Chapter Thirteen
There was a knock on the door of the consulting room. Before Mandy had a chance to call out, it opened a crack. Helen’s head appeared through the gap. ‘Phone call for you,’ she said. Her head disappeared.
Mandy smiled at Susan Collins, who had brought her cat in for vaccination. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
Susan smiled. Her son Jack stood beside her and his dark eyes gazed up at Mandy. Susan had been at school with Mandy and they had become firm friends since Mandy’s return to Welford. Jack often visited Hope Meadows with his mum. ‘We can wait a few minutes,’ Susan said, then looked into the cat basket, from which the round eyes of a ginger cat were staring at her. ‘We’ll be fine, won’t we, Marmalade?’ Marmalade made no reply, though to Mandy he almost looked as if he was shrugging. The cat was in no hurry to see her, she was sure of that.
Helen was sitting at the reception desk when she went through. For now, the waiting room was empty. The telephone receiver was in its cradle, but the light for line 1 was flashing.
‘Who is it?’ Mandy spoke in a low tone to Helen. When a client rang up and asked for her by name, she liked to be prepared before she lifted the phone. There were few things worse than facing an emotional query, only to realise she couldn’t remember the intricacies of a complicated history.
‘It’s the solicitor,’ Helen whispered back. ‘He tried your mobile but it was switched off, of course.’ The mobile was always off when Mandy was dealing with clients. It seemed incredibly unprofessional to field calls or check messages when she was supposed to be concentrating on an animal’s care. ‘I know you don’t like to be disturbed except in an emergency, but I thought you’d want to take this one,’ Helen added.
Mandy lifted the receiver and pressed the button that would put her through to line 1. ‘Amanda Hope speaking,’ she said.
Five minutes later, she set the phone back in its cradle and leaned her weight against the counter, feeling breathless. Helen was watching her with a look of amusement. ‘Good news?’ she hazarded.
‘Yes!’ Mandy wanted to throw her arms in the air and do a jig. ‘Yes!’ she said again. ‘My mortgage for Lamb’s Wood Cottage has been approved! The contracts are ready and I can pick up the keys tonight!’ She shook her head. After all this time it was hard to believe.
Helen’s smile was as wide as Mandy’s. ‘Congratulations!’ she exclaimed. ‘Will you be going up there tonight? Only I’m free, if you’d like some company.’ She paused and winked. ‘Though I’ll understand if you have someone else in mind for your first official visit.’
Mandy knew that Helen was referring to Jimmy. The nurse had expressed her approval when Mandy said that she had changed her mind about taking things slowly with Jimmy after their evening in the Fox and Goose. Helen thoroughly approved of ‘Mandy’s new relationship’ as she’d taken to calling it. Mandy had told Helen she intended to let him know and the nurse had encouraged her. It was good to know her friend thought she was doing the right thing.
‘I might just text Jimmy,’ she conceded.
Helen’s eyes gleamed with triumph. ‘Go for it!’ she said.
Pulling her mobile from her pocket, Mandy switched it on. After a moment’s thought, she texted a short message. ‘Mortgage approved. Can get the keys to Lamb’s Wood Cottage today. Are you free this evening?’ She pressed ‘send’ and switched the phone off with a pleasant feeling of anticipation. She had missed having someone to share good news with. Mum and Dad and Helen were lovely, but sharing with Jimmy was quite different.
When she returned to the consulting room, Susan was sitting down with Jack on her knee. ‘Thanks for being so patient,’ she said.
‘No problem,’ Susan assured her, leaning forward to drop a kiss on Jack’s dark head. ‘I don’t think Marmalade is in any hurry to get his jabs, anyway!’
Half an hour later, morning surgery was at an end.
‘Fancy a coffee?’ Helen offered as Mandy closed the door behind the last client.
‘Yes, please.’ Although coffee sounded good, what Mandy really wanted was a chance to gather her thoughts. She had been more than a little distracted through the past thirty minutes. Even as she had worked through the complicated process of calculating the dosage of wormer to treat a budgerigar, there had been a tiny part of her mind holding on to a seed of excitement.
