A Summer Country Escape (Country Escapes #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Bets’ phone rang as she reached for the door of the village shop and she stopped dead when she spotted the caller’s name.

‘Hello?’ she answered.

‘Hi there, Bets. It’s Alison from Chiltern Dog Rescue. Remember Tiggy?’

‘Of course,’ said Bets, her heart starting to thud.

‘I have some good news – well, good for you, not so good for Tiggy.’

Tiggy, the little black and tan French bulldog, had captured Bets’ heart the very first time she’d seen her. With her pointy triangular ears she looked like the little alien in the Disney film, Lilo and Stitch, and those big brown limpid eyes were totally irresistible.

‘The other family changed its mind. If you still want Tiggy, she’s all yours.’

‘You’re kidding me!’ Excitement fizzed through her veins. ‘Oh, my God. That’s amazing.’ The smile almost split her face. Sometimes things were meant to be. ‘That’s awesome news. When can I take her?’

‘You’ll need to come and fill in the paperwork but as you’re a veterinary nurse and a long-standing volunteer, I think we can probably forgo some parts of the process. Let me check but probably in about four or five days’ time.’

‘Try stopping me, I’ll be there with bells and whistles on. OMG. I can’t wait.’

She jumped up on down on the spot and pushed open the door to the shop with so much enthusiasm she almost destroyed the precarious display of cornflakes immediately behind it.

‘Ooh, someone’s happy this morning. I wonder why.’ The fine lines around Doris’ mouth spread as she grinned at Bets from behind the shop counter.

‘Hi, Doris, I have news!’ she called, striding into the shop with a new zip in her step.

The last few weeks had been the worst of her life but getting a dog, her own dog!

This had cheered her up, actually made her feel like smiling instead of faking it all the time.

And she was a past master at fake it ’til you make it.

‘So I hear. I’m guessing it’s all to do with a certain someone being back.’ Doris gave her a coy smile.

‘Sorry?’ Bets’ head was full of dog baskets and leads and toys. Her very own dog. She’d always wanted one and had for years been a champion dog-sitter to everyone else. Now, she’d have her own.

‘Jack,’ said Doris giving her an eye-dislocating wink. With her bright blue eyeshadow and rheumy, bloodshot eyes, it was not something Bets ever wanted to see again.

‘Jack?’ Bets blinked at her.

‘Yes. I saw him get out of a taxi late last night with all his cases. Is he back for good?’

Bets’ breath got stuck in her lungs as she tried to digest Doris’ words. It seemed that her brain couldn’t get past the word ‘Jack’, as if she had stage fright. Speech eluded her, her vocal cords frozen into place.

The urge to flee was so strong, she grabbed a pint of milk from the nearby fridge.

‘Got to go. I’m late.’

Clutching the milk in one hand, her heart thumping furiously, Bets strode down the road.

Jack’s back. The words, echoing in her head, had already taken on an ominous sing-song quality, not too dissimilar to Jack Nicholson’s creepy tones in The Shining. Her footsteps pounded on the pavement to the tempo of Jack’s back, Jack’s back, Jack’s back.