‘No, I don’t, but he doesn’t know that. And my goodness, he absolutely stinks!’
Not only was he soaking wet, but he’d clearly been rolling in something unsavoury because a pungent aroma of wet dog mingled with the earthy natural scents of the countryside was steaming off his back and filling the kitchen with a heady fug.
‘I’m going to have to bathe him,’ said Tess, pulling a face at the stench that seemed to be getting ever more potent by the moment.
‘Definitely,’ said Dilly, who was scrunching her nose in distaste while leaning backwards, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and Barney. ‘I’d love to stay and help, but I have actually got a client arriving in ten minutes so I’m going to have to leave you to it.’
‘How very convenient,’ Tess said, laughing.
‘I might be good at sorting out human waifs and strays who turn up in need of a wash and blow-dry, but smelly dogs are way out of my remit!’
‘You get off,’ she said, hugely grateful to Dilly for all the support she’d already provided. ‘I can’t thank you enough. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without you!’
Dilly threw her a kiss as she walked out the door and Tess looked at Barney, who had collapsed in an undignified heap on the kitchen floor.
‘Right.’ Tess rolled up her sleeves, not relishing the idea of the task ahead, as bathing Barney was never fun, but she knew it had to be done. ‘Let’s get you sorted,’ she said, sounding determined. ‘We’ll have you feeling like a brand-new dog in next to no time!’
18
On the following Monday morning, Tess returned home from her Pilates class in the village hall, feeling fully relaxed and energised. She was relieved that Barney looked to be recovering well, although he had spent the whole of the previous day sleeping off his madcap adventures. As soon as Rob had heard from Danny about what had happened, he was on the phone to Tess that evening wanting to check that they were both doing okay.
‘I’ve brought the kids over to see my folks and we were planning to stay overnight, but if you want me to come round, keep an eye on Barney with you, then I’m sure I can make that work.’
‘No, don’t worry. You enjoy the time with your family. Barney and I are going to have a very chilled-out evening. Besides, I think his stomach might be slowly deflating; there’s certainly a lot of gas emanating from every end. Really, you wouldn’t want to be here.’
He’d laughed out loud but told her he was only a phone call away if she needed his help.
Instead, she’d sent him lots of photos of Barney, charting his adventures: first, when he’d returned to the cottage, completely bedraggled, his stomach noticeably protruding, almost touching the ground; then when he was in the bath, covered in doggy shampoo, looking very disgruntled; followed by pictures of him completely crashed out on the sofa, showing off his tummy looking as though he was about to deliver a litter of puppies.
They’d kept in touch with frequent messages and calls so when her phone lit up on that Monday morning, she naturally thought it was Rob, but it wasn’t like him to message her during work hours.
When she saw Charles’s name instead, she thought, for the briefest moment, about ignoring it. He would only want to talk to her about Hannah, to ask if she was really intending on seeing ‘that boy’ again, as Charles referred to Billy, or perhaps ask Tess to act as go-between. Or maybe word of Barney’s weekend adventures had reached him and he was demanding to know what exactly had happened. Her finger hovered over the red button to decline the call, but instead, she swallowed down a sigh and reluctantly pressed accept.
‘Hi, Charles,’ she said with as much civility as she could muster.
‘Oh, hello…’
Tess immediately stiffened; it wasn’t Charles at the end of the phone, but someone else entirely.
‘Tess… this is Melody here.’
Tess shook her head, trying to get her thoughts in order. Why would Melody be trying to contact her? She’d never spoken to her before. She’d only ever seen her once, and that was briefly when she’d spotted her in Bramlingham town centre, walking arm in arm with Charles, not long after he’d left her, and the sight of the two lovebirds had sent Tess into a head spin. Obviously, afterwards, Tess had indulged in an acceptable amount of online stalking, because, quite frankly, she would have been a saint not to. It hadn’t taken Tess long to discover Melody Mitchell’s online profile, courtesy of LinkedIn, and then through further searching, her bio on her company’s website. By all accounts, she was a bit of a high-flyer, who had an impressive academic history and had been made a partner at the accountancy firm at an enviably young age. If that hadn’t been enough to make Tess feel wretched, then Melody’s business headshot with her blonde-haired good looks smiling broadly out of the photo appearing confident and relaxed, only taunted Tess further. Thankfully, enough time had passed for Tess to give little thought to Melody these days – she had much more important things to think about – but now that traumatic time was brought to the forefront of her mind all over again.
Melody cleared her throat before continuing. ‘I’m afraid it’s Charles; he’s in Bramlingham General Hospital.’
‘Oh!’ It had been an involuntary exclamation that went nowhere near to expressing Tess’s shock, as she tried to reconcile the image of the other woman she held in her head with the cool and collected voice on the end of the telephone and what it was telling her.
‘I don’t know if you’re aware,’ Melody said, ‘but Charles has had a chest infection for a few weeks now that he’s been unable to shift and then this morning, he was having trouble breathing. I called the ambulance and they took him in. It looks like it could be pneumonia.’
‘Oh God.’ A whole swathe of emotions assaulted Tess. Aside from the shock, there was complete disbelief. The last time she’d seen Charles, he’d had a persistent cough admittedly, but she’d paid little attention to his coughing and spluttering, putting it down to another one of those things he was doing deliberately to annoy her. Now, she felt guilt as a slither of fear ran down her spine. ‘Will he be all right?’
‘I don’t know.’ Tess could detect little emotion from Melody at the other end of the line and she gave a fleeting thought to what she must be going through, but it was only momentarily, before her thoughts diverted to Hannah. She would need to tell her. Now or later? ‘I’ve just left his bay to call you. They’ve given him some oxygen to help his breathing and they’re talking about organising some IV antibiotics, but that’s all I know.’
‘Right.’ Tess could feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Part of her wanted to dash to the car, to rush straight to the hospital, but that wasn’t her role any more. Melody was at his side, playing the loving, supportive partner, and Tess wasn’t sure where that left her. She didn’t want to intrude and yet she had been married to Charles for over thirty years; in fact, she was still married to him, until the divorce came through, which could be several months away yet. While any romantic feelings may have vanished, she still cared for him. Her stomach churned as she contemplated all the possible implications. She didn’t want him to die. ‘Well, thanks for letting me know. Can you keep me posted, please?’
‘Of course. He’s on the AMU ward and it’s open visiting hours between 12 and 9p.m., but they’ve said, at the moment, family can visit at any time so…’ There was an audible intake of breath, and Melody didn’t finish the rest of the sentence, but she didn’t need to. Tess was more than capable of filling in the blanks. Charles was in the Acute Medical Ward, obviously battling something very serious, and his family were being encouraged to visit.
‘Do you think I should come in?’
