Chapter 18
It was definitely Ruby that Bex wanted to see, Bex told herself as she hopped out of the car and walked towards the pair with her heart pounding.
Definitely Ruby she wanted to check was all right, and not Duncan, who was standing there, brow furrowed with his hands plunged into his pocket as he chewed on his bottom lip.
She hadn’t seen that expression on him for a long time, but she knew what it meant.
He was worried. And given that he was standing outside the vet’s with her favourite dog on the lead, there only seemed to be one reason why.
‘Duncan,’ she said as she approached. ‘What’s going on? Is everything all right? Is Ruby okay?’
As he looked up, he let out a long sigh, and Bex couldn’t tell if it was aimed at her.
For a moment, she thought she was going to face the same Duncan as she’d helped home the other night.
The one who blamed her for everything and would undoubtedly tell her to get lost. But then his gaze met hers and as he shook his head, she saw just how deep his worry went.
‘I don’t know.’ There was a helplessness to his tone. ‘She’s not eating. I was hoping I could get someone to see her, but the vet’s been called out to one of the farms. Looks like they’ll be gone all night.’
The knot in her stomach tightened. A sick dog and no vet on hand. That was the problem with being somewhere like LochDarroch. There weren’t exactly spare options if the person you wanted to see was busy. ‘How long has she been off her food?’ Bex asked.
‘I don’t know. She’s no’ been herself since Fergus—’ He stopped himself. ‘Since she came to me. And, you know, I thought it was, you know… missing him, but now that I think of it, she was pretty skinny when she came to me. Maybe she hasn’t been eatin’ properly for a while. I should have seen it.’
‘You’ve had a lot going on,’ Bex said, hoping he knew she meant it.
The urge to tell him that whatever was going on with Ruby, not to mention how Fergus hadn’t been able to get hold of him before he died, wasn’t his fault was overwhelming, and she reached her hand out towards his arms, only to change her mind.
Instead, she dropped to her knees and gently cradled the dog’s head in one hand, while ruffling her ears with the other. ‘What’s going on with you?’
With the slightest sniff, Ruby wagged her tail hard on the ground, a faint glimmer of excitement showing through her malaise. Duncan was right. She was skinny. Even skinnier than Bex had thought when she’d seen her before.
‘Huh,’ Duncan said, letting out a huffing sound. ‘That’s the first time I’ve seen her wag her tail properly since I got her.’
‘Really?’ Bex asked, glancing up.
‘Well, unless you include the other night,’ he added.
‘The other night? What happened then?’ If they could work out what it was that made Ruby happy, then maybe they could work out what they needed to do to make her eat more.
Although rather than immediately replying, the tops of Duncan’s ears turned pink.
‘You helped Lorna bring me home,’ he said. ‘Bex, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—’
A fresh wave of guilt flooded his expression and this time it was nothing to do with not noticing how ill Ruby looked.
‘It’s fine. Really. We all have nights we drink too much.’ She kept her focus on Ruby, partly to assess how the dog was doing but also to avoid looking directly at Duncan. ‘She’s off her food, you said?’
‘Yeah. Dry food, meat. She doesn’t want any of it.’
‘What about scrambled egg?’ Bex suggested, finally looking back up at him. ‘Have you tried her with that?’
‘Scrambled egg?’ Duncan’s eyebrows rose. ‘No, it’s not something I feed the dogs.’
‘Well, she loves it. She always did with me.’
Standing up, Bex glanced down the cobbled street. ‘The café’s still open,’ she said. ‘Why don’t we get her some? My shout.’
Her heart pounded as Duncan chewed his bottom lip, considering her question for what felt like an eternity.
Why had she asked him to go with her? She cursed herself.
It sounded like she was asking him out for a meal, didn’t it?
And it wasn’t like he needed to go to the café.
She was sure he had plenty of eggs at home that he could use to whip the dog up a meal.
So why had she suggested it? It wasn’t because she wanted to spend time with him.
It wasn’t that every part of her body missed him so much it was painful, or that being this close to him, seeing him this upset and not being able to wrap her arms around him was pure torture.
She was worried about Ruby and wanted to do all she could for her best canine friend.
That was all it was. Still, her heart drummed as she waited for his answer.
Then, after what felt like the longest pause, Duncan dipped his head in a nod and offered her the slightest flicker of a smile. ‘Sounds good,’ he said. ‘But I’m paying.’