The Village Vet (27 page)

‘I’ll go now. I’ve said what I needed to say.’

‘No, stay,’ Wendy says, talking to me as if I were one of her canine charges.

‘I really do need to get back to let the dogs out,’ I explain.

‘Please, give us five minutes,’ Wendy insists. ‘Make yourself at home.’

Reluctantly, I wait in the sitting room, hovering with Max and reading the titles on the bookshelf:
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
,
In Defence of Dogs
and
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
. There is no room to sit down even if I wished to: as before, there are dogs sprawled out on every horizontal surface. Soon, Wendy asks me to rejoin them.

‘Go on, Diane,’ she says as we sit down again. ‘You must speak – you’re chair now.’

‘I owe you an apology, Tessa,’ Diane says, touching her chest. ‘I have allowed my differences with your aunt to prejudice me against you, against the best interests of the charity and the animals we rescue, and I’m sorry.’ She glances around the table. ‘We’re all sorry,’ she adds to a general murmur of agreement from the committee. ‘You’ve spoken most eloquently, if I may say so, about how much the position of manager means to you. Your devotion is most touching, and so we have voted overwhelmingly to invite you to stay on at the Sanctuary for as long as you wish.’

I can stay. My spirits lift as Diane continues, ‘I’ve been a little arrogant, thinking I can run the show myself. Nobody can. Talyton Animal Rescue is a team, and we need people like you on our side.’

‘Thank you,’ I say, ‘but what about my aunt? Is she still part of the team?’

‘Don’t worry, Tessa. I’ll make sure she understands her position,’ Diane says. ‘Have a small glass of elder-flower champagne with us. We can have a chat about the home-check visits. I need to show you the ropes.’

‘Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary.’ I was rather hoping Jack would come and do some with me. ‘It’s common sense, isn’t it?’

‘Have you done any yet?’

‘I’ve got one coming up – someone’s offered Buster a home. As for the rat, I didn’t do a visit. The boys who adopted him know more about rats than I ever will.’

Diane frowns. ‘You still have to visit.’

‘Why? My time and the charity’s money can be put to better use.’

‘You know, you are more like your aunt than I realised.’ Her expression relaxes into a smile. ‘I’m sorry, Tessa. The Sanctuary means a lot to me.’ She looks towards Wendy, and adds, ‘To all of us.’ She pauses for a moment. ‘When are you going?’

‘I’ve made an appointment for three o’clock on Wednesday – tomorrow.’

Diane’s face falls once more. ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Tessa. Always offer them a time slot, between nine and one or one and five, or even better, make an unannounced visit, and that way you’ll catch them out if they’re at work when they say they aren’t.’

‘Are people really that devious?’ I say, weary of Diane’s paranoia. She loves animals, but appears to have little faith in human nature.

‘Oh, I’ve seen it all,’ Diane claims. ‘Just you wait and see.’

The following day, Diane and I head down to
Talysands
in the van to make the home visit on Buster’s behalf.

It’s lovely. The Nelsons are keen to adopt and the wife has had dogs before. The house and garden are spacious and immaculate. Can I see Buster living here? Yes, but it breaks my heart to do so because I’ve done something really stupid – I’ve grown overly fond of him, as I fear I have done with Jack, a situation not helped by the fact that he put a good word in for me with the committee.

While Diane interrogates them about how they feel about muddy paws and dog hair, the pros and cons of a bones-and-raw-food diet versus feeding a proprietary brand of dog food, and their ability to stump up for any vet’s bills Buster might incur as he grows older, I tick off the boxes on the paperwork that she insisted I bring, along with a clipboard and pen.

Diane’s questioning becomes quite personal, talking about the couple’s working hours (Mrs Nelson is a lady of leisure, which is perfect), what they do in their spare time, how often they go on holiday and how much they drink. I frown at her. What business is it of ours?

By the time we’ve been there for half an hour, Mr Nelson is clearly growing impatient.

‘Do you need me any longer? Only I have a tennis match at four.’

‘We prefer to see the whole family together,’ Diane says.

‘We’ve seen all we need to see,’ I say, cutting in. ‘I’m sorry we’ve kept you.’

