Summer with the Country Village Vet

by Zara Stoneley

  Chapter 12

  ‘Oh my God I need that. You’re a life saver. Give!’

  Jill laughed as she passed the mug of tea over to Lucy and perched on the edge of the desk to drink her own.

  ‘I feel like I’ve already done a day’s work and it’s only first break.’ Lucy watched the children playing hopscotch in the playground and took a welcome gulp of the drink.

  ‘I’m really pleased you’ve said you’ll stay, and I’m not just saying that so you don’t keep me in late.’ Jill grinned. ‘What did Timothy do to persuade you? Send in the big guns?’

  ‘He sent in Elsie Harrington!’

  ‘Ah, you’ve met her. She’s his secret weapon, creeps under your defences. Never trust little old ladies, they get devious in their old age and they don’t care what anybody thinks.’

  ‘She crept under mine.’ Lucy looked at her classroom assistant over the rim of the mug. ‘She caught me yesterday, then she was in there like an Exocet missile, straight to my vulnerable spots.’

  ‘You do have some then?’

  ‘Doesn’t everybody?’ She laughed self-consciously. Well she had been thinking she had rather less these days, Charlie Davenport had tunnelled effortlessly through yesterday without even trying, despite the fact that there was an unexploded bomb – otherwise known as a daughter – between them. The way he’d been looking at her she hadn’t known whether to dive across the table and find out if he kissed as well as she’d started to think he might, or if it would be better to dive for the door.

  It must be his professional air, the stethoscope, the steady hands, the gorgeous caring eyes. Okay it was the gorgeous bit. He was all capable and strong, clever, but kind of sensitive and open. And grumpy and moody. That was the bit she should concentrate on. He’d made it more than clear that he had no interest in his adoring and unwelcome fan club. And she had no interest in gaining a boyfriend. And he’d be off to some far flung place soon, and she’d be off back to Birmingham. Which could be perfect; a fling. No a fling wasn’t perfect. Particularly as he had an ex-wife and a daughter. She suppressed the sigh.

  Jill had a raised eyebrow and was giving her a funny look. ‘Are you alright? I was going to say you’re always very together Lucy, I’m not criticising, but you do come across as a bit of a superwoman. A nice one of course.’

  ‘Fine thanks. But Elsie peeled back my protective layers and reduced me to a mushy centre, I’m still feeling fragile.’

  Jill put a hand over her mouth in mock disbelief. ‘Wow, that’s good even by her standards.’

  ‘I’m kidding. I do like it here.’

  ‘But not long term?’

  ‘You haven’t got a vacancy long term.’

  ‘We will have if Becky doesn’t come back.’

  ‘I’ve got my house, and I do actually like working in the city schools, showing the kids that they can change their lives, do whatever they want.’

  ‘They need that here too, Lucy. They don’t all want to be farmers, life in a village can be hard and if this place is going to carry on and survive we need these kids to be high-flying commuters who have fab jobs but still want to come back here.’

  ‘I suppose so. My early life was pretty sheltered, maybe a bit of independence sooner would have been good.’

  ‘So,’ Jill walked over to the window to join her, ‘will your house be okay if it’s empty for a while?’

  ‘I got in touch with a letting agency, emailed them first thing and they got back to me and said they’d have no trouble at all renting it out short term, and I talked to Jim and he said Annie would love me to stay on for a bit, so it’s all sorted. You’ve got to put up with me until the end of the school year.’

  ‘Fab, I really am pleased. It’s great to have somebody young to work with. I mean Becky was young too, but she was a bit set in her ways. You’re brilliant because you can see things in a slightly different way, as well as being a fab teacher of course.’

  Lucy tried not to wriggle. She’d never been that good at accepting compliments, something her mother had always told her off about. Just say thank you and smile, had been her advice. ‘Er, thank you, I think.’

  Jill laughed. ‘It’s true! I can’t blame Timothy for sending in Elsie.’

  ‘He’s funny, Timothy, isn’t he? He told me he’d always been here.’

  ‘He has, you can just picture him in short trousers sat behind an old-fashioned desk can’t you?’ Jill giggled.

  ‘Strangely enough I can. He seems to be a great Head though.’

  ‘Oh, he is. He loves the place, the kids, and he’s not at all old-fashioned in his thinking, even though he looks like he will be.’

