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‘Here, let me.’ Leaning down, Mack scooped Dougal up in his arms.
‘Thanks.’
‘My pleasure. There is an ulterior motive, I’m afraid. I’ll be using him as my own personal hot water bottle as we walk back.’
Tucking the end of the lead into the crook of his arm, Poppy laughed. ‘And there was me thinking you were being all gentlemanly and saving my back.’
‘Oh no, I don’t have a gentleman’s bone in my body.’ Mack chuckled.
‘Umm, I’m starting to see that.’
‘Oi!’ Looking across at her, he grinned. ‘Honestly, thank you for this.’
‘Anytime.’ She smiled.
They may have spent the walk talking about not-so-nice stuff, but she’d enjoyed spending the time with him and sharing their problems; she was sure it had done them both some good.
19
‘So, we raised… Let me find it.’ Ginny flicked through the notebook in front of her. ‘Sorry, I’ve clean forgotten the amount.’
‘While you look, let’s see who can guess the closest.’ Alex stood up, mug in hand, and looked around the table. ‘Go on, Poppy, you can go first.’
Poppy looked around the kitchen and grinned. She enjoyed staff meetings here. After sitting through meeting after meeting at her old school, which usually focused on something that didn’t affect her class one iota, she’d never in a million years dreamed that she’d be using the words ‘enjoy’ and ‘staff meeting’ in the same sentence.
‘Umm, I feel this is unfair. This was my first time helping with the Christmas collection, but if I have to go first, I’m going to say… five hundred and fifty-eight pounds.’
‘That’s very specific for someone who doesn’t have a clue.’
Poppy shrugged and grinned at Alex. ‘That’s all I have.’
‘Fair enough. Sally?’
‘This is my first one too, so I have no idea either.’ Sally straightened her back. ‘I’ll go with six hundred.’
‘Okay, next up is Susan.’ Alex pointed to Susan, who was busy brushing toast crumbs from the table. She shook them onto her plate and closed her eyes momentarily. ‘I’m going with six hundred and forty. I think that’s what we made last year.’
Alex nodded. ‘I like your style, basing your estimation on past events, although for us to collect the exact same amount as last year…? I don’t know. I may stand corrected. Percy?’
Interlocking his fingers, Percy stretched his arms in front of him. ‘I’m going to be optimistic and say one thousand pounds.’
‘Ooh, very optimistic. We can tell who’s in the cheerful Christmas mood. Flora?’
Shaking her head, Flora looked up from her hands clasped on the table and across at Alex. ‘Sorry?’
‘Where have you been?’ Alex laughed. ‘We’re playing a guessing game. How much do you think we raised at the weekend on our Christmas collection run?’
Flora shook her head and wrapped her hands around her mug of coffee. ‘Oh, I don’t know… umm… Seven hundred?’
Poppy frowned and looked at her aunt. Something wasn’t right. She’d never seen her as distracted as she’d been these past few days. She was obviously worried about something. But what? Mr Thomas and his dogs maybe? Although there was always something to worry about at Wagging Tails, whether it was the dogs in their care or cases of neglect or mistreatment they had heard about on the grapevine and were in the process of trying to rescue them, and Aunt Flora had always been an expert at boxing worries up and focusing on the here and now, what they could control. She picked up her mug. Maybe it was because they’d been speaking about Arthur and Flora having wanted children. She’d have to catch her later and check everything was okay.
‘Okay. My turn. I’m going with eight hundred and ninety-three pounds and fifty-two pence.’ Alex took a sip of his drink before looking at Ginny. ‘How about you, Ginny, what’s your best guesstimate?’
‘Ah, I’d be cheating if I had a guess.’ She held up her notebook. ‘I’ve found it.’
‘Well, don’t keep us in suspense, then. Let us know if we’re millionaires.’ Alex sat back down.
‘Ha ha, not exactly millionaires, I’m afraid, but we did well. Better than last year, anyway.’ Ginny grinned.
