Practically Perfect (5 page)

‘I can see that.’ Star gathered her skirts and made her way up the ladder.

When they could hear her clumping around in her walking boots, Anna whispered to Chloe, ‘She’s mad! Why did she want a dog in the first place?’

Chloe shrugged. ‘Lots of people want dogs.’

‘Yes, but they don’t have them if their houses aren’t suitable or whatever! Look at you, you love greyhounds, but you haven’t got one!’

‘No,’ Chloe conceded.

‘I think she’s totally irresponsible. As for her partner – he should go to prison.’

‘I couldn’t agree more. And you must see, she’s totally unfit to have a dog.’

‘So am I!’

Before Anna could say more, they heard Star making her way to the top of the ladder. ‘Can I look round the garden?’ she said as she climbed down. ‘I want to see the view from the end of it.’

Star didn’t wait for permission before going out of the front door.

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Anna said to Chloe. ‘The woman’s completely off her tree! Honestly, Chloe—’

Chloe put up her hand. ‘I know, I know, really I do, but I only mentioned your name and she fell on me. I think she was frightened the neighbours might call the RSPCA or something.’

‘I think they should!’

Chloe was biting her lip. ‘You’re perfectly entitled to be
furious
, with me and with Star, and I’m really, really sorry, but Star … she’s more barking than Caroline is.’

Anna, who had started to forgive Chloe the moment she apologised, knelt near the unwitting cause of all the upset. ‘That’s not hard! She’s too terrified to say a word!’

Chloe joined them on the floor. ‘I wonder if she chases cats. Lots of them do.’

‘Surely all dogs chase cats,’ said Anna. ‘Which is why you really couldn’t have one here with so many cats and no fences. Nor could I. Even if I had a staircase.’

The dog looked from one to the other, and it seemed to Anna that she was calmer than she had been. Now when Anna put out her hand, Caroline gently sniffed it.

‘The thing is,’ Chloe said sadly, ‘if you don’t have her, she’ll have to go to a kennel miles and miles away. It’s really very important that now she’s experienced life in a home, even a really bad one, she keeps it up. I promise you it won’t be for long.’

Anna sighed and said nothing. They stayed silent, letting the dog get used to their nearness.

It was only after a while that they realised Star had been in the garden a long time. But when they got up to see where she’d got to, the garden was empty.

‘Perhaps she went round the back to the privy,’ said Chloe, referring to Anna’s only form of sanitation.

Anna shook her head. ‘No. If she’d wanted the loo she’d have asked you if she could use yours. I think she’s gone.’

‘She can’t have!’ said Chloe, genuinely concerned now. ‘I’ll go and see if her car’s down the lane.’

Chloe sprinted up the path, but came back almost immediately, panting, but otherwise silent.

‘She’s gone, hasn’t she? And she’s left Caroline here!’ Anna exclaimed.

Chloe nodded, biting her lip. ‘It’s like leaving your baby
on
the doorstep of the hospital! I’m terribly sorry! I had no idea she’d do something so irresponsible. She’s away with the fairies, no other word for it, but this is the limit!’ Chloe was mortified. ‘I really didn’t know she was going to do that. Please believe me!’

Anna, who had allowed a thread of suspicion about Chloe’s part in this to run through her mind, let it go. Chloe might be impulsive, but she was caring.

‘So what shall we do? There must be a number you can ring. An emergency rescue service or something. It’s not that I don’t want her, I just think it’s far more than I can take on just now. I know nothing about dogs!’ Anna was beginning to feel panicky. If it turned out Star really had gone, Anna was determined not to be backed into taking on a dog, albeit a very endearing one.

‘There is a number,’ said Chloe calmly. ‘I’ll go and ring. But in the meantime, we’d better find Caroline something to sleep on. Greyhounds get cold easily.’

‘Poor thing! I’ll get my sleeping bag.’

‘No need,’ Chloe called back as she went out of the front door. ‘Star’s left her bedding. And a note:
Please look after Caroline. I’m sorry
.’

