His heart raced. ‘Are you waiting to see me?’
He listened while she explained what had happened and why she couldn’t take the dog home with her to the farm. ‘I’m not sure what to do next but now you’re here I’m hoping you’ll be able to give him a quick examination just to check he’s OK.’
He was happy to. ‘Let me just get my keys and I’ll meet you at the front door. I won’t be long.’
He saw her looking him up and down before smiling. ‘You’ve been for a swim.’ He wasn’t sure if it was a statement or question, then remembering Lettie was from the island and no doubt used to seeing people who’ve just come out of the sea assumed it was a statement. ‘It was brilliant down there tonight. Do you surf?’
‘No, I’ve never learnt. I prefer swimming.’ She bent to stroke the dog.
‘Sorry. You go ahead and I’ll catch up with you. I need to fetch my keys.’
He realised it was the second time he had mentioned his keys and hoped she didn’t pick up how awkward he felt finding her there so unexpectedly.
Shortly after, Brodie unlocked the front door and switched on the lights before holding the door open for Lettie and the dog to come inside.
‘If you follow me through to the surgery, we can have a good look at this sweet little guy.’
Lettie smiled and he could see that she had already fallen for the stray. ‘He is adorable. I’m not sure if it’s because of the odd way he looks, or despite it.’
Brodie wasn’t sure either but as soon as he picked up the dog and it nuzzled him, he felt his heart melting. He put a hand on either side of the dog’s head and stroked his ears between his thumbs and forefingers. ‘Where have you come from then?’
‘I don’t think he’s chipped,’ she said frowning. ‘I tried to feel for a chip as I stroked him, but didn’t come across one.’
Brodie lifted the dog onto the examination table and after a bit of snarling and comforting, the dog calmed down and let him check his paws.
Carefully checking each pad on the paw, then in between eachone, Brodie spotted something thornlike sticking into the area between two of the paw pads. ‘Ah, this looks like what could be upsetting him.’ He selected a pair of tweezers while Lettie soothed the dog. ‘If you keep hold of him in case he decides to jump off that’ll be great.’ He carefully parted the two pads and extracted the offending piece of material. ‘I think it’s from a thistle or something. Poor little guy. No wonder he couldn’t stand on it.’ He put antiseptic onto the paw and tidied up while Lettie cuddled the dog.
Relieved that it hadn’t been too difficult to resolve the poor dog’s issue, Brodie placed the tweezers into a basin and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
‘What will we do with him now?’
He couldn’t miss the concern on Lettie’s face and not wanting her to worry said, ‘I’ll keep him with me.’
‘You will?’ She gave a relieved sigh. ‘That’s wonderful.’
‘I’m happy to take care of him until we can trace his owners.’ It occurred to him he wasn’t sure how best to do that. ‘I’ll quickly scan him to check if he’s been microchipped but if we don’t have any luck with that we’ll have to place an advert about him being loose somewhere.’ He picked up the scanner and tested it was working. ‘This shouldn’t take longer than ten to twenty seconds.’ Brodie positioned the scanner above the dog’s shoulder blades, then moved it slowly over the dog’s sides. ‘I’m going to check again to make sure I haven’t missed it,’ he said, disappointed. ‘It doesn’t look like he has one though.’
‘What are we going to do now?’ Lettie asked.
‘Is there a parish or village paper or magazine or something?’
‘There is but it’s quarterly and only came out last week. Leave it with me. I’ll take a photo of him now, if you want to hold him still.’ She took her phone from her pocket and took a few photos and checked them. ‘This one will do don’t you think?’ She turned the screen to face him and Brodie bent forward to have a look.
‘Yes, that’s a good one.’
‘Great. Now I’ll ask Tina where best to post it. I’m a bit out of the loop with local groups and there’s bound to be a couple on social media. We can take it from there.’
‘Good thinking.’ She really was lovely, Brodie thought, his pulse racing when she caught his eye and stared at him.
She frowned after a few seconds. ‘Is everything all right?’
Brodie realised they hadn’t been having a moment, but that she had been wondering why he was staring at her. He nodded and turned away. ‘Yes, I was just, um, wondering what his name might be.’
He turned back to her with an antiseptic wipe ready to clean down the examination table.
Lettie was whispering something to the dog then looked up. ‘I know, we could call him Thistle, just until we discover his actual name. What do you think?’
‘It’s as good a name as any.’ Brodie narrowed his eyes. ‘I have an inkling that you’re getting a little too attached to Thistle already.’
