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Closing the kitchen door behind her, Poppy looked out of the window towards the front of the reception area. The only light was from the sliver of moon, which hung low in the sky. There were streetlamps up in West Par, the village up the road, but here, all she could see was night.
Taking a lead from the hooks behind the counter, she went to Dougal’s kennel.
‘Hello, sweetheart. Do you fancy a night-time stroll?’ She fussed over the small dog as he walked across to her, his tail wagging. She then clipped the lead to his collar before leading him back through the reception area.
After shrugging into her coat, she stepped outside and took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs and waking her up.
‘You okay, Dougal? Look how beautiful it is at night.’
Leaning her head back, she looked up at the stars. She’d missed this – being able to see the stars so clearly.
She walked towards the edge of the courtyard and paused next to the gate that led to the bottom paddock.
‘There you are, love.’
Turning around, Poppy smiled. ‘Percy. I was just thinking about you and how you taught me to love the stars.’
‘Ah, yes, I remember bringing you out here one night when Flora had run off to rescue some dog or other.’
Poppy nodded. ‘Yes, and after that I used to beg Aunt Flora to let me stay up late so you could show me the stars again.’
Percy chuckled. ‘She relented in the end, didn’t she? And you were allowed to stay up once a week…’
‘Twice in my last week down here in the summer holidays.’
‘That’s right. I’d forgotten. Flora would make us hot chocolate and we’d set up those two old camping chairs, and we’d sit in the dark drinking our hot chocolates and talking about the stars.’
‘I still remember some of the constellations you taught me.’ She turned her face back towards the sky again. ‘Look, that one’s Orion, isn’t it?’
‘That’s right.’ Percy pointed to another cluster of brilliantly bright stars. ‘How about that one?’ He held his finger up, following the pattern they made as if they were dots on a dot-to-dot picture.
‘Cat… something? No, I know, it’s Cetus. Is that right?’ She looked across at him.
‘Yes, that’s correct!’ Percy grinned. ‘Extra points if you can tell me its other name.’
‘The whale.’
‘Perfect.’
Car headlights swept across the courtyard and they both watched as Ginny pulled into the small car park.
* * *
‘That’s a good boy. You try to get some rest now.’
After one last fuss behind the ears, Poppy pulled Dougal’s kennel door closed. Then she made her way through to the reception and hung up the lead before shrugging out of her coat and opening the door into the kitchen. Everyone but Alex had woken up and was listening to Ginny.
‘… Mack is going to take an X-ray tonight, but he’s hopeful the bite hasn’t gone through to the bone and has put her on IV antibiotics.’ Ginny took a mug of coffee from Flora. ‘Thanks.’
‘Poor little soul.’ Flora shook her head. ‘She must have been in agony.’
‘Yes, she must have. Hopefully, this might make Mr Thomas realise it will be best for his pets if they’re rehomed.’ Ginny took a long sip from her coffee.
‘I hope you’re right. I really do.’ Flora sank back into her chair.
Poppy took a biscuit from the plate and leaned against the work surface. She felt more awake after going outside for a bit, but she couldn’t trust herself not to fall asleep if she were to sit down.
‘Oh, and Flora, I meant to say the charity debit card wouldn’t go through for some reason, so I popped it on my card.’ Ginny pulled the card from her pocket and passed it to Flora.
