Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Jack pushed open the doors and stepped inside the cool, clean building, a little flutter in his pulse.
He had a week’s work because Jane, the other vet, had gone down with flu.
A week was better than nothing, especially as he’d been going stir-crazy for the last week with no job.
He had emailed his CV to everyone he could think of, but with absolutely no responses.
Studying his surroundings, he allowed himself a small smile.
His dad had bought the rambling Victorian house twenty years ago and although it was clean and hygienic, it looked a little battered around the edges.
The skirting boards were scuffed and scarred and the walls in need of a lick of paint, but Dad insisted it made the animals’ owners more relaxed and comfortable.
Melissa’s dad would have been horrified; his practice was all about appearance.
Geoffrey Ashcroft didn’t like change for change’s sake.
It had taken Devon’s influence to update some of their practices and techniques.
They now had state-of-the-art laparoscopy equipment, which Devon had invested in heavily with the proceeds of the sale of his previous practice with his ex, celebrity vet, Marina.
‘Morning, Margaret,’ Jack chirruped to the receptionist who’d been with his dad for over ten years. He suddenly felt positive.
‘Jack,’ she said and gave him a severe look over her glasses. ‘You’re late.’
‘Nice to see you again, Margaret. How are you? How’s the family?’
‘Your father and Devon are already in the staff room.’ She went back to whatever she was working on on her screen.
‘Oops. Staff briefing,’ said Jack, trying to coax a smile from her but she didn’t deign to look up again.
Maybe she wasn’t having a good morning. And he wasn’t off to the best start, having completely forgotten that the staff briefing always took place on Mondays, beginning at eight instead of eight-thirty.
So much for being early on his first day.
He hurried up the stairs and slid into the back of the room, deciding that he’d be circumspect and not march over to help himself to the cafetière of coffee on the table in front of Devon and his dad.
‘And if anyone wants to join the quiz team, there’s a spare place because Margaret has had to drop out,’ said Geoffrey, and then, without missing a beat, added, ‘Nice of you to join us, Jack.’
So much for making a good impression on his first day. He’d hoped to use this week to prove to his dad and Devon that he deserved a place here.
‘The quiz starts at seven on Friday. Tickets are fifteen quid, which also includes a fish-and-chip supper. All proceeds are going to the village-hall roof fund. We’ve enlisted the vicar on our team and Dave from the darts team, so hopefully he’ll be good on sport.
We’re aiming for mid-table respectability. ’
‘No,’ interrupted Bets with her usual lively grin. ‘We’re in it to win it. That’s why we’ve asked the vicar, he’s our ringer. And Ella’s on the arts.’
‘And finally,’ said his dad, ‘welcome to Jack who is taking up the family mantle today.’
‘Welcome, bro,’ said Devon.
Jack stood and smiled around the room, meeting the gazes of Diane and Sandra, two of the veterinary nurses, along with Bets of course, and a studious-looking man who he guessed was the part-time finance manager who had been hired by Devon to improve billing clients, ordering supplies and keeping track of product they sold.
Under their dad’s reins that sort of thing had been chaotic.
‘Hello, everyone, nice to see you. I look forward to working with you all.’
‘Welcome back, Jack.’
He was relieved to hear Bets’ voice even if her tone was cool. He grinned at her. ‘Thanks.’
‘We’ve been saving up all the cat-claw clipping jobs for you.’ She gave him a bitchy smile.
He forced himself to laugh. ‘Are you ever going to let me forget that?’
‘Shouldn’t think so,’ she said, coolly. She was referring to the occasion when he’d had every nurse in the practice holding down one poor cat so that he could clip its claws. Admittedly that had been when he was only in his first term at university.
‘I’ve had a bit of practice since then.’ Jack was aware that everyone’s attention was focused on them.
At least Bets was speaking to him. It was less an olive branch than a twig, but she’d avoided outright hostility, for which he was grateful.
They were going to have to work together, and being civil to each other would be so much easier.
‘Thank God for that,’ chipped in his dad. ‘I’d hate to think six years at veterinary college have been wasted.’
‘Welcome back,’ said Diane, although the expression on her face was fairly wooden and there wasn’t a Celsius of warmth in her voice. ‘But can I ask where Jack’s going to work? There’s no space for him.’
‘At the moment, Jack is covering for Jane, as she’s going to be off for at least a week, and we’d planned to use him while Devon or Jane do farm visits.
