Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Straightening her back, Gemma tied the dog poop bag up just as the cheerful tone from her mobile rang from her coat pocket. Hurrying across the path, she chucked the poop bag in the bin before pulling her mobile out and checking the number before answering. ‘Hannah! Hi, how’s your holiday going?’
‘Hi, Gem. It’s great, thank you. I just wanted to check in to see how Alfie was getting on. I hope he’s being a good boy for you?’ Hannah’s voice sounded tinny and distant, as though the signal was weak.
‘He’s doing just fine. We’re on a walk at the moment, actually.
’ Gemma smiled. There wasn’t any point in worrying Hannah by telling her about the problems she’d had with the barking and Jonathan.
This was Hannah’s first holiday away with Josh and, Gemma, for one wasn’t about to give her anything to fret about.
‘Aw, so he’s okay?’
‘Yes, he’s fine. He’s been really good with the dog walker, too.’ Gemma smiled as Alfie trotted in front of her, his lead lax and his little curly tail wagging from side to side. ‘And she’s besotted with him. Absolutely loves him.’
‘That’s so good. I knew he’d be happy with you, Gem. Thank you.’
‘No problem, it’s been lovely having the company.
’ Gemma tucked her mobile between her shoulder and her ear before tapping her leg and waiting for Alfie to stop before they crossed the road.
The rain had held off today, but judging by the increase in grey clouds, it was on its way, so the sooner they could get home into the warm and dry. ‘How’s Italy?’
‘Ooh, it’s perfect, and it’s so good to just be able to have fun and relax with Josh without thinking about renovating or work or anything.’ Hannah’s happiness almost flooded the phone line. ‘How about you? How’s work?’
Gemma scrunched up her nose. What could she say about her life which wouldn’t be a complete downer at the moment? There was no chance she was about to tell Hannah about her problems at home and work with Jonathan Higgs. ‘Umm, it’s the spring fete at school this weekend.’
‘That’s great. You love stuff like that, don’t you?’
She smiled. Hannah was right; Gemma enjoyed helping out at the fetes, the discos and any other event the school held to raise money.
It was a great opportunity to chat with children she’s previously taught, as well as catching up with their parents for a natter.
Plus, the atmosphere was always great. ‘I do.’
‘Let me guess, you and Soph are manning the raffle?’
‘Haha, yep. You can’t say we’re not creatures of habit.
’ Gemma grinned. She and Sophie always volunteered to man the raffle stall, and Florrie loved it too.
The only year Gemma had questioned her life choices regarding their chosen stall was the year Mrs Norton had allowed a group of pupils to complete the task of attaching the winning raffle ticket numbers to the prizes.
No problem, one might think, but when the students had doubled up on the numbers, so ticket number 165 was stuck on two prizes but had no ticket left to go in the bucket, it had become a bit of a headache.
She and Soph had ended up giving the duplicated prizes away to anyone who had chosen a ticket ending in a 0 or a 5 just to get rid of them.
‘Well, have an amazing weekend then, and I’ll check in with you next week if that’s okay? Sorry to rush off.’
‘That’s absolutely fine, and you should rush off. You should be sightseeing, lying by the pool, or eating a ton of pasta. We’re almost home now anyway, so I’ll speak to you another time. Take care.’
‘You too. And give Alfie a kiss from me, won’t you?’
‘Of course I will.’ Ending the call, Gemma slipped her mobile back into her pocket and pulled out her keys. The cottage was just up ahead, and both she and Alfie were ready for their dinner. ‘Come on, Alfie. Let’s get home and get something to eat, shall we?’
As though he understood exactly what she was saying, Alfie quickened his pace, his little body waddling from left to right following his tail dance.
Gemma took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh countryside air.
With any luck, she’d be wrong about the grey clouds and the nice weather would continue into the weekend, and they’d be able to set up at least some of tomorrow’s stalls outside.