  ‘Is he married? I didn’t see him with anybody at the May Day?’ It was strange really, she knew he lived in the village. Jim had pointed out his house the day she’d come for her interview. Maybe he was like her, which was why she felt he was a kindred spirit and wanted to help him; independent, devoted to his job.

  ‘Oh yes, he’s got Mary. But she’s more of a companion than a wife, we don’t see much of her. I think she’s in London at the moment.’

  ‘Oh.’ It sounded a bit strange. ‘And no kids?’

  Jill made a funny sound and when she turned back from the window looked embarrassed. ‘No, he’s not got kids. Plenty of cats though. Mary’s away a lot, she always has been. But she’s been there to support him at important meetings, shake the hands of governors and councillors if you get my drift?’

  Lucy wasn’t sure she did. What on earth was Jill rambling on about? ‘I suppose lots of people used to marry more for companionship than love.’

  ‘Convenience is more the word here I think.’ There was a pregnant pause, as though Jill was expecting her to say something. ‘Though they are very fond of each other, met at Oxford University I think.’

  ‘Convenience?’

  ‘Oh honestly Lucy,’ she shook her head in exasperation, but was grinning, ‘do I need to spell it out? I had you down as smart.’

  Lucy frowned. Then gasped and gave a very inappropriate giggle as the truth dawned on her. ‘He’s gay?’

  Jill rolled her eyes. ‘Bull’s eye. It might have been acceptable in private schools but it’s never been the done thing to admit to homosexuality in villages like this, has it?’

  ‘But people must suspect, I mean you…’

  ‘Oh everybody knows now, of course they do. Some of them are total hypocrites, he just has to look what they term as respectable, fit the mould.’

  ‘Couldn’t he be open about it now though? I mean times have changed.’

  ‘They have in the city, Lucy, but not so much in a small village, although we’re getting there. But, to be honest, I’d guess it would be pretty hard for him now to, you know, come out, after he’s lived this life for so long. I mean secrets get harder to talk about the longer you hide them, don’t they?’

  ‘Miss Harrington said much the same thing to me the other day.’

  ‘Well we’d all like to know about the skeletons in her attic, I’m sure Elsie has a very colourful past, she looks like she was a bit naughty doesn’t she?’

  ‘A handful I’d say!’ Lucy tidied the books on her desk as the bell rang out.

  ‘Miss, Miss.’ Poppy skipped through the doorway, her socks wrinkled around her skinny ankles, her red and white checked dress tucked in her knickers and effectively killed the conversation dead. ‘Jill, Miss, look!’

  Jill went to pull up her socks and got a scowl.

  ‘Not that.’

  ‘Stand still Poppy Brownlow.’ She untucked the dress and straightened it.

  ‘Honestly.’ Poppy stood still, but gave a heavy sigh.

  ‘Now, what did you want to tell us, Poppy?’ The other children were milling round as they came into the classroom.

  ‘Show.’ She stabbed at her own forehead with a thin finger. ‘I wanted to show, not tell.’

  ‘Now that’s beautiful Poppy, isn’t it Miss Jacobs?’ Jill had spotted the thin, and already w
ilting daisy chain.

  ‘Very clever, we can show everybody later in show-and-tell shall we?’

  Poppy reluctantly nodded and took her seat.

  ‘Can I show everybody my bite Miss?’ Joe looked up at the mention of show-and-tell. ‘My dad says it must have been a big bugger to have left a mark like that, it’s right at the top of my leg, want a look?’

  ‘He’s furtling up the leg of his shorts, Miss, tell him to get his hand out or he’ll go blind.’ Sophie had her hand up and was bouncing in her seat in her eagerness to be heard. ‘My mam says boys go blind if they…’

  ‘Everybody sit still. Bottoms on seats. We’ve got a big surprise for you later, but only if you’re good.’

  They sat still. Lucy avoided catching Jill’s eye. She knew if she did she’d be lost, they’d be in stitches. Which would be so unprofessional.

  ‘Mr Davenport is coming in to chat to you all this afternoon, and…’

  ‘Miss, Miss, he’s the new vet isn’t he?’ Ted was waving his hand in the air as he spoke.

  ‘Hands up, lips sealed.’ She gestured across her mouth. ‘No talking until I say your name. Yes, Harry?’

  ‘He made my hamster sleep.’

