Finding Home in Hartfell (Hartfell Village #1)

Chapter Eighteen

The trip the next day was a joy and Pippa loved going round the pet shop in town with Harriet. They were both excited to choose all they needed for Maud, including a cosy bed, cute pink leather collar with matching lead and heart-shaped name tag. After taking care of Posy first thing, Harriet had raced round to Dorothy’s to deliver the good news and arranged to collect Maud this afternoon.

Even though Harriet didn’t yet understand – couldn’t see far enough into the future to realise that college and then university would expand her life even further – Pippa couldn’t deny her the happiness having Maud in their lives would bring. Harriet wasn’t thinking about twice daily feeds and walks, plus everything else that came with a puppy. Days out, holidays, even a few hours away from the house, all would now require planning, but Pippa was so excited to be giving the puppy a home. There were lots of doggy day care places she could try once they were back in London, and she’d returned to work after the summer break.

Elaine, Gil’s receptionist, had been in touch to say that her dad was doing much better, and she expected to be home by the end of next week. Just a few days ago Pippa would have welcomed this lifeline back to London, but although she was relieved for Elaine and her family situation, the news brought the rather unwelcome sense that their time in Hartfell was ending. Without standing in for Elaine, and even though Harriet was settling in and happy with Alfie, and her job with Dorothy, what more reason could they have to stay?

When an ecstatic Harriet returned with Maud, plus Dororthy, who had a cat which needed Gil’s attention, and a shy Alfie, they crossed the yard to the surgery so Gil could microchip Maud once he’d dealt with Dorothy. He showed them into the consulting room and gave Maud the once-over, checking teeth, ears, gums, eyes and her heart. All was fine, and Pippa let out the breath she’d been holding.

‘I think you’re a very lucky little girl, Maud, you’ve got a lovely new home.’

He was smiling at Harriet, and he seemed to be having as much difficulty in meeting Pippa’s eyes as she was his. Both clinging to the pretence that last night hadn’t happened; that he hadn’t held and comforted her in the kitchen quite the way he had.

Maud yelped when Gil inserted the microchip via a needle that made Pippa wince and Harriet clutch Alfie’s hand nervously. Gil scooped Maud into his arms for a cuddle, laughing as she licked his nose and then tried to nibble it. Pippa was shocked to wonder if it was possible to be envious of Maud, able to make him smile like that.

‘Ow. I’m sorry little one, but it had to be done. I think you’ve got your own back now.’ He offered the puppy to Harriet. ‘Are you taking her?’

‘Yes please. Can she go outside now?’

‘Yes, she had all her vaccinations whilst she was with Dorothy, she’s fine to go for walks. But short ones, okay, it’s important not to give her too much exercise before she’s six months old.’

Harriet and Alfie disappeared with Maud and Lola, who had glanced at Gil before deciding she shouldn’t miss out on any adventures. Harriet’s netball camp was starting this weekend and she’d offered to cancel so she could help with Maud, but Pippa had refused, assuring Harriet that she’d manage and promising to send daily puppy updates.

Gil was behind the counter, logging into the system to register Maud’s microchip. He flatly refused the payment Pippa tried to make him accept for the consultation as she was giving up her time to help, and she thanked him.

She was used to him being in the house now. She knew from the roar of his Land Rover when he left if he was setting out on an emergency or just making a call. Each morning she would run early, leaving the bathroom free so he could shower whilst she had breakfast. Without even trying, they were creating a routine and she loved listening to him chatting with Harriet, sharing his work with her, and answering endless questions. She would never admit, not even to herself, that she’d missed his company last night when he’d been called to an emergency and had returned long after she’d gone to bed.

‘Just checking if you’ll be back for dinner so I can be sure there’s enough.’ He had a hearty appetite, and he made sure to fetch shopping too, and take his turn in the kitchen.

‘Please, unless something changes at work. You don’t mind?’ He switched the monitor off, still focused on the desk.

‘Not if you’re still prepared to eat vegetarian.’ There was a teasing note in her voice that hadn’t used to be there when she was around him.

‘I’ll eat anything.’ Gil looked up to give her a smile. ‘Thanks for finishing dinner last night. It was a late one and I was starving. I’m not used to such luxuries.’

He’d had to abandon cooking to head out to the emergency, and she’d taken over. ‘You’re welcome. Was everything okay?’

‘Eventually.’ He grimaced. ‘Prolapse in a heifer after her first calving. Not a pretty sight.’

‘You or the heifer?’

‘Oh, me for sure.’ His lips pursed together in a wry grin. ‘The heifer was a beauty and so was her calf. Not sure what you’d have made of me, flat out on filthy straw in a pen trying to push an engorged uterus back where it belonged.’

