Page 19 of All Wrapped Up
‘The woman was so disappointed when I said she couldn’t take her, but it just wasn’t right.’
He sounded choked and stopped talking to take a drink. I knew how long it had taken for me to even consider trying to connect with anyone after losing Callum, but of course poor Pixie didn’t have the benefit of being able to understand what was happening to her, let alone know that one day she might come through it. All she must have wanted was for her owner to walk back through the door and take her home. I felt choked myself as I imagined her feeling so abandoned and confused.
‘She was with her owner when she died, you know,’ Ash then told me as he gave Pixie’s back a gentle rub. ‘She was found sitting right next to her. She’d been there for hours.’
‘Oh, Pixie,’ I gasped. ‘You poor darling girl. No wonder you’re so traumatised.’ Her lovely, dark eyes met mine. ‘Losing the person you love most in the whole world is excruciatingly painful. Must be excruciatingly painful—’ I corrected and blushed.
I quickly picked up my glass before I made more of a mess of what I was trying to express and ended up revealing too much.
‘Clemmie,’ Ash then started to say, his brow furrowed as the cogs in his brain began to turn in a direction that I would have preferred they didn’t. ‘Have you…?’
Thankfully, what Pixie did next stopped him further developing that thought. She slowly stretched, then jumped off Ash’s lap, timidly crossed the room and stared up at me.
‘Hello, my darling.’ I smiled down at her.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Ash gasped as Pixie’s tail slowly wagged.
‘Have you come to say hello?’
She took a step closer and lifted her front paws on to my legs, with her tail still wagging.
‘Well, I never,’ Ash said in astonished wonder.
I put my hand out and she licked it, then tried to jump up.
‘Can I pick her up?’ I asked, my eyes flicking to Ash’s face.
‘I think you’d better.’
He looked even more astounded when I carefully lifted Pixie up, lowered her on to my lap and she made herself at home. She felt like she weighed nothing as she turned around on the spot, then snuggled cosily up as familiarly as if she’d done it every day of her life.
Ash and I looked at one another, but didn’t speak, then sat silently for a while as I slowly ran my hands over Pixie’s head and down her back and she relaxed further into my lap and then fell sound asleep.
‘So,’ Ash whispered, finally breaking the silence. ‘Remind me what your thoughts are on dog adoption, Clemmie? The day we met, you didn’treallysay that you’re not a dog person, did you?’
‘I did,’ I confirmed, as I continued to gently stroke Pixie. ‘I’m not.’
‘Well,’ he chuckled, ‘the evidence in front of me is suggesting otherwise.’
‘That’s as maybe,’ I quickly but quietly said back, ‘but as I recall also on that day, you were adamant that Pixie could only live with someone you knew.’
‘Well,’ he grinned. ‘I know you now, don’t I?’
‘Hardly,’ I pointed out.
‘I know enough.’
‘Such as?’
I was curious to know what he had gleaned and whether it was right or not.
‘Well, I know you’re single,’ he started to reel off. ‘That you have a beautiful home and garden, a passion for poultry and, given the number of feeders I’ve spotted hung up outside, a fondness for wild birds, too.’
‘That’s not all that much.’ I smiled, but I was surprised by the amount he had managed to take onboard about me in the short time we’d known each other. And what he’d focused on noticing, too.
‘And I also know,’ he carried on, ‘that Lizzie messaged me earlier saying I had to talk to you today though I’ve no idea why. Oh crikey.’ He then puffed, ‘I hope Joanne hasn’t been thinking about my love life again. No offence…’
‘No, don’t panic.’ I laughed and Pixie sleepily sighed at the disturbance. ‘Lizzie wants us to talk about pumpkins, not passion.’
