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‘I hope so. He’s such a sweetheart.’ Leaning down, Poppy fussed Ralph. ‘And so are you, our wonderful one.’
‘Ginny’s in Trestow collecting some bedding donations. Shall I give her a call and ask her to swing by and pick him up, save you a trip?’
‘No, don’t worry.’ Poppy shook her head. ‘Thanks though. I’m happy to go and collect him.’
It was true. She couldn’t wait to see Dougal again, but she also owed Mack an apology for the way she’d spoken to him after the Christmas market yesterday.
‘Okay. Oh, here, take my card again. I’m not sure where the charity debit card is. I’ll transfer it over later.’ Flora pulled her purse out of her pocket and passed the card to her.
‘Are you sure? I’d offer to pop it on mine, but I think I’m almost up to my credit limit and I’ve no idea how much Mack is going to charge us this time.’
‘No, well, as long as little Dougal is okay, it doesn’t matter, does it?’ Flora patted Poppy’s arm. ‘Now, I’d best get this one up into the top paddock before Alex comes along with the puppies.’
‘Okay. See you later.’
‘Yes, lovely. Take care.’
Poppy watched as Flora went outside before turning towards the counter. She was sure she’d seen the charity debit card yesterday. She began to rummage through the drawer and yep, there it was. She tucked it into her purse next to Aunt Flora’s card. She’d give both back to her when she returned to Wagging Tails with Dougal.
* * *
Poppy moved towards the window and looked out across the car park. Yesterday’s rain hadn’t returned. Instead, a thin layer of frost clung to the ground, the air freezing. A young girl walked with her father, carrying a small animal carrier in her arms. Poppy watched as the girl paused, breathing out through her mouth, so she could show her dad the white cloud evaporating into the air.
She smiled. She remembered doing just that. Aunt Flora had always called it dragon breath.
She sat down again on one of the hard plastic chairs of the waiting room, glancing quickly at the clock on the opposite wall. She’d been here twenty minutes already. Kerry had told her to expect a bit of a wait due to an emergency. She just hoped that the emergency wasn’t little Dougal.
Placing her elbows on her knees and leaning forward, she picked at her nail varnish, a bad habit she’d picked up recently. She really needed to repaint her nails.
The door to the surgery opened as the girl and her dad arrived, a cold burst of air filling the waiting room. The girl placed the carrier on the floor, kneeling in front of it and speaking quietly to the cat inside as her dad spoke to Kerry at the reception desk.
Twenty-five minutes had passed now. Poppy pulled her mobile from her pocket and scrolled through to her messages. Holding her breath, she typed out a quick text:
Hi, how’s things going? Any news?
She deleted it. She shouldn’t even be messaging Ben, but what had she meant by any news? Any news on the sale of the home? Or any news on the date he’d gone on last week?
She’d meant any news of the sale of their home, of course. Although she’d checked the estate agents’ website this morning and their house, once her retreat from the world, was still up still for sale.
Yes, that was a legitimate question. She retyped the message.
‘Poppy, do you want to come through?’
Glancing up, she quickly pressed send before following Mack into the examination room.
‘That wasn’t Dougal who you’ve been with all this time, was it? The emergency? It wasn’t Dougal?’
‘No, Dougal’s doing just fine. He’s a little fighter, that one.’ Mack closed the door behind them, clicking it shut softly.
‘Good, good. That’s a relief.’ Poppy nodded and swallowed. ‘Look, I just wanted to apologise for the way I treated you yesterday. I must have sounded so ungrateful after you’d saved me from trailing around the shops and bought me hot chocolate and a mince pie, plus reuniting me with my bag. I’m sorry.’
‘Hey, there’s no need to apologise.’ He held his hands up. ‘In fact, it should be me saying sorry. I shouldn’t have bombarded you with all those questions. It’s a bad habit of mine.’
‘Your questions were reasonable, given the fact we were at the Christmas market. It was me.’
‘Shall we just agree to disagree on whose fault it was?’ Mack crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter.
‘Yes. Thank you.’ Poppy looked around the room and pointed towards a skateboard leaning up against the wall in the corner. ‘You found the skateboard stall in the end, then?’