Margaret was going to pre-schedule appointments with our farming clients rather than wait for them to call, which invariably they do at the last minute.
I think there’ll be enough work for Jack in the short term but this is a temporary situation.
Anyone else have any questions? Right,’ said his father. ‘Have a good week, all.’
Everyone began to file out of the room and the other two long-standing female employees studied Jack with undisguised contempt. He heard Diane say, ‘He’s only here because he’s the boss’ son.’
Jack helped himself to a coffee, headed to the staff room and studied the list for the day, which was now on a surgery portal instead of the main whiteboard the way it had been in the past. Devon really had introduced a lot of changes.
Jack hoped he wasn’t going to let the side down.
Looking at his schedule today, it was quite easy.
He was consulting this morning, while Devon was down for several pre-booked surgical appointments and his dad was out doing a couple of farm visits.
Bets was on pre-operative duties, which meant that the nurse assisting him this morning was Diane, who assumed seniority because of long service rather than merit.
He whistled to himself and pulled on blue scrubs, glancing out of the window and taking a moment to watch a couple of blackbirds dance in and out of the privet hedge surrounding the garden.
Summer had started to bloom and blousy tulips on their last breaths were dripping bright petals onto the ground, next to an overblown deep-pink peony that held court in the far corner around a bird bath.
He could smell the fragrant wisteria climbing the building, its tendrils starting to creep over the windowsill.
Drawing in a breath, he focused on the sweet smell and the sight of the colourful garden, and not the anxiety knotting his stomach.
This was going to be harder than he’d realised.
He could bet Diane’s animosity was a taste of things to come.
But what other choice did he have? Perhaps he should start looking for something permanent elsewhere?
But most new graduates had already been snapped up in the best jobs.
He should have stuck to his original plans and held out for a zoo job instead of being seduced by Melissa’s dad’s promise of partnership.
* * *
‘Hi, Diane, can you point me in the direction of a new box of gloves? I seem to have run out.’
She carried on what she was doing, scrubbing something in the sink. Had she not heard him?
‘Er, Diane?’
‘They’re in the cupboard.’
‘Right,’ said Jack. ‘And which cupboard would that be?’
‘In the stock room,’ she said impatiently.
‘Any more clues?’ he asked, knowing that he shouldn’t provoke her but couldn’t help himself.
She drew herself up. ‘Just because you’re the boss’ son and Devon’s brother doesn’t mean that we’re all going to be running around after you. Remember, this is temporary.’
‘I think that’s been made quite clear and I’m not expecting you to run around after me.’
‘Good, because we’re not going to.’ She turned away again.
It was so bloody tempting to pull a face behind her back, but that would be childish, and upsetting Diane was never a good idea.
She ran too many of the surgery’s systems and believed herself indispensable – not necessarily a view that Devon, who was short on patience, subscribed to, but Geoffrey was more lenient.
‘Good to know,’ he said. ‘Any chance of revealing the whereabouts of said stock cupboard?’
‘I could show you,’ said Bets from behind him. At the sound of her voice Diane turned round and shot her a triumphant smile.
Ah, so that was the way the wind blew, thought Jack.
‘It’s on my way,’ said Bets, and Jack felt she was addressing the comment more to Diane than him.
Diane simply shrugged and went back to her important job.
Jack followed Bets down a narrow staircase to a small office on the next floor.
‘I take it, I’m public enemy number one around here,’ he said as they stopped in front of a tall double-fronted cupboard.
‘I wouldn’t know, we don’t talk about you.’ She gazed over the top of his head before continuing. ‘Gloves are on the top shelf. Devon had a bit of change around.’ Her tone was sharp and to the point.
‘It makes more sense to have the supplies here where everyone can access them,’ she continued in a cool, detached voice very unlike hers.
‘Whoever is on the rota is supposed to make sure there are enough gloves in each consulting room, on a daily basis. If you need anything else, shout.’ She gave him a cold, dismissive nod, making it clear that she wouldn’t be coming running, withdrew and continued down the stairs.
He stared after her, chilled and unsettled by her frosty treatment.
He hadn’t reckoned on it being this hard seeing Bets, or on her being so aloof and distant, as if the last nine years had never happened.
She had always been a constant – and now he felt more lost and alone than he’d ever felt in his life.