‘Yeah, well …’ He shrugged. ‘I’m going to find me a hamburger. See you later.’
Uh-oh. Maybe she shouldn’t have snapped. Definitely she shouldn’t have snapped. Not when there was such a big favour to ask.
How to ask?
Just ask.
‘You couldn’t cope with another dog, could you?’ she managed and he stilled.
‘Another …’
‘I couldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t. He’s still alive. Raff, he … he looked at me.’
‘He looked at you.’ Raff was looking at her as if she’d just landed from Mars.
‘I couldn’t get him put down.’
Raff was carrying papers. He placed them on the nearest bench without breaking his gaze. He stared at her for a full minute.
She didn’t stare back. She stared at her shoes instead. They were nice black shoes. Maybe a bit high. Pert, she thought. Pert was good.
There was a smudge on one toe. She considered bending to wipe it and decided against it.
Still silence.
‘You’re keeping Kleppy?’ he said at last.
She shook her head. ‘I’m … I don’t think it’s possible. I’m asking if you could take him. Fred says you have a menagerie. One more wouldn’t … wouldn’t be much more trouble. I could pay you for his keep.’
‘Fred suggested …’ He sounded flabbergasted.
‘He didn’t,’ she admitted. ‘I thought of it myself.’
‘That I’d take Kleppy?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered and she thought that she sounded about eight years old again. She sounded pathetic.
‘No,’ he said.
She looked up at him then. Raff Finn was a good six inches taller than she was. More. He was a bit too big. He was a bit too male. He was a bit too … Raff?
He was also a bit too angry.
‘N … No?’
‘No!’ His expression was a mixture of incredulity and fury. ‘I don’t believe this. You strung out a dog’s life in the hope I’d take him?’
‘No, I …’
‘Do you know how miserable he is?’
‘That’s why I …’
‘Decided to give him to me. Thanks, Abby, but no.’
‘But …’
‘I’m not a soft option.’
‘You have all those animals.’
‘Because Sarah loves them. Do you know how much they cost to feed? I can’t go away. I can’t do anything because Sarah breaks her heart over each and every one of them. Don’t you dare do this to me, Abby. I’m not your soft option. If you saved Kleppy, then he’s yours.’
‘I can’t …’
‘And neither can I. You brought this on yourself. You deal with it yourself.’ His voice was rough as gravel, his anger palpable. ‘I need to go. I didn’t get breakfast and I don’t intend to miss lunch. I’ll see you back in court at one.’
He turned away. He strode to the court door and she chewed her lip and thought. But then she decided there wasn’t time for thinking. She panicked instead.
‘Raff?’
He stopped, not looking back. ‘What?’
Sometimes only an apology would do. She was smart enough to know that this was one of those times. Maybe a little backtracking wouldn’t hurt either.
‘Raff, I’m very sorry,’ she said. ‘It was just a thought—or maybe it was just a wild hope—but the decision to save Kleppy was mine. Asking you was an easy option and I won’t ask again. But, moving on, if I’m to keep him … I know nothing about dogs. Fred didn’t suggest you take him, but he did suggest I ask you for help. He said you’ll tell me all the things I need to care for him. So please …’
‘Please what?’
‘Just tell me what I need to buy at the Stock and Station store. I have a meeting with the wedding caterers after work, so I need to do my shopping now.’
‘You’re seriously thinking you’ll keep him?’
‘I don’t have a choice.’
He was facing her now, his face a mixture of incredulity and … laughter? Where had laughter come from? ‘You’re keeping Kleppy?’ He said it as if she’d chosen Kleppy above all others.
‘There’s no other dogs out there?’ she said, alarmed, and he grinned. His grin lit his face—lit the whole court. Oh, she knew that grin …
Trouble. Tragedy.
‘There’s thousands of dogs,’ he said. ‘So many needing homes. But you have to fall for Kleppy.’
‘What’s wrong with Kleppy?’
‘Nothing.’ He was still grinning. ‘I take it you haven’t told Philip.’
‘I … No.’
‘So where’s Kleppy now?’ His grin faded. ‘You haven’t left him in the car? The sun …’
‘I know that much,’ she said, indignant. ‘I took the car to the park and I tied him to a nice shady tree. He has water and feed. He even has my jacket.’
‘He has your jacket.’ He sounded bemused, as if there was some private joke she wasn’t privy to.
‘Yes.’
‘And you’ve tied him up … how?’
‘I bought a lead.’
‘Please tell me it’s a chain.’
‘The chains looked cruel. It’s webbing. Pretty. Red with pictures of balls on it.’
‘I don’t believe this.’
‘What’s wrong? ‘
But she didn’t have a chance to answer. Instead, he grabbed her hand, towed her out of the courthouse—practically at a run—and he headed for the park.
Dragging her behind him.
Kleppy was gone.
Her
