Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts (15 page)

‘Can he do that?
Why
would he do that?’ She grabbed her hair and twisted, an old habit. ‘He’s taking them to gold-plated theme parks every other weekend and buying new cars!’

Allen sighed. ‘You’re asking the wrong person, Zoe. You’d be amazed what some people will do. Divorce isn’t a nice business.’

Except for solicitors, she thought bitterly.

Zoe’s attention shifted as she spotted Toffee emerging from behind a chair, looking sheepish. His jaws were moving in a manner she’d come to dread.

Allen was still talking, his voice now concerned, as well as patient. ‘Zoe, I know you don’t like being tough but we’ve really got to take a hard line about this. I suggest you come in and . . .’

‘Hang on, Allen,’ said Zoe and made a grab for Toffee as he sidled past. With the phone jammed under her chin, she scooped the puppy up – he seemed to grow every single hour – and, fearing what she might find, rooted urgently around in his mouth with a finger, removing, in the nick of time, a puppy-choking chunk of Leo’s Lego.

Toffee gave her a baleful look and began chewing on her finger instead, his sharp teeth making red weals in her skin. Zoe bit her own lip to stop herself crying out.

‘He could end up leaving you with nothing,’ Allen went on. ‘And to be honest, I’m worried about the noises his solicitor’s making. Off the record, is he planning to settle down with this Jennifer?’

Zoe looked at the Lego, seconds from choking Toffee, then looked at her bitten fingers, which were throbbing, and then looked at herself in the glass of the kitchen cabinet. No make-up, wild hair, yesterday’s t-shirt, bags under her eyes that she hadn’t seen since her granny still roamed Barrow’s bingo halls.

When the boys were here, it was easier to ignore things in the never-ending series of questions and snacks and washing. But without that comforting buzz of white boy-noise filling her head, sharp realities poked through.

David’s not coming back. I am a single mother and I’m only thirty. I’m letting him get whatever he wants rather than fight back because I don’t have the energy to be vicious. And now Jennifer’s lining up to be the next Mrs Graham.

Zoe clamped her spare hand over her mouth, feeling sickness and panic rush over her. She put the puppy down, and he scampered to the other side of the kitchen, yapping uproariously, oblivious to her distress. ‘Um . . . sorry, I’ve forgotten the question.’

‘Look, why don’t you come in and see me?’ suggested Allen. ‘This morning – I’ve got a cancelled appointment. Jump in the car and we can go through this together. It’s a lot to take in.’

‘But I can’t leave the dog!’ she said automatically, panic filling her. This was going to take a lot longer than the forty minutes the book said she could leave Toffee without a loo break.

‘You can’t what?’ Allen sounded confused.

No, thought Zoe, it’s ridiculous. I can’t be trapped in my own house by a
puppy
.

‘OK. I’ll be there.’ She made a superhuman effort to pull herself together and began hunting for the hairbrush and Toffee’s training lead and collar. I have to do this, she thought, through the frustrated tears flowing down her face. I have to sort myself out for the boys. Even if it hurts like hell.

She put the collar on a wriggling Toffee, then looked at her tote bag, which sat capaciously on the kitchen table.
If needs be she could always line it with a supermarket carrier.

‘Let’s call this your first socialisation lesson,’ she said bravely and he wagged his little tail.

As it turned out, it wasn’t one of Zoe’s better ideas.
 

Rachel had just finished putting the dogs back in their runs, and was heading for Dot’s kitchen, mentally relishing a coffee to unthaw her freezing extremities, when she heard the sharp sound of raised voices in the front office, and for once, it wasn’t the Staffies kicking off.

‘You’re not listening to me!’ cried a woman’s voice, shredded with distress. ‘I’m telling you, I just can’t cope! I can’t
cope
!’

Rachel caught Megan say something in response, and it sounded so unusually sharp that she hurried into the office without even bothering to hang up the leads on their usual hooks.

The woman from the pet superstore was standing by the front desk half-clutching a yellow Labrador puppy in her arms. The puppy was yelping, and tears were running down the woman’s face as she gabbled something to Megan and tried to push the puppy onto her.

Rachel racked her brains to remember the woman’s name. Had she told them?

