that sounds, I feel like I’ve done a day’s work already. I’ll pull the van up a bit so you can get in.’
‘So,’ Lucy wrapped her hands round the mug of coffee and stared at him, her head on one side. ‘You’re only here temporarily, like me?’
‘I’m hoping so.’
Her eyes widened. ‘The place is that bad?’
He grinned, he couldn’t help it. ‘No, it’s not bad, but coming back here wasn’t part of my life plan.’
She leant forward conspiratorially. ‘Don’t tell anybody, but it wasn’t on mine either. So, where are you heading next?’
‘Now that is the million dollar question.’ He’d already been doing what he wanted, and when he lost that, for a while he felt like he’d lost everything. ‘Well, when I sold my town centre veterinary practice I had a vague idea of taking a few months off, before setting up somewhere else, faraway. Like Australia.’
‘Oh.’ She looked slightly shocked. ‘Major deviation from the plan then. So, what made you come back here?’
‘Family pressure.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I hadn’t made any firm plans, and my dad cornered me. He told me about Eric, I thought it would be pretty selfish to refuse. Dad and Eric were big buddies.’
‘Ahh.’
‘He said he was in a real mess, could be off work for months. As Dad pointed out I do know Langtry Meadows and the people, and about running a practice of my own. It was hard to say no.’ But that had just been the beginning of the charm offensive. ‘You’d just be able to walk in and get straight down to it,’ his father had said. ‘This isn’t charity, Charles. The man needs support, and he’d much rather hand the reins over to somebody he knows, than pull in some random Tom, Dick or Harriet vet from an agency. Go and see him. He’s still in hospital.’ And even as he’d tried to object, he knew he hadn’t really got any choice.
‘I bet your dad was pleased, and it sounds like you’re popular in the village.’
‘He was, and so was my mother, she didn’t like the idea of me at a loose end, or going to Australia.’ He knew they cared. But he really hadn’t planned on this, creeping back to the village with his tail between his legs, admitting he’d failed – had lost it all. ‘I wasn’t actually at a loose end,’ they swapped an understanding look, ‘I was considering my options. But you know what mothers can be like.’ He paused, took a gulp of his coffee. ‘I think this is actually more of a trip down memory lane for Dad than me, he misses the place. Started to ramble on, asked me if I remembered the time when Ed Wright had chicken pox and was convinced he had foot and mouth. He said the little idiot was sure they were going to throw him in a pit and cover him with lime, he disappeared up the fields and hid. The whole village had to go out searching for him.’
Lucy giggled, which sent a shiver down his spine. ‘And did you remember?’
‘Did I hell!’ He’d let his father reminisce, let the words flow over him, and wondered how on earth he’d ended up losing everything he’d worked for. One day he’d got his bright, shiny, efficient town centre practice handling referrals and money-no-object operations, and the next he had somehow agreed to bury himself back in Langtry Meadows in a tiny, old-fashioned veterinary practice.
‘But you’re happy you came back?’
‘Well I haven’t really thought about it,’ he paused, ‘but yes, yes it’s a nice place and who needs time off work anyway when you can be dragged out of bed at 4 a.m. and stick your arm up a cow’s rear?’
She was laughing again. He didn’t know why, but he seemed to be trying to amuse her. And he seemed to be rambling on, it was far too easy to talk to her. Any second now and he’d be spilling all his sordid secrets.
‘True, and in Australia you’d miss the mud and frosty mornings.’
‘Would I?’ Langtry Meadows was perfect in many ways though, well one big way. It was miles from his old stomping ground and the practice he’d run with his ex-wife. Miles from any reminders that the cosy life he’d thought they’d built up had existed only in his imagination. Even miles from his suffocatingly concerned family who’d moved from the village to somewhere ‘more convenient’ when his father retired. ‘What about you?’ He needed to head the conversation in another direction. ‘Are you looking forward to working here?’
‘Oh yes, well I think so. I mean it wasn’t what I’d planned on doing, but everybody seems lovely, and it’s such a gorgeous place. To be honest, I didn’t really have any option.’ She hesitated. ‘Look, sorry for pestering about the school visit thing last time we met.’ She looked apologetic now, rather than demanding. ‘I didn’t mean to be pushy, I just had Jim prodding me in the back. It’s the first thing they’ve asked me to do, and I don’t like to fail.’
There was a question in her voice. ‘Look, I’m sorry too if we got off on the wrong foot.’ He couldn’t help but glance down at the pink wellies again. ‘But it’s really not something I can help with.’
She was looking at him, like a spaniel deprived of its ball. Can’t or won’t, said the look – she was too kind to voice it. He was doing his best to avoid eye contact, but still felt a heel. He couldn’t though, just the thought of standing in front of those hopeful, innocent faces made him come over hot, then cold. He wasn’t the only loser in this mess he’d made of his life, and that was the bit that made him feel totally useless. Helpless.
Her gaze hadn’t wavered. ‘It’s just I’ve got my hands full with the surgery.’ To her it was just a simple request. But it was asking him to expose his heart, to lay himself open to yet more hurt and he wasn’t ready. He couldn’t do it yet – and certainly not in front of the watching eyes of the whole village. Teenagers he could have coped with, the WI, the teachers. Just not a class full of primary school kids, expectant smiling faces. Kids that were at that age when they trusted adults, thought they could solve every problem in the world. He closed his eyes for a second, and the image that snuck its way into every dream, every nightmare, was there. A giggling little girl. Auburn curls soft as clouds around her angelic face. Large brown eyes gazing straight into his. Innocent, unknowing. Trusting.
He couldn’t do it.
‘They don’t bite. Not like some of your patients.’ Her lips curved into a seductive smile, but he was pretty sure she was just trying to lighten the mood, not drag him off to bed – that was wishful thinking on his side.
‘No.’ He swallowed down the clawing pain in his throat and hoped to God he looked more normal than he felt. ‘It’s just,’ what was he supposed to say? ‘This place can feel a bit claustrophobic.’
‘Villages can.’ Those two words had an unexpected depth to them, she said that as though she knew.
‘Everybody in each other’s pockets and I would rather like to keep a professional distance.’ And that was the truth, up to a point.
She nodded, looking thoughtful, then sighed. ‘Yes, I can understand that.’ And there was something in her eyes that convinced him she did. She was a bit of an outsider as well, and he had a feeling that despite all the smiles she wasn’t entirely comfortable about being here. ‘It’s okay, don’t worry I’ll think of something.’ She twisted her lips to one side as though she was thinking. ‘But Jim swore blind that asking any other vet was out of bounds.’
