Chapter 8

8

‘I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get the dirt from under my fingernails.' Jay chuckled as he rubbed his hands together under the tap, the soap suds foaming on his skin.

‘Oh, I must admit I gave up.' Megan smiled as she looked down at her own. Mud was engrained beneath her nails and the paper cut she'd given herself this morning had stained a murky brown. Before now, up until she'd walked out of the marital home, she'd have had a manicure once a week without fail. She kind of liked this, though. She liked how her hands looked after a decent morning's work. This was the new her. She didn't need to worry about whether her mascara had smudged or her nail varnish chipped. No one cared. The people at Wagging Tails were bothered about who she was, not what she looked like.

‘Penny for them.' Jay passed her a large glass of water, the clear glass cloudy with the condensation of freezing water.

‘Thanks. I was just thinking about how strange life is and how quickly things can change.'

‘Oh, I hear you there.' Leaning against the work surface, he downed the glass of water before refilling it. ‘In what way do you mean?'

After taking a sip of water, she placed the glass on the table and rubbed her fingers against the leg of her jeans before holding them up. ‘A few months ago, I would never have left the house without my nails done and look at me now.'

Jay grinned, his blue eyes shining. ‘There's something about a woman who's not afraid to get her hands dirty.'

Megan laughed. If Lyle had said something like that to her, she'd have immediately assumed he was putting her down, criticising her for not taking immaculate care of herself, but with Jay… She had a feeling he meant exactly what he said.

‘I know this probably sounds daft, and please feel free to say no.' Jay held his hands up. ‘But, I wondered if…'

The bell above the door to reception tinkled, and Megan glanced towards the open kitchen door.

‘That was quick,' she said, as she waited for Flora to enter. ‘I was expecting it to take a while to settle Percy at home.'

‘Hello?' The voice was deep, and a scratching noise could be heard too.

‘That's not her then.'

Megan stood up and headed out of the kitchen door, closely followed by Jay. A man and woman stood at the counter with a large greyhound pulling at her lead, sniffing the floor.

‘Hello, can we help you?'

‘I hope so.' The woman spoke first, leaning her handbag on top of the counter. ‘We're hoping to speak to Flora.'

‘I'm afraid Flora's just popped out. She won't be long, though. Would you like to wait?' Megan indicated the kitchen door behind her.

‘No, we'd rather not.' The man lifted a large carrier bag onto the counter, dwarfing the woman's small handbag. ‘We're sorry, but we're going to have to drop Cindy off. It's just not working out with her.'

‘Cindy?' Jay frowned. ‘Is she your dog?'

‘That's right. We've tried all we can, but we just can't train her. It's ruining our lives.' The man sighed.

‘She's ruining your lives?' Megan looked down at the dog again. Cindy's tail was wagging as she walked across to Megan and Jay.

‘Hello, you.' Kneeling down, Jay fussed Cindy behind the ears.

‘That's right.' The woman shifted position. ‘Sorry, I don't recognise either of you. Are you new here?'

‘Yes, we are,' Jay said, still kneeling down. He held his hand out as Cindy began licking his palm.

‘I see. I suppose it would help if we explained the situation from the beginning, then.' The woman grasped the handles of her bag. ‘We adopted Cindy a month ago. We knew she had some behavioural problems and that she couldn't be left alone, but we didn't quite realise how severe the problem was. We literally can't leave her alone. She cries when we pop to the bathroom even.'

‘The neighbours are fed up with the noise,' the man continued. ‘They're threatening to call Environmental Health if we don't do something.' He took a deep breath in.

‘And she chewed through our brand-new sofa when we left to pop to the corner shop.'

The man breathed out heavily. ‘That's two grand down the pan.'

‘So you see, as much as we're fond of her—' the woman looked down at Cindy, her eyes sad ‘—we just don't have a choice but to bring her back.'

Standing up, Jay pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. ‘Would you be able to wait for Flora or Ginny to get back? That way you can explain everything to them, and they might be able to help.'

‘Or Sally. She's the trainer,' Megan said. ‘She'll be able to give you a few pointers, I'm sure.'

‘I'm afraid not, no. We've got a plane to catch.' The man tapped his watch.

‘You're going away?' Something wasn't right here. Megan bit down on her lip.

‘That's right, we're treating ourselves after being effectively prisoners in our own home for the past month. We're going away.' The man wrapped his arm around his partner's waist.

‘Yes, we're off to drink cocktails and lie in the sun.' The woman smiled and slid her handbag from the counter.

‘You're dropping Cindy off and jetting away on holiday? You're not even willing to discuss anything? To give her another chance?' Jay's voice was laced with disbelief.

Megan could feel Jay tense up beside her, and she glanced at him quickly. His brow had furrowed, and his eyes were dark.

‘As I said, we're on a tight schedule.'

And with that, they both left, the bell above the door tinkling to signal their departure, Cindy's lead loose on the floor.

‘What was that?' Jay shook his head.

‘I don't know.'

Sinking to the floor, Megan tapped her knees, waiting for Cindy to turn around from where she was staring at the closed door and walk across to her.

‘Hello, Cindy. Aren't you a lovely girl?'

‘I can't believe that.' Jay ran a hand through his hair. ‘Why on earth would someone go to the trouble of adopting a dog and then abandon them after just a month?'

Megan stood back up and held her hand to his forearm. ‘I don't know. It doesn't make any sense at all.'

Jay looked down at her hand and gave her a brief smile. ‘No, I suppose we'll find out more when Flora gets back.'

Taking her hand away, Megan felt the hot flush of a blush flash across her face. Jay was right, though. They would find out.

