Page 28 of A Cosy Christmas with the Village Vet

With her torch in her mouth, she squatted in front of the cupboard under the sink, relieved to see it wasn’t full of cleaning equipment or junk like the rest of the cottage appeared to be. With the sound of running water reminding her of the urgency of the situation, she pushed the bottle of washing-up liquid to one side and reached in. Grasping the stopcock, she went to give it a twist but it was stuck fast. ‘Bugger!’ After a brief but unsuccessful struggle, not helped by her clumsy hands that were seizing up with the cold, she reached for the tea towel she’d seen hanging by the sink. She hurriedly wrapped it around the stopcock handle and tried again, her face distorted with the effort, but still no luck. She took a moment’s break, gasping, before going in for another try. There was no way she was going to let a pesky little stopcock defeat her. Mustering every ounce of strength she had, she sucked in a deep breath and went for it. ‘Waarghh!’ After several drawn out seconds, the tap finally turned. Oh, the relief! Her heart was racing. She puffed out a steamy breath and twisted it as fast as she was able until it was shut tight.

Sitting back on her haunches with her chest heaving, she took the torch from her mouth, rubbing her hand over her dry lips. ‘The water’s off,’ she called to Nick who she realised must have found a sweeping brush since she could hear the sound of him swooshing the mini river out onto the front path. Already, it was making a difference to the level.

Nick appeared in the doorway. ‘Oh, thank God for that. And thank you for acting so quickly. My head was all over the place when I saw those boxes, the state of them totally threw me.’ His breath hung in a cloud as he spoke. Even in the semi-light she could see he wore an air of defeat. Her heart squeezed for him. He hadn’t had much luck with this place, that was for sure.

‘Yeah, it can’t have been easy to see.’ Brogan dreaded to think how she’d have felt if she’d returned home to find Pond Farm in a state like this. She eased herself up, grabbed the washing-up bowl from the sink so she could help bail the water out, and made her way over to him, her legs stiff from squatting. She suddenly became aware that her jeans were drenched, the wet denim sticking to her goosebump-covered skin. Her teeth began to chatter violently; she couldn’t ever remember feeling this cold.

‘Jesus, Brogan, you look freezing. Here, have this.’ He took his jacket off and placed it over her shoulders.

‘There’s honestly no need,’ she said through chattering teeth. ‘I’ll help you bail the rest of the water out; that’ll warm me up.’

‘I think there’s every need; you look like you’re turning blue,’ he said. ‘There’s no way you’re going to do anything else; we need to get you out of here quickly.’

Brogan couldn’t argue with that. She had a sneaking suspicion water had lapped in over her wellies when she was working on the stopcock, but her toes were so cold she could no longer feel them to tell. ‘I don’t think you can live here anymore. It’s not habitable; you’ll die of hypothermia. I don’t think Maudie would be very impressed if you brought her in here.’ Shivering, Brogan managed a laugh.

‘Oh, Lord, she so wouldn’t.’ Nick gave a hoot of laughter just as part of the ceiling collapsed onto the sink.

‘Shit!’ They said simultaneously, directing their torches towards where yet more water was cascading from the bathroom.

‘Bloody hell, Brogan, you were over there only seconds ago! It could have fallen onto you; you could’ve been injured.’

In the next moment, she felt two strong arms wrap around her, pulling her close. With her head pressed against his chest she could hear his heart beat, it was pounding as hard as her own. She briefly closed her eyes, the warmth of his body comforting, taking her back to that night of just a few weeks ago, but the cold was becoming increasingly permeating as an icy wind blew in through the open door, quashing her musings.

Nick was the first to pull away, resting his hands on the top of her arms. ‘I’ll get locked up here, then get you home. I’ll give Chris a ring, see if I can crash at his place for the night. Then I’ll call the Trotters, let them know what’s happened here. I’m not going to get across to Middleton now,’ he said despondently.

Brogan felt a twinge in her heart. ‘You can stay at my place. I’ve got a spare room. You can use it ’til you get somewhere else sorted out.’

