm moved to encircle my waist and he gave me a little squeeze.
‘Get off!’ I pushed him away, angry now. ‘Nothing about this has been my fault and you know that. You said Gary obviously forgot to change the water before he left.’
‘So you don’t even want a little kiss and cuddle? We could go indoors – there’s nobody here to disturb us. We’ll just have a little sit down on the sofa …’
‘No! I don’t want anything like that. I thought I’d made that quite clear,’ I said, conscious of sounding like a maiden aunt at a vicarage tea party. The truth was, of course, that I was struggling to control my own conflicting feelings. It had been a long time since I’d felt a man’s arms around me like this, his hot breath in my ear, the excitement of being wanted – and I was lonely. But there was no way I was giving in. ‘Please leave me alone,’ I added more firmly, ‘or I’ll have to tell Vanya.’
He laughed, but finally let go of me. ‘She wouldn’t be surprised.’
‘Maybe not, but that’s between you and her. She’s my client, and you’re her husband, so you must be mad to think I’d be tempted—’
‘Oh, but you are, aren’t you,’ he replied softly, with a very gentle touch of his finger on my cheek, making me shiver. ‘But if you’d rather play with pussy cats and puppies, that’s your loss. Pity though,’ he added with a last lingering look at me before he turned to go, waving goodbye without a backward glance.
I took a deep breath and turned back to the pond:
‘Men!’ I said. ‘Is it any easier, being a fish?’ I asked Tiger as he swam up to the surface to blow bubbles at me. ‘Do you have problems with the ladies … or the men … which are you, anyway, I wonder?’
Then I burst out laughing at myself. Rob was right, I was better off playing with pets than getting involved with a man, especially a married one who was completely off limits. But talking to a fish about its love life? That was slightly weird, even for me.
Trust Your Heart Page 2