A Country Affair

by Rebecca Shaw

  Finding the back door locked and no amount of hammering bringing a response, he clumped around to the main door and went in.

  When the smell that was Scott reached Joy, she looked up from the desk and saw him standing dripping on the doormat with pieces of the newspaper from the seat still stuck to his back. The astonishment on her face struck Scott as highly comical. But there was nothing funny about her reaction. “Get out, you absolute nincompoop! Out! Go on! Out!”

  The clients patiently waiting their turns protested loudly at the smell. Covering their noses with handkerchiefs, they shouted, “Get out, Scott! What a smell.”

  Slowly the sodden cow dung on his socks began sinking into the doormat. Scott looked down at the mess he was creating and muttered plaintively, “I can’t help it. No one answered the bloody door when I knocked.”

  “Oh. Language!” someone said.

  Joy endeavored to retrieve the situation by telling him to go around the back and she’d send someone out to help. Which Scott did. A client got up and opened the windows to let out the smell while Joy went to ask Kate to give a hand outside.

  She stood him on a grate by the back door and hosed him down till he was shuddering with cold. “I’ve got to take my clothes off.”

  “I’ll go in and start the shower; leave your clothes out here and I’ll sort them out, and please dry yourself off a bit with this dog towel before you come in.”

  “Dog towel! Oh, thanks! Good on you, mate!”

  “Otherwise, we’ll have filthy water everywhere. Go on, do as I say.”

  Showered and warmed and dressed in Mungo’s gardening trousers and shirt, Scott sat in the accounts office drinking the scorching-hot coffee Kate had made for him, muttering threats about Applegate Farm. “I shall report him. I said I wouldn’t, but I shall.”

  “For what?”

  “For selling milk on the quiet when Milkmarque won’t collect from his farm. For keeping animals in disgraceful conditions, though I have to admit they do seem happy and are not actually in any danger. He knows every one of them by name.”

  “How did you come to be like this?”

  Scott’s eyes gleamed with amusement over the rim of his mug. “I fell into the slurry pit.”

  “You didn’t! How could anyone do that? Weren’t you looking where you were going?”

  “Parsons’s pit isn’t fenced.”

  “But what about the cows, don’t they fall in it?”

  “Oh no! They know where it is and walk around it. Trouble is the yard is so thick with mud and mess you don’t see where the mud finishes and the pit starts. Thank God they were there to pull me out.”

  Kate knew she shouldn’t laugh because Scott was so dejected, but she couldn’t help it and it began to bubble up inside her. He caught her eye and they both laughed.

  Kate pulled herself together and said, “Look, there’s the rest of the calls still to do. You’ve got to go.”

  He stood up. “You’re getting as bad as Joy, you are, and you’ve only been here a week. To cheer a miserable Aussie up, will you come out with him tonight?” Seeing the doubt in her face he added, “For a drink?”

  Gravely Kate studied him and answered, “All right. I will. Just for a drink.”

  “But of course, sweet one, as you say, just for a drink. Fox and Grapes about eight?”

  MIA, Gerry and Kate were finishing their evening meal when the front door opened and they heard Adam’s “It’s only me.”

  There he was in the kitchen in his tenpins bowling outfit.

  Gerry covered Kate’s and Mia’s surprised silence by saying, “Come in, Adam. There’s still some tea in the pot. Like some?”

  Mia got up to get the extra cup and Kate looked up at him. “Yes?”

  Adam didn’t quite look her in the eye but answered, “Thought I’d just pop around.”

  “I didn’t think you would be coming for me tonight, after Sunday.”

  “Here, son.” Gerry pulled out the chair next to Kate. “Sit here.”

  Mia passed him his cup of tea and pushed the sugar bowl across to him.

  Gerry made pleasant remarks about the weather, trying to lighten the atmosphere, and wondered why things didn’t seem right.

  Adam ignored him and said to Kate, “I waited outside on Sunday but you didn’t come out.”

  “I know I didn’t.”

  Gerry and Mia tried to disguise their surprise. Gerry asked feebly, “Why didn’t you?” but got no reply.

