Chapter 2 #2
As a newcomer, Vicky was paired with a young Swedish woman called Astrid, who spoke excellent English and showed her the best way to feed and groom the animals and clean out the cages, as well as how to administer simple medicines for everything from eye infections to coughs.
Eventually, Astrid decreed Vicky could be trusted. She was left to get the tangles out of the matted fur of a large, long-haired grey cat, whose tag told her he was a male called Apollo, who’d been living rough for quite a while.
It was painstaking work, and she was trying her best not to hurt him, although she couldn’t help but wince at the occasional little yelp coming out of his mouth.
‘Sorry, Apollo, old boy.’
A shadow fell over the cat’s body.
‘You don’t want to do it like that.’
Vicky looked up to see a man looming above her, frowning.
‘Give him here. You’ll be there all day. And cause him unnecessary pain.’
Shocked into handing the cat over, Vicky watched as the unknown man bent down and effortlessly worked on the knots with the utmost care, even getting Apollo to purr loudly.
‘You need to brush him like this.’
His gentle touch with the cat was completely at odds with his brusque manner towards her.
From his accented English, she marked him out as Greek, and although not one of the young volunteers, he was considerably younger than her.
He was tall and dark-haired with wide shoulders and a beard shot through with salt and pepper, and some people – OK, a lot of people – might find him attractive, but his overbearing manner was a turn-off for her. Not that she was looking anyway.
The irritated sigh escaped before she could stop it. She might have only been there a couple of days, and he was probably a seasoned volunteer, but there was no excuse for rudeness. She was trying her best.
Ignoring the cat’s traitorous cries of ecstasy, she looked across at the man so intent on his task.
‘Thank you so much for showing me the right way to do things. I’m really grateful to you, and I know that Apollo is too. Your experience at the sanctuary must be invaluable to others.’
Her smile lasted for the whole of her speech, and eventually the man raised his head and stared straight at her, brown eyes unsure for the first time in their brief exchange. He handed back the cat, who looked treacherously up at her as if to say, Why aren’t I staying with him?
Vicky made the cat comfortable on her lap.
‘Thank you again. And I’ll be sure to follow your method from now on.’
What an insufferable jerk. She was trying to goad him into speaking, but with a brief nod he turned on his heel and walked out of the building.
She rarely resorted to sarcasm, and she never normally behaved like this.
Winding Ian, her ex-husband, up would never have ended well, and she’d learnt to keep quiet over the years, to make herself smaller and less noticeable. But this man made her hackles rise.
She hoped she wouldn’t be on a roster with him any time soon. She was certain he hadn’t been at the welcome party or breakfast; she’d have noticed him. He wasn’t someone you’d forget in a hurry.
After a hard morning’s work, the new volunteers were asked to meet back at the rudimentary operating theatre in the main building for a chat with the vet.
Vicky was looking forward to seeing Angeliki in action in her natural environment.
It made her feel slightly closer to her daughter.
She conjured up a vision of Tasha out in the wilds of New Zealand attending to an injured kiwi bird, putting a splint on its broken leg.
That was more or less all she knew about creatures native to the country that might need attending to. She’d have to do some research.
Squeezing into the small room with the others, Vicky didn’t clock the man standing at the front until he turned round. Oh no, not the cat whisperer.
What was he doing here, and why was he standing on the wrong side of the surgical table?
He really was arrogant. She hoped Angeliki gave him short shrift when she turned up.
Vicky’d enjoy seeing him getting put in his place.
She looked around the room and counted to six.
Everyone was here, waiting. Maybe Angeliki had been held up by an emergency at her surgery.
Grumpy Man coughed and faced his audience.
‘Hello, everyone.’ His eyes roamed along the line, narrowing slightly in surprise as he alighted on her. ‘I am Alexandros, better known as Alex the Vet.’
Vicky swallowed. What the hell? It was oppressively hot in the small space. She’d have to open a window in a minute.
‘Some of you may already have met Angeliki, and I’m sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting her.’
He waited a beat before continuing. Was he expecting them all to clap or something?
‘We’re a double act of sorts. We both volunteer here, and you can usually catch one or other of us at certain points during the day.’
She’d much rather catch Angeliki, any day. Him, not so much.
‘Any questions you have about the care of the animals, please ask us.’
A pointed look came her way.
‘It’s better to ask than get it wrong.’
How dare he? Who did he think he was? She’d wipe that condescending smile off his face at the earliest opportunity. She’d not had such a strong feeling of animosity towards anyone, male or female, for ages. But he was far from finished.
‘Sometimes, we may ask you to assist with minor operations.’
This hadn’t been mentioned before. A couple of the younger volunteers looked startled.
‘Obviously, it isn’t compulsory, and only if it’s something you feel comfortable with.’
He looked closely at the row of new volunteers.
‘Has anyone here had any experience of a surgical environment, animal or human? We need all the help we can get.’
The room went silent. Vicky stared at the floor for a moment and considered saying nothing.
She’d done a gruelling ten-year nursing stint in operating theatres, and she’d pretty much seen everything there was to see that could be done with a scalpel.
He’d never know if she didn’t confess, but she couldn’t lie about her background.
It wasn’t the animals’ fault that he was an arse. She reluctantly put up her hand.
His gaze lingered as their eyes met.
‘You?’
He seemed as unkeen on the idea as she was.
‘I w— am a nurse.’ She didn’t want to use the past tense for some reason. ‘A considerable chunk of it was spent assisting in theatres. I’m sure I can adapt my skills.’
The man in front of her took a moment before recovering his icy composure. He’d make a pretty good robot.
‘I see. That would be useful. Please give Maeve all the details.’
The sound of a phone ringing filled the room. It had to be his. They’d been instructed to turn theirs off to concentrate on the vet’s words of wisdom. Not that Maeve had put it like that, exactly…
‘Sorry… Got to take this.’
Vicky recognised the Greek for OK, entáxei, among the outpouring of words. He rushed for the door, waving as he went.
‘Emergency back at base. Hope to see you all soon.’
Not if I see you first was her overriding thought.
Hopefully there wouldn’t be any unfortunate animals needing operations at the sanctuary any time soon.
She’d have to find out from Angeliki what made him so unpleasant.
But she wasn’t going to waste another moment of her free time thinking about him and his atrocious bedside manner.
A restorative swim in the bay below the sanctuary helped to wash away any lingering thoughts of Alex the Vet.
A stroll to a café further along the headland for a bowl of fried calamari and a Greek salad in the sun, or a portion of tiganitó kalamári and a choriatikí saláta, as she was learning to call it, lifted her mood completely.
Returning along the beach, she spotted Graham on the path above her and ducked behind an umbrella for a moment until he’d safely passed. One potentially awkward man a day was more than enough.
Remembering that she needed to mention her operating theatre skills to Maeve, she decided to do it immediately before taking a tiny siesta and readying herself for the animals’ evening feeding session.
After one last look at the glory of the blazing sun on the water, she headed for the office, rather than the accommodation houses.
The door to the office was closed, but the sound of someone crying inside was unmistakable. She knocked gently but got no answer, so she took a deep breath and turned the handle.