The two women regarded each other in silence. ‘That’s it, then,’ said Anna after a few moments. ‘She’s dumped Caroline on me.’ Disconcertingly, she found she wasn’t quite as displeased as she knew she ought to be. ‘The woman’s totally, recklessly, irresponsible. I only hope she hasn’t got children.’

‘Oh, she has, several. They mostly live with their fathers.’

‘A good thing too,’ Anna replied sharply. ‘But what would you expect from a woman who’s got a dog’s name, and who gave a dog a person’s name?’

‘I like proper, people’s names for animals,’ said Chloe.

‘Actually, so do I,’ said Anna. ‘But what sort of a mother would call their child Star? No wonder she’s batty.’

‘Oh, it wasn’t Star’s mother who called her that. It was Star herself.’

‘Figures,’ murmured Anna. ‘Come on, let’s get Caroline settled on her bed. I’ll get the fan heater. You go and ring the emergency number,’ she said firmly. ‘This can’t be a permanent arrangement.’

Caroline was shivering and Anna had put this down to nerves, but then she realised it was with cold as well. Even when she had the old duvet that was her bed under her, she still shook, so Anna filled her hot-water bottle, glad that Chloe wasn’t there to see her. When she had tucked it under Caroline, and pulled the duvet over the dog, she said, ‘You need a coat, darling. You’ve got no flesh and very little hair, really. Perhaps I’ll find a jumper for you to wear in the meantime.’

As she rummaged in the black plastic sack that was her clothes storage and found a very nice warm sweater that had shrunk a little, she realised a familiar emotion was forming in her heart. ‘You must stop falling in love, Anna,’ she said aloud, reversing down the ladder. ‘It just gets you into trouble.’

But the trouble with falling in love was that it was involuntary, and no matter how well you knew it was a bad idea, if it was going to happen, it happened, and you couldn’t prevent it, however much you wanted to.

When the phone rang at nine-thirty that night, Anna picked it up half in hope, half in dread.

‘No good, I’m afraid. There isn’t a foster carer in the area who isn’t full to the gunnels.’ Chloe paused. ‘If you could hang on to her until morning, there’s someone in Wales who might be able to have her …’

Anna sighed and succumbed to the eloquent pause at the end of Chloe’s sentence. ‘Obviously, I’ll keep her for tonight and we’ll see how it goes.’ She knew she should be insisting Chloe took Caroline away first thing, but looking at her curled up on the sleeping bag, she just didn’t have the heart. ‘But if there are any problems …’

‘The Trust will have her off you in a jiffy.’ Chloe sounded exultant, and possibly sensing this she added, ‘It really is very kind of you. I’m going to have a dinner party in your honour the moment Mike’s back. You’ll get to meet some local people and it’ll be a reward for being such a star about Caroline.’

Anna grinned. ‘I’m not sure about being a star …’ She couldn’t help thinking of the woman who had abandoned Caroline.

‘Oh, you know what I mean! I’m going to ask you about all your favourite foods. But not now, it’s bedtime. See you soon. You’re a honey.’

Anna brought her sleeping bag down from the attic and arranged it near Caroline’s duvet. She sipped her cup of hot chocolate by the light of the candle flame and shared a biscuit with Caroline. Caroline, who was looking very fetching in a Fair Isle jumper that had originally come from a charity shop, licked her hand. The falling in love process was complete and irrevocable. And having a warm back against hers did have its compensations. Even Anna’s sister might agree with that.

Chapter Three

THE FOLLOWING DAY
was mostly taken up with the getting-to-know-each-other process. Chloe, still racked with guilt about Caroline being dumped on Anna, had rushed out to the pet shop, leaving Anna in charge of not only a large, nervous greyhound, but, because it was Saturday, three small boys as well. Fortunately the boys and dog got on very well, mostly because Chloe had explained that Caroline was very nervous and they were only allowed to whisper in her presence, and not touch her unless she invited them to. The boys played with their toys and, indeed, only whispered. Whispering involved a lot of giggling, but Caroline didn’t seem to mind that.

Chloe came back with a carload of equipment. ‘I’ve done really well! If you lot could come and help me unload it all, that would be fab!’

