of back-up and gap filler, and now they were coming with me to Nightingale Square to be nurtured and help fill the Broad-Meadows-shaped hole in my heart.
‘We’ll see if we can stop and have a stretch when we’re halfway there,’ I told Nell as she curled her lithe limbs around her and I gently closed the door. ‘Not that it’s all that far, but we don’t want you getting cramp, do we?’
The other vehicle, a van I unfortunately recognised, drew to a stop beside me, and Jackson raced down the front steps from the house, a look of victory lighting up his smugly arranged features. He had obviously been poised to pounce, hiding in the hallway and biding his time to inflict maximum impact.
‘Just a minute, Freya,’ he barked at me.
‘Hello, Peggy,’ I said to the stout woman who had climbed out of the van wearing work boots and a muddy waxed coat, while I ignored my almost-former employee. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘She’s here to do something for me actually,’ said Jackson. ‘Now, where’s that damn dog got to?’
‘It’s a sad business this, Freya,’ said Peggy, the manager of the rescue centre where Eloise had plucked Nell from. ‘I don’t know how the poor old girl will cope with going back into kennels. She hated it last time and now she’s grieving too.’
‘You aren’t serious?’ I said to Jackson.
‘Well, I don’t want her,’ he said nastily. ‘I haven’t got time to look after a dog. Peggy and I have discussed it and this is the only solution. Isn’t that right, Peggy?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ she sighed, looking every bit as miserable as Nell would if she caught sight of her former gaoler.
Peggy was a wonderful woman with a heart of gold, but as far as Nell was concerned, she meant other dogs noisily barking, a concrete kennel and a lengthy, possibly infinite, wait. No fireside, no treats, no home comforts and limited walks.
‘We have to do what’s right for Nell,’ said Peggy, opening up the back of the van to reveal a large metal crate. ‘And if Jackson says he can’t manage her—’
‘But I told him—’ I interrupted, shooting Jackson a look.
‘And now you’re leaving too,’ Peggy carried sadly on, ‘the poor love won’t know what’s hit her.’
‘Which is exactly why,’ I said, raising my voice, ‘I told Jackson that I was taking her with me!’
In the days following my resignation announcement, I had made it more than plain, on more than one occasion, that even though he didn’t want her, I did.
‘What?’ said Peggy, stopping in her tracks.
‘Nell is coming with me,’ I reiterated.
‘No, she’s not,’ said Jackson, turning red, ‘because she’s not yours to take, is she? She belonged to Aunt Eloise and therefore, like everything else here now, she belongs to me.’
‘But you don’t want her,’ I said angrily.
‘Which is why, I’m getting rid of her,’ he shot back. ‘My dog, my decision.’
Peggy slammed the van door closed again, making us jump, before adjusting the belt on her coat and drawing herself up to her full height which wasn’t far off six foot. Jackson shrank in response, and were the situation not so dire, I might have laughed at his cowed reaction.
‘You’re taking Nell with you?’ Peggy asked me.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘there’s no question of that. I would never have left her here with him.’
‘You should have told me, Freya,’ she said. ‘As Nell came from the centre, I should have been informed of any change in her place of residence or ownership.’
I hadn’t thought of that. I had foolishly assumed that Jackson would be relieved to have one less thing to deal with when I had told him what I was planning to do, but apparently not. It turned out that he wanted to make as much drama out of the situation as possible.
‘Exactly,’ said Jackson petulantly. ‘But don’t worry, Peggy, because there hasn’t been a change of ownership. The mutt’s still mine. Unfortunately.’
‘Where exactly are you taking her?’ Peggy asked me, holding up a hand to quieten Jackson again.
I looked at him as he craned forward to hear what I was going to say and bit my lip. Thanks to Luke and Kate’s willingness to forgo a reference I had managed to keep my new abode and place of work a mystery and that’s how I wanted it to stay. I hadn’t even furnished my parents or Peter with the finer details. They knew I had a job in Norfolk, but not exactly where.