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‘Ooh, Percy, your optimism may pay off yet.’ Alex gestured to him with his mug.
‘Not quite. We raised seven hundred and ninety pounds and thirty-seven pence.’ Ginny smiled.
A round of applause broke out in the small kitchen.
‘Well done, everyone.’ Percy nodded around the table.
‘What do you think, Flora? Seven hundred and ninety. We’re up from last year.’
Flora pinched the bridge of her nose before looking up and shrugging. ‘It will barely make a dent in this month’s vet bills.’ Pushing her mug away, she stood up and left the room.
Poppy watched as Flora walked past her. Was that what she was worried about? The money?
Alex waited until the door had closed behind her before looking around the table.
‘That’s not like Flora. She’s always so happy when we raise money. She’d usually be made up if we raised eight pounds, let alone almost eight hundred. Do you think something’s wrong?’
‘I don’t know.’ Susan frowned. ‘She has been pretty quiet these last few days.’
‘I’ll try and speak to her.’ Percy pushed his chair away and left the room.
‘She’s been quiet back at the cottage, too.’ Poppy sighed.
‘And she normally loves the run-up to Christmas.’ Ginny took a sip of coffee.
‘All this with Mr Thomas might be having an effect. You know how she gets when there’re dogs she wants to help but can’t for whatever reason.’ Susan picked up her plate and opened the door to the dishwasher. ‘And the vet’s bills on top. What with Dougal and now poor Eden needing treatment as well.’
‘Yes, you’re probably right. As she said the money we’ve raised won’t even cover all of what we’re going to owe for Eden’s vet’s bills.’ Alex nodded. ‘And if there are any more who need treatment…’
‘I guess we’ve just got to hope that Mr Thomas lets us take them in soon enough and there are no more surprise vet costs for the time being.’ Susan knocked on the tabletop. ‘Touch wood that we can manage.’
‘I think he’ll let us take them soon enough and we didn’t notice any others with anything obviously wrong.’ Ginny shifted in her chair. ‘You all saw what the house was like. He can’t carry on like that. I don’t think it will be long until he realises that us taking the dogs and the cat rescue taking his cats is the best thing for all involved.’
‘That’s it. If he could just keep one of the more elderly dogs, they’d have all of his attention. And maybe I could go and help him train them to use the garden for toileting.’ Sally shrugged. ‘They’d have a nice life, but the number of animals he has at the moment just isn’t sustainable. Not for anyone, but even less so for him with his ill health.’
‘It’s sad, isn’t it?’ Alex slumped against the back of his chair. ‘His heart’s in the right place. He’s taken in all these animals over the years and given them a home, but he’s just not known when to stop.’
‘It is sad.’ Susan grimaced. ‘I remember being caught scrumping apples back when he owned the farm. Me and my sister were petrified when we saw him speeding up to us on his tractor.’
‘Speeding? On a tractor?’ Alex raised his eyebrows.
‘Okay, well, trundling then.’ Susan laughed. ‘It had felt as though he was speeding up to us at the time. Anyway, when he got to us, he gave us a wicker basket and told us to take as many as we could carry. We’d never been caught before, and I remember thinking we’d be thrown into jail for the rest of our lives.’
‘And there was me thinking you were all sweet and innocent and law-abiding.’ Alex laughed.
Susan tilted her head to one side and grinned. ‘We all have our moments, but I think stealing apples from Mr Thomas’s orchard was probably the height of my criminal career.’
‘Good job too. We wouldn’t want you teaching the dogs your bad ways.’
‘Oi!’ Laughing, Susan threw a tea towel across the table towards him. ‘On that note, I’m going to take Fluffles out on a walk. See if I can find any apples to steal.’
‘You’ll be lucky in this weather.’ Looking out of the window, Alex shivered. ‘I think I might put myself on kennel cleaning out duty today.’
‘I don’t blame you; it’s freezing out there today.’ Ginny downed the dregs of her coffee before standing up. ‘But I’ve promised Ralph a game of fetch in the top paddock, so I’ll be braving it.’
‘Yep, and I’m determined to try to eliminate the danger of Oscar wrapping anyone else up with the lead. Wish me luck.’ Sally grimaced as she placed her empty mug in the dishwasher.
‘Good luck.’ Poppy smiled as she put her mug next to Sally’s.