22

NICK

Nick took a moment to absorb her words. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked her. ‘I mean, I kind of got the impression you weren’t keen to—’

‘I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure,’ Brogan said, her tone suggesting she didn’t want to hear what impression he’d got. ‘Though I should warn you, the kitchen’s nice and toasty, but the rest of the house isn’t what you’d exactly call cosy. But it’s a damn sight warmer than this place – drier too,’ she said with a shivery laugh.

‘Well, that wouldn’t be difficult.’ He laughed too, hesitating a moment before he said, ‘Are you absolutely positive? I mean, I’m sure Chris wouldn’t mind.’

‘I’m positive. Now if you wouldn’t mind, it’s absolutely freezing; please can we get out of this place before anything else goes wrong with it?’

‘Good point,’ Nick said, thankful that the water had stopped pouring.

He helped a shivering Brogan into his car and set the engine away, turning the heat as high as it would go. Maudie and Wilf looked on with interest. ‘I know it seems counter-intuitive given the temperature, but it might be better if you get those wet jeans off. I’ve got a couple of blankets on the back seat, you can wrap one of those around yourself.’

‘Bet you say that to all the girls,’ she said, mustering up a grin.

‘Yep, never fails.’ He grinned back, reaching behind him for a blanket. ‘While you’re doing that, I’m just going to pop back into the house of doom, pick up some essentials before we head off.’

Inside the cottage, he had a quick scrabble inside the storage boxes, assisted by the light of Brogan’s torch. If he did nothing else, he needed to find Loretta’s shoes. He started with the boxes in his bedroom, hoping they’d turn up in one of those, safe and dry. He knew there was no chance he was going to get them to her tonight, but at least if he found them, he could drop them off tomorrow, put an end to the tortuous text messages. And it wasn’t as if she needed them right now.

‘Bloody typical,’ he said when he’d been through all the boxes in the bedroom to find there was no sign of the shoes. During his rummage, it hadn’t escaped his attention that Loretta had given him a selection of their engagement presents he knew she didn’t like, including the print with some obscure piece of modern art she’d said reminded her of an angry red elephant and the vase hand-painted in garish colours by one of her aunts. Rather bizarrely, she’d also included a framed photo he’d taken of her in a white bikini when they’d holidayed in Greece last year. ‘Why would you do that, Loretta?’ he said aloud. The message it appeared to send was “This is what you’re missing”. Nick wasn’t quite sure why he’d need to feel that way. Did she still want him to pine for her? His mind snapped back to the cold that was seeping in, making him feel crotchety. He threw the photo back in the box, pushed himself up and made his way carefully downstairs where he eventually found the elusive shoes in one of the storage boxes in the living room. Tentatively, he lifted the saturated shoe box out, watching in disbelief as the cardboard fell apart in his hands revealing the champagne-coloured satin shoes. Nick’s stomach clenched. Even in the torchlight it was easy to see they were heavily stained with watermarks. They were ruined. ‘Oh, shit.’ He swallowed, feeling his heart sink all the way to the icy depths of his boots as Loretta’s reaction to hearing the news crowded his mind. She was going to go absolutely ape.

* * *

By the timethey pulled up in the yard of Pond Cottage, the car had warmed through and Brogan had finally stopped shivering, the heated seats helping the process. She pushed her feet back into her soggy wellies while Nick let Maudie and Wilf out of the boot. They seemed pleased after being cooped up for a while, and trotted busily around the yard, leaving a smattering of paw prints on the crisp, white snow. Wilf, who was giving something a thorough sniffing, gave a loud snort, shook his head and followed up with a slew of sneezes after inhaling a nostril full of snow. ‘You okay, Wilf?’ Brogan asked with a giggle. He looked across at her, wagging his tail as she hurried over to the porch. She was holding onto the blanket she had wrapped around her with one hand, whilst unlocking the door with the other. As soon as she pushed it open, Wilf shot inside with Maudie in hot pursuit.

‘Don’t mind me, you two,’ she said, chuckling.

‘I don’t think they do.’ Nick gave a laugh as he followed her into the stone porch, the prospect of spending the evening in Brogan’s company filled his heart with warmth.

---