‘That’s it, Alfie. Almost there, well done.
’ She led the way along the path back towards the cottage.
She’d never tire of living here. Nettleford-on-the-Wold was a beautiful place to live.
It was small enough to have the peace and tranquillity of countryside living, but the village community was busy enough to offer the comfort of a village where everybody knew everybody.
Well, most people. A couple of the cottages down her street had been bought up by second-home purchasers and turned into holiday cottages.
She couldn’t blame them, as who didn’t want to escape to the picturesque Cotswolds for a weekend holiday?
If she didn’t live here, she’d be one of the holidaymakers herself, that was for sure.
And most of them were beyond lovely. Just happy to be soaking up the village vibes, but they had had a couple of instances of groups of people partying until the small hours or bringing a million cars and parking with little to no consideration for the people who actually lived here.
Still, the majority of people who stayed were great and interesting to talk to at that.
Coming up to her cottage, she pulled her keys from her pocket, dropping a roll of poop bags as she did so. ‘Oops. Hold up.’
Waiting until Alfie had stopped pulling ahead, no doubt excited for his dinner, she bent down to pick her keys up before pocketing them again. As she straightened her back, she noticed a couple with a small child heading towards her. She smiled. ‘Hello.’
‘Evening.’ The man nodded towards her as the woman bent down to her daughter to whisper in her ear, pointing towards Gemma.
Gemma frowned and dragged her fingers through her hair, suddenly wondering if she had somehow managed to get a leaf caught in her messy bun.
She didn’t recognise them, and working at the school, she knew every child in the village, so she assumed they must be staying in one of the holiday cottages.
It took her a moment to realise the mother and daughter were heading straight towards Alfie.
‘Oh, please, don’t try to pet him. He’s not very good with people he doesn’t know. ’
The woman paused, and her little girl pointed towards Alfie, obviously not understanding why she couldn’t fuss the dog she wanted to.
‘Don’t be daft. He looks like a teddy bear.’ The man chuckled as he stepped closer, his hand poised to try to reach Alfie, who had begun backing away from them.
Gemma frowned. Yes, she wasn’t certain Alfie might try to bite the girl or one of her parents, but she couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t either, and she wasn’t about to put Alfie in that position.
From what she’d both heard from Hannah and witnessed whilst going on walks with Hannah and Alfie, he tended to go for people without rhyme or reason.
Sometimes he was absolutely fine and clearly enjoyed the fuss, whereas other times, quite randomly it seemed, he would go to bite them.
Fortunately, due to his size, Hannah had always been able to pull him back in time.
Plus, with his under-bite, any damage he was able to cause wasn’t likely to be serious, but still, it wasn’t a risk Gemma was about to take.
Turning, she fumbled with the gate latch, annoyed at herself for not getting it fixed when the gate had dropped last summer, making the catch tricky to unlatch.
‘He does, but he can have a temper on him, and I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt. ’
The man slowly straightened his back, slipping his hand into his pocket. ‘I’m sure if that were true, you wouldn’t be walking him out in public spaces.’
Why wasn’t this darn gate opening? If it were true?
Did he seriously think she’d just be making something like this up?
Why? For fun? Just as she almost had the gate unlatched, her fingers fumbled, and she cursed under her breath.
The damn thing. Turning to face him, she made sure to keep Alfie behind her as she glared at him.
How dare he come up to them, try to pet poor little Alfie without permission and then accuse her of being a liar?
She could feel a knot of anger compressing in her stomach.
‘If it were true? Do you think I’m making this up?
Go ahead, fuss over him and let him bite you if you want. ’
‘Hey, all I’m saying is you shouldn’t be walking a dangerous dog out on a public footpath if you know they’re going to bite anyone they meet.’ He jutted his arm out to catch his child as she ran towards Alfie. ‘Not this one, darling. He’s a nasty dog.’