Bending back down, she turned her attention to Cindy again. ‘Shall we go into the kitchen and find you a little treat?'

‘Good idea.'

Megan laughed. ‘I was talking to Cindy, not you.'

She opened the kitchen door and waited until both Jay and Cindy had gone through before closing it again.

‘So what do we do? Just wait until Flora gets back or Sally, Alex or Ginny come through?'

‘I guess so.' Jay spun slowly around in the kitchen before picking up a dog bowl from the stack beside the sink. ‘I'll get her some food to help her settle. Although it looks as though she's already making herself at home.'

Megan smiled as Cindy flopped to the floor at her feet, stretching her long legs out in front of her. ‘I wonder if she realises she's just been abandoned.'

‘Here you go.' Jay placed the bowl of kibble in front of her and watched as she pulled herself to sitting. Then he turned back to Megan. ‘I'm not sure.'

‘I might as well carry on with this lot while we wait.' She indicated the laptop and paperwork. ‘It doesn't seem right to just leave her in here and go back to digging.'

‘I'll go and get on then if you're okay with Cindy?'

‘Yes, of course.' Megan looked towards the door as the bell tinkled, followed by the voices of Flora and Ginny.

As soon as the kitchen door opened and Flora and Ginny appeared, Cindy jumped up, all thoughts of food abandoned and rushed towards them, her tail wagging from side to side as quickly as physically possible.

‘Cindy!' Ginny knelt on the floor and rubbed her hands across the greyhound's back and chest. ‘Have you come for a visit?'

‘Lovely to see you.' Bending down, Flora fussed Cindy behind the ears before looking around the kitchen. ‘Where are Mr and Mrs Stevens?'

‘Her owners? They've left.' Jay grimaced. ‘They said they couldn't cope with her separation anxiety and are returning her.'

‘What?' Flora slumped into a chair.

‘Yes, we tried to tell them to wait and speak to one of you, that you'd be able to advise them or help them with training, but they didn't want to listen, did they?' Megan turned to Jay.

‘Nope. Apparently, they've not been able to leave the house since they adopted her and when they did, she destroyed a brand-new sofa.' Jay shook his head. ‘They had a plane to catch and were eager to leave as soon as they'd dropped her off.'

‘A new sofa? Who buys a brand-new sofa when they've just adopted a dog?' Ginny shook her head and slipped into the seat next to Flora, Cindy following her close behind and lying over Ginny's feet beneath the table.

‘They knew Cindy's problems with being left alone when they came to adopt her. We all told them, didn't we?' Flora glanced at Ginny.

‘Yes, we all did. Sally even tried to encourage them to go to her training classes and when they refused, she offered to go to their house to help with training free of charge.' Ginny shook her head.

‘That's right. And not to mention the fact they'd assured us they were experienced with dealing with dogs with extreme behavioural problems.' Flora tutted. ‘They checked out, they ticked all the boxes. Their home was lovely, they worked from home.'

‘That's a shame. It sounds as though they weren't as experienced as they made out they were then.' Jay took a sip of his drink.

‘No, you're right.' Flora held her hand over her forehead. ‘I do hate to see a failed adoption, although maybe in this case it's for the best. Cindy deserves a family who won't give up on her.'

‘Too right.' Ginny looked down as Cindy laid her head on Ginny's knee. ‘She's such a lovely character. So gentle.'

‘She is, and it actually surprises me that she'd chew through a sofa. She never showed any signs that she was in the least bit destructive.'

‘No, she didn't. There was never any mess in her kennels, no chewed beds. She even used to leave the soft toys we gave her.' Ginny laughed. ‘Do you remember that little pink teddy she had? She used to carry it around in her mouth as though it were an egg or something equally fragile.'

Flora smiled and leaned over, fussing Cindy. ‘Oh, lovely, we'll find you a happy home. Soon.'

‘It's a shame they weren't at all willing to put any time into training her or anything.' Megan sighed.

‘Yes, it is, but unfortunately, some folks are like that. They give all the talk and do very little action. I'm still shocked by the Stevens though. They came across as very experienced and dedicated.' Flora shook her head. ‘And now we need to clear that cupboard out again and ask Susan to replace the gate.'

‘Cupboard?' Jay placed his now empty glass on the work surface.

‘That's right. When Cindy first came to us, we quickly discovered that she couldn't be left alone at all so Sally and Ginny here cleared out the storage cupboard off the reception area and Susan replaced the door with a gate so she could always see or hear someone.'

‘Oh yes, and we'll have to make sure at least one of us is in the reception area or kitchen at all times or she'll start crying and set the other dogs off, too.' Ginny looked across at Megan. ‘It's a good job we've got you here now doing the books. She'll have company. And if you wanted to work in here rather than at the counter, you could always bring her in – if that's okay with you, obviously?'

‘Of course it is.' Megan grinned. ‘It'll be nice to have the company.'

‘That's decided then. We'll get that cupboard cleared out and get Susan on the case of the gate. Cindy can come over with me and Poppy to the cottage of an evening again. She and Dougal became the best of buddies by the time she was adopted.'

‘Who's Dougal?' Megan asked.

‘He's Poppy's little dog. Sweet little thing, he is.' Flora looked at Jay and Megan. ‘Why don't you two go on your lunch break now? You must be done in after digging all morning.'

Ginny stood up as well. ‘The chippy van is parked up in the village at the moment, too. I passed it on the way back from the suppliers.'

‘Ooh, that's good timing.' Jay turned to Megan. ‘Do you fancy chips on the beach?'

Megan glanced at the fridge where the pre-made sandwich she'd picked up from the corner shop was sitting and nodded. ‘Sounds good.'