Practically Perfect (7 page)

Accustomed as she was to London supermarkets, with, she thought, every possible cheese, Anna found herself mystified. There were cheeses here that she had never heard of. The man behind the counter, wearing a white coat and hat, smiled helpfully.

Anna drew a deep breath. ‘I’d like something soft but strong.’

The man laughed. ‘Right, what about this camembert? Have a taste?’

By the time Anna had tasted quite a few cheeses, and filled her bags with rather more than was possibly wise, the fact that she hadn’t had breakfast was no longer a problem.

She was just on her way to the WI stall, to see whether (if she balanced her shopping carefully) she could manage to fit a small carrot cake on top of everything else, when a car backfired.

It took several seconds for Anna to work out what had happened. At first she thought her wrist was being wrenched from her arm and then suddenly it was released as Caroline reversed out of her beautiful wide collar and set off for home. Anna’s carrier bags slipped out of her hands, sending everything to the ground. Apples bounced behind peaches, grapes were crushed by potatoes and a grapefruit, going for a strike, landed in the gutter. For a second she dithered: should she pick up her things or go after Caroline? One glance in Caroline’s direction made up her mind. Small children, most of whom had probably tried to pat her, were sitting in the road, howling; a woman with a wicker basket, loaded and dressed like Little Red Riding Hood, fell back as if the wolf himself had gone rushing past; and a group of teenagers lounging against the wall shouted in glee: ‘Look at that dog go! Fast or what?’

Anna, struggling to catch up with her, fought her way through the mêlée, ignoring the fallen children and overturned shopping trolleys alike. She had just come across a small roundabout and was wondering if she could clamber over it, or go round, when she spotted a man holding Caroline.

Relief flooded over her along with perspiration. Her mouth was so dry she could hardly speak. ‘Thank you,’ she rasped out, seeing that he had Caroline on a blue nylon lead.

She wasn’t expecting him to be angry. ‘What do you think you’re doing having a dog you have no control over?’ he stormed at her.

Anna opened and closed her mouth, still finding speech difficult. Behind her she was aware of Aidan of the bushy beard and his son Ocean gathering up her belongings.

‘Now hang on,’ Aidan said, handing Anna most of her shopping. ‘It wasn’t her fault!’

‘Well it’s not the dog’s!’ said Caroline’s rescuer.

‘No, but …’ agreed Aidan, and helped his son hand Anna her bowling-ball grapefruit.

Anna took it gratefully. She was painfully aware that she was in for an earful and although she felt it was not undeserved, she was putting off the moment of hearing it.

‘Will you be all right, love?’ asked Aidan.

‘Oh yes. Thank you so much for rescuing my shopping.’

Aidan’s teeth appeared for a moment amid the forest of his beard and then he swung his son back up on to his shoulders. They strode off into the crowd, the size of a giant. Anna watched them go regretfully, then turned reluctantly to her accuser.

‘Don’t you realise that these dogs are very sensitive?’ Caroline’s rescuer, free of the inhibiting presence of a tall man and a small child, got into his stride. ‘A lot of them are terrified of bangs. You should never have taken her out among all these crowds on that bloody ridiculous collar!’

Anna was already upset. Caroline getting away from her like that had been a dreadful shock, but she also felt
guilty
and certainly didn’t want to have a row with a complete stranger in such crowded circumstances.

‘Thank you very much for catching my dog,’ she said with as much dignity as she could manage, given that she was surrounded by carrier bags and people. ‘It was very lucky you had a spare lead on you, but if you could just let me have her, we’ll get off home now.’

The man took her arm, then dropped it. He picked up the bag full of cheese and the fruit one and then took hold of her again. He didn’t let her have Caroline, but more or less frog-marched her out of the crowd and beyond the village.

Anna protested as much as she could. She wasn’t being kidnapped, obviously – in fact, she was being helped – but she didn’t like it.

‘I can manage!’ she insisted crossly. ‘You don’t have to come home with me. Caroline’s fine now.’

