burr behind her, then twisted round to find Jim had sneaked up unnoticed. ‘Jim!’ The school governor, and Annie’s brother, had been looking after her since she’d arrived in Langtry Meadows. It was Jim who had introduced her to Annie, found her a place to stay, he kept an eye on things and checked she was coping with the gorgeous but overgrown cottage garden, and now it seemed he was jumping into the breach again.
‘Evening!’ He grinned, showing a chipped tooth.
‘But how …’
‘You’ve no need to go worrying about that pup while you’re in school, I can quite easily take the young ’un a walk for you when I take Molly.’
‘You walk Molly?’ Lucy was surprised, she’d never realised that Jim helped Elsie out with her dog, and she hadn’t realised that her discovering Piper was common knowledge either. But in Langtry Meadows it was hard to keep anything under wraps.
‘Oh aye. I offered a while ago, when Elsie was finding she was too,’ he paused diplomatically, looking for the right word. Nobody would dare call Elsie old, or suggest she couldn’t cope, ‘busy. Not been feeling quite herself lately, and she has a lot on some days so I said it was no trouble.’
Lucy frowned. ‘Is she okay?’ She’d not seen quite as much of Elsie Harrington as she should since she’d been caught up in the new term, and the old lady had been so kind to her.
‘Just old age and a bit of a summer cold, but you know she doesn’t like a fuss young Lucy. I’m sure she’d welcome a visit though if you’re passing. Aye well, official dog walker, me.’ He chuckled. ‘It would be good for Molly to have a youngster come along with us, she doesn’t run around that much since her own pups went, the lazy old thing.’
‘So that’s settled then.’ Charlie stood up. ‘Can I get you a drink, Jim? Lucy?’
Lucy grinned. ‘Definitely. Sit down Jim. I reckon you’re better than any estate agent, aren’t you? Do you know if there are any houses up for rent in the village?’
‘Oh God, no.’ Lucy clutched her head. It wasn’t how she liked Saturdays to start. Piper was barking a high pitched ‘I didn’t know I could do it’ kind of bark, and a hen was squawking indignantly.
A hen.
She sat up abruptly. The hens should be in the garden, not in the house. Not even stopping to put her slippers on, she scrambled down the narrow staircase.
‘I didn’t know you could bark.’ Piper flapped her tatty tail sheepishly, but didn’t look up. Her chin was on the floor, her gaze fixed on the bottom of the bureau. She wriggled forward a few inches on her tummy, commando style and Lucy tried not to laugh. The hen that she’d nicknamed Squeak wasn’t squeaking, for the first time since Lucy had set eyes on her she was flapping her wings and squawking out what sounded like a warning.
The puppy was unperturbed.
Lucy knelt down so that she was at her level, and peered. Peeping out from the darkness under the bureau was something yellowy-brown and fluffy. A chick. She put her head on the floor so that she could see right under, and another three pairs of eyes stared out from the gloom.
‘Oh.’ She stood up and frowned at Squeak. ‘You’re supposed to lay eggs for breakfast, not hide them until they hatch. Now what are we going to do?’ What on earth was she supposed to do? Leave the chicks there? Put them somewhere warm? Put them back outside with Squeak and the other hens? ‘How did you get in the house anyway?’ Squeak ruffled her feathers, deciding that now Lucy was there to protect her she didn’t need to scream, and settled down.
Piper sat up, whined then lay down again, nudging her nose in the direction of a fluffy chick.
‘I think we’re going to have to ring for assistance, aren’t we?’
When Sally arrived at the cottage ten minutes later Lucy had made a pot of coffee, but Piper hadn’t budged from her position.
‘You’re lucky that we’re quiet in the surgery, can’t stay long though, Charlie said he’d call me if the phones got busy. He hates answering calls because he ends up saying yes to everything.’ She paused. ‘Is he okay, Charlie? I mean, I know it’s none of my business, but when he asked me to babysit last night he looked uptight. Though he does seem more cheerful this morning, and Maisie made him laugh because she dressed Roo up in a Batman outfit.’
‘He had an email from Josie.’ Lucy didn’t want to gossip, but Sally knew all about how Josie had ambushed Charlie on May Day and asked him to look after Maisie. Lucy was pretty sure that she didn’t know about the fact that Charlie might not be Maisie’s biological father. That piece of information hadn’t got any further than the staff at the school – she hoped. ‘It looks like things might get nasty, and,’ she shrugged as she handed Sally a mug of coffee and sat down, ‘Maisie’s not very settled. I think he’s worried, that’s all.’
‘Hmm.’ Sally frowned. ‘She’s more up and down than she was at the start of the summer. She seems a bit, well …’
‘Sensitive?’
‘She’s touchy, and she actually refused to do what he asked her to the other day which was a bit out of character. They had a mini stand-off,’ she smiled, ‘I could see he was itching to tell her to behave, but scared stiff she’d burst into tears and run back to her bedroom. Then her cute little bottom lip wobbled and he was putty. Not that I’d have a clue what to do, I don’t know anything about kids.’ Sally gave a little shudder. ‘Give me a hen any day!’
Lucy smiled. ‘All hens get to worry about is an egg getting stuck. Maisie’s lost her mother. I know Josie will be heading back soon, but to a six year old a week can seem like a lifetime. Six months, well, she probably feels abandoned, unwanted.’ Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat down, this wasn’t personal, it wasn’t about her. ‘Even though Charlie’s doing his best to make it up, having your dad isn’t always good enough, when you want your mum is it? Especially if you’re scared she doesn’t want you.’
‘I can remember when I was little, I always wanted Mum if I fell over or anything went wrong.’ Sally smiled. ‘Though my dad is pants at hugs and sticking plasters so it’s no wonder, is it?’
‘No, dads can be pants.’ Major pants, well hers was. Although Charlie definitely wasn’t. ‘And on top of that she’s moved schools, been torn from her friendship group and been dropped into what has to feel like an alien world.’
‘You can say that again, Langtry Meadows can definitely have a touch of the alien.’
‘And,’ Lucy fought the laugh and tried to be serious, ‘living in the flat at the surgery can’t be good, and Charlie whizzing in and out sorting out emergency calls when he should be sitting down practising spellings. I mean, I know you’re there, but—’
‘Believe me, I’m no mother substitute, I’ve told you – give me a puppy any day.’
Lucy shook her head and battled on. ‘She’s just not got a routine. Kids like routine, knowing what to expect, it gives them something solid.’
Sally
