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‘That sounds serious. Shall I take a look, see if you need surgery to patch it up? Although the success rate will depend on how much of a gaping hole you have, you may need to just patch it up with some newspaper or some tape to keep the rain out or something.’ Chuckling, he gently touched her head. ‘Nope, looks as though you’ll survive.’
‘Now that’s a relief.’ She laughed, pulling her head away.
‘Ha ha. Ready?’ He nodded towards the Christmas scene, a backdrop of a winter woodland with huge stuffed polar bears and reindeer teddies positioned on the floor.
Rolling her eyes again – which she seemed to be doing a lot of today, in the presence of this man – she let Mack pull her forward, before grinning into the camera lens on his mobile. Why was she even letting him? She hated photos. And photos of her in a ridiculous reindeer headband would be even worse.
‘Here, do you want me to take one with yours too? Give you an eternal reminder of the day you were dragged around a Christmas market by your dog’s vet?’
He held out his hand for her phone.
‘Why not?’ Smiling, she fished her mobile from her coat pocket and passed it across to him. She didn’t say anything about Dougal not being her personal dog – he knew. It was just a slip of the tongue.
‘Look, Mummy, it’s the vet.’
Poppy slipped off the antlers as a small boy pulled his mum towards them. The boy was wearing a bright red hand-knitted jumper with a sleigh adorned on it whilst his mum wore an almost identical jumper in festive green.
‘Hey, buddy. How are Crumble and Custard doing?’ Leaning down, Mack high-fived the small boy, the bell on his elf hat jingling as he did so.
‘Sorry, as soon as he spotted you, he wanted to come and say hello. I think you must have made quite the impression. He asks every day if it’s time to bring the bunnies in for their next vaccination.’ She waved towards her son. ‘Come on, Harry, let them get on with their shopping.’
‘Don’t worry, it’s fine.’ Mack grinned.
‘Are you an elf now? Are you being the animal doctor for Santa’s reindeer?’ The boy pointed to Mack’s elf hat.
‘Oh, this. Unfortunately not. Santa has his own special vet who lives up at the North Pole with the reindeer. It’s a job I’d love to do one day, though. Do you want to wear it so your mum can take a photo of you?’ Mack pulled off the hat and handed it to the boy.
‘Yes, please. Mummy, can you take a photo of me as an elf?’ Harry sat down on the floor amongst the stuffed animal teddies.
‘Would you like me to take one of you both?’ Mack held his hand out for the woman’s phone.
‘Oh, that would be lovely. Thank you,’ she said as she passed her phone to him and grabbed another elf hat from the basket.
‘There you go. I took a couple, just in case.’ Mack waved at Harry. ‘Say Merry Christmas to Crumble and Custard for me.’
Turning back to Poppy, Mack picked up the box with the massager in and passed her bag across to her.
‘Do you need to get back to Ginny or have you got time to get a hot chocolate to quench our thirst after all that shopping?’
Poppy checked her watch. ‘I’ve got a few minutes and I think we deserve one.’
‘Great. Me too. Do you want to grab us a table and I’ll get the drinks?’
After nodding, Poppy wandered across to the cluster of tables and chairs while Mack joined the queue for the drinks. People were laughing and chatting over mince pies and Christmas cake, their numerous bags spilling out from under the tables. She hoped there was a spare table. She looked around and was relieved to see there was one left, a small table for two squashed up against a large Christmas tree, the lights twinkling through the tinsel, an array of rainbow-coloured sparkles.
Slipping into one of the chairs, she pulled out her mobile.
Huh, Ben had rung. What did he want?
‘I got us both a mince pie, too. I couldn’t resist,’ Mack said as he ambled back with the drinks. ‘I hope you like them?’
Pushing the question of Ben from her mind, she helped Mack unload the tray.
‘Thanks. They look delicious.’
‘Oh, I’m sure they will be. Mrs Burton…’ he waved back towards the kitchen ‘… used to have a cat called Honey who was a patient where I used to work. Whenever she had an appointment, she’d bring me a slice of cake or a chunk of flapjack.’ He took a bite before wiping his mouth with a napkin. ‘I wish she’d get another cat and bring it to the new surgery.’
Poppy took a bite of the mince pie he’d given her. She didn’t usually care for mince pies or any of the usual traditional Christmas foods, but she had to admit this one was good. Picking up her mug of hot chocolate, she nudged a branch that was creeping into their space to the side before bringing the cup to her lips so she could lick off the cream.
