‘How y’all feeling, sweetie?’ Carrie’s voice cut through the swirl of thoughts filling Bex’s head.
How was she feeling? She had just resigned from her job. Her job, which she had given her soul to for years. Her job, which had defined who she was as a person. Who she thought she wanted to be. Successful, smart, determined. And now… now what was she?
‘I… I don’t know,’ she replied, a strange numbness seeping through her.
‘Well, for what it’s worth, I’m proud of y’all. Took a lot a balls.’
‘I don’t have a job.’ Bex’s breath began to quicken. ‘I don’t have a job. Crap. I just quit my job. How’m I gonna earn money? How’m I gonna live?’
‘I’m sure you’ll sort all that out,’ Keith said, still staring at the narrow winding roads. ‘Let’s just see what’s goin’ on with that dog o’ yours first.’
The journey back to the village felt impossibly long, but soon they were driving up past the White Hart, towards Lorna’s cottage.
Before Keith had even put the handbrake on, Bex was out of the car and running for the front door.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got a key,’ Carrie called after her, and yet before she’d even reached Bex, the door swung open. Duncan stood behind it.
‘Where is she? Where’s Ruby? What happened?’
Bex went to move past him, but he held her by the shoulders, keeping her in place.
‘You need to prepare yourself for this,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what happened. I don’t…’
Tears pricked behind her eyes. ‘I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have left…’
‘Nothing would’ve changed if you’d been here. Believe me,’ Duncan said. ‘And as for why you left, I’m guessing that’s something we need to talk about. But it can wait for now.’
‘No, you don’t understand.’ Bex just wanted to get past him. ‘You don’t understand, I?—’
‘You need to breathe,’ Carrie said gently. ‘Can’t have you having another panic attack on us.’
‘A panic attack?’ Duncan’s tone cut through sharply. His eyes widened with fear, but Bex lifted a hand to silence him before he could say anything.
‘I’ll tell you about it in a minute; I’ll tell you about everything. But please, I just need to see Ruby, okay? I need to check she’s okay.’
Rather than moving, Duncan combed his fingers through his hair, his eyes still narrow as he nodded slowly.
‘Well… she’s tired, I’ll tell you that. But she’s also a natural.’
‘Natural? What do you mean?’
Finally, he stepped aside, giving Bex room to come into the bedroom and into the living area.
Lorna was there, kneeling on the floor. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Bex.
‘Did you tell her?’ she said to Duncan.
‘No, I thought it was best she saw for herself.’
Bex’s stomach churned as she walked further inwards, only stopping when a strange sound caught her attention. A faint, high-pitched squeak. The moment she saw the dog, her hand flew to her mouth.
‘Oh my God!’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘She’s had puppies? Ruby has puppies?’
There, curled up beside their mother, feeding away, were three small bundles of red fur. Each so little they could have fit in the palm of Bex’s hand. As Ruby finally noticed Bex, she lifted her head ever so slightly and gave a couple of firm beats of her tail.
‘That’s why she was losing weight,’ Duncan said as he slipped beside Bex and wrapped an arm around her waist. ‘Apparently, it’s common for dogs in the first few weeks, especially first-time mums.’
‘I’m telling you now, I wouldn’t have agreed to dog-sit if I’d known this was going to happen,’ Lorna said. Bex laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes as she did. If she had gotten on the plane to London, she knew she might still have a job, but she’d have missed this. And somehow, a corner office, or any office at all, didn’t seem that important any more.
