Page 25 of My Year of Saying No
‘You ready to see Nanny and Popsy?’ I asked.
By his circular dance of delight, I guessed the answer was yes.
‘Come on, then. Assuming the car starts, of course,’ I muttered to myself.
Humphrey’s ears twitched, catching my tone and his fuzzy head tilted at me in question.
‘It’ll be fine. Come on.’ And we headed out, round the building towards the car park.
* * *
‘Hello, darling!’ Mum threw her arms wide and hugged me like she hadn’t seen me in months. I’d popped round in the week, but I still loved that she did this every time. My older sister travelled a lot in her capacity as first-class cabin crew for British Airways and I knew she got the same greeting whether she’d been away for weeks to some far-flung destination or had been round the previous day.
Humphrey rubbed his body against Mum’s legs and Dad, approaching from the kitchen, laughed, scooping him up in one large hand and plopping him against his broad chest.
‘Feeling a bit left out, are you?’ he asked as Humphrey wriggled in pleasure and snuggled himself against Dad’s cashmere jumper.
‘Don’t ever let Sally see you cuddling him in that jumper she bought you? She’ll go up the wall.’ I pulled a face as I gave him a hug, temporarily pinning my dog between us.
Dad put a finger to his lips. ‘Our secret.’
I loved my sister, but my idea of casual and hers were two completely different things. She didn’t exactly object to Humphrey, but he had to stay in the kitchen if we visited her place, which, as we generally sat elsewhere, I and he hated. It felt like he was being punished for something he hadn’t done, so, now, if I visited, I’d either leave him at home, or drop him off at my parents’ place for a bit. In lieu of any grandchildren, they were always thrilled to have their granddog to visit. They’d ummed and ahhed over the years about getting a dog themselves, but they did quite often like to drop everything and go and do something, which, thanks to Sally, sometimes involved little trips abroad. A dog wouldn’t really work with that lifestyle, so they stuck to what they knew and just enjoyed Humphrey’s visits.
‘What have you been up to then, love?’ Dad asked, as he tucked my arm into his, my other one was holding Humph’s lead, his toenails tapping on the pavement as we began our walk into the next village and the food fayre.
‘Well, last night I went dancing.’
‘Did you, darling?’ Mum leaned across from the other side of Dad. ‘What, at a club?’
‘No. Those lessons I was saying about.’
‘The lessons you’ve been talking about for years?’
I wobbled my head. ‘Yes, all right. I took a long run-up.’
Dad grinned and gave my arm a little squeeze. ‘So, how was it?’
‘Good. Jess and Harry have started too.’
‘Oh, that’s nice.’ I could hear the bright tone in Mum’s voice and knew there was something else. ‘Did you go with someone else too?’
‘Nope. Just me.’
‘So, who did you dance with?’ Dad asked.
‘I danced with the delightful Mario.’
Mum’s head popped back around dad again. ‘Mario?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘And what?’
Mum gave me a look. ‘I might be old, but I’m not daft. Spill.’
The hot breath from my laughter billowed into cooling clouds in front of me as I replied. ‘There’s nothing to spill.’