  “Well?”

  “I told you not to come. I said I wouldn’t go out to lunch.”

  “But we always do.”

  Seeing that Adam was disinclined to look at her, Kate twisted around in her chair and glared at him. “You are a chump, Adam. Who in their right mind would sit outside a house for a whole hour and then drive away?”

  “But I never knock on Sundays.”

  “Exactly. But just once perhaps you could break the habit of a lifetime and knock. Where are you expecting to go tonight?”

  Adam looked down at his beige sweatshirt and trousers, which in the catalogue had been described—stylishly, he thought—as taupe, and his immaculate white socks and bowling shoes. He plucked at his sweatshirt and said, “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Perfectly. Unfortunately, I’ve made other arrangements for tonight.”

  He couldn’t have looked more surprised if she’d said she was going skinny-dipping. “Other arrangements? What do you mean? It’s Tuesday.”

  Mia gently interrupted this painful dialogue. “Adam, just for once Kate wants a change. Don’t you sometimes want to do things differently?”

  “Well, no, I don’t. I’ll miss it if we don’t go.”

  “I shan’t. You’re not very good at it and I’m tired of making a fool of myself for your sake. I try not to win and I do, every time.”

  Mia couldn’t believe how hurtful Kate was being to Adam and neither could Gerry, who felt a conciliatory word was required. “I think you should cancel this outing you’ve planned and go with Adam, Kate. It’s only fair.”

  Kate got up from her chair. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings . . .”

  Adam looked angry now and his anger disturbed Kate more than she liked to admit. Usually he flushed when he was upset but this time he was white to the gills. Through gritted teeth he said, “It’s too late; you already have.”

  “To be honest, I’ve arranged to have a drink with . . . someone from work.”

  Adam got to his feet. “Well, there’s no point going on my own.” Pushing his chair under the table, he asked her outright, “Is it that Aussie?”

  “Well, yes, it is. He’s had a really bad day today and he needed cheering up, and I thought after Sunday you wouldn’t be coming.”

  “I knew you should never have gone to work there. I just knew it. How can you contemplate having an evening out with someone else when you’re my girl? You always spend Tuesday night with me. Ring him up and cancel it like your father said.” Kate didn’t make a move, so Adam pounded his right fist into his left palm and added with an unwholesome attempt at authority in his voice to which all three took exception, “Do as I say!”

  Mia, with unaccustomed forcefulness in her tone, said, “Don’t speak to my Kate like that; I won’t tolerate it. She’s a free agent; she can go out with whom she pleases and wherever she is going is all right by me because I know I can rely on her. You don’t own her, Adam, and you’ll do well to remember that.”

  Gerry was about to add his own comment to Mia’s statement and opened his mouth to do so, but Adam glared at each one in turn and left the kitchen without another word.

  When the front door slammed, Gerry sat back appalled. “What the blazes is up with him?”

  Mia, very troubled by Adam’s reaction, said, “He’s turning into a bully, that’s what. Speaking like that to Kate! Don’t let it spoil your evening; that Scott is a nice boy.”

  “Perhaps I should go after him . . .”

  Gerry, who’d champio
ned Adam through thick and thin for the last two years, said, “No, best let the dust settle. The prospect of that promotion has gone to his head, speaking like that to you in my house. I won’t have it.” He took out his wallet and, picking out a ten-pound note, handed it to Kate. “I know you’re short till you get your first month’s salary, so here, take this. I want you to be able to stand your corner. Doesn’t do to be beholden to anyone, not even that Scott, nice though he is.”

  “There’s no need, Dad, but thanks.”

  WHEN Kate went into the Fox and Grapes, she found Scott already there. He was sitting at a corner table with an enormous plate of food in front of him. She saw him pick up his knife and fork and begin to eat, and judging by the enthusiasm with which he dived into his food, she guessed he hadn’t eaten all day, so she decided to spend a couple of minutes in the ladies’ room to give him a little time to take the edge off his hunger.