She strained to hear what was being said, but between the yelping and the crying, she could barely make out a word. Megan was doing her best to keep calm, but the woman was in hysterics and it was setting off the rest of the dogs in the runs. There was also a strong smell of urine – and possibly something more pungent.

Gem was sitting upright in his basket, his head on one side as if he was watching
EastEnders
.

‘Please, please,’ the woman kept saying over and over again. ‘I’ve got to get back to work, my boys need me. You
have
to take him. I just can’t look after him the way he deserves.’

‘Let’s be calm here,’ Megan kept saying, to little effect. Zoe, ‘just calm down . . .’

Rachel found herself taking charge, just to get the noise to stop.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked pleasantly. ‘Can I help you? Is this the puppy you were telling us about the other day? In Pet World?’

‘Please, you’ve got to take him,’ Zoe blurted out, before Megan could speak.
‘He’s a lovely puppy, and he deserves a good home but I just can’t give it to him. I mean, I’ve done my best, but I can’t take any more time off work to train him. I know it’s cruel to leave him all alone.’ Her face crumpled with misery. ‘Don’t make me feel worse than I already do. It’s bad enough working out what I’m going to say to my boys when they come home.’

Megan glanced at Rachel with sympathetic eyes, and Rachel saw Lulu’s fabulously empty kennel being refilled instantly, just as they’d managed to free it up. She shook her head, hard, at Megan and mouthed, ‘No!’

‘Then maybe you should give him back to your ex, and get him to return him to his breeder?’ she suggested hastily, dragging up a handful of Dot’s leaflets. ‘Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do, Megan? Don’t they have that unspoken code of conduct?’

‘I don’t know where he came from,’ wailed Zoe. ‘And I don’t trust David – he won’t even provide for his own kids, let alone a dog! I’ve just had a meeting with my solicitor that—’ She sobbed. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve had a really, really bad day.’

‘Of course we’ll take him . . .’ Megan began, but Rachel interrupted.

‘Megan, be an angel and put the kettle on? I’m frozen.’ She rubbed her hands together and turned to the woman, who’d now sunk onto a chair, the baby Labrador still cradled in her arms. Zoe was obviously too upset to notice the damp patch on her coat, but Rachel spotted it. She spotted puddles everywhere. She was seriously considering a new
Dragons’ Den
career making puppy nappies. ‘Can we make you a cup of tea? You look like you need one.’

Megan gave Rachel a warning look but Rachel nodded firmly towards the kitchen, and reluctantly, Megan left.

Rachel sat down next to Zoe, and lifted the puppy’s paw up, as if they were shaking hands. The puppy gazed at her, his trusting brown eyes following her face. He has no idea he’s about to be abandoned here, she thought. He thinks he’s just having a trip out. A small pink tongue darted out and licked his nose, nervously. Rachel steeled herself not to fall for his cuteness.

‘Hello, Toffee. You’re a handsome chap!’ she said, stroking behind one hot ear.

‘Here, do you want to hold him?’ Zoe said, and before Rachel had a chance to reply she’d dumped him on her knee.

Instinctively Rachel grabbed the puppy to stop him falling off, and he shuffled backwards into her lap.

He was a lovely warm lump, she thought, as Toffee sniffed her clothes and skin, but almost immediately he started chewing on Rachel’s finger and she had to prise his jaws off her hand, trying not to wince.

‘Is he going through a chewing phase?’ she asked.

‘All the time,’ Zoe sniffed. ‘Chews everything. I know he doesn’t mean to, but I’m scared he’ll chew through a cable while I’m at work and the kids will come home and find him dead in the . . .’ She hiccupped and pushed her hair behind her ear, trying to sound calmer than she evidently was. ‘Sorry. I’ve just had a very upsetting meeting. My ex is being a bastard.’

‘All puppies chew,’ Rachel said, in a reasonable tone. She hoped it sounded authoritative, and not as if she’d just read it, which she had. Years in PR had taught her the art of sounding knowledgeable on the basis of a leaflet. ‘Just give him something to chew
on
. A Kong, or a teething toy. Pop him in his crate, and he’ll be fine. Look, we do some advice on crate training . . .’

