The Country Vet

BILL MUNRO SAW his son clatter into the yard and vault down from Carlotta, saw the expression on Jake’s face as he gave the mare an affectionate stroke. It seemed that Jake could only really communicate with animals nowadays. Setting his jaw, the old man headed purposefully toward him. Gwen would have told them both to get on with their lives, but it was just so hard. But he owed it to her to at least try to get Jake’s life back on track.

“Good ride, son?” he asked.

Jake glanced sideways at him. “They turned up for her, then.”

Bill nodded. “Yes, about two.”

“I’m sorry.” He turned away, unable to meet his father’s eyes. “I should have seen to it myself.”

“No, really. It isn’t a problem.... Sad, though.”

Jake’s eyes darkened. “It should never have happened.”

“There are a lot of things around here that shouldn’t have happened,” Bill agreed. Tentatively he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “They say it gets easier with time.”

Jake shrugged off his sympathy. “It will never get easier,” he declared, leading Carlotta into her stall.

Bill shook his gray head sadly. “We have to try and get on with our lives, son. I know the anniversary has made it all raw again, but somehow we have to get through it.”

“Why did you rent Sky Cottage to that girl?”

Jake’s unexpected question took Bill totally by surprise. It held an accusation that brought out a sudden prickle of anger in him.

“I’ll rent the cottage to whoever I please. She’s in a strange place with a new job and she needed somewhere to live. And she’s hardly a girl. She must be almost as old as you are.”

“She doesn’t look it,” Jake responded. “She’s hardly vet material, either. A gust of wind could blow her over.”

Bill popped his head over the stable door as Jake slid off the gray mare’s bridle, replacing it with a head collar and tying her to the wall ring.

“According to Todd,” Bill said, “she’s very highly qualified and totally dedicated. If I’m honest, I suppose I felt a bit sorry for the lass. She seems lonely and I wanted to give her a break.”

Jake picked up a body brush and began running it rhythmically across Carlotta’s gleaming coat.

“Well, just keep her away from me.”

“If she has any sense, she’ll stay away from you all by herself,” Bill retorted. “Oh, and by the way...”

Jake looked back, raising his eyebrows.

“I might have told her that you have some pups for sale.”

“Well you’d better untell her, then, hadn’t you,” Jake snarled.

CHAPTER FIVE

DAWN WAS BREAKING as Cass pulled off the lane into the Low Fell parking lot. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she clambered out of her car, taking gulps of the sharp morning air to try and clear her head. In retrospect, the celebratory drink she and Clare had shared last night might have been a bit rash, since it had been almost midnight when she’d finally gotten to bed. Then again, she hadn’t known she was to going to be called out to an emergency at five-thirty.

A small blue car was parked erratically, abandoned outside the clinic’s front door. Cass peered around the courtyard—all she’d been told in the brief message she’d received half an hour ago was that a dog was having difficulties and its owner would bring it straight to the surgery. She heard a muffled sound beyond the bank of colorful begonias that lined the bright green grass at the side of the stone building.

“Hello!” she called, trying to make herself heard above the dawn chorus of a thousand early birds. “Can I help you?”

The woman who appeared from beyond the begonias was elderly, red-faced and very distraught. Cass recognized her at once. “Mrs. Park!” she exclaimed. “Is it Poppy?”

“Oh, thank God,” the distressed old lady responded. “Yes...he’s in the car.”

A heavy lump settled in Cass’s chest as she dug through her pocket for the surgery keys.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get him inside right away. What seems to be the problem?”

“He’s choking on a chicken bone or something. He raided the garbage bin, you see.”

Dropping her keys back into her pocket, Cass hurried toward the small car, flinging open the back door to see Poppy’s smiling face eagerly awaiting her. When the little dog jumped out onto the tarmac and proceeded to run around in crazy circles, Cass took a deep breath, trying to control her irritation.

“Mrs....er, Mary,” she began. “I don’t think...”

“Oh, you’ve saved him! However did you manage to do it so quickly?”

The sheer delight and admiration on the old lady’s face dissolved Cass’s anger instantaneously.

“But I didn’t do anything,”

“So modest, as well,” she added. “I must admit that, at first, I thought you looked far too young to be a vet. From now on, though, we will be singing your praises, won’t we Poppy? That’s twice you’ve saved my little precious in two days.”

* * *

CASS RELATED THE incident to Donald later that morning. He let out a hoot of laughter, and suddenly she was laughing, too, feeling like a real part of the place.

“There you are, then,” he announced. “You have your first adoring patient.”

“Do you mean Mrs. Park or Poppy?” Cass giggled.

Just then, Todd strode into the room.

“If you’re talking about my aunt, then she’s already been on the phone,” he remarked, reaching for his white coat.

“Your aunt?” Cass echoed.

“Ah, so you’ll know that Cass here is a miracle worker, then?” Donald said.

“But I didn’t do anything,” Cass insisted.

“Just enjoy the adulation,” Todd suggested with a broad smile. “Knowing my Aunt Mary, she could well change her mind tomorrow. Now, on a more serious note, there’s a call from Ben Naylor up at Hill Gate. Bad calving. Better get over there right away. Sally will give you directions.”

“I’m on my way,” Cass said, picking up her case.

Donald took hold of her arm as she passed by on her way to the door.

“About that dinner... Can you do tomorrow night?”