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“So why did they escape?”
“Boredom? Curiosity? Trying to find the rest of their herd, maybe. I don’t really know. They’re semi-domesticated animals, in as much as they’re used to living in protected areas and we supplement their food during the winter, but during the summer they have a huge area they can roam.”
“And we’re looking for four of them?”
“Yeah. The rest are all out at events at the moment.”
Nick paused to take out his phone and check the time. They needed to either turn around or head back to the road soon, it was going to start getting dark. He’d managed the situation pretty well to have Joel on his search team and Joel hadn’t seemed upset about that. If Nick was less worried about his reindeer, he might have even been able to enjoy their time together a bit more.
“There’s a cut-through up ahead that takes us back to the main road,” Joel said, reading Nick’s thoughts.
“How do you know that?”
“I grew up here, remember? It’s easier to get around these woods during the winter too, when there’s not so much foliage on the trees. You can see further ahead.”
Nick kept looking at Joel, instead of in the direction Joel was pointing, and Joel gave an amused sort of huff.
“There,” he said emphatically, taking Nick’s hand and pointing it in the right direction. The move put his face very close to Nick’s.
Nick felt his cheeks flood with heat and obediently looked in the direction that he was now pointing in. As promised, a red car passed on the road in the middle distance.
“I see,” he mumbled.
“Come on,” Joel said with a bright grin, and Nick followed.
Feeling charitable, Nick walked Joel home. Though since Joel knew the way better than Nick did, in reality, Joel walked himself home and Nick just followed.
“How long have you been a vet?” Joel asked as they passed the small office that Nick now owned. It still gave him a little ripple of proud pleasure, seeing his name on a sign next to the door.
“Almost ten years.”
“Wow. How old are you? Wait, I’m sorry, that was rude.”
“It’s okay,” Nick said with a laugh. “Thirty five.”
“Oh.”
“You?”
“Twenty seven. Did you always know that you wanted to be a vet?”
“Pretty much,” Nick said. “My aunt—she was the reason my mum decided to move down to Bath—she was a vet. So I worked in her surgery from when I was about twelve or thirteen, helping out on Saturdays. I only decided that I wanted to work with large animals, rather than pets, when I was in my last few years of studying.”
“And Bastet?”
“I rescued her a few years ago. She was a farm cat and got injured when a cow kicked her. The farmer wanted me to just put her down, but I couldn’t do that. It took a lot of rehab to get her back to full strength. She’s a fighter.”
“Is that why you named her after a goddess?”
“I figured it couldn’t do her any harm.”
They stopped outside a handsome cottage. A thick green hedge separated the garden from the road, with a wrought iron gate giving access to a short path that led to a bright yellow door. The cottage itself was red brick, with a dark slate roof and heavy curtains hanging in all the windows.
“Thanks for today,” Nick said.
“Are we going back out in the morning?”
“Unless Fergus has good news for me when I get back. I will be, anyway, you don’t have to come.”
