Page 50 of The Vet from Snowy River
‘Excellent, um, excuse me I just—’
And like a coward she darted into the kitchen where she contemplated shoving her head into the freezer for a couple of seconds to make sure her cheeks weren’t flushing.
‘You’re chicken-hearted, Vera,’ she told the jumbo packet of frozen peas taking up the second shelf. The pea packet seemed to agree. After a moment, the thought of how huge her electricity bill was going to be if she stood in her freezer door every time the vet came into the café made her see how ridiculous she was being.
This was her café, damn it. She marched back out a few moments later with a dish oftartes aux fraisesto top up the stock out front, determined to be composed. There were a dozen tables she could concentrate on serving, and Poppy could certainly serve any food her father might require.
‘Well, well, if it isn’t the talk of the town,’ said a loud, stroppy voice by the till.
‘Oh, golly,’ muttered Poppy.
Vera looked up from the dish of tarts she was hoping would tempt the guests who liked to pop in after the early Saturday night movie screening for dessert. ‘What’s up?’
‘You know how Dad’s here?’
‘Yes,’ she said cautiously.
‘Well, so is guinea pig woman. She must have been at the movies with her kid, because they’ve just rocked up. That’s her in the doorway, the one with the bulging eyes and the zippered-up mouth.’
Guinea pig woman and son? Oh. The penny dropped. She looked across the servery and saw a pretty blonde woman with a pouty face and big hair marching towards the counter stool where Josh Cody had taken a seat with a beer and today’sSnowy River Star.
‘The woman from the clinic who trash-talked your mum?’
‘That’s her.’
‘You think it’s going to get ugly?’
Poppy grinned. ‘Here’s hoping.’
She frowned at her young assistant. ‘Just because you’re leaving town on Monday doesn’t mean the rest of us can. Let’s try and avoid a ruckus, shall we? I’ll try and head her off. Think you can do a better job than me slicing this tart?’
Poppy shrugged. ‘Maths is my best subject. A hundred per cent of tart divided into eight equal segments comes to twelve point five per cent per slice. Yeah, no probs.’
Vera could feel a wrinkle forming on her forehead. ‘Who are you, and what have you done with my favourite fifteen-year-old?’ She handed Poppy the knife. ‘I’ll go serve this woman. Try not to mention the words guinea and pig out loud.’
Poppy’s giggle gave her a warm little rush, as did the arm the girl slung around her. ‘You’re the best boss, boss. I’ll stay close in case Dad goes nuts again and has to be dragged out.’
Vera eyed Josh as she came around to the public side of the counter. He’d set his beer down and was looking up at the big-haired woman, all bland charm. Vera busied herself wiping her sticky hands on her apron and hovered closer so she could intervene if things got noisy.
‘Kelly,’ he said. ‘How lovely to see you again. And Braydon, isn’t it?’ He reached out and shook the teenager’s outstretched hand. Maybe she wasn’t going to have to intervene after all.
‘The kid’s kinda cute,’ she stage-whispered to Poppy.
‘I know, right?’
She glanced at the girl, who grinned up at her. Kids. Who knew they could be this fun? She had a sudden image of a sprightly Jill, walking alongside her teen self on the windswept beaches south of Canberra, her head thrown back, her rich laughter filling the air. She’d always thought she, Vera, had been the lucky one, to have Jill step in and look after her when her mother died … but perhaps her aunt had found herself just as rewarded?
If she hadn’t met Poppy, she’d never have understood that.
‘Oh-oh,’ she heard Poppy mutter.
Events seemed to be heating up at the end of the counter.
‘Don’t you Kelly me, Josh Cody,’ the stroppy woman was saying, and not in her inside voice. ‘Not after the way you treated me in your clinic. You’ve got a nerve, coming back here and talking down to me. The whole town knows why you ran out.’
The newspaper Josh had been reading snapped shut.
‘Jeepers,’ said Poppy. ‘Apeshit alert.’
