Three Amazing Things About You(66)

They’d been watching for twenty minutes when Hallie heard snuffling, and realised that a dog was investigating the right-hand wheel of her chair. Leaning over, she saw a bright-eyed brown and white terrier gazing up at her, the fluffiness of his ears an indication that he was still a puppy.

‘Hello!’ She reached down to greet him, tickling the little dog under his chin and laughing as he promptly attempted to scramble up the side of her chair. His extendable lead was stretched out behind him, attached to the wrist of his owner. Twisting round, Hallie’s mouth dropped open.

Alerted by the sudden movement, Bea turned too. For a couple of seconds they were both stunned into silence.

Then, her eyes widening in disbelief, Bea said, ‘No way!’





Chapter 29


‘Hallie! And Bea – oh my goodness, fancy bumping into you two here! Hallie, how are you?’

Nobody ever wanted the truth when they asked that question; it wasn’t an invitation to launch into a list of oxygen saturation percentages.

‘I’m good, thanks. You’re looking great. Who does this puppy belong to?’ Having patted her knees, Hallie had persuaded the little dog to leap up on to her lap. ‘He’s gorgeous.’

‘I know,’ Christina said proudly. ‘Isn’t he perfect? And don’t faint, but he’s mine!’

Christina, Luke’s ex-girlfriend. She’d always been blonde and elegant without needing to try too hard. Today she was looking particularly glamorous in a pale pink dress and matching coat, with flat pink ballerina-style pumps accentuating her slender tanned legs. Her hair was loose and shiny, her make-up light. But it was the look in her eyes as she gazed down at the dog that really made the difference; she was clearly a woman in love.

‘Hang on, though,’ said Bea. ‘I thought you didn’t like dogs.’

‘I know, I thought so too!’ A couple of the Carranford locals had habitually brought their large dogs into the White Hart, and Christina had always shuddered and given them a wide berth. Now, she gave a cheery shrug. ‘Turned out I just didn’t like other people’s big scary dogs. My mum gave me this one for my birthday in January and I couldn’t believe it; I told her I didn’t want a dog! But she said I should give it a week to see how things went, and if I still didn’t want him after that, then she’d keep him for herself.’ Christina gazed adoringly into the eyes of her unexpected birthday present. ‘Well, that was it. By the end of that first evening, I was completely besotted. His name’s Daley, and now I couldn’t imagine being without him . . . he’s my little darling, aren’t you? Oh yes you are!’ Blowing ecstatic kisses at Daley, she added cheerily, ‘Honestly, I’m a changed person. My mother couldn’t be more thrilled!’

A waiter approached, a round of drinks was ordered and Christina pulled up a chair to join them. She’d been invited along today by a couple of horse-mad neighbours who’d had a ticket to spare and who were currently walking the course.

‘So do you still have the snakes?’ said Hallie.

‘No.’ Briefly shamefaced, Christina shook her head. ‘It’s a bit of a crazy story. Audrey died just before Christmas – she was my Burmese python – and I wanted to replace her right away, but my mum got really upset. She told me I was obsessed with snakes and it was no way to live. Then in January she gave me Daley. She did it on purpose, of course, but that’s mums for you.’ Christina reached over to fondle the dog’s ears. ‘Plus, she was right: it turns out dogs are a million times more fun than snakes. And it wasn’t easy to keep both at the same time – Daley used to bark like mad outside their room, which must have been stressful for them – so the upshot was, I ended up giving them away to a family I knew would give them a good home.’ She paused and shrugged. ‘And that was it, no more crazy snake-keeping lady. Now I have Daley instead.’

‘And your mum’s happier,’ said Bea cheerily.

‘Oh God, tons happier. She was starting to panic that no man would ever want me.’ Amused, Christina said, ‘Which was fair enough, to be honest, seeing as I hadn’t been out with anyone since me and Luke broke up.’

‘Really?’ Bea was interested. ‘And has it made a difference, having a dog instead? Have you met someone nice?’

The sound of thundering hooves signalled the arrival of the next horse in the competition; conversation halted and all heads swivelled to watch the huge grey leap the first fence, gallop into the water, then stumble and tip its rider into the lake before nonchalantly trotting back out on to dry ground.