  His bottom lip quivered and Lucy looked at Jill, she’d never known hamsters have sleep problems before. Jill made a subtle gesture of a cross.

  ‘Oh dear Harry, that is sad.’

  ‘It was sad. He’d gone all stiff by the time we got home and his feet were sticking up. My dad put him in a box and we buried him.’

  ‘Miss, Miss.’ Sophie was waving frantically, one hand over her mouth as though that excused the fact that she was speaking.

  ‘Sophie?’

  ‘My mam says if we get buried in cardboard boxes then the worms will eat our brains and we’ll turn into zombies.’ Lucy was beginning to dread the prospect of meeting Sophie’s mam again at parents’ evening.

  ‘That’s why it’s better to be a cow, then you get made into beefburgers.’ Ted folded his chubby arms across his stout body, his declaration briefly bringing the conversation to a halt. ‘And beefburgers get put in the freezer and last forever.’

  ‘No they don’t, they get eaten.’ Billy piped up, bouncing on his chair so much that it nearly toppled over.

  ‘What do we say about chairs, Billy?’

  ‘All four feet on the floor, Miss.’

  ‘My hamster has gone to see all my other hamsters.’ Harry had stopped looking like he was going to burst into tears, and spoke with the determination of one that knew, and had to spread the message.

  ‘My goldfish went down the loo, is that where all goldfish go, Miss? I thought heaven was up in the sky, but goldfish can’t fly, can they?’

  ‘Elephants cry when their friends die. I saw that on the tele, and they’ve got teeny weeny eyes.’ Billy circled his eyes with thumb and forefinger.

  ‘Beefburgers go hard and meet all their beefburger friends.’

  It was a long morning. Lucy abandoned her plans to talk about the May Day weekend and what they all did, and instead they painted a large rainbow and drew living, dead, real, and imaginary, pets – and a herd of weeping elephants. They talked about beginnings and endings, and new starts, they talked about grandparents and stillborn baby brothers, and they talked about the graveyard by the church in a surprisingly matter of fact way.

  And Lucy had to admit she’d actually found the whole thing quite therapeutic, she’d finally felt that she’d given herself permission to grieve for the dog she’d lost (even though it hadn’t, as far as she knew, died), for the life she’d had to leave. And now she was making a fresh start – not just one that involved running off to University, or burying herself in work.

  Inside, deep down inside she gave herself permission to press the pause button, and all in a classroom surrounded by chattering open-minded children who questioned everything, but judged nothing.

  Charlie probably knew exactly what he was doing when he’d said he wouldn’t come in. She really hoped she wasn’t going to be in trouble with him again after this. She’d rather like to see that cute grin of his again and hopefully the session wasn’t going to be dominated by a big discussion about exactly what he’d done to Harry’s hamster.

  Chapter 13

  ‘That was brilliant, thank you so much.’ Lucy impulsively reached out and gave Charlie a hug, then realised what she’d done and took a hasty backwards step, tripping up over the piano stool. He caught her elbow with a surprisingly firm grip and for a moment they stared at each other.

  Wow, she did love those incredibly warm eyes. She really had to stop doing this. Staring into Charlie Davenport’s eyes was getting to be a bad habit. And a very disconcerting one. They were friends. Allies. That was all they could ever be. All he wanted.

  She shuffled, suddenly self-conscious, and looked down at her feet. Then back up somewhere above the top of his head, then realising she was behaving like a six year old that had been caught stealing sweets from the cupboard she met his gaze. ‘It er, wasn’t as bad as you thought, I hope?’

  ‘No. It was actually quite enjoyable, surprisingly enough.’ There was a lovely fan of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Then he let go of her elbow and let his arm fall to his side. Which was a bit of a shame as he really did have lovely, warm, strong hands. ‘But I could do with a drink, how do they come up with all those questions?’

  Oh heavens, she was sure that laugh that had come out had the kind of coquettish lift that would make her raise her eyebrows if anybody else did it. But he didn’t seem to notice. And at least he was more relaxed than she was, and didn’t seem at all embarrassed.

  ‘Oh you should hear some of the stuff they came up with before you got here. Inquiring minds and all that, we could go grab a drink outside the pub if you wanted?’ What was she doing? She hadn’t meant to say that at all. It was only 4pm, he’d think she was an alcoholic, as well as another pushy woman. ‘And, er, I’ll ask Jill.’