Widening her eyes, Gemma spat the next words out, ‘He is not nasty, he is a rescue. Likely rescued from someone just like you.’
‘How dare you?’ The man wagged his fingers towards her. ‘I’ll have you know I’ve had dogs all my life and...’
A voice behind her cleared his throat before speaking. ‘Excuse me.’
Snapping her head around, Gemma winced as she spotted Jonathan striding down his garden path towards them. Fantastic, this was just what she needed. Him to come wading in and having a go at her too. She opened her mouth to tell him so just as he began speaking again.
‘Then you must understand dogs, all dogs, have the right to be taken on walks, and people such as yourself should be aware they cannot expect to be able to fuss over every single dog they meet.’ Opening his gate, Jonathan wedged himself between the man, her and Alfie and crossed his arms.
Blinking, Gemma watched as the mother ushered her daughter across the road and stopped, waiting for her husband.
Turning her attention back to Jonathan and the obnoxious man who appeared to feel entitled to everything on this earth, she frowned.
Was Jonathan sticking up for her? Without waiting to find out, Gemma tried the latch again.
The gate swinging open in front of her, and she hurried into the garden, little Alfie at her heel, and closed it again.
‘Well, I...’ The man, clearly taken aback that Jonathan had dared to speak to him with reason, looked over towards his wife and young daughter. ‘I still maintain a dangerous dog should not be allowed to roam the streets.’
‘He is not roaming. You can clearly see the dog is on a lead and kept under control at all times.’ Jonathan waved his hand in her direction.
Gemma took another step towards the cottage as Alfie strained on the lead again and began to yap, lifting his front paws in the air as though he thought he’d be able to overpower her. Yep, he was under control. Totally.
With a dismissive wave of his hand in the general direction of Alfie, the man shrugged his shoulders and sauntered across the road.
Frozen to the spot, Gemma watched as Jonathan turned on his heels and headed back to his front door, closing it firmly behind him.
What had just happened? She turned and opened her door before slipping inside.
He had stuck up for her. After all his moaning and complaining and even the comments at school he’d made about her, he’d seen they were in trouble, and he’d come rushing out of his cottage to help.
Taking a final look out across the street, she was relieved to see the family had moved along and were now out of sight. She closed the door and pulled the chain across before kneeling on the doormat next to Alfie. ‘Come here, buddy, and let me take your lead off.’
The small Lhasa Apso did as he was asked before running into the kitchen.
‘Yep. Dinner.’ After hanging the lead on the coat hook, Gemma followed him through to the small kitchen and, just as she’d suspected, he was sitting patiently next to his food bowl. ‘Do you know what happened out there? I mean, the audacity of some people, hey?’
Alfie nudged his bowl with his nose.
‘I get the message.’ Bending down, she picked up the bowl and placed it on the counter before dishing up his food. ‘But can you? And did I just imagine it, or did our ghastly neighbour come to our rescue? Not that I didn’t have everything under control myself, of course.’
Alfie tilted his head questioningly.
‘I did. I was just about to tell him where to take his high horse.’ Gemma sighed as she placed his bowl on the floor, drawing her hand away before he began slurping down his food.
‘Or am I imagining things? Did he just happen to be strolling down his garden path for a different reason? Perhaps he was pissed off because the stupid man was standing in front of his gate? Yes, that might be it. There’s got to be some explanation anyway, because we both know how much my new boss and neighbour hates me, don’t we? ’
After throwing the empty dog food can in the recycling bin, Gemma lowered herself into a chair at the small table-for-two squashed in the corner of the room and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Huh, she just had to face it that whether he’d intentionally come out of his cottage to help her or not, he’d still probably have something to say to her tomorrow at the fete.
That situation out there, would somehow be her fault.
And it would no doubt be her fault that he’d felt compelled to get involved too. Everything seemed to be her fault.
Fab, now one of the days she most looked forward to throughout the year had just become something to dread. She groaned as she lowered her chin into her hands.