‘Urgh.’ Pippa shuddered, he’d painted a clear picture with those few words. ‘But you managed it?’

‘Eventually. Got to bed at five.’

‘Why are you so often on call?’ Pippa was watching Harriet and Maud darting around the yard. Even Posy was taking an interest from her stable, the wide-open barn door providing her with a pleasant view to stop her getting bored with her own company.

‘There’s only me and one other farm vet at the practice now and I’ve been covering holidays, so I’ve had more callouts than usual.’

‘I see.’ It was an uncomfortable reminder of his leaving eventually, the rural practice dwindling until the main branch closed it altogether. Working in the surgery, she’d seen how brilliant Gil was with his patients and their owners – caring, friendly and highly skilled – and she knew he’d be much missed in Hartfell. She made herself think of London instead, trying to picture her house, her usual routine in the city, but it was a blur, a life she had lived before this one.

‘Alfie will be with us, too. Rose has already messaged to apologise for how much he eats.’

‘You’ve almost converted me, I quite like vegetarian now.’ Gil offered his own tease, and she was the one who looked away first.

‘That was good news from Elaine, about her dad,’ Pippa rushed out, distracted by that lingering gaze. ‘You’ll be glad to get your real receptionist back.’

‘Yeah. Although I seem to be doing okay with my temp. She’s learning the ropes pretty well and hasn’t scared off too many clients.’

Pippa couldn’t find a reason to delay and Gil was done, following her to the door to watch Harriet and Alfie playing with the dogs. Harriet wasn’t quite so attached to her phone these days, and she’d given up complaining about the Wi-Fi. As long as she could keep in daily touch with Isla, she plugged into it whenever she was at Alfie’s as well, which seemed to be very regularly.

‘And you’re sure you’ll be okay?’ Harriet was snuggling Maud in her arms and Pippa nodded patiently for the fourth time. ‘Both of you?’

‘I’ll be fine, Harriet, I promise. Me and Maud. You’ll be back in no time.’

The car was packed, and Pippa was trying to prise Maud away so they could set off for the netball camp in Warwick. Harriet had also said a tearful goodbye to Alfie thirty minutes ago and Gil was waiting too, ready to look after Maud until Pippa returned later.

‘Bye Maud, I love you so much. I’ll miss you like mad.’ Harriet kissed the puppy again and reluctantly gave her up to him, laughing as Maud licked his chin. ‘Thank you for looking after her, Gil.’

‘You’re very welcome. Lola’s looking forward to it as well.’

It had been a mad few days since Maud had come home; playing with her, making sure she ate well, taking her for short walks and wiping up the puddles she occasionally left on the floor. Harriet had been dismayed when Pippa decided that a three-hundred-mile round car journey was too much for Maud right now, and Gil had kindly stepped in.

Pippa didn’t doubt her decision to bring Maud into their lives. She only needed to catch sight of Harriet with the puppy, and her own heart would melt. Maud had made herself very firmly at home in the farmhouse and although Pippa had planned to leave her in the kitchen at night, she’d cried so much when they went to bed the first time that Harriet had burst into tears too, and had run downstairs to gather Maud up. She’d settled in a flash on Harriet’s bed. Pippa’s dismay had dissolved when she’d knocked on Harriet’s door the next morning and found them snuggled together, completely content.

When they arrived at the sports university campus in Warwick, Harriet submitted to a brief hug before the car was unpacked. Then she took off in search of Isla, who’d already arrived. Both girls helped carry in Harriet’s things, and Pippa’s heart swelled when she saw how happy they were to be together once more. She didn’t find the return drive easy, leaving Harriet behind and hoping she’d have a wonderful week. Sunday would come soon enough, Harriet would be back, and Pippa couldn’t wait to see Cassie too, and spend some time with her friend and Isla.

She’d cancelled the lunch with land agent Miles, deciding that any further conversations could be conducted over the phone or online. He was keen to have her sign a contract to get the house on the market now it had been valued, and send someone round to take photographs. He was expecting plenty of requests for viewings and she really wasn’t sure she liked the idea of people tramping through.

After the long drive she took Maud for a quick wander around the garden to stretch her legs, thanking Gil for taking care of her. He excused himself and once back in the sitting room, Maud settled in her snug little bed, with Pippa on the sofa. The house felt different again without Harriet or Alfie here. He was very shy, but he was kind and obviously cared about Harriet, and Pippa liked him very much for that. Her eyes closed and she leaned back, glad to relax after hours in the car.

‘What’s that bloody pony doing in the garden again?’

‘Huh?’ She was nearly asleep, shattered from the drive, and she squinted at Gil who suddenly loomed in the doorway. Maud leaped up with a valiant little bark, greeting Lola with an enthusiastic tail wag as the Labrador took the opportunity to fold herself into the puppy’s bed with a grunt.