The man halted and looked down at her. ‘Maybe, but by the looks of you, you need a cup of coffee. So do I. You owe me,’ he added less fiercely.

Anna chose to ignore the twinkle that had appeared in the corner of his eyes, which, now she came to look at him, obviously twinkled often.

‘You can’t just invite yourself for coffee!’ She said indignantly.

‘I just did. Where do you live?’

‘I’m not telling you! It’s nothing whatever to do with you! I’m not giving you coffee!’ Anna couldn’t quite work this man out. One minute he had been furious, now he was intent on becoming her second ever visitor.

‘I’ll pay for it then,’ he retorted. ‘Just tell me where you live.’

‘No!’ Anna bit her lip hard so she couldn’t smile by mistake and stopped dead. The whole situation was
ridiculous
. She wasn’t going a step further with him.

The man discovered that it’s quite difficult to drag someone who’s reluctant to be dragged, especially if they’re weighed down by bags of potatoes. He let go of her arm.

‘Look, I realise you don’t want to go telling strangers where you live,’ he said reasonably, ‘that’s understandable, and I could survive without a cup of coffee, though not well. But there’s the welfare of a dog at stake.’ The twinkle had faded somewhat which made it easier for Anna to stick to her guns.

‘Listen, I can look after Caroline perfectly well, I don’t need you—’

‘Yes you do! Trust me! I’m the rehoming officer for the local greyhound rescue centre.’

Anna, who was already quite hot, got even hotter, then she went cold. ‘They told me there wasn’t one.’

‘They lied. Or at least, they were mistaken. I’ve recently taken it on. Now, tell me where you live,’ he added more gently.

Anna took her time. The man, though fairly tall and wide, did not look like an axe murderer, though she realised she didn’t know what an axe murderer did look like. It was unlikely that he’d been hanging round the market looking for a victim, and if he was, would he choose someone with a large dog? No, reluctant as she was to acknowledge it, the rehoming officer profile fitted better.

‘It’s really not a good idea for single women—’ she began.

‘—to announce the fact to complete strangers,’ he finished for her.

The twinkle was back but Anna resolutely ignored it. ‘But if they’ve done it by mistake, it’s even more stupid to let that complete stranger into their house!’

At first glance people sometimes thought Anna was a shy and mousy creature; if this man had made the same mistake he was disabused of it now.

His expression became quizzical. ‘My name is Rob Hunter. Why don’t you check with whoever let you have that dog that I’m a bona-fide member of the Greyhound Trust?’

This, annoyingly, was a perfectly reasonable solution. Anna could take the man as far as Chloe’s, and if Chloe knew him, OK, but if she didn’t – well, with luck, it wouldn’t be blatantly obvious that Anna lived next door.

Given her day so far, Anna wasn’t surprised when Chloe, the one person who could say whether or not this man was an opportunist axe murderer, proved to be out. She banged on the door again, but the house felt empty and no one answered.

Rob Hunter regarded her with one raised eyebrow. It was all very well for him to find the situation potentially amusing, she was the one possibly taking her life in her hands. Hoping her sister would never learn of her complete and utter folly, she decided to take a chance. She unlocked her front door.

Chapter Four

‘YOU’LL HAVE TO
excuse the—,’ she began, on autopilot, and then stopped.

‘Oh my God!’ His cry of horror was out even before Anna had got to the word ‘mess’.

She was indignant. ‘Look! I’m still building it! There’s no need to have such a fit.’

‘There’s every need, I’m afraid.’ He walked into the room as well as he could, given how few floorboards there were.

‘Why? And would you mind not talking so loudly. Caroline’s very nervous.’

The man’s glance would have withered a mature oak tree. Anna turned away. Caroline went to her bed. ‘She hates men,’ said Anna, having regrouped her nerves.

He regarded her, his gaze making her feel like a ten-year-old caught doing something extremely naughty. He really was a strange man, given to quick bursts of temper one minute, humour the next and back again to temper. He obviously had a short fuse, but she wasn’t standing for it.