‘I don’t have time to do that!’ wailed Zoe. ‘I’ve got to get back to work to feed my kids!’ She gazed miserably at Toffee, who was blissfully mouthing Rachel’s fingers. ‘He deserves more than we can give him. He needs to find a better home now, before he gets used to us.’

Rachel manfully ignored the pain in her fingers and focused instead on keeping the puppy out of her precious empty run.

‘Could you pop back home at lunchtime? Or hire a walker?’ she suggested. ‘Do you have a neighbour who could pup sit? Or maybe you could take him into work? One of our new owners has done that, in fact – he’s a doctor . . .’

Zoe half-laughed, half-sobbed, her composure now hanging by a thread. ‘You must be joking! I know Toffee looks cute but he’s a wrecking machine! He’s trashed my house in three days, and it normally looks like a bomb’s hit it already.’

Rachel furrowed her brow. ‘So why did your ex think it would be a good idea to get a puppy, if he knew you worked?’

‘Because David
doesn’t
think!’ Zoe sank her head into her hands. ‘Spencer’s wanted a puppy for ages, and it was easy for David to give them one, then let me deal with the shitty part. It’s typical of David! He wanted a family – he had us. He wanted a bit on the side – he shagged someone at work. He wanted to have us both, but at least he’s found out you
can’t
. . .’ A sob broke through her words, and she put her hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes closed.

Rachel felt a squirm of shame about the bit on the side, but she pushed it away. Fresh start, she told herself. This is a fresh start, no Oliver, no secrets, no guilt.

‘That’s rough,’ she said, and reached out a hand to pat Zoe’s. ‘That’s a lot to deal with. I didn’t mean to make you feel worse.’

‘Sorry.’ Zoe wiped her eyes roughly. ‘God, this is so embarrassing. I had to take Toffee with me to the solicitors’ and he just peed everywhere, on some cables or something – caused a powercut to their computers, major disaster apparently.’

Her round brown eyes met Rachel’s and there was a ghost of a twinkle in them. ‘I mean, if it had been any other time, I suppose I’d have found it funny, but . . .’

She stopped, self-consciously, as Megan pushed the door open with her foot, and plonked three cups of tea on the office desk.

‘Here we are, tea all round for us and a Bonio for the lad,’ said Megan. ‘Now, listen, I’ve had an idea.’ She turned to Zoe with a reassuring smile. ‘I reckon we can come to a compromise.’

Rachel eyed her with suspicion.

‘Go on,’ said Zoe, clutching her tea cup.

‘If we take Toffee from you, he’ll be rehomed in about five minutes flat,’ said Megan sternly. ‘No kidding. We’ve got people lined up for puppies, and once you sign him over that’s it, no changing your mind when you get home. I’m sure you don’t want that, not really. But I totally understand about your working, and it’s very responsible of you to know he needs more company. So have you thought about doggie daycare?’

Each time she’d paused for breath, Zoe and Rachel had opened their mouths to interrupt but Megan hadn’t let them. Now Rachel jumped in before she could do it again.

‘Doggie what?’

‘Doggie daycare,’ said Megan, as if Rachel should know exactly what she meant. ‘Like daycare for kids, only here? You drop your pup off on the way to work, we walk him, feed him, let him socialise, then you collect on the way home, spend the rest of the day together and do your training with your boys.’

‘Really?’ Zoe’s eyes lit up. ‘That would be the
perfect
answer.’

‘Would it?’ Rachel beetled her brows at Megan. ‘I didn’t know Dot did that kind of . . .’

‘It’s a fairly new idea.’ Megan busied herself breaking up another Bonio into small pieces for Toffee. ‘We were just, you know, trialling it. Seeing if it would be popular. And clearly, it would be!’

Zoe looked from Megan to Rachel. ‘That would be OK?’

‘Yes,’ said Megan at the same time as Rachel said, ‘Megan, can I have a quick word?’

‘What about?’ Megan beamed brightly.

‘Er, the tea’ said Rachel. ‘Let me show you how I like it. Can I leave you here with Toffee for a second?’

She steered Megan out of the office and into the kennels kitchen. From the patter of claws on lino, she knew that Gem had followed them, as if he was part of the team.