‘She’ll explode if she eats any more grass, and I can’t catch the little bugger!’ He sounded so cross that Pippa couldn’t help laughing.

‘I think you must be imagining things. I checked on her less than thirty minutes ago when I took Maud out and she was tucked up in her stable.’

‘Oh, was she?’ He marched over and took Pippa’s hand, towing her to the window. ‘So how do you explain that?’

Posy was ambling through the garden, snatching happily at lush, green lawn and made such a pretty picture that Pippa wished for her sketchbook to capture the image. The early evening sunlight was glinting off her brown-and-white coat, trees casting dappled shade onto the plants beneath them.

‘Pippa! Are you even listening? I said, you’ll have to help me catch her. She’ll be on three legs or dead by the morning if she stays out there all night.’

‘What? Sorry, yes. Catch Posy.’ She finally caught Gil’s urgency, shaking her hand free as she made for the kitchen and the wellies which now lived beside the back door.

The dogs decided it was an outing for them too, Maud’s little legs unable to keep up with Lola’s as they pranced through the garden. Posy had other ideas about spending the night in her stable, and as soon as she saw Pippa approaching as Gil hung back, she applied a brisk second gear and was soon trotting in circles always just out of reach.

‘Are you actually planning to help,’ Pippa panted at him, leaning with folded arms against a silver birch. The grass was studded with tiny hoof imprints and Posy had left a neat pile of poo amongst the geraniums. Now she’d managed to squeeze herself through a narrow gap between two hazel trees and only a flimsy gate lay between her and the field of sheep. ‘Because if you are then can you stop laughing and fetch a bucket or something.’

‘She’s wise to that trick now.’ Gil straightened up. ‘Let’s take a side each and you try and grab her when you get close enough. See if you can hang onto her mane, it’s thick enough.’

She shot him a dirty look. ‘Right, yes, good plan. Hadn’t thought of just grabbing her when I’m near enough. Genius.’

The presence of the dogs seemed to spur Posy on, and the gate was no match for her roundness when she gave it an experimental shove. She raced off into the field and Gil managed to slam it to keep the dogs out. It was another fifteen minutes before they herded her into a corner, and she allowed Pippa to put on the headcollar he’d slung over one shoulder. She led Posy back to the yard, about to put her in the stable, when he spoke.

‘Actually, whilst you’ve got her, I’ll just have a look at her teeth.’ He halted in the yard, towering over the pony. ‘She’s due a dental and seeing as Harriet’s away, you’ll do.’

‘Oh, will I? Right now?’ Pippa was ready for bed, and she’d be crawling up the stairs after Posy’s latest little escapade on top of that drive.

‘No, the middle of next week,’ he retorted, sprinting to the Land Rover parked beside the tatty caravan and opening the boot. ‘She shouldn’t need sedating for a check up and quick rasp.’

‘Sedating?’ Pippa tried to quash the nervous note in her voice. ‘How bad is she, exactly?’

‘Mind your feet. And hands.’ Gil returned with a bucket of water he’d removed from Posy’s stable and some tools that to Pippa looked as though they belonged in a museum, not a small pony’s mouth. He bent down and slipped another headcollar on, just a strip of leather which went around her ears and was attached to some awful-looking metal contraption he slid between her teeth. Posy was already swishing her tail, cute little ears flattened and giving him the evil eye as he carefully prised her jaws apart.

‘What the hell’s that?’

‘A gag. It keeps her mouth open so I can see.’ He switched on a head torch, nearly bent double on the ground to peer inside.

‘A gag! Surely she doesn’t need one of those?’

‘So are you offering to stick your hand inside and hold her tongue out of the way then?’ His own hand reappeared as he fished out a clump of soggy, half-chewed grass from Posy’s ill-gotten garden gains and threw it to the ground.

Pippa wasn’t, so she kept quiet as he produced a large metal rasp and set to work, like filing nails, dunking the rasp in the bucket to rinse it occasionally. She was busy enough trying to hang onto Posy, who did her best to back up, shoot forward and even stand on two legs to avoid Gil’s attentions. She clouted him on the knee at one point and Pippa had to bite her lip very firmly to stop herself from laughing as he yelped.

‘Can’t you hold her still?’

‘I’m trying, but in case you haven’t noticed she has twice as many legs as me and is a fair bit heaver. Can’t you work more quickly? She obviously doesn’t like it.’

‘You don’t say.’ He glared at Posy as he rinsed the rasp and tried again. ‘She’s not the only one. There are about fifty other ways I’d rather be spending my evening.’

‘Then why bother?’

