Chapter 8 #2
‘House rules,’ said Bridie knowingly, imagining there was a whole new set of house rules now Barney was on the scene.
Which reminded her … she still had questions about the pup. ‘I don’t understand. This is the most unusual retirement present ever. It must have been such a surprise.’
Her dad turned around and shut the conservatory door. ‘Actually, it wasn’t all that surprising.’
‘Huh?’
‘So, a few weeks before I retired, I go out with the guys in the office for lunch and we’re talking about what we want in retirement, you know if we had one wish.
Some of them said a yacht, round-the-world cruise, an allotment – that sort of thing.
But I blurted out that I wanted a dog – a Labrador, to be precise.
That I’d always wanted one. Preferably a chocolate one. ’
Bridie laughed. ‘What if you’d said a yacht or a round-the-word cruise or an allotment?’
‘Ah, I bet I would have got a toy yacht or cruise ship, or a spade.’
‘They didn’t get you a toy dog, though.’
‘Nope. I tell you, I couldn’t have been more surprised when I opened the large box in the office, and there he was.’
‘Did you cry like you see those children on YouTube videos?’
‘Oh, yes, I blubbered good and proper.’
‘Did Mum cry when you brought him home?’
‘Not tears of joy, I’m afraid.’
Bridie smiled. She had a feeling that her dad would not have got his retirement wish if he hadn’t been given the puppy by his colleagues.
‘So, you want to walk him?’
Bridie was about to jump at the chance. Then she thought of the neighbours. Unfortunately, Barney would be the perfect excuse for them to pop out and have a friendly chat.
‘How about a play in the garden, then? I get it. It’s quite a responsibility. You’ve never walked a dog before.’
‘I’ve never played with one before either.’
‘Here, take this.’ Her dad handed her a ball.
Bridie looked at the ball and the puppy. ‘I feel like my wish just came true.’
‘You always wanted a puppy.’
‘Yeah, since I was little. Who would have thought …’ she looked at Barney.
‘Every cloud has a silver lining – eh? You coming home.’
Bridie frowned.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Now I’m not going to want to leave.’
He laughed. ‘Well, if you don’t go far this time, then you can visit every day, like Kate’s kids and husband.’
‘And Kate?’
‘At the weekend.’
Bridie tried to keep her expression neutral, all the while thinking, that’s just great. She was going to see her sister every weekend, there at their parents’ house.
‘And then all I have to do is get Jeremy to move out of London too, and then the whole family will be in Suffolk.’
‘Is that what you want?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘But I thought you wanted a retirement, just the two of you.’
‘Yes, it’s true, but I’m going to miss the buzz of the office and seeing Kate every morning on the train.’ He lowered his voice, glancing at the door. ‘I’m worried,’ he confided.
Bridie didn’t understand. Or maybe she did.
Dad had worked in London for years, decades.
He’d hated it, apparently. But this, just being in Suffolk with Mum, was going to be a huge change for him.
She empathised. She was stuck there, albeit in a very lovely, homely cottage with two people she loved, and a puppy, but it wasn’t for the rest of her life.
‘Dad, you’ll find other hobbies, interests. Perhaps there’s something you could do together, you and Mum.’
‘Yes, there is. But she’ll never agree to it.’
‘Why – what is it?’
‘I never told you this, but years ago, your mum and I, we first met in a—’
‘Rufus! What’s taking you so long?’
The door opened at that moment.
Bridie looked at her dad. Didn’t everyone know the story of how their parents first met? It had been at a local village dance. Or had it? Why did she get the feeling that it was not what he had been about to say?
Bridie’s mum put her hands on her hips, eyeing Barney in Bridie’s arms. ‘Who woke up the puppy?’
‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘So, are you taking him for a walk?’
‘For a play in the garden.’
Her mum turned to her dad, and said, ‘See? That’s why I didn’t buy them a puppy.’
She walked out.
At the door, Rufus turned around and whispered, ‘You won’t repeat what I said, will you?’
‘About Barney? My lips are sealed.’
‘Actually, I was rather meaning the other thing …’
‘The other thing?’
‘You know, about your mother and I doing something together.’
‘But you never said what that something was.’
Her dad cast a surreptitious glance at the door. ‘I think that’s for the best.’ He left, closing the door behind him.
Bridie looked at the pup in her arms. ‘How would you like to see my bedroom?’ She expected there was a house rule about Barney going upstairs. And sitting on beds, or under duvets with her while she read more of her teenage diaries.
Her dad hadn’t long retired. She imagined Barney had hardly ventured out of the conservatory.
‘Come on. I think it’s time you explored your new home.’ A few moments later, she whispered, ‘That was fun, wasn’t it, Barney?’
Bridie had managed to get past her mum and dad, who were in the lounge, without them spotting her as she crept up the stairs, Barney in her arms. Barney had nearly given the game away when he’d yapped excitedly. She had let him out first in the back garden to sniff around and do his business.
Afterwards, Bridie had found some treats to take on their adventure upstairs. Barney sat for his treat before snuggling under the duvet with her.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ she whispered to him.
‘I think I’m regressing to being a teenager.
’ For the first time since arriving home, she didn’t mind one bit.
On her way through the kitchen, she’d found some snacks to keep her going for a morning, or possibly longer.
She planned to just hang around in her bedroom, disappearing from the world into her teenage diaries, which were full of hopes and dreams for the future.
She stroked the sleeping puppy as she stared wistfully at the open diary entry an hour later. ‘What am I doing?’ she said aloud. ‘I can’t sit at home all day reading teenage diaries and dreaming of a life that’s gone.’