Jill Mansell: Falling for you

If he didn’t shut up, Kate thought she might stuff her polishing cloth down his throat. He might mean well, but another dog wasn’t what she wanted. It wouldn’t be the same.

‘I want Norris.’

‘It’s ten past three. We’ve got this party to go to,’ said Dexter.

Kate heaved a sigh. Tiff’s welcome home party wasn’t what she was in the mood for. Was this how foster mothers felt? Just as you began to truly bond with your charge, he was brutally snatched away? God, it was inhuman.

Except Norris wasn’t a human, he was a dog.

But it was just so unfair. It shouldn’t be allowed. Kate wiped her eyes, which had been leaking, on and off, throughout the lunchtime session. She knew she had to pull herself together, but that was easier said than done. The prospect of never hearing Norris’s lovely snuffly breathing again, or never stroking his velvety jowls, was just ... just .. .

‘Come on,’ said Dexter, ‘don’t cry. I’ll give you five minutes to do your face while I close up, then we’re off.’

Locking the front door behind them, they set off up the road. Kate was touched by Dexter’s concern; he had his arm round her and was being extra nice. What would happen to the two of them in the long term she hadn’t the faintest idea. Would their relationship last? Who knew? She wasn’t under any illusions where Dexter was concerned. Nuala may not have been the right girl for him, but he had treated her poorly. It stood to reason that, as time passed, he might start to take her for granted too.

Then again, he might not. At the moment she still got that squiggly excited feeling in her stomach every time she looked at him, but whether they’d last as a couple was anyone’s guess. She certainly wouldn’t put up with any nonsense. The only thing to do was maintain the upper hand and take the relationship one day at a

‘Watch out,’ Dexter said sharply, yanking her back as she was about to cross the road. A grubby red Audi rounded the corner and shot past in a cloud of dust.

Kate wondered if she was seeing things. Her mouth dropped open and her heart began to bang. Was that really who she thought it was, sitting in the passenger seat?

‘Norris!’ she gasped, and Dexter gave her waist a sympathetic squeeze.

‘Sweetheart, it just looks a bit like Norris. You can’t—’

‘What’s going on?’ Kate, who knew better, held her breath as the red Audi went into a handbrake turn, circling the war memorial at the end of the street before roaring back up the road towards them.

Another squeal of brakes and it drew to a halt beside Dexter and Kate.

‘Oh my God,’ Kate said faintly as Barbara Kendall buzzed down her window and Norris, clambering across her with no regard whatsoever for MaxMara trousers, squeezed like toothpaste through the narrow gap onto the pavement. Hurling himself joyfully at Kate, Norris let out a volley of high-pitched yodelling barks.

Rather than follow him through the open window, Barbara Kendall opened the driver’s door and stepped out.

‘There you are! I just drove up to your house but there’s no one at home. Thank goodness I caught you. All he’s done since we got him home is howl nonstop.’ Her words spilled out in a torrent. ‘It’s driving us insane. We can’t hear ourselves think. Can I be frank with you? Bernard and I have actually enjoyed not having the responsibility of caring for a pet for the last six weeks. If we didn’t have one, we could take so many more breaks, whenever we wanted, and to be honest, neither of us finds it much fun having to take this one for walks. So we wondered if you were serious about taking Norris off our hands, because if you are, well, we wouldn’t mind a bit.’

Kate would have marvelled at Barbara Kendall’s couldn’t care-less attitude but she was too busy kneeling on the hot dusty pavement getting her face thoroughly licked by an ecstatic Norris. Dexter, who had heard what had gone on in the kitchen at Dauncey House this morning, frowned.

‘So why didn’t you say this before? When Kate offered to keep him?’ And save me having to put up with all this grief for the last three hours?

Barbara Kendall, enthusiastically brushing dog hairs from her smart trousers, looked up and said,

‘Hmm? Well, it was one of those silly misunderstandings! Bernard and I have only just admitted the truth to each other. We inherited Norris when his aunt died, you see. Bernard was never wild about dogs, but he tolerated Norris because for some reason he thought I wanted a pet. And of course I wasn’t that keen at all, but I pretended to be because I didn’t want to hurt Bernard’s feelings. So that’s all sorted out,’ she said cheerfully. ‘And the thing is, look at Norris now! He seems so much happier with you than he does at home with us!’

‘I wonder why,’ Dexter muttered, just about beneath his breath.

‘So?’ Barbara was jangling her car keys and looking expectant. ‘What d’ you think?’

I think you’re a cruel heartless witch with a face like a donkey, Dexter was sorely tempted to retort, but heroically he kept this opinion to himself. For Kate’s sake rather than Barbara Kendall’s.

‘We’d love to keep him.’ Kate beamed, hugging Norris so hard she almost lost her balance. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘Well, that’s done.’ Barbara Kendall looked relieved. ‘I must say, from all the things I’d heard about you, I didn’t have you down as a dog-lover.’

Norris lovingly licked Kate’s neck. As she fondled his gorgeous ears, it crossed her mind to demand furiously what on earth Barbara Kendall meant by that.

Then again, did she really want to know?

Honestly, where was Marcella? It wasn’t like her to not be here when she’d promised not to be late. Feeling hot and slightly put-upon, Maddy carried two huge bowls of cherries outside, to add to the food laid out on the trellis table. Everyone else, it seemed, was far too busy being one half of a couple and chatting in a couply fashion to other couples, to bother giving her a hand. Kate and Dexter were here, along with Oliver and Estelle. And Jake and Juliet, doing their best not to fuss over Tiff who was – in honour of the fact that he was an invalid and this was his party – holding court from the shaded hammock.

As for Norris and Bean, they were a picture of perfect coupledom, rolling joyfully around together on the freshly mown grass. Romping together, frisking together, even frolicking .. .

Lucky things, Maddy thought, experiencing a pang of envy. What she wouldn’t give for a romp and a frolic.

Oh dear, it came to something when you found yourself wishing you could be a dog.

Sophie, tugging at Maddy’s elbow, said, ‘Dad says we need more ice for the drinks. We’re running out.’

‘Hang on.’ Feeling like Cinderella, Maddy headed inside to the cool of the kitchen, where Nuala was putting together a Waldorf salad. Of course, how could she even think she was the only one on her own? She and Nuala could be batty spinsters together, growing old and becoming increasingly pernickety as the years slid by.

‘Bugger,’ said Maddy, peering into the freezer. ‘That was the last of the ice.’

‘Bugger.’ Sophie heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes with glee.

‘I can get a couple of bags from the Angel,’ Nuala offered. ‘Dexter’s always got loads, he won’t mind. If you finish this,’ she gestured to Maddy, ‘I’ll get the key to the pub off him and zip over there.’

Maddy washed her hands and obediently crossed to the table to take over from Nuala. Making salads together, this was only the start. Before long they’d be crocheting tea cosies, writing to the council about the state of the highways, tramping about the countryside in matching patchwork waistcoats and floral wellies-