‘Because if her molars get sharp again, they could ulcerate her tongue and she’ll like that even less.’

A few minutes later Gil decided Posy’s teeth were neat and even enough, and he slipped the gag off. Posy shook her head, sending drops of green flying. Pippa gave her a pat and told her she was very clever and brave, which made him roll his eyes.

‘I’ll just take a look at her hind hoof while you’ve got her. She had a cut and I haven’t been able to get near since I treated it.’

Unfortunately, Posy had no desire to spend the remainder of her evening being administered to any more by Gil, even if he did apparently have her best interests at heart. She stood quietly as he ran a hand down her leg, ready to lift up her hoof, and then lashed out with a speed Pippa wouldn’t have believed she possessed if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

‘Owwwww,’ he howled, hopping on his other foot and flashing Pippa a glare. ‘I thought you had hold of her!’

‘I did,’ she gasped, barely able to get the words out for fear she’d explode with laughter. ‘Looks like she’s in charge of her own feet after all. Not such a tough Yorkshire vet now, huh?’

‘What did you say?’ Gil was rapidly undoing his belt and Pippa’s eyes were wide as he yanked his jeans down.

‘What are you doing!’

‘What does it look like,’ he retorted, and she didn’t have a reply to that; she was too transfixed by the close up of muscular thigh. ‘Checking for injuries.’

‘Injuries? She’s knee high to a grasshopper.’ This time she couldn’t contain her laughter and the outrage on his face just made it even funnier. ‘You’ll probably end up with a bruise the size of a spoon. What would you do if a proper horse kicked you?’

‘Yeah, well, if you’d kept hold…’

Pippa didn’t have time to think it through, the bucket of filthy water was right there. She launched it at him, enjoying the twin satisfaction of silencing him and covering him in green sludge in one go. Her triumph lasted only until his shock receded and it was clear he was bent on immediate retaliation. There was only one thing to do. She let go of Posy and the pair of them took off in opposite directions.

Seeing as his jeans were still around his knees, Pippa was hoping to outrun him and hide in the garden. Maud was yapping wildly, and Pippa threw a glance over her shoulder to see Gil in pursuit with the bucket and his jeans back on, catching her up with every stride. She gasped when the water hit her back, stumbling from the blast of cold and trying to avoid Maud, who darted away with Lola. He grabbed her around the waist and, unbalanced and helpless with laughter, Pippa tumbled to the grass, one welly flying through the air.

He landed almost on top of her, and it was only one arm shooting out to prop him up that prevented his weight crushing hers. She saw the exact moment his eyes darkened, and her breath caught as they fell to her mouth. Her pulse was racing from the sprint and spiked again at the way he was looking at her. She was barely aware of tangling her hands in his hair, lips parted, wanting only to cling to this moment and hold it still, keep him here.

He smoothed the wild hair from her face, running a thumb down her cheek and letting it rest against her lips. She caught it between her teeth, tugging gently and he groaned, touching his forehead to hers. His chest was hard against hers and she curved her back, hooking a leg around his to hold him close.

‘Your T-shirt’s wet again.’

‘Your fault,’ she whispered. ‘You shouldn’t have come after me.’

‘What did you expect,’ Gil muttered against her ear, lips brushing her skin and making her gasp when he placed a tantalising kiss on her neck. ‘That I’d let you get away with it?’

‘I hoped you might. At least it’s only my back that’s wet.’

‘Is that right?’ He slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her into him, transferring the dampness of his T-shirt to hers. ‘I can rectify that.’

Her hands were on his wet top, ready to tug it over his head, when the phone in his pocket rang. His head snapped up and he fumbled to answer it. The apology was in his gaze as he pulled away, and Pippa heard the panicked tones of a voice on the other end of the call as he got up, running an agitated hand through his hair. His eyes hadn’t left hers and he offered a hand. She accepted it, brushing the grass from her top once she was back on her feet, and retrieved her welly. He ended the call, and the moment was lost. She wondered if they would ever find another.

‘I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.’ He turned a shoulder to the house. ‘An emergency, with a dog. Could be a stroke.’

‘It’s fine.’ She was trying to bring order back to her body and banish the burning desire and how he’d made her feel in those few, all-too-brief seconds. It was a shock to remember how uninhibited she’d felt in his arms, wanting more, wanting him. He was staring at her, twisting the phone in his hand before he nodded once, turning to sprint away as Lola raced after him.

Maud tried her best to keep up and flopped onto the grass, exhausted by her efforts. Pippa scooped her up and cuddled her close as they set off to find Posy. She heard the roar of his Land Rover speeding out of the yard as she reached the garden and spotted Posy near the terrace. She let Pippa catch her and lead her back to the stable. This time she made sure to check all the locks on the door were in place.