AllFreeNovel
Share Us
'Aw, he looks so happy to be back in a proper home.’ Poppy fussed Dougal before standing up from the sofa.
‘I’ve had a fair bit of company today. Percy, Susan, Ginny, Alex. Elsie from the bakery popped over too and brought me that bunch of flowers over there.’ Flora pointed to a vase brimming with amaryllis standing on the window ledge.
‘They’re lovely.’
‘Yes, they are, aren’t they? She said they’re her favourite winter flower and whenever she sees them, they make her smile. They go nicely with the tulips you brought me last week, don’t they?’ She nodded towards the vase in the middle of the coffee table. ‘You bought them that day you ran into Mack in Trestow, didn’t you?’
Poppy shrugged. ‘I don’t remember.’
She did.
‘That’s one person who hasn’t popped by. Mack. Do you know why, by any chance?’
Poppy looked across at Flora. Had one of the others said something? They must have. They would have.
‘That’s a good thing, then.’ The last thing Poppy wanted was for Mack to somehow let something slip about the debt. Not before she’d had the chance to speak to her aunt herself.
Flora frowned. ‘Percy mentioned you’d had a bit of a set to at the hospital. I hope you haven’t really fallen out over me? You were getting on so well.’
Poppy looked down at her nails. She should have painted them again. At least then she’d have something to focus on. She picked at her cuticles.
‘Poppy, lovely, what’s going on?’
She swallowed, still focusing on her hands. ‘I found the debt letters,’ she mumbled before glancing up at Flora. She still felt awful for finding them, even if it was by accident and even if it was the best thing she could have done. ‘I wasn’t snooping or anything. I’d never do that, but I saw them when I picked out the pyjamas I took to you at the hospital.’
Flora nodded.
Poppy leaned back against the sofa cushions and looked at her aunt. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No, lovely. I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to find them. I’m sorry to have got myself in such a pickle.’ She patted Poppy’s leg and sighed.
‘Don’t be. I just wish you’d have told me, us. Maybe we could have done something.’
‘I’m normally so careful when it comes to our finances. I keep the money for Wagging Tails separate from Arthur’s pension. This time, though, I just didn’t know what else to do.’ She glanced across at Poppy and gave her a quick smile. ‘Things will be all right, though. I’ll sort it out.’
‘Please don’t remortgage this place. This is your home.’
‘Ack, it’s a building. My home is over there with all those dogs. It always has been. If they won’t remortgage this place, I’ll sell it and get myself a cosy little static caravan. I’ll be happy over in the courtyard. Closer.’
‘Aunt Flora, you don’t need to remortgage and you don’t need to sell.’
‘I need to do something, lovely, but it’s my worry, not yours. I don’t want you to go worrying about it.’
‘You don’t need to worry about it, either. Ben’s buying me out. I’m going to use the money to pay off the debts.’
‘What? No, no, you won’t. You’ll need that for when you go back home, you’ll need a deposit to put down for your own place.’ Flora shook her head ‘And what do you mean Ben’s buying you out? I thought the house was on the market?’
‘It was, but he’s decided to stay, to move Davina in. I think at least.’ She still hadn’t rung Melissa to find out the truth, but it all felt somehow irrelevant now. She was past caring.
Flora’s eyes widened. ‘So, all this time when he’s been telling you he couldn’t afford to pay your half of the mortgage, she’s been living there?’
Poppy shrugged. She hadn’t thought about it like that, but Aunt Flora was probably right. He may have already moved her in.
‘Maybe, but it’s done now. Anyway, I’ve been thinking I might hang around here a while, anyway. Start doing some supply work in Trestow maybe, or in one of the villages. I can stay here while I save up for a deposit. If you’ll have me, that is?’
‘If I’ll have you?’ Flora grinned. ‘Of course I’ll have you. It’s been wonderful having you to stay. The only part of that plan I’ll be putting my foot down to is the part you say you’ll pay off my debts.’
‘They’re not just your debts, though. You’re in debt for the dogs. Please, just take it. It makes so much sense.’ Poppy squeezed Aunt Flora’s hand.