Tonight would be her first proper visit to Lamb’s Wood Cottage since she had carried out the rescue in the summer with Seb Conway. This evening, she would be visiting it as her first ever home. She wanted Jimmy with her. It was short notice, but already she had a picture in her mind of exploring together. They would push through the overgrown front garden. Perhaps they would kiss inside the front door. Not the fleeting kind of goodbye kiss they had shared after the Fox and Goose, but something more intense. She could still remember the delicious whirling feeling when he had kissed her in the copse beside the rope course. This time, she wouldn’t pull away.
When she switched on her phone, she was disconcerted to find that, as yet, Jimmy hadn’t responded to her message. He had read it just after she’d sent it. And then nothing. Not even a thumbs up or a smiley face. She stared at the tiny letters. ‘Read 09.30’. Trying to quell the swoop of disappointment, she shoved the phone back into her pocket. Probably her text had arrived at exactly the same time as one of his clients. Or maybe his phone had run out of power. She’d give him till lunchtime. If she still hadn’t heard, she would give him a call.
As she was about to join Helen in the kitchen, the phone in Mandy’s pocket rang. Her heart jumped, but when she pulled the mobile out, it was an unknown number. Trying not to sound too disheartened, she answered. ‘Amanda Hope.’
‘Hello.’ The voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t place it. ‘Is that Hope Meadows?’
‘Yes, it is.’ Mandy held her breath. It could be anything from a complaint to a request for help. But to her pleasure, the caller introduced himself as Peter Dillon, the father of the family who had visited the rescue centre on Saturday morning.
‘How can I help?’ Mandy asked.
‘We were really taken by Melon, the little Westie,’ Mr Dillon told her. ‘Can you tell me if he’s still available?’
Mandy let her head fall back against the wall with a thrill of satisfaction. Hadn’t she said to Tom Hope that she thought they had been interested in Melon? ‘He’s definitely available,’ she said.
‘Well, in that case, we’d like to adopt him,’ Mr Dillon announced. ‘I think you mentioned a house visit? What would that involve?’
The door of the clinic clicked open. Mandy was about to ask Mr Dillon if she could put him on hold when she saw it was Gran. Mandy gestured to Dorothy Hope that she should go into the cottage. ‘It just means I’d come and have a look round your home,’ she explained to Mr Dillon. ‘I need to check everything’s safe and that you have as much information as possible before you agree to take Melon on.’ She always tried to describe the home visit as something positive and exciting. The last thing she wanted was for people to be nervous and over-prepare, or change their environment completely. She wanted to get the truest possible picture of the home that was on offer.
‘Okay. That seems a good idea.’ Mr Dillon sounded thoughtful. ‘What about Wednesday afternoon?’
Moving behind the desk, Mandy checked the appointment lists for Wednesday. There was nothing too onerous at the moment. ‘That would be fine,’ she replied. ‘Is two o’clock all right?’
‘Perfect. Thanks very much. We’ll see you then!’ Mr Dillon sounded excited, and Mandy realised she was smiling as she ended the call.
Mandy glanced at the screen on her phone. There was no reply from Jimmy. Still, it looked as if she had a new owner for Melon. She added the visit to Wednesday’s list. Then with a glance around the empty waiting room, she headed for the door that led into the cottage.
When she arrived in the kitchen, she was greeted by the wonderful smell of pastry. Helen had sat Gran down and given her a coffee. Both of them looked up when Mandy came in.
‘What is that lovely smell?’ Mandy gazed around the kitchen. On the side, Gran had placed a box of fluffy golden pastries. ‘I’ve brought some cheese and onion pasties,’ Dorothy Hope explained. ‘I was having a practice run for the WI Christmas Fair. Thought you might like them.’
Mandy breathed in deeply. The whole kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma.
‘You could sit down,’ Helen suggested.
‘I could indeed.’ Mandy laughed as she pulled out a chair.
‘Grandad sends his love,’ Gran told her, lifting her cup and taking a sip. ‘He enjoyed himself ever so much on Saturday.’
Mandy smiled. ‘He’s welcome any time,’ she said. ‘And while I remember,’ she leaned over and gave her grandmother a hug. ‘Thank you so much for your wonderful gift.’ She was gratified to see the contented look on Dorothy Hope’s face.
‘I know you can manage,’ Gran said, ‘but every little helps.’ She smiled. ‘Speaking of which, I had a brainwave about the WI. One or two of them are always talking about you and all the good you do. I wondered whether you might think about having an open day at Hope Meadows? I’m sure several of them would love to have a look inside. You could ask for donations or charge a small entry fee. Maybe we could provide some baked goods for sale. What do you think?’ The blue eyes in the wrinkled face were filled with love.