‘It wasn’t this intrusive when we went through the process to adopt a baby,’ he grumbles lightly. ‘We gave up in the end though. It was too much, wasn’t it, love?’

His wife nods.

‘Well, I don’t see why you shouldn’t have Buster,’ I say, feeling sorry for them. ‘You’ve ticked all the boxes. Congratulations.’

Mrs Nelson smiles broadly. ‘Oh, thank you. That’s so exciting. When can we pick him up?’

‘How about tomorrow?’ I say, thinking that will give me a chance to say goodbye. ‘Any time.’

‘That went awfully well,’ says Diane on the way back to the Sanctuary. ‘That dog has really fallen on his paws.’

‘I hope so. I’ll be glad to see him settled,’ I say, my fingers tight on the steering wheel. I’m not sure I like this part of my new job, especially when the Nelsons ring me later to delay collecting Buster for a few days while they have someone in to put up a new garden fence.

Back at the Sanctuary, I phone my aunt to let her know about the meeting, assuming I’ve given Diane long enough to speak to her beforehand.

‘I would have known if there’d been a meeting,’ Fifi says, her tone hollow with disbelief and shock. ‘I’m chair, and no one calls a meeting without me.’

‘I’m telling you, I was there,’ I say. ‘I’m sorry, but I thought you should know. Diane has been elected to replace you.’

‘They can’t possibly do that,’ my aunt blusters. ‘It’s against the committee rules.’

‘Rules that no one sticks to,’ I point out. ‘If you go accusing Diane of breaking the rules, I reckon she’ll turn round and tell you that you have done the same in taking me on at the Sanctuary without a vote, or even calling a meeting.’

‘Tessa, whose side are you on?’ My aunt’s voice is
cracking
as if she’s about to cry, and I want to go round to give her a hug. I know how important status is to her. To Fifi, losing the chair of the Talyton Animal Rescue Committee is like losing a limb, but I have to be practical.

‘I’m really sorry, but if I’m to be an effective manager, I can’t get involved in the politics. I can’t be seen to be taking sides. You do understand?’

‘Of course I do. I’m not stupid, although they’re doing their best to make me look a fool.’ My aunt sighs deeply. ‘I’m beginning to think that it’s all too much trouble. Sometimes it feels as though everyone’s against me.’

‘I’m not. I appreciate everything you do for me and the rescues,’ I say. ‘You’ll be coming up to the Sanctuary soon, won’t you? And you’ll continue to help me organise the ball? I really don’t think I can do it all myself and I’m not confident that anyone else will step in.’

‘Yes, I won’t abandon you, Tessa.’ Fifi’s voice brightens slightly. ‘If nothing else, making a success of the ball will prove that they can’t do without me.’

I wish her goodbye, grab some lunch and head off to the cattery where I meet Jack to give Teddy his daily dose of antibiotic. Jack’s wearing light stone combat trousers and a navy polo-shirt with the welfare logo in red on his left breast. Standing close to him outside Teddy’s pen, I can see the pulse in his neck and the shadowy dip between his collarbones. Tearing my gaze away, I turn to look at the cat, who’s snoozing on his shelf.

‘It’s all right for some,’ I say. ‘Look at him – he’s so lazy.’

‘It’s the first law of energy conservation, isn’t it? Cats
are
great physicists – they know that energy is neither created nor destroyed, so they will always use the minimum amount of energy possible,’ Jack says. ‘Have you heard of the law of inertia in relation to cats?’

‘Jack, I wasn’t great at physics at school.’

‘It’s the one that goes, a cat will tend to remain at rest unless acted on by some external force, such as the rattle of a box of cat biscuits.’ He chuckles. ‘You do know the difference between cats and dogs?’

‘Oh yes. Dogs have owners, whereas cats have staff.’

‘How was the home check?’ Jack changes the subject, brushing my hand as he passes me a strip of tablets.

‘Can’t you tell?’ I say, glumly. ‘Buster has new owners.’ I bite my lip, my eyes watering as I think about having to let him go.

‘That’s great,’ Jack says. ‘Buster will have a wonderful life.’

‘I know that it’s the right thing to do, but it’s so hard.’

Jack touches my shoulder. ‘You’ll still have me,’ he says lightly.