  Her reflection in the mirror in there quite pleased her. She’d taken the trouble to put on makeup, which she didn’t do every day, and she admired her new eye shadow, then looked a little closer at her forehead, thinking she could see lines appearing already and no wonder. What on earth had gotten into Adam? He had never been an emotional person, but now, since his promise of promotion, he’d gone distinctly highly charged in the most unpleasant way. Perhaps she was to blame, for she hadn’t been quite fair, but there wasn’t any need to go quite as ballistic as he had done tonight. Even Mia had taken exception, and her dad. Anyway, she and Adam weren’t engaged or anything, so if she decided not to see him again, she wouldn’t. An evening with Scott was a very interesting alternative to trying to lose at bowling. She winked at herself in the mirror and charged out to find Scott.

  When he saw her crossing the bar, he put down his knife and fork and stood up. “Kate! You’ve come!” He kissed her cheek.

  She kissed him back. “I have.”

  They both beamed idiotically, enjoying the sight of each other.

  “Here, look, sit down; I’ll move my coat. Will you excuse me if I finish my meal?”

  “Of course. Can I get you a drink? What would you like?”

  “A coffee first, please. Here, let me . . .” He dug his hand into his pocket and brought out loose change.

  Kate said, “This is on me.”

  The cappuccinos looked tempting, and Kate spooned some of the froth and the chocolaty bits into her mouth. Looking up, she found Scott watching her and caught a look in his eyes she’d never seen in Adam’s. Kate blushed and, to pass off her embarrassment, picked up a sugar sachet, opened it and let the sugar cascade into her coffee. Then another.

  “Hey!”

  “I like my cappuccino sweet. It’s one of my things.”

  “You’re quite sweet enough.”

  “That’s a corny remark if ever there was one.”

  “I meant it, though. Thanks for coming out this evening; I’ve had a rotten day.”

  “I know. That’s why I came.”

  Scott finished his meal and eyed the menu. “One of my things is ice-cream sundaes.”

  “And mine.”

  He ordered two strawberry sundaes and waited at the counter while the girl made them up. She was laughing so much at his comments that it was a wonder they got their order at all. Kate couldn’t quite put her finger on why it was he had this effect on women, but he did. And on her. He was so lighthearted and such fun that one really couldn’t take him seriously.

  They chatted and laughed their way through their desserts, enjoying the thick, cloying strawberry sauce, the nutty bits sprinkled on the rich cream piled right to the very top of the glasses and the fresh strawberries they kept finding even right down at the bottom of the glass.

  “I’ve never had such a delicious sundae in all my life.”

  Scott winked. “She knows me, you see; she knows what I like.”

  “You come here a lot, then?”

  “When I’ve worked a ten-hour day and I’ve a night on call to face, believe me, I’m in no mood for cooking when I get home; and a fella needs food if he’s to function well.”

  “I wonder how the farmers take you seriously.”

  “What do you mean?

  “You don’t seem like a responsible person.”

  “Where my work is concerned, I am. I know I play the fool and such, but I do know my job.”

  “You enjoy being a vet, then?”

  “I wouldn’t want to be anything else. Nothing else in the whole wide world.”

  She sensed passion and conviction in his voice, loved the light in his eyes and asked him which parts he liked the best.

  “A cold winter’s morning with a brilliant, rosy-red dawn just breaking, a warm cowshed, a fight to get a calf born alive, the sight of it slithering out and the joy of it breathing, and the mother, all toil forgotten, bending to lick it.” Scott looked embarrassed. “Sorry for going all poetic, but that’s what I like. Then you wash under the tap in the yard, or if you’re lucky, someone brings a bucket of hot water into the cowshed and when you’re clean, you go into the warm kitchen and have a coffee laced with rum and a comfortable chat about things that really matter; then you go home.” He looked somewhere beyond her shoulder, lost in thought. “More often than not, though, it’s pouring with rain, pitch black and you’re chilled to the marrow; and the wife’s away, so there’s no coffee, but still I love it. And lambing—now, there’s a job and a half. You put your hand in and find two lambs tangled together and the ewe can push neither of them out; and you straighten them up, move a leg here and a head there, and hey presto, two beauties and the mother as proud as punch. Brilliant!”

