Page 45 of Chasing Dreams at Wagging Tails Dogs' Home

‘Umm, I do.’ Poppy laughed and picked up Ginny’s discarded olive slice before popping it in her mouth. ‘I love them.’

‘Eww.’ Ginny squirmed as Poppy ate the olive. ‘I’ll just give you them if I find any more then.’

‘Ha ha, please do. It’ll save me from peeling them off the bottom of the pizza box.’ Poppy picked up another slice of pizza, the stringy cheese dribbling from the dough. ‘So Eden got a clean bill of health at her check-up this afternoon?’

‘Yes, she did! She’s just such a sweetie. The bite on her leg has completely healed now, and she’s ready to be assessed and put up for adoption.’ Ginny curled her legs beneath her on the sofa.

‘She’ll be snapped up, I should think.’

‘I’m sure she will. In fact, I had a couple come over to me at the vet’s as they recognised me. They adopted a dog last year – Tyler, a little spaniel.’ Ginny laughed. ‘I’ve never known a dog to love to play fetch as much as him. I mean, I know most dogs love it, but his obsession is on a completely different level.’

‘I think I might have met him on the Christmas collection around the village.’ Poppy was sure there’d been a spaniel in one of the homes she’d collected from and she was positive they’d said they’d adopted him from Wagging Tails.

‘Probably. He lives in West Par. Anyway, they came over to talk to me in the waiting room as they recognised me and, of course, I had to say hello to Tyler and, guess what? They’re looking for another dog. They love having Tyler and want to give another dog a home!’

‘Oh, that’s lovely.’

‘Yes, yes, it is. They were asking about Eden and I’ve promised to ring them when she’s ready to be rehomed so they can bring Tyler in to meet her properly.’ Ginny placed the crust of her pizza in the box before picking up another slice. ‘I’m keeping my fingers crossed because they were getting on so well at the vet’s.’

‘That’s great. Let’s just hope Mr Thomas lets us take the rest and we can find homes for them all.’ Poppy took a sip of her drink.

‘Definitely.’ Ginny pulled a large fluffy throw from behind her and shook it out. ‘Here, do you want some? It’s cold even with the heating on.’

‘Yes, please.’ Poppy helped to lay the throw across their knees, grateful for the extra warmth. ‘I keep expecting it to snow. I know we had a fluttering of it on the evening of the Christmas collection, but I mean like proper snow.’

‘Same here. I really need to remember to buy some more logs for the wood burner. It’d have had this room heated in less than half an hour.’ Tucking the throw around her, Ginny picked up her glass again. ‘Mack was saying that he thought we’d have snow soon too when I saw him at the surgery today. He reckons we’re going to have a lot this year.’

Poppy nodded, but kept her gaze on the TV, watching as Santa’s sleigh was drawn into the sky, hoping that Ginny hadn’t noticed her shift at the mention of Mack’s name.

Ginny looked across at Poppy and frowned. ‘He also asked me to pass on a message.’

Poppy jerked her head back to look at her. A message? She swallowed. ‘Oh, yes?’

‘Yes, it was really strange, actually. He just asked me to say that he was sorry and asked if you were okay.’

Poppy looked down at the throw laid across her lap and began winding the tassels around her fingers.

‘Is everything okay between you? He was acting a bit weird when he asked me to pass that on.’

‘In what way, weird?’

‘Just quite serious, I guess. You know him, he’s quite a positive person, but, I don’t know, he was a bit… serious.’ Ginny shrugged. ‘Is there something going on between you?’

‘No, there’s not. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us, as I found out yesterday.’ Poppy began to wind the next tassel around her the next finger.

‘What do you mean?’ Ginny frowned. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. If there’s something going on between you, then that’s your business. Not mine.’

‘No, don’t worry. There’s literally nothing to tell, anyway. I was in town when that downpour started yesterday evening and… we had a moment.’ Poppy shifted position again, drawing her legs up further onto the sofa. ‘Or I thought we had a moment, anyway. He went to kiss me, I began kissing him back and then he pulled away, apologised, said it was a mistake and that was it. I’ve not heard from him since.’

‘Oh.’

‘I keep going over it in my head. It all happened that quick. I just keep wondering if I made the whole thing up, but I know I didn’t and I know it was Mack who went to kiss me first.’ She shrugged. ‘I have no idea what I did wrong. I guess he just doesn’t want to get involved with someone like me.’

‘Hey, what do you mean by “someone like you”?’

‘You know, someone with baggage. A house my ex still lives in. No job to speak of. Yes, I can get work from the supply agency, but it can’t always be relied upon. And besides, I don’t even live here. I don’t blame him. Anyone would run a mile.’

‘All those things you’ve stated aren’t a reason he wouldn’t want a relationship with you. Everyone has baggage at our age. Literally everyone.’

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