Puzzling urges #2
“Why would I change?” Kristy asked defiantly. “To impress some bloke? Really, this is getting on my nerves!” That said, she stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door behind her.
“What the …?” Shona was flabbergasted.
“I’d say she’s not getting enough, but that would be highly inappropriate among us feminists.” Hailey’s comment didn’t sound half as sarcastic as she had probably intended. Her younger sister’s exit had taken her by surprise as well.
“Do you think she has a crush? On the vet?”
“I doubt it.” Hailey didn’t seem too interested in pursuing the subject further. “And don’t get any ideas about asking me about my career,” she added as Shona opened her mouth to do just that.
“Fine, we’ll drop it. I have no idea what just happened here, but let’s have fun tonight anyway, okay?”
“I hereby give you the name Little Miss Sunshine,” proclaimed Minister Jack McTavish rather formally before dabbing whisky on the foal’s forehead. “Here’s to a long, happy and healthy life.” He raised his glass and toasted the guests. “Slàinte!”
“Slàinte!” replied a chorus of voices.
“To our latest Highlander,” shouted Rupert.
“May she win an Olympic medal one day!” Shona’s toast was met with agreement from the group of guests. Only the vet stood by, narrow-lipped and silent, and looked at her with an expression she couldn’t read.
More toasts followed, but Shona barely paid any attention.
For whatever reason, Kendrick had turned into a serious distraction.
The sadness and anguish she felt ooze from him in this moment of communal joy made her curious.
What had happened in the few hours since she had last seen him?
Had an animal died? Had he received bad news?
Whatever it was, it touched her to see him suffer, even though she had resolved earlier not to waste another thought on him.
Now she realised that his latent hostility was a lot easier to deal with.
She had no problem ignoring jibes, and she knew how to give as good as she got.
But this? She felt the surge of a completely irrational urge: to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. To ask him what was wrong. To kiss him.
Kiss him?! Where had that come from? Startled, she dismissed the thought and turned from the group to check on the mobile bar she and Jon had set up earlier.
She took a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket, opened it and started to fill the glasses waiting on a tray.
As she lifted the tray, the champagne flutes clinked suspiciously. Why were her hands shaking?
“You alright, sis?” asked Alex, who had been watching her from his spot nearby.
“Umm ...” Shona carefully put the tray down on the counter.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” her older brother said, concern in his voice.
“Something like that,” she croaked. There was no way she would share with Alex – or anyone, really – what had derailed her. So she cleared her throat and added cheerfully: “But they buggered off. It’s all good now.”
“Do you want me to ...?” He pointed questioningly at the glasses and Shona gratefully left serving the champagne to him, glad that he didn’t probe further.
With the official toasts over, Artemis and Little Miss Sunshine were free to return to the other horses in the pasture.
“Champagne!” called Shona with a cheerful smile that felt fake on her face.
But she knew only too well that when it came to portraying positive emotions, fake it till you make it really did work.
If this weren’t the case, she wouldn’t have been able to do such a good job as a whisky sommelier these past few years.
Even a forced smile eventually improved her mood if she just kept it up long enough.
It might not be the healthiest way to deal with drunks and other unpleasant guests, but it was the most socially acceptable.
Unsurprisingly, it worked this time as well. As the party got in full swing, Shona managed to push the vet’s sad expression and her startling response from her mind. For now. Forgetting it was a different matter entirely. Pity that!
Kendrick wondered when he could leave the party without being rude.
Now, with the toasts just over and the whisky and champagne flowing freely, it was still too soon, he knew that much.
How he wished he could be back home at his cottage!
Then again, he would be alone there. Alone with his thoughts and the outrageous demand his ex had made on the phone earlier.
And she had made it sound as if it weren’t a big deal at all, far from the life-changing decision it actually was.
He had phoned the animal hospital to request an old report, and Glenna had happened to answer.
After calling up and emailing over the file, she’d out of the blue made her unbelievable ask.
He shook his head, trying to push the thought down.
He couldn’t and wouldn’t think about it now.
There was plenty of time for that later.
Shortly after their call, his sister Davina had reached out and asked him to come down for a family meeting tomorrow afternoon.
