Elijah blew out his cheeks. He knew he was being negative and probably coming across as awkward and obstinate, but – damn it! – he didn’twantto find new anything. He wanted his life to go back to the way it was before.
‘And if you don’t want to go for a hike on your own,’ Cameron continued, ‘get a dog.’
‘Adog?’ Elijah was incredulous. ‘I’m at work all day.’
Cameron raised his eyebrows. ‘Five-thirty til one-thirty isn’t all day.’
‘It’s a seven-hour day, six days a week. I don’t have the time. And when I’m not at work, I’m running.’ As soon as the day’s baking was complete and the kitchen was scrubbed ready for tomorrow, he was out the door.
‘But you won’t be running anymore,’ Cameron reminded him. ‘A dog will get you out of the house and keep you company, too.’ He looked incredibly pleased with himself.
‘A dog,’ Elijah repeated.
‘Yeah, something big and active. One that’ll like going out for hours. Not a lap dog.’
‘And where do you suggest I get this fictional dog from?’
‘The Forever Home Kennels, of course!’
‘Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?’ he grumbled.
But the more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed, and he found himself reaching for his phone.
CHAPTER FOUR
Monday morning saw Nora stepping stark naked on the bathroom scales and glaring at the display in disbelief. Weight loss: half a pound. Was thatall?Considering she’d had almost three full days of eating leaves, she’d hoped she would have lost more. She also felt dreadful: nausea, tummy ache, headache, weak and lethargic. What she needed was proper food, such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, biscuits…
Last week, when she’d been telling Trinny about her diagnosis, she’d had no intention of going cold turkey, but since her eyesight scare on Friday, and after doing some research (lots of research), she realised the best way to reduce her blood glucose to non-diabetic levels was to lose weightfast. Which meant not eatinganythingcarby – because if she had one biscuit, she’d have to eat the whole packet.
Nora Bunting, she’d said to herself,you’ve got no self- control. It’s got to be all or nothing.And in her case, she had to settle for nothing. Which meant that she hadn’t gone to thetapas bar as planned on Saturday evening and neither had she gone to The Black Horse for Sunday lunch. Right now, she was feeling woefully deprived and extremely depressed. And seeing the meagre weight loss wasn’t doing anything for her mood.
‘One day at a time,’ she muttered, as she threw on some clothes and contemplated breakfast. But maybe her motto should be ‘one meal at a time’ she thought after she’d eaten it, because the berries and yoghurt might look healthy and wholesome, but she may as well have eaten fresh air since it failed to fill her up.
Disheartened, she wondered how much longer she’d be able to keep this up. No wonder she’d never bothered dieting in the past; she must have sub-consciously realised how awful it would be. Maybe increasing the exercise instead, would be a more realistic way forward than restricting her food intake?
She was trying to think how best to fit more exercise into her day (okay, fit insomeexercise, since she didn’t actually doany at allat the moment) when she arrived at the salon. Her idea of getting a dog was something she was still considering, and she’d spent most of last night mulling it over – when she hadn’t been thinking about food, that is. There were pros and cons to dog ownership, and she had to make sure the pros outweighed the cons, and that this was something she really wanted and could seriously commit to. Plus, at least when her mind had been occupied with a puppy, it hadn’t been on the chocolate chip cookie and the caramel latte she’d been craving.
Nora decided to canvas opinions. ‘I’m thinking about getting a dog,’ she announced, while putting layers into Dulcie Fairfax’s hair.
Kendra gaped at her. ‘A dog?You?Why?’
‘Is it really so outlandish?’ Nora was taken aback.
‘A dog needs walking, like daily, and I don’t mean to the shops.’
‘I know; that’s the point. Not the whole point, of course,’ she added hurriedly. ‘It’ll also be good company.’
‘You’re never in!’
Nora drew herself up to her full height. ‘I’ll have you know I stayed in all weekend.’
‘Were you not feeling well?’ Kendra teased, then hesitated. ‘Actually, Nora, you do look a bit peaky. Are you okay? I noticed you haven’t been to the bakers this morning.’
Lori piped up, ‘She didn’t go on Friday, either. And she’s not touched the chocolate digestives I brought in.’
‘And you weren’t in on Saturday,’ Kendra added.
‘I told you; I had to go to the opticians because my reading glasses broke. I’m fine, honestly.’ She wasn’t fine, and she was also fibbing. But she wasn’t ready to tell her staff just yet; she needed to get her own head around it first. All they needed to know was that she wanted to be a bit healthier, and a dog might help her achieve that.