‘That sounds like a great idea,’ Mandy told her. Perhaps they could get some publicity as well. Mandy was sure the local paper could be persuaded to cover the event. The more local people who understood the good she was trying to do, the better they would accept it, she thought.
‘And how are things going with all your lovely charges? Should your grandad come round again to help out?’
Mandy grinned, remembering Tom Hope’s suggestion that Gran wanted him out from under her feet. ‘Actually, I’ve found a new volunteer called Nicole. She’s helping Molly Future at Six Oaks and she’s agreed to do a couple of evenings at Hope Meadows.’
‘That’s great.’ Helen beamed across the table at Mandy.
‘Do you mean Nicole Woodall?’ Gran said. ‘The one who moved into the house on the edge of Graylands?’
Mandy looked at Gran, caught somewhere between astonishment and hilarity. She had no idea how Gran kept up her supreme knowledge of Welford’s inhabitants, despite the fact that the village now extended miles down the Walton road. ‘That’s the one,’ she agreed. ‘I thought I should take on someone before social services came calling. They might want to know why Hope Meadows is staffed by octogenarians,’ she added and was pleased when Gran let out a peal of laughter.
Despite being hungry, Mandy didn’t enjoy Gran’s pasties as much as she had hoped. Not that they didn’t taste good. They were delicious. But she couldn’t help being troubled by the continuing silence from Jimmy. If he hadn’t got back to her by one thirty, she would have to call him. Adam was still out when they sat down to lunch, but Emily had returned. She was looking paler than ever, Mandy thought. It seemed stupid, but until she heard from Jimmy, she didn’t feel she could tell her mum about the solicitor’s call. All through lunch, she was willing the phone to ring, but when it reached one forty-five, she pushed her chair out.
‘I’m going upstairs for a minute,’ she said.
To her relief, Mum just smiled. ‘See you soon,’ she said.
Even though she told herself she was being daft, Mandy’s fingers were shaking as she pressed the buttons to dial Jimmy’s number. She wondered if his phone was switched off, which would explain why he hadn’t replied. She perched herself on the edge of the bed and stared out of the window at the orchard. On the other end of the line, Jimmy’s phone was ringing. So it was turned on, thought Mandy.
After what seemed an age, she heard his breathless voice. ‘Mandy! Sorry I didn’t get back to you.’ He sounded as if he was running. ‘It’s been crazy up here this morning.’
Mandy frowned. Even if there had been a lot going on, couldn’t he have found time to respond to her text? It would only have taken a minute. He must have known it was important to her. ‘I was wondering whether you’d like to come with me this evening?’ she said, cringing at the note of hope in her voice.
‘I’m afraid I can’t,’ he said. ‘Not tonight.’ Mandy could hear voices in the background, then Jimmy’s voice again, filled with tension. ‘Hope it goes well. I’ll call as soon as I can.’ The phone went dead.
Mandy could feel the wooden edge of the bed pressing into her thighs. Had something happened at Running Wild, she wondered? If there had been an accident, it would explain Jimmy’s strange tone. But wouldn’t he have told her? Putting her hands behind her on the bed, Mandy leaned back. Had it really been necessary to be so short with her? She had been so excited. Now she just felt worried.
Pulling herself upright, she crossed the bedroom floor, walked over the landing and into the bathroom. After splashing her face with cold water, she felt slightly better. She knew what it was like to be rushed off her feet; she wasn’t such a sensitive snowflake that she had to take Jimmy’s response personally. She would ask Helen to come to Lamb’s Wood Cottage instead. And it was about time she told Mum as well.
Emily was delighted. She hugged Mandy and congratulated her. Adam too was excited when he returned. But Mandy’s own happiness was tempered by a worm of unease about Jimmy. He hadn’t even congratulated her. What could possibly have been so urgent that he didn’t care about her purchase of Lamb’s Wood Cottage?
‘You had a good time the other night, didn’t you? Nothing went wrong, I mean?’ Helen frowned as she sat down behind the reception desk. So far, evening surgery had been quiet. With a bit of luck, they would get away early.
Mandy thought back to Friday evening in the Fox and Goose. You could hardly say it had been a night of romance and starlight, but she and Jimmy had got on well, hadn’t they?