  ‘Sure.’ Well that was alright then. ‘Nice evening for it. This is what village life is all about, eh?’

  ‘I’ll tidy up here then get changed, then see you over there in a bit?’

  ‘Sure. I better check in with Sal, make sure nothing has cropped up, but we’ve had a quiet day.’

  ***

  ‘I have never, ever heard anybody suggest that the fallen off end of a gerbil’s tail should be kept and buried along with it.’ Charlie shook his head, but he was smiling. She could get addicted to seeing that smile.

  ‘Well it does explain tailless cats.’ Lucy said, trying to keep her face straight. ‘Reincarnated gerbils come back as Manx cats, who’d have thought it?’

  ‘Indeed. How do they come up with it?’

  ‘They just say the first thing that comes into their heads. It isn’t filtered.’

  ‘It’s going to take me a long time to get over little Ted’s description of a breech calf.’ Charlie shook his head. ‘And as for the whole discussion on why farm dogs fart more than poodles.’

  ‘You started that!’

  ‘I did not! I just said that the things we enjoyed like chocolate, weren’t necessarily the right things for a healthy pet to eat. Oh shit.’

  Lucy glanced up to see Serena making their way over the green towards them, waving wildly to attract Charlie’s attention.

  ‘Bloody hell.’ Jill sniggered, then tried to bury her nose in her glass. ‘That dog of hers has actually got legs.’

  ‘Charlie, Chas!’

  ‘Chas?’ Jill looked across at Charlie and then to Lucy, who fought to keep a straight face.

  Charlie groaned, and Jill gave him a nudge in the ribs.

  ‘Chas,’ she laughed, ‘oh Chas, darling what it is to be in demand. Never mind, you’re safe stuck in between us two. Well as safe as you can be.’

  ‘Chas, look at my Twinky-winky!’

  Jill’s eyes opened wider, ‘That’s what my little brother used to call his willy. She’s not a transvestite is she? Cos she’s got bloo
dy good legs, check the Adam’s apple and the ankles my hubby used to say.’

  ‘I thought you said I was safe?’ Charlie raised an eyebrow and looked from one girl to the other.

  ‘It’s all comparative.’ Lucy nodded. ‘Want me to get you another pint?’

  ‘No way.’ He put a hand on her knee, under the table. ‘You’re staying right where you are, so she can’t get me.’

  It felt nice, warm, and sent a very weird sensation straight up her thigh. Lucy wriggled. Then froze because that just amplified the sensation.

  ‘Look Charlie.’ Serena was getting closer, her heels slowly sinking into the grass. ‘I’ve brought little Twinkle for a walk, look at her.’

  ‘Oh God, you’ve got to save me from this woman.’ Charlie muttered, his breath warm against her ear as he took his hand off Lucy’s knee, and draped it over her shoulders. Which was marginally better, and marginally worse. Especially the bit where she could see his long fingers out of the corner of her eye. And feel the warmth of his side pressed against her body. And smell a wonderfully subtle aftershave that was nothing like the medical ‘just out of the operating theatre’ smell that always lingered in the surgery. ‘Sorry, can we just pretend we’re together? Sorry.’

  ‘Er. Fine. Splendid.’ She tried to resist the urge to lean in and press herself against his body, wishing it didn’t feel quite as nice as it did. It was ages since she’d had the heavy comforting weight of an arm round her shoulders.

  ‘She’s walking. I’ve done exactly what you told me to.’ Serena tottered to a halt and leaned in a bit closer so that they all got a view of her bright pink, lacy bra (shoes, bag, and bra? You really could take co-ordination too far thought Lucy).

  ‘That’s fantastic Miss Stevens. She looks very well. Walking…’

  ‘Fantastically?’ Jill’s droll tone made something clench in Lucy’s stomach. She must not laugh.

  They all looked. Twinkle stooped down to wee, her beady eyes daring them to laugh. The liquid pooled on the stepping stone she’d stopped on, ran slowly down until the stream parted around Serena’s pink tote bag and stopped short when it reached the toes of her pink shoes. ‘Oh Twinkle.’ She wailed, then scooped the dog up and put it in the bag. ‘Oh how disgusting, she never wees in her bag, and now look, she’s done it on the outside.’