Holding her breath until she was well beyond the enticing smells, she let it out in a whoosh, earning herself a wary look from a delivery driver unloading a van. Hastily, she arranged her scowling features into a smile, but that made him blanch, so she guessed it wasn’t an improvement. He probably thought she was deranged.
Scuttling past, she carried on with her walk, grimacing when she caught sight of herself in the window of the cafe. With her unbrushed hair, red cheeks and wild expression, she looked positively manic.
Which was why she needed a dog. No one looked twice at someone taking a dog for a walk at seven-thirty in the morning, but a lone, middle-aged, overweight female trying to power-walk down the high street made people look twice. She suspected it was because they couldn’t believe their eyes.
Of course, she’d probably have to make the walk a bit longer when she had Biscuit in tow, but at least this was a start.
On her return home, Nora peeled off her leggings and tee shirt and stood in her bathroom clad only in her underwear, and eyed the scales. Should she weigh herself again or was she becoming obsessed?
She got on the scales.
Ah,thatwas more like it, she thought, and let out an exuberant cry. She’d lost three pounds! The restrictive, boring, tasteless diet she was on was finally bearing fruit. Not that she could actuallyeatmuch fruit. For one thing, she wasn’t keen on it, and for another, it was high in sugar.
But the thought of something sweet made her tastebuds tingle.
Stop it, she told herself, stripping off her bra and knickers and getting in the shower. She couldn’t risk giving in to her craving because she was doing so well. The difficulty was keeping it up: but now that she could see she was making progress, she had renewed resolve.
She could do this. And having Biscuit was going to be an enormous help.
Elijah took a batch of miniature banana bread loaves out of the oven and slid them onto a wire rack to cool. On autopilot, he reached for the industrial sized food mixer and pulled it closer, ready to receive the ingredients he’d pre-weighed for the next thing he was about to bake. But as he worked, he wasn’t thinking about what he was doing – he was thinking about his love rival.
Nora had popped into his mind because he’d stuck his head into the shop earlier and had spotted her striding along the high street with a face like thunder. He’d ducked back into the kitchen and thankfully she hadn’t seen him, but she’d been on his mind ever since.
Ah, who was he kidding? She’d been on his mind since Monday when he’d discovered that they were both interested in the same dog, and even more so since yesterday. For all Nora’s confident bluster, there was a certain vulnerability about her, and he wondered what her story was.
‘I saw Nora Bunting earlier,’ he said to Andrea when he went into the shop again. ‘What do you know about her?’ He wasn’t entirely sure what he was fishing for. Aside from knowing she owned the hairdressing salon and she lived in the village, he didn’t know a great deal. He’d never been one for gossip and he tended to keep himself to himself. If running wasn’t involved, Elijah generally wasn’t interested.
‘What do you mean?’ Andrea asked, then a slow smile spread across her face.
‘Don’t read anything into it,’ he warned. ‘I’m asking because she wants to adopt the same dog I want to adopt.’ Andrea continued to stare at him, so he gave her a brief explanation, finishing with, ‘I just wondered what kind of person she is.’
‘Trying to find some mud to sling? Like, is she a secret cat lover and wants to adopt a dog to give her kitties something to sharpen their claws on?’ she teased.
‘Now you’re being daft.’ Elijah pulled a face.
As she served the next customer, she replied, ‘She’s been doing my hair for years. I like her. She’s down to earth, fun, the life and soul of the party. She’snice.’
Elijah suspected Nora might be. However, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He’d hoped she was horrid, so he could feel better about depriving her of the dog she’d set her heart on.
Andrea continued, ‘I’ve heard she’s on a bit of a health kick, which is why she hasn’t been in for a while, but I didn’t realise she was thinking of getting a dog.’
Elijah reminded her, ‘She’s not just thinking, she’s applied for the same dogI’veapplied for.’ He tapped his chest indignantly.
‘Surely there are other dogs that need loving homes? Can’t you pick one of those?’
‘Can’tshe?’ he retorted. ‘Biscuit is a big dog with lots of energy. She’d be better suited to something smaller, especially since she’s going to take it to work with her.’ He gritted his teeth.
That factor could be a deal breaker, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
‘Agility,’ Elijah announced as soon as he saw Jakob later that afternoon. To his annoyance, Nora had arrived at the kennels before him. She’d clearly walked from the village too, as she appeared to be as hot and bothered as when he’d seen her on the high street this morning. More so, since she was clutching a water bottle and breathing hard.
Ironically,hewas the one who’d driven to Muddypuddle Lane today as he hadn’t wanted to be late, because there’d beena last-minute issue with an overflowing sink (his fault, he hadn’t been paying attention) that he’d had to deal with.
‘Agility,’ Jakob echoed blankly.
‘Do you think Biscuit will be any good at it? Because I thought I’d enrol him in a class. You know, give him some mental as well as physical stimulation. I noticed that there’s one of those tunnels that’s used in agility competitions in the field.’ Elijah was hoping he could make up for having to leave the dog for a few hours every morning by making the rest of his life super fun.
How much fun was the poor animal going to get in a hairdressing salon? Okay, Biscuit wouldn’t be on his own, but neither would he be doing anythingdoggy. Elijah knew which he would prefer if he were a dog, and it wouldn’t be lying in a stuffy salon surrounded by hairdryers and gossipy women.
