‘I could say the same of you,’ Will said, his tone slightly more conciliatory. ‘Like looking for houses, isn’t it? You might get gazumped on your dream home, but then you find another dream home further down the line. I’m sure you’ll find another dog that you’ll like even more.’
‘Blossom is not a house. She’s a sentient being who I connected with the moment I saw her.’ Margot didn’t even attempt to sound conciliatory. There was no reason why she should. She wasn’t the one in the wrong here.
‘And then you went away and left her with me, and she’s settled now. Plus, as I was trying to explain when you kept interrupting me—’
‘I’m sure that I didn’t interrupt you,’ Margo interjected furiously, because how dare he?
‘You’ve just done it again.’ Will raised a self-righteous eyebrow.
There was nothing Margot could do but subside with an aggrieved huff.
‘I live above the business,’ Will explained. ‘If I have to go to a meeting, Blossom hangs out in the shop because this is a dog that cannot be left alone. What are you going to do with her when you’re at work?’
‘I’m sorting out day care.’ Margot could feel herself flushing. Sorting out doggy day care was another item on the long doggy to-do list.
‘And what about when you go out in the evening?’
‘She can come with . . .’ Margot said weakly. Oh God, she hadn’t thought any of this through.
‘With me, Blossom always has someone there,’ Will pressed his point home, though Blossom was leaning against Margot’s side and hadn’t looked at him in quite a while. Any fool could see that she much preferred Margot. ‘I’ve spent a week earning Blossom’s trust and now you want to uproot her just as she’s started to relax. Besides, my mother and my little sister adore her and would be happy to dog-sit any time.’
‘So she’s going to be passed from pillar to post like a parcel,’ Margot summed up triumphantly. ‘Whereas I will devote myself to Blossom so she has continuity of care. Like, I’ve already arranged to have this week off as pawrental leave.’ Had she just actually said ‘pawrental leave’ with a straight face like it was an actual thing that people said out loud?
‘She really would be better off with me,’ Will said, and he managed to make it sound definite, absolute. A statement of fact that couldn’t be denied.
‘But she would be more loved with me,’ Margot countered with the same conviction. ‘That’s the most important thing. That she’s loved and that she knows that she’s loved.’ There was a fraught interlude as Margot and Will glared at each other. ‘She’s a lucky dog, isn’t she?’ Margot relented slightly, and coaxed Blossom over her legs with little regard for Blossom’s muddy paws and her expensive, blue and red check woollen coat, so that she settled between them.
She saw Will look down at Blossom’s anxious face, the prominent ribs, the bald patches.
‘Lucky, how?’
‘A week ago, she was an abandoned, unwanted dog and now she has two people fighting over her.’ Margot leaned down to kiss Blossom right on her snout and for the first time, Blossom wagged her tail. Well, it twitched once, which had to count for something. Will must have seen it too because he tried to get in on the act by scritching Blossom beneath her chin with a finger.
‘We could share her,’ he suddenly said. ‘That would be a solution, wouldn’t it? Split the responsibility and the expense and the pleasure of her company.’
Margot looked down at Blossom who was now leaning towards Will, her eyes closed in ecstasy as he continued the chin scritching.
Share her? It was ridiculous!
But then . . . Margot had been wondering, worrying, what to do with Blossom if she couldn’t find a suitable day care. Also, who would look after her when Margot was on one of her many dates? Margot felt quite lightheaded as she mentally estimated day-care fees, insurance, dog food, vet’s bills, and the start-up costs of beds and leads and squeaky toys.
But then . . . Will’s plan also made Margot feel unbearably sad. Or maybe it was because, when he was caressing Blossom under her chin with two long fingers, Blossom had shut her eyes, and in that moment she stopped being a scared animal and simply revelled in the pleasure of a gentle touch.
Was it too much to ask that just once, Margot should be allowed to love someone and not have that someone snatched away? Or, in this case, have to share her love? Though, perfidious Percy had been very low-maintenance, especially as he spent most of his time in other people’s houses – Blossom was going to demand much more of her attention and time.
‘I suppose it’s not the worst idea in the world,’ she said at last.
8
Will
‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like a dog each?’ Belinda asked when they’d presented her with their plan to dog-share.
‘We’ve both fallen in love with Blossom,’ Margot told Belinda, although Will hadn’t mentioned the L word at all. ‘I know that if we both got a dog, we’d be saving two lives, but the heart wants what the heart wants, right?’
‘It’s a very practical arrangement. I’m surprised more people don’t do it,’ Will said, as he filled in the second adoption form. But of course it wasn’t just about practical arrangements.
Do you love her?
Will wouldn’t say that he loved Blossom. But when Blossom had climbed up on his sofa and felt safe enough to go to sleep, a warm Ready-Brek glow had infused Will’s entire being. Blossom trusted him, which meant that he was good enough. It had been a long time since Will had felt anything close to good enough.
This little dog (who was so alarmed at being back at kennels that she put an imploring paw on Margot’s knee and stared at Will with worried eyes) had managed to get under his skin and halfway to his heart like nobody else ever had.
But he hadn’t enjoyed the constant worrying about Blossom; a low-level static hum that had soundtracked Will’s waking hours. And that last wee walk at 10.30 p.m., even though it was only five minutes, was an absolute killer. Then there was the hand-feeding and trying to find something that Princess Blossom would eat because she was having nothing to do with the half bag of dry food that she’d arrived with.
He’d done it for a week, with help. But it was so much responsibility. And full-time? That was a big ask. So, while Will had been happy, on reflection, to foster Blossom, he’d also been counting the hours until he handed her over to Margot where she’d spend the rest of her life being smothered and smooched.
But then there had been half an hour on Saturday evening, when Blossom had draped a paw over Will’s knee and rested her head on his leg. The Ready-Brek glow upgraded to a full-on forest fire. This was more than a wary kind of trust. Blossom was actively seeking Will’s company and comfort. This was actual snuggling! Even though Will absolutely and categorically wasn’t the snuggling kind, he couldn’t bear this whole experience to be a fleeting thing, a treasured memory. The comfort went both ways. When he ran his hand down the length of Blossom’s spine and stroked her fur, it was Will who felt soothed, all his spiky edges filed down, the nagging doubts silenced.