‘It wasn’t the best evening ever,’ she conceded. ‘It was busy because of the Christmas light thing, but …’ She shrugged. ‘It was fine.’
‘What about the end of the night?’ Helen’s eyes studied her. ‘He walked you home? What did he say? Did you talk about seeing each other again?’
‘Yes.’ Mandy thought back to those few minutes when Jimmy had asked her if she would change her mind about going on a real date. What had she replied? Had she been definite enough? She thought she had. ‘He said something like …’ She rubbed her forehead. ‘Could I be persuaded to go on another date … something like that. And I said maybe I could.’ She rolled a Biro across the counter. ‘It sounds a bit feeble when I say it like that, but I’m sure it didn’t come across that way.’
‘Did he say anything after that?’
Mandy closed her eyes, trying to remember. She had suggested something else to him, hadn’t she? A picture of Holly and Robin came into her mind and she smiled. ‘I told him he should bring Abi and Max round to meet the donkeys,’ she said. ‘Don’t you think they’d love that?’
But Helen’s expression was ambivalent. ‘I’m sure they would,’ she said. Her mouth had stretched to a straight line and her eyebrows were raised. ‘But perhaps he thought that was rushing things? When my sister and her husband split and she met someone else, it took ages for her to introduce their kids to her new boyfriend. Even though she liked him very much, she wanted to be absolutely sure. She was really mad when her ex introduced her two girls to a whole series of girlfriends. It caused no end of trouble between them.’
Mandy stared at Helen in confusion. ‘But I’ve already met the twins,’ she pointed out.
Helen nodded. ‘Wasn’t that when you were still with Simon? Even if Jimmy liked you back then, he wouldn’t have been introducing you as a girlfriend.’
Mandy frowned. Was it really possible that her question had offended Jimmy? He talked about the twins often enough, but it was true he had never suggested that they all hang out together. She ran her hands through her hair. He had kind of brushed off her question without answering, but she still didn’t believe it was enough to have put him off calling her back. He’d told her he’d ring her afterwards.
‘Mandy?’ She was jolted out of her reverie by Helen’s voice. Almost at the same time, she heard the door opening and turned around to welcome the next client.
It was Roo Dhanjal. As Roo pulled open the door, Mandy felt a shock of alarm. Roo’s beautiful face was crumpled with worry. Was something wrong with one of the young cats she had adopted in the summer?
‘What’s wrong?’ Mandy blurted out. ‘Is it one of the kittens?’
Roo viewed her for a moment with surprise. ‘No,’ she said, ‘they’re fine. It’s …’ She paused and fiddled with the strap of her bag. ‘We’ve had a really bad review,’ she confessed. ‘On TripAdvisor. About the campsite.’
Poor Roo. Mandy was sympathetic. ‘I know most people are lovely,’ she said, ‘but there are a few who’re not so nice. You shouldn’t take it to heart.’
Roo shook her head. ‘You don’t understand,’ she said. ‘Someone wrote that their stay was ruined by barking and dog mess from Hope Meadows. They mention it by name. I’m sorry. I thought you should know.’ Her mouth twisted with unhappiness. ‘We’ve asked TripAdvisor to take it down,’ she said. ‘They’ve removed it, but it was there for two days before we saw it.’
Mandy felt a surge of nausea wash through her. Behind the desk, Helen looked horrified.
Roo shook her head ‘I don’t understand it,’ she went on. ‘We’ve never heard the dogs barking. Even outside. And there’s no mess that we know of. I know you tidy up after yourself.’
Mandy glanced down at her hands. They were shaking. Is this what Grandad meant when he talked about things escalating?
‘I’m not sure what it was,’ Roo was saying, ‘but it seemed so personal.’ She pursed her lips, her dark eyes on Mandy’s face. ‘You don’t think …’ She stopped, then started again. ‘You don’t think someone might be trying to cause trouble, do you?’
Mandy couldn’t speak. There must be. But who could hate Hope Meadows so much?
‘What about the hole in the hedge and the cancelled food order?’ Helen put in. She started to tell Roo. Mandy wanted to clap her hands over her ears, shut out the list of mishaps and coincidences that were piling up.
Instead, she rested her hands on top of the counter, willing them to keep still. ‘Why would anyone have a problem with the rescue centre?’ she said calmly when Helen had finished. ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’
‘What about Mr Powell, with the donkeys?’ Helen suggested. ‘You said he was raging.’