Although ‘asked’ was maybe not the best way to describe the summons she had issued.
He certainly didn’t feel like joining and didn’t believe for a second that his opinion would change overnight – or ever, for that matter.
But now that the question was out in the open, he had no choice but to face it.
“What’s got you thinking tonight?” Hailey addressed him, a suggestive twinkle in her eye.
The beautiful, curvy redhead, who he had come to know at the stables as a hands-on, pragmatic and focused horse expert, looked ultra feminine and seductive in her light summer dress.
Too feminine and seductive for his taste.
Or rather, not for his taste, just for his current mood.
“A work thing,” he replied curtly.
“But it’s Friday night,” she purred, “an entire weekend ahead.” Her red-painted lips formed into a pout.
“A country vet doesn’t get time off,” he replied gruffly and frantically searched for an escape. He found it in the form of Marlin, who was chatting with Alex and the minister. “Will you excuse me, please?”
Hailey’s disappointment was obvious, but she made no further attempts to flirt with him, not for the time being anyway.
“All good with the sheep, Marlin?” Kendrick asked as he joined the group of men.
Not a very smooth conversation starter, he realised, but he couldn’t think of anything smarter.
“I’d be happy to have another look at their hoofs.
Don’t want them to get infected.” No sooner had he said it did he wish he could take it back.
That had been an idiot move! He had only recently examined the animals’ feet, and Marlin was a very responsible herd owner. Also ...
“Tha’s the best you can come up with to escape my niece?” Marlin asked grinning.
“You got me,” Kendrick mumbled, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to crash your conversation.”
“No, no, tha’s quite all right. We were in fact talking about animals. Specifically, about the mice infestation in the church.”
“Is that so?”
“Mind you, I have nothing against mice,” Minister Jack interjected. “But I dinnae appreciate parishioners screaming during the service because they see a wee mouse scurry by. It’s happening so often now that it’s becoming annoying.”
“How about your cats?” Kendrick wondered. He knew from previous vaccination appointments that the minister had at least two cats.
“They’ve become so pampered they are no longer interested in hunting mice.” Jack shrugged.
Kendrick chuckled. “Well, there’s an easy way to change that: stop feeding them and as they get hungry, they’ll hunt again.”
“If only it were that easy ...” Jack ran his hand over his own round belly. “I cannae bear their sad meows when I try putting them on a diet. Besides, they are no’ exactly spring chickens.”
Kendrick had heard every excuse in the pet owner’s manual before, and he appreciated people caring lovingly for their pets. As long as they didn’t anthropomorphise them too much. “In that case, I see only two options: mousetraps or new kittens.” He grinned.
“We’ve already suggested that, but he’s a stubborn chap,” Alex replied. “A number of parishioners are strictly opposed to mousetraps. They don’t want the mice running over their feet during the service, but they don’t want to see them crushed either.”
“I see. And what about more cats?”
“Let’s no’ fool ourselves,” Jack said with a sigh. “They’d join Stan and Ollie on the sofa in no time and be just as lazy as the old pair.”
“You’ve got a dilemma, then.” Kendrick realised how this everyday conversation was helping calm his nerves and distracting him from his thoughts and Hailey’s advances.
“Maybe we need to get the mayor on board and form a mouse task force?” he suggested jokingly when he had an idea.
“Wait a moment … How about we try and provide better nesting conditions for mouse hunters? Owls, hawks, buzzards and the like are all predators. Perhaps we could turn the church tower into a place that would attract them? The old, dead trees around the village could also help, so don’t take them down.
There are plenty of birds of prey in the Highlands, but I haven’t seen many here in Kirkby. ”
“Tha’s right. Because thanks to our ambitious mayor here, the whole town always has to be so neat and tidy.” Marlin frowned.
“Before you blame it all on Collum again, maybe remember that you had our roof truss bird-proofed a few years ago and you remove every dead tree you find from our land,” Alex pointed out. “As for the church ...” He turned to the minister.
“All right, all right,” Jack waved it off. “Tha’s on me. But do you have any idea how much all these owls and hawks ... defecate? The bell tower was a mess.”