  Wistfully, Kate said, “It must be great.” And before she could stop herself, out poured all her terrible disappointment about missing vet college, something she’d promised herself she would never do.

  Scott listened hard to every word she said. When she’d finished, he took hold of her hand, saying, “Look here, if you feel as strongly as that, isn’t it worth having another try? Why stand on the touchline of life? Get in there and on with the game, a bold strike straight for the goal. This isn’t a practice game, you know; you only get the one chance. For someone with your passion for the job, that’s the only thing to do; otherwise, there’ll be a terrible vacuum in your life all your days. What’s holding you back?”

  “I don’t know, really.”

  He encouraged her to explore her problem. “You must know.”

  “Well, it’s the thought of all that studying. I tried so hard to succeed and it all came to nothing. I don’t know if I can face such a defeat all over again. And that’s only the start of it; five solid years of slog ahead.”

  “But you’ve only the one grade to improve, not three.”

  Kate nodded. “I know.”

  “Your ma and pa, what do they want?”

  “They’re like you, they want me to try again.”

  “Well then, there you are.”

  “Adam doesn’t want me to; in fact, he doesn’t want me to work at the practice even.”

  “You need to ditch that medieval horror.”

  Kate withdrew her hand from his and said indignantly, “Ditch him?”

  “He’s smothering you.”

  “He isn’t.”

  “He is. He’s a nutter.”

  “He isn’t.”

  “Believe me. He is.”

  Kate stood up. “I wish I’d never told you how I felt. I promised myself I wouldn’t tell anyone and I’ve told you, and now look what’s happened; you’re organizing my life for me.”

  “So why have you lost your temper? Is it because you know I’m right?”

  His mobile phone began to ring. “Damn.” He listened, answered and switched off. “Got to go. Sorry. Should have known not to invite you out when I’m on call. We’ll do this again one night when I’m not.”

  “We will?”

  Scott took her hand in his and squeezed it. “Don’t be cross, not with me. Just think about what I’ve said
. I’m right about trying again and very right about that damned Adam. Good night, sweet one.”

  He hurtled out of the bar, blowing a quick kiss to the barmaid who’d made the sundaes for them and calling “Good night” to everyone as he went.

  Kate bought herself a vodka and tonic, and sat thinking about Scott. There was nothing more poisonous than living one’s life with regret . . . thinking “if only” all the time. She liked his analogy of the game of life. She’d give it serious thought, but she’d have to be quick or the opening would be gone. It would mean good-bye to Adam, for he wouldn’t tolerate her going to college for five years; in fact, she knew he would actively persuade her not to try. The expression “wouldn’t tolerate” hung about in her mind and she thought, What am I saying here? “Wouldn’t tolerate.” Is that love? No, it most certainly wasn’t. If he loved her, Adam would be encouraging her, surely?

  Someone opened the door into the other bar and briefly she caught a reflection in the mirror behind the bar of someone standing there and she thought it was Adam. God! Now he was haunting her. Swiftly Kate finished her vodka and left.

  Next morning, as though to confirm to her that Scott’s advice was sound, the letter came from the solicitor with the check for ten and a half thousand pounds promised her in Granny Howard’s will.

  Chapter

  4

  “Have you a first-class stamp, Mia? I want to get this letter in the mail on the way to work. Before I change my mind.”

  Mia passed her the fresh pot of tea. “You’ve definitely decided, then?”

  “Yes, I have. The shock of not getting three A’s totally threw me and I realize now I was far too hasty in giving up all hope of being a vet and applying for this job.”

  “I thought you liked the job. Don’t you?”

  Kate pondered Mia’s question for a moment. “I like this job so very much. I like the people, I like the place, I like the animals, I like keeping the accounts in good order; but at the same time, I know I need more fulfillment. I’m not using my brain as I should and I know I would regret all my life not giving it another go.”

  Mia patted her hand across the breakfast table. “I’ve been dying for you to do this, but I knew it had to be wholly your decision. Your dad will be thrilled. It’s what he wants for you too.”