‘He was,’ Mandy agreed, ‘but the hole in the hedge appeared before I met him.’
Grandad had been right, she thought. She needed to write everything down. The order things happened in might be important. ‘I did wonder about Geoff Hemmings,’ she admitted. ‘He was very angry when Flame went after his rabbits, understandably, but she didn’t actually do any harm.’ Mandy pressed her lips together as she remembered something else. ‘He told Ellen Armstrong that someone was complaining about Hope Meadows in the Fox and Goose,’ she said.
Helen stood up and put her arm around Mandy’s shoulders. ‘I know it seems awful,’ she said, ‘but there are loads of us who think Hope Meadows is brilliant. If you like, I can do some detective work. We could try and find out who’s behind it.’
She sounded so enthusiastic that, despite everything, Mandy laughed. ‘You can try if you like, Miss Marple,’ she said. ‘But I think I might ring Ellen.’ It had seemed ridiculous when Tom Hope had suggested going to the police. Mandy would give it a day or two, she thought, to see if Helen unearthed anything obvious. Then if nothing was resolved, she would give Ellen a call.
‘I’d better get back,’ Roo told them. ‘I left Josh in charge of the children, the cooking, and the campsite. It’s a bit much, even for him. I’m so sorry, Mandy.’ With an apologetic wave, she let herself out of the surgery.
Helen followed Roo to the door and locked it behind her, then turned off the main light. ‘Come on,’ she said to Mandy. ‘Even if there is some nutjob on the loose, there’s still your lovely new cottage to explore.’ Mandy beamed. She had completely forgotten that she was a homeowner!
‘Lucy! Sky!’ Opening the door to the kitchen, Helen called to her beloved Flat Coat as well as to Mandy’s much loved collie. Lucy and Sky stood up from where they had been lying curled together in front of the stove. They trotted over. ‘I’ll drive,’ Helen offered.
‘Let’s take the Land Rover,’ Mandy suggested. ‘The track will probably be very overgrown.’
It was thoroughly dark outside. As Helen steered the vehicle down the lane, Mandy noticed that more of their neighbours had put up Christmas decorations. Curtains had been left open to reveal fir trees laden with baubles and twinkling coloured lights. They were three days into December, Mandy realised. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she could have Lamb’s Wood in a habitable state by Christmas? It wasn’t long, but she had never been afraid of hard work. A few months ago, Simon had been trying to railroad her into leaving Welford to tie herself to him and to Leeds forever. For the past few months, she had been back with her parents. Although she loved them and was happy to be surrounded by her family again, the purchase of Lamb’s Wood Cottage felt like a positive step towards being a fully independent adult.
The track up to the cottage was indeed becoming overrun. The Land Rover lurched over the ruts and Helen had a job to keep the wheels straight. Brambles lashed the windscreen and dragged at the tyres. At times, the headlights seemed to be shining into an impenetrable hedge between the ancient trees. But Helen ploughed on and eventually the foliage released them in front of the tumbledown barns.
Pushing open the door, Mandy climbed down and waited while Helen loosened the seatbelts for Sky and Lucy. The two dogs erupted from the car and disappeared into the darkness. Mandy grabbed the torches she had put in the glove compartment and handed one of them to Helen. It was a chilly night and for a moment, they stood there in the gloom, letting their eyes adjust. The sky above was a clear velvet blue. A full moon hung low over the trees, its cold light illuminating stark winter branches and the hunched outline of the fell on the far side of the valley. Sky was only away for a few seconds before she reappeared, but when Lucy didn’t immediately return, Mandy felt a swell of nervousness. What if there really was a ‘nutjob on the loose’, as Helen had put it? Could he have followed them here?
Shivering, she called, ‘Lucy!’ and was relieved when a crescendo of rustling culminated in the black dog emerging from the shadows, her whole body wagging.
The path through the front garden was almost invisible, but some of the weeds had died back with the onset of winter and Mandy was able to bash a way through. Sky and Lucy could be seen in flashes as they rushed in and out of the torch beams. Both had their noses to the ground and their tails high in the air. Their enthusiasm for every outing, no matter how unusual, always made Mandy smile.
She reached the front door. Helen stood back and nodded to Mandy, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘Welcome home!’ she whispered.