‘Are you flirting with me?’ It’s flattering, and I can’t help smiling .

‘Maybe,’ he says. ‘Are you going to catch this vicious beastie or am I?’

‘I’ll get him.’ I take the towel from the hook outside. ‘Come on, Teddy.’ I wrap the cat in the towel, making a parcel of him, leaving just his head and tail sticking out. ‘There you go. It’s a wrap,’ I say, handing him to Jack, who holds him while I pop a tablet down his throat. ‘All done.’

‘That was painless for once,’ Jack observes, returning Teddy to his pen. He shuts the door, hesitating as if he doesn’t want to leave me. ‘Tess, do
you
still think about Nathan? I mean, I’m sure you do. It isn’t something you get over just like that—’

‘Oh, what do you know?’ I interrupt, trying to save both of us further embarrassment.

‘I know what it’s like to have a broken heart.’

I look Jack straight in the eye, challenging him. ‘Do you?’

‘I met someone while I was away.’ He pauses. ‘Why am I telling you this?’

‘You can’t not tell me now,’ I say, finding that I want to know this Jack, the person he is now, much better. ‘Who is she?’ I ask, tentacles of jealousy taking a grip on my heartstrings at the thought of Jack with this unknown woman, Jack kissing her, making love to her …

‘Who was she?’ Jack corrects me, his expression mournful. ‘I liked her a lot. She was one of the charity workers. She was married and ten years older than me, good reasons for pushing her away, but there was something there that I couldn’t resist.’

‘Oh, Jack. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be. When I was with her, it was as though nothing else existed.’ Jack smiles ruefully. ‘It was pretty intense but it would have burned itself out if I’d stayed any longer. It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let it happen.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up about it,’ I say, surprised at his admission. Jack’s always been so well behaved, so good.

‘I felt lonely and rejected.’

‘Because she ended the relationship?’

‘No, I think I fell for her because I was very unhappy. My heart was already broken before I met her.’ He hesitates. ‘Have you any idea why I left Talyton?’

‘Because you wanted to volunteer with the moon bears. You’ve told me that already.’

‘I went when I heard you were engaged to Nathan,’ Jack says harshly.

I stare at him as he continues, ‘The bottom kind of fell out of my world. I thought I’d accepted that we would never be together, but you getting engaged made it final somehow. I decided I couldn’t stand staying around to watch you getting ready for the wedding. I thought I’d feel better thousands of miles away.’ He shakes his head slowly. ‘It made no difference. You were out of sight, Tess, but never out of my mind.’

Joy and happiness bubble up inside me. No one has ever said anything so romantic to me in my life, but where does this leave us? I wonder. Jack ducks towards me and touches his lips to my cheek.

‘I’ll catch you later,’ he says, leaving me standing there, stupid with desire, touching the very spot where he kissed me and wondering what will happen next, and when.

Chapter Thirteen

The Runaway Deer

IT’S EARLY THE
following Saturday afternoon, late August, and I am alone at the Sanctuary, having shown the last of the day’s visitors, a family with young children, around the place. They didn’t offer to adopt one of the rescues, but the parents did drop a generous donation into the box at reception, perhaps as a forfeit for their offspring’s behaviour. I asked their boys not to put their fingers in the hamster cage, at which one of them asked why, promptly sticking his finger through the bars. That’s why, his mother said as he let rip an ear-splitting wail. I don’t think he could have made any more fuss if the hamster had taken his finger off and, as it was, I had to dig out the first-aid kit to find some antiseptic and a plaster to staunch the flow of blood. (I’m being sarcastic – the wound was like a paper cut.) Anyway, they left not long ago, heading for the Minor Injuries Unit in Talyton St George to see if the victim of the attack needs antibiotics or a tetanus jab, while I fill in the very first entry in the accident book, leaning against the desk at reception.

My mobile vibrates, making me start. It’s Jack.

‘Hi,’ I say. I’ve been wondering where he is and what he’s doing. I suppose you could say that, after his confession, Jack has become my obsession. I can’t eat or sleep for thinking about him. The feelings I have are far more intense than anything I felt for Nathan, yet neither of us has made any further move towards the other. I suppose it’s better this way, keeping the status quo, but sometimes I wish Jack would take the initiative and ask me out.