Chapter 21
Noah hurried down the hallway to reception without looking back.
If he did, he knew he’d weaken. Monty was as full of life as he ever had been, and far from the image he’d carried in his head of a sickly, elderly moggy whose days were numbered.
Seeing him had stirred up too much for a man who was used to compartmentalising his emotions.
‘All right, love?’ Mollie was waiting in reception, rather than in her office.
Noah nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
‘Well, we’ll let you know when everything’s done.’ Mollie smiled and laid a hand on his arm. ‘Don’t worry. It’ll be peaceful. He won’t know anything about it.’
‘Thanks, Mollie. I know Grandpa would have appreciated everything you’ve done for Monty.’ Noah shook his head. ‘I wish there was another way.’
‘Me too, love, but sometimes these decisions just need to be made.’ Mollie gave his forearm a squeeze. ‘Drive safely back to London.’
‘I will.’ Noah walked out of the door to head back to his car.
He needed to grab a couple of things from the cottage before he left, but he felt strangely reluctant to return there.
He wanted to get as far away from Lower Brambleton as he could.
As he walked across the small driveway to his car, he could feel someone watching him again.
Turning, he saw Bella standing by the gate to the back garden of the sanctuary.
‘Did you need something?’ he asked, his tone clipped. If Bella was going to have another go at him, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay calm in response. She might well end up with the rough end of his tongue, too.
Bella wandered towards him, and he noticed how nervous and uncertain she looked.
‘I wanted to apologise for yesterday. I was out of line, especially grabbing you in the street like that.’ She blushed.
‘I wish I could say it was out of character, but, as I’m sure you’ve worked out by now, I tend to speak before I think, especially when I’m emotional about something. ’
‘And you’re very emotional about Monty, aren’t you?
’ Noah replied. He found, by focusing his attention on Bella, the ache of guilt about Monty seemed to ease a little.
He wasn’t sure why, since they were both at opposite ends of the spectrum about what Monty’s future should be, but for the moment he’d take any respite from the emotions that seeing Monty had aroused.
Bella smiled. ‘I don’t know what it is about him – we’ve taken in cats on the rescue side of the centre with much more awful stories, but something about Monty tugs on my heartstrings.
’ She paused. ‘I think it’s because he’s such an awkward bugger most of the time.
You never know, when you walk into his enclosure, what you’re going to get. ’
‘He was always the same when Grandpa was alive. Sometimes, when I came to visit, he’d see me as an intruder, someone who was taking Grandpa away from him, and he’d ignore me until I’d been there for a few days.
Other times, he’d be happy to see me, and he’d be all sweetness and light. He’s a complex animal.’
‘That he is.’ Bella shook her head. ‘I wish…’
‘What?’
‘I wish… no, I can’t talk to you about it. It’s unprofessional. You’re responsible for Monty now. What I think doesn’t matter.’
Noah knew he should end the conversation with a pleasantry and get in the car, but something about Bella’s tone stopped him.
It must have cost her a lot to apologise – she could have avoided him until he’d left Purrfect Paws, and then, after tomorrow, their paths might never cross again, save for the pub.
But she’d made the effort, and he appreciated that.
‘You might as well tell me what you were going to say.’ Noah gave her a small smile. ‘I promise I won’t shout at you.’
Bella’s face brightened fractionally at his slightly lighter tone.
‘Well,’ she said falteringly, ‘I suppose I wish I could scoop him up and take him home to live with me.’ She shook her head.
‘You probably think I’m some daft bleeding heart who can’t help falling in love with every animal she meets, but it’s not like that. Monty’s special.’
Noah raised an eyebrow. ‘Having seen him just now, I’d take you up on that offer in a heartbeat. He looks so… well.’
‘He is. But it can’t happen, unfortunately. My, er, living circumstances aren’t exactly ideal.’
Noah’s brief flight of fancy regarding Bella stretched as far as houseboats, tents, living in the spare room of an eccentric elderly resident of Lower Brambleton, and even sleeping out under the stars before he remembered to ask.
‘How so?’
Bella sighed. ‘Well, for a start, my housemate’s boyfriend is allergic to cats.’
‘Ah. I can see how that might be an issue.’
‘And since he’s moving in soon, I’ll have to move out.
As you know from Jack’s cottage, space is at a premium in a lot of houses round here.
Marieke’s said she’s fine with me staying for a bit, but it’s going to get very cosy with three of us in the cottage.
And she and Gerard deserve some privacy. ’
‘So, what are you going to do?’ Noah asked. He was sad for Bella at the prospect of her becoming homeless, but surely she must have other options? She seemed pretty well rooted in Lower Brambleton.
‘Well, after tomorrow, Monty’s enclosure will be empty,’ Bella said, in an obvious attempt at dark humour. ‘Perhaps I’ll ask Mollie if I can bunk in there for a bit!’
Noah smiled. ‘I hope it doesn’t come to that.’
‘It might!’ Bella’s uncertainty broke through for a moment, and Noah found his heart speeding up. Despite their differences, it didn’t sit well with him that she might be put out on her ear.
‘I’m sure your housemate’s not going to evict you if you haven’t got anywhere else to go,’ he said.
‘No, she wouldn’t do that,’ Bella conceded.
‘But she and Gerard are so nauseatingly loved up that the last thing I want to hear is them, er, demonstrating that.’ She flushed.
Noah couldn’t help his smile, which grew broader.
There was a pause between them. Noah wondered exactly how he was going to extricate himself from the conversation.
He could hardly say, ‘Oh well, hard luck, hope things get better for you!’ without sounding like a wanker.
In the end, Bella saved him the worry. ‘Well, I’d best get back to my rounds.
We’ve just had a call from a woman in Everscombe who’s found a litter of kittens and their mother in a cardboard box under a park bench.
Poor thing must have been thrown out on her ear when she gave birth.
’ Her eyes glistened. ‘It’s so unfair to these poor females, when their owners don’t bother to get them spayed.
’ She paused before adding. ‘I’ll be there.
Tomorrow. With Monty. He won’t go through it alone. I promise.’
Noah’s throat ached. ‘Thank you.’
As he got into his car and began the winding drive back to London, Noah couldn’t stop thinking about Bella, Monty and the decision he’d made.