With an odd feeling of reverence, Mandy pulled the key from her pocket. For better or worse, the cottage was hers. Although the key was stiff, she twisted it with her cold fingers and finally, with a grating noise, the door was unlocked. Gripping the handle, Mandy turned it and with Helen’s help, she pushed open the door.
As Mandy stepped inside, she felt a rush of emotion. She had first set foot in the house years ago with James, when they had come to help Robbie with his ferrets. Even then, the little cottage had felt welcoming. When she had been here in the summer, the circumstances had been awful, with Robbie Grimshaw being taken away and neglected animals in every corner. But the house had still felt special. It was where she had found Sky, after all.
She had been meaning to visit Robbie for ages. Now, standing inside his old house making plans, it felt even more important to see him. After his spell in hospital, he had been moved to a residential home. It was only in Walton. She would try to find the time very soon, she thought.
As her torch cast a pale line across the hallway to the carved wooden spindles of the staircase, Mandy felt a nudge behind her knees. It was Sky. The collie’s ears were back and her eyes looked nervous in the torchlight. Mandy crouched beside her, her hand caressing the soft fur. ‘It’s okay,’ she murmured. She wondered what memories Sky held from living in the cottage. Robbie had never done anything to mistreat his dog, but her life had been very limited and unhappy. Sky would have known that her owner was sick and unable to care for his animals.
Sky’s tail flickered on the stone floor. When Mandy stood up and walked into the kitchen, Sky stayed beside her, an anxious, feather-footed shadow. The last time Mandy had been in here, there had been overflowing bins and rotten potatoes all over the floor. Someone had been in since then and roughly cleaned up, but the ancient oak table still stood under the window. The moon shone gently into the room, picking out the old-fashioned cupboards and rickety stove.
Mandy ran her hand over the cupboard doors. They seemed more or less intact, so perhaps she could get away with cleaning them and rubbing them down rather than replacing them. The stove stood near the centre of the wall opposite the window. It was made of cast iron, and looked heavier than Bill the Shire horse. The top was flat with a solid ring where a kettle could be boiled. She wouldn’t be cooking a three-course Christmas dinner, Mandy realised with a wry inward smile.
Raking up the wall, Helen’s torch picked out a flimsy wire that crossed the ceiling and dangled a bare light bulb above their heads. Mandy found herself ducking instinctively. She would need to get an electrician here as a priority.
‘It could be really cosy in here,’ Helen declared. She was being generous, Mandy thought, but she couldn’t help being relieved that Helen saw potential in the little house, too.
She directed the beam of her torch at the oak table and chairs. ‘I know they’re filthy, but I like these,’ she said. ‘If I can get them clean, I think I’ll keep them. It’d be difficult to find one to fit better.’
Helen let out a sigh. ‘It really will be lovely,’ she said. Mandy walked over to the sink. Although it was rusty, she managed to turn on the cold tap. The water that spluttered out was rusty looking as well, and after a few seconds it stopped.
‘Maybe there’s a stopcock somewhere,’ Helen suggested. For a moment, Mandy considered going down on her hands and knees to search under the sink, but it would be better to investigate in daylight, she decided. Anyway, if there was a cold snap, it was just as well that the water was switched off.
They explored the rest of the cottage. The room opposite the kitchen had a lovely brick fireplace. The green wallpaper would have to come down, but there were spaces on either side of the chimney breast where Mandy could put bookshelves. Sky’s basket would lie in the corner on the far side of the fire. In her mind’s eye, she pictured a big L-shaped sofa and comfy chairs covered in soft tartan throws.
The staircase seemed sturdy enough, so it just needed some paint and a new carpet. Mandy would ask James what he thought about colour. Something warm, perhaps, like russet. Helen climbed the stairs and turned left into the little bedroom that looked out across the valley from under the eaves, but Mandy turned right into the master bedroom. This was where she had found Sky. When she stopped, the little collie sat down beside her. She looked up at Mandy and her thick black tail started to wag, sweeping across the floorboards. Bending down, Mandy buried her face in Sky’s coat. She smelled of hay and leaves, sweet and clean.
‘What do you think, girl?’ she whispered. Sky put her head on one side. Her soft ears pricked as she listened. ‘Would you like to come home? I know you’ve slept here before, but this time, we’ll be together.’ The tail twitched again. Reaching up, Sky licked Mandy’s ear.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ Mandy said.