Making sure the door was safely shut, they left Caroline in Bruno’s tender care, while Anna and the other two boys walked up the lane to where Chloe’s car was parked.

‘I couldn’t get a dog bed,’ she announced to Anna, ‘but I got an Army camp bed from that little shop in Hamilton Street. Do you know the one I mean?’

Anna didn’t, and received the bundle in silence.

‘There was an offer on dog food. Here you are, Tom, can you manage that?’ The little boy took hold of a sack that was marginally taller than he was, and staggered along the lane with it.

‘I got the food and water bowls from the pound shop. Oh, and these.’ She handed Anna two red plastic buckets.

‘Why does Caroline need buckets?’ Anna was confused. ‘I know she’s large, but she’s not a horse.’

‘I know. But it’s very bad for them to eat at floor level,’ Chloe explained. ‘You can buy proper dog-feeding stands, but a bucket works just as well. You put the bowl, which is just a washing-up bowl, you know, in it, and it’s the perfect height.’

‘I know I haven’t got much of a kitchen yet, but I do know a washing-up bowl when I see it. You must let me pay you for all this,’ Anna offered.

‘Nonsense! It wasn’t all that much, really, and I feel responsible.’

‘What will Mike say about it?’

‘He won’t notice, and when he realises the alternative was having a greyhound living with us, he’ll feel it was a good deal!’

The two women were now walking down the path, Chloe clutching a bundle of toys for Caroline. ‘But he does like dogs?’ Anna had yet to meet Mike, as he was still in whichever strange country he was currently working in, and she was intrigued to find out what he was like.

‘Oh yes! He loves them! Never marry a man who doesn’t like animals.’ Chloe was very definite about this, and Anna’s mind flicked to Max. Did he like animals? She had no idea. ‘Mike just says we haven’t the space,’ Chloe continued, oblivious to the fact that Anna’s attention had wandered, ‘and he’s right.’

‘Now I see how much gear comes with having a greyhound, I’m not sure I’ve got the space, either!’

‘Nonsense,’ said Chloe. ‘Now let’s see how Caroline likes her things.’

It turned out Caroline liked her things very much,
especially
her lead with its beautiful wide leather collar, so it only seemed fair to abandon work for the morning and take her up to the common for a walk. She trotted along so elegantly and politely that Anna felt quite proud – as did Chloe and the boys, who came with them – and all was very well until Caroline saw a cat. Then only Chloe’s added strength on the lead prevented Caroline disappearing over the horizon.

‘You can’t blame her,’ said Chloe, panting and wiping her hand over her forehead. ‘She’s been trained to chase small furry things.’

‘I know,’ said Anna, equally out of breath. ‘I just wonder if she can be trained not to?’

‘Can I hold her?’ asked Bruno, the eldest of the three.

‘Only if Chloe holds her at the same time,’ said Anna. ‘Just until we know it’s safe. She’s very strong, and she’s probably not used to lots of different people leading her.’

But Caroline behaved perfectly once again, and the sight of the huge dog, walking sedately behind the small boy, was extremely sweet.

The other two boys then both wanted a turn and she behaved just as well for them. Then Anna spotted an old lady with a Yorkshire terrier getting out of her car, and took over the lead.

‘It’s another SFC – small furry creature,’ she said. ‘Caroline might think she has to chase that, too.’

Much to everyone’s relief Caroline merely glanced at the small dog, and continued on her stately way.

‘You see, she’s really well behaved,’ said Chloe smugly. ‘You’ll have no trouble with her.’

‘No, I suppose not. But the rehoming officer might not like her having to live in a house with no staircase.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about it. Most of the greyhounds I know aren’t allowed to go upstairs anyway. But what are
you
going to do about the staircase? I happen to know they’re awfully expensive.’

Anna knew this too. ‘I rather thought I might build it myself,’ she said cautiously.

‘Oh my goodness!’ Chloe looked at Anna with awe.

‘It will be difficult, but you’re right, they are fantastically expensive.’ She paused to allow Caroline a good sniff at a tree.

‘But don’t you have to be trained to do that sort of thing?’ Chloe watched as her boys ran towards the swings, glad of an opportunity for some uninterrupted adult conversation.