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‘I don’t know if Oscar does, though.’ Poppy sniffed and tried to plaster a smile on her face. ‘Poor Mr Euston had to untangle me before I fell over after Oscar wrapped his lead around my ankles.’
Alex snorted, biscuit crumbs flying from his nostrils. ‘Sorry, sorry. I just had an image from a film or something then. Shame there wasn’t someone recording you.’
‘Ha ha, don’t apologise. You definitely would have laughed if you’d been there.’ Poppy smiled.
‘Here you go, lovely.’ Flora rubbed Poppy’s shoulder as she leaned over and placed a mug of tea on the table in front of her.
‘Thanks.’ Poppy nodded. She’d needed that talk with her aunt. It had put things in perspective for her. Yes, it still hurt that he had seemingly replaced her but she’d needed reminding that things hadn’t been all perfect with Ben and that there were many reasons why they were better off apart.
18
Poppy placed a mug of coffee in front of Ginny before leaning back against the work surface and taking a sip of her own.
‘Thanks.’ Ginny yawned.
‘Did you come in early again?’
‘Not that early. Only about six.’ Ginny took a long gulp of her coffee.
‘Umm, more like five, lovely.’ Flora chuckled as she heaped a pile of towels onto the kitchen table. ‘I saw your car headlights bouncing along the lane.’
‘Here, I’ll give you a hand,’ Poppy said, putting down her mug.
‘Thanks, lovely.’
Ginny grimaced. ‘Aw, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I feel really bad now.’
‘Don’t be daft. I’m only teasing. I was awake already.’ Flora shook out a yellow towel before folding it.
‘Oh, you can’t talk then. You’re just as bad as me.’ Leaning back in her chair, Ginny looked across at Flora and laughed.
Flora chuckled. ‘I walked right into that one, didn’t I?’
‘You sure did.’
‘There you go.’ Poppy placed the last of the folded towels in the pile on the table and quickly drank the dregs of her coffee. ‘I’m going to take Dougal out for a quick walk before that rain comes down.’ She nodded in the direction of the window as huge charcoal grey clouds gathered above them.
‘Good idea. Remember to wrap up warm.’
‘Oh, I will. I made that mistake yesterday.’ Poppy laughed as she walked into the reception area, but she stopped abruptly when she saw who was waiting at the counter. ‘Mack? Hi. What are you doing here?’
‘I’ve just come to check on little Dougal. See how he’s doing.’ Mack shifted from foot to foot.
‘I’m just about to take him on a walk. I’ll go and get him, and you can check him over before I go, if you like?’ Poppy picked up a lead – a turquoise and white striped one – from the hooks behind the counter.
‘I’m happy tagging along, if you don’t mind. That way I can get an idea of how he’s doing building his strength.’
‘No, of course I don’t mind. Great. One moment and I’ll bring him out.’
* * *
‘So what do you think? He’s doing well, isn’t he?’ Poppy looked down at Dougal, who was happily padding across the cobbles at her heels.
‘He sure is. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but I’m stunned by his progress.’ Mack rubbed the back of his neck.
‘He’s definitely a little fighter.’ Leaning down, Poppy fussed Dougal and smiled as he leaned in towards her. ‘And absolutely gorgeous at the same time, hey, aren’t you, Dougal?’
‘He’s enjoying that. Look how he’s closing his eyes when you scratch behind his ear.’ Mack nodded towards the dog.
