‘Absolutely I do. Why don’t you sit here, then we don’t have to try and talk over the counter.’ Elaine pointed to a second chair beside hers and Pippa sidled around to join her. Elaine went to a kitchen next to reception, a kettle, microwave and fridge on a worktop opposite a table and four chairs. She pressed a button on a compact coffee machine, waking it up.
‘Morning consultations are almost over anyway; we’ve only got one more patient to see.’ She glanced towards the chap and his cat, which was mewling quietly. ‘Then Gil’s on call for the rest of the weekend, but hopefully it’ll be a quiet one.’
‘You mentioned something about a locum earlier. How many vets do you have here?’
‘Nine in total, plus the nursing team and admin staff, but that’s across the two branches.’ Elaine raised an empty mug, covered in sheep. ‘How do you like your coffee?’
‘Espresso would be perfect, thanks.’ Pippa had noticed a box of capsules next to the machine. ‘I could do with the caffeine.’
‘I imagine you could,’ Elaine said sympathetically, removing a capsule from the box. ‘I’m sorry that you and Gil haven’t got off to the best start.’
‘That’s one way of putting it.’ Pippa wished she could laugh but humour simply wouldn’t come. ‘I hadn’t even heard of him before I—’
She’d been about to blurt out ‘barged into his bedroom’ and abruptly changed her mind. She already liked Elaine and didn’t imagine her gossiping about her boss, but she couldn’t vouch for the chap still casting sidelong glances Pippa’s way. One of the doors opened and a middle-aged woman in dark jeans and a navy polo shirt appeared. She smiled at the chap as she called a name and he ambled into the consulting room, clutching the carrier and still-mewling cat, and the door closed.
‘That was Wendy, our locum.’ Elaine passed Pippa the mug, which she accepted with thanks. ‘She’s covering for someone who’s off sick. Gil would like to hang on to her as she’s got plenty of farm experience, but of course he can’t offer a full-time job right now, not with things the way they are.’
‘I see.’ Pippa didn’t, not really. She noticed two black-and-white photographs pinned to the only wall without shelves; two men in each, standing beside a cow and a calf in one and amongst a flock of sheep in the second.
‘Biscuit, Pippa? We keep some for clients, along with the tissues. I promise they’re not dog treats.’
‘Yes please.’ Pippa wouldn’t normally resort to sugar before lunch but today was not turning out well, and she was half tempted to ask for a tissue as well. She wasn’t generally given to weeping either, but her dad and his scheming might reduce her to tears soon. She thanked Elaine again, this time for the tin of wrapped chocolate biscuits she was offering. Pippa took one, along with a deep breath.
‘So how are things, at the practice? I hope you don’t mind me asking but my dad didn’t give me much information before we arrived here.’
‘Of course not, I should think you need to know what you’re dealing with.’ Elaine settled back in the chair with her own coffee. ‘The practice was originally set up by Mr Fuller and Eddie Haworth, who farmed here when it was still part of the old estate. Gil’s grandad,’ she clarified, raising a hand to the photographs. ‘That’s him there, on the left in both pictures.’
Pippa was searching for a family resemblance to Gil in the stern-faced man staring back. But the images were too old, too faded, to distinguish anything other than perhaps a similarity in height and build.
‘When Mr Fuller died,’ Elaine continued, ‘another partner joined and eventually as modern medicine, treatment and surgery improved, the practice merged with a larger one in town. They kept this branch open, mostly for the local farmers, although we do have regular consultations for clients with companion animals who prefer not to go into town. But of course we can’t offer everything here. The building is outdated, and our kennels and X-ray facilities desperately need an upgrade, as well as the operating theatre and the lab. We have two consulting rooms, a treatment room and dispense drugs, but if it’s anything more serious then clients have to go into town. Occasionally vets on call will see patients out of hours here but it depends on the type of emergency they present.’
‘I see.’ Pippa was savouring a final mouthful of espresso after the two mugs of average coffee earlier. Gil had been right about that at least; she didn’t enjoy instant. ‘So when the house is sold, this branch will close, and all the clients will have to go into town.’
‘Sold?’ Elaine’s manicured eyebrows jumped upwards. ‘So that’s Jonny’s plan, is it? Gil suspected as much, he thought Jonny had sent you to do his dirty work for him and persuade him to quit.’
‘Er, well, it’s not decided yet,’ Pippa said hastily, trying to backtrack. ‘There’s a lot to think about before any decisions are made. Obviously, having a tenant in situ complicates things a bit, and then there’s the vets.’
She had been the one to translate her dad’s instruction of ‘sort’ into ‘sell’. But what else was there to do with Home Farm but sell it, and put Hartfell behind them once and for all? This place was nothing to do with Pippa and her life in London, even if Violet from the shop did think she resembled someone local.
‘So I take it you don’t know the practice is up for sale and that Gil wants to split it, take on the farm work and expand here, then?’ Elaine’s eye contact was unwavering. ‘Or about the time limit Jonny gave him to raise the money?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t.’ Pippa made a conscious effort to relax her jaw, wondering if steam escaping from ears was an actual thing. If it was, hers would be hissing by now as she began to realise the full extent of what Jonny had landed her in the middle of. ‘Could you please enlighten me, Elaine?’
Chapter Six
‘Gil’s had plans drawn up to convert the other barns into treatment rooms and a lab, plus new facilities for X-rays, scans and surgery. His dream is expanding with a full staff and a dedicated farm building for overnight monitoring and more intensive care. Of course, his family history with the practice goes back a long way. He’s desperate not to see it swallowed up by a chain and lose the long-standing relationships and goodwill with farm clients who rely on us.’ Elaine glanced at the monitor and touched the keyboard, sending it to sleep again.
‘Farm practice is his beating heart and there are less independent rural ones left now. It’s hard to find vets who are prepared to put up with the work–life imbalance, being called out at all hours to a difficult calving or lambing in an isolated barn in the middle of winter, when the wind and the cold could knock you right off your feet.’ Elaine raised a shoulder. ‘Factor in a place like Hartfell, for all that it’s pretty and there’s lots going on… Well. It’s not for everyone. It won’t be easy for him, whatever happens. I’m sure you get the picture, Pippa.’
Pippa did, all too clearly, and she nodded slowly as Elaine continued.
‘There’s a new vets opened up in town, part of another group, and they’ve got their eye on us and consolidating both businesses. Of course they’ve already taken some of our clients, there’s only so many to go around. But by anyone’s standards, expanding here and investing in the kind of technology it would need is a huge financial risk. There’s no guarantee of more patients even if Gil can pull it off. It’s a wonderful way of life, farming, but it’s very hard and it needs more young people.’
Elaine took a sip of her coffee and put the mug down. The door to the consulting room opened and the man appeared with his cat carrier, looking more cheerful as he headed towards them.
‘Elaine, do you have any idea why my dad sent me up here now?’ Pippa lowered her voice lest the client overhear, desperate for the reply.
‘I think I do, yes. Your dad gave Gil six months to come up with the finance to buy him out and there’s only a few weeks left before the deadline expires. Gil’s trying hard to raise the money but we’re all aware he’s running out of time.’
