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‘He’s in a much better position than he was a couple of days ago, yes. He still has a way to go with treatment and building his strength back up, but, all being well, then yes, I’m confident he can overcome any more obstacles.’
‘Great. Thank you so much.’ Poppy swiped a tear away. Why was she even crying? Dougal was on the mend.
‘Are you okay?’ Reaching out his hand, Mack touched the sleeve of her coat.
‘Yes, sorry. I don’t even know why I’m being like this. Like you say, he’s on the road to recovery now.’ She looked down at Dougal. ‘Aren’t you, little one? You’re on the mend.’
Mack smiled, the kindness reaching his eyes. ‘If you book an appointment in for the end of the week, we can check him over and I can advise about the best foods for optimum weight gain.’
‘Yes, will do.’ Picking Dougal up, she shifted him in her arms before lowering him to the floor. ‘I bet you’d like to walk now. You look as though you’ve got the energy, too.’ She looked back at Mack. ‘Thank you again.’
‘My pleasure.’ He bent down and fussed Dougal quickly before holding the door open for them.
Glancing back at him, she smiled before joining the short queue to the receptionist’s desk. She couldn’t believe the difference in Dougal in just the past two days. She watched as he sniffed at the floor before pulling on the lead to try to explore the waiting room.
‘Hold on, Dougal.’
‘Morning. Poppy and Dougal, isn’t it? From The Wagging Tails Dogs’ Home?’ Kerry clicked at the keyboard.
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Poppy pulled her purse from her pocket.
‘Right, and you’re to settle the bill today.’
It had been a statement, not a question. Poppy nodded.
Kerry twisted the computer screen towards her and clicked on the screen.
Gulping, Poppy forced her face to smile. How much? She pulled out the dogs’ home’s debit card. There was no point arguing or begging for a discount. She’d tried that. Sliding the card into the reader, she tapped in the pin code.
Kerry flicked her hair from her face and took the card out before pushing it back in. ‘It’s been declined. Please try again.’
‘Oh, sorry.’ Had she tapped in the wrong code? After pulling out her phone and checking the pin number in her notes, she entered it again.
‘I’m afraid it still hasn’t gone through. Do you have another card you could try?’ Kerry held the card towards her.
‘Umm…’ She’d have to use Aunt Flora’s one, after all. ‘Yes, one moment.’
13
‘Happy birthday, dear Susan, happy birthday to you.’
Poppy sang along with the rest of the staff and volunteers who had all crammed into the kitchen for Aunt Flora’s weekly ‘thank you’ evening and to celebrate Susan’s birthday.
Grinning, Susan stepped forward and blew out the candles before clasping her hands together.
Poppy grinned. She hadn’t been to one of her aunt’s ‘thank you’ dinners in years, but it was just as special as she remembered. There were new faces and names of the many volunteers to get to know, but Aunt Flora had still ordered pizza in as she had done all those years ago when she last stayed here, and Susan had still baked cupcakes to pass around. The buzz of excitement at all being together and the gratitude towards each other was still the same.
Susan clapped her hands together, and the room silenced, all attention on her. ‘Thank you, everyone, for all the birthday wishes.’ She indicated the cake. ‘This was such a lovely surprise.’
‘Three cheers for the birthday girl.’ Percy held his mug up. ‘Hip hip hooray!’
‘Hip hip hooray!’
‘Hip hip hooray!’
Blushing, Susan mouthed ‘thank you’ to Percy. ‘Cake all round?’
Shouts of ‘yes’ and ‘absolutely’ filtered around the room as Flora passed Susan a knife and held out napkins.