‘You can see!’ went on Anna, in a sort of shouted whisper. ‘She’s hiding!’

Caroline had indeed buried her head in Anna’s sleeping bag and Rob Hunter, momentarily so angry, was transformed. He walked over to where Caroline’s back end could be seen. ‘Hello, darling.’

Something happened. Caroline’s head emerged and she regarded the man. He went towards her, murmuring sweet nothings, and she rolled over and lay on her back with her legs in the air in an attitude of complete submission. When he started rubbing her chest and throat, she went into a state of bliss. She let her legs swing down and when the man began to caress her throat, she stretched her neck to give him greater access. It was a miracle. ‘Well, she doesn’t appear to hate me.’

‘She knows you a bit by now, since you dragged her home,’ said Anna crossly, refusing to notice that he’d stopped being angry and was twinkling again.

‘Look,’ he said, his words honeyed with sweet reason, ‘why don’t you make us a cup of coffee? We both need one.’

She was indeed desperately in need of something – even a glass of water – but should she give in to this man’s demands? As he wasn’t paying her any attention, concentrating his social skills on the dog instead, she decided that she could put the kettle on without appearing to capitulate. Caroline was now sitting up, giving him a paw. Anna suspected that if she’d had any furniture beyond a kitchen chair, and he had sat in it, Caroline would have jumped on his lap in an instant.

When Caroline stood up, so did her uninvited guest, and he ran his hands all over her.

‘What are you doing now?’ demanded Anna, affronted and amazed at the same time. ‘It looks as if you’re checking for broken bones.’

‘I am.’ He continued to pull Caroline’s silken ears through his fingers, over and over, while she leant against him, gaga with adoration.

‘Oh,’ said Anna, less amazed and more affronted. ‘Did you find any?’

‘No.’

Now he opened her mouth and inspected Caroline’s teeth. ‘These need a bit of attention. Have you taken her to the vet since you’ve had her?’

‘No.’ She tried not to sound defiant, and failed. ‘I haven’t had her long. I thought she should get used to me before I dragged her off to the vet.’

‘But you were quite happy to drag her off to the market and let her get traumatised by a backfiring car?’ His reproach was accompanied by a half-smile, but it was still a reproach.

‘Listen, she was fine until that happened! And how could I have known a bloody car would make a noise like a gun going off? You’re being totally unreasonable.’ And Anna felt totally wrong-footed.

He sat back on his heels and looked up at her. ‘I’m sorry if I seem like that, but it’s my job to check out your house to see if it’s suitable. And quite obviously, it’s not. And if I may say so, I’m not convinced you’re a responsible-enough person to have charge of her, either.’

‘Well, it’s bit late to find that out! I’ve had Caroline for a …’ She hesitated. She had actually had Caroline for a week, but did he need to know that? ‘For quite a bit. And I’m not giving her up!’ It was only now that Anna realised how important the dog was to her. Up until then, she’d thought that if Chloe said she and the family were moving to a bigger house and wanted to take Caroline with them, she’d have been delighted. Now she suddenly knew that she and Caroline were a team, and inseparable. ‘And if you really want coffee as badly as you said you did, you’d better stop treating me as if I’m a dog-molester!’

He chuckled but went on seriously, ‘None of the proper procedures can have been gone through when you took Caroline,’ he said, rather too patiently for Anna’s liking.
‘And
you probably don’t know the first thing about how to look after a rescue greyhound.’

‘I didn’t take her! You make it sound as if I stole her.’ Anna knew she was getting more het up than was sensible, but couldn’t help herself. ‘A woman called Star came, just for a visit, and left her with me, without us even knowing.’

‘Us?’

‘My neighbour was with me. She’s very big in greyhound rescue.’

He coughed, possibly concealing a laugh Anna chose not to notice. Instead she scowled. No way in the world was Caroline going to be wrested from her, but she was only too aware of how unorthodox their union had been. ‘Well, you’re not having Caroline back. She’s mine now; that’s all there is to it. Do you take sugar?’