‘I can show you some of the new arrivals if you like,’ said Nate. ‘We’ve a fawn that was found injured yesterday. It was tough bringing her in, but she’s doing well now.’ He led them down the corridor into the area where the fawn was being housed. ‘We only bring in deer in extreme cases. With fawns, their mother often leaves them alone for up to ten hours at a time, and if we touch them then the scent will lead the mother to abandon her child. But, with this one, we monitored the area and, tragically, we found the mother deceased nearby.’
‘Oh, no.’ Carli thought she might cry at the sight of the fawn. ‘That is so sad.’
‘Aye, it’s tragic, losing her mum at such a young age. But she’s a tough wee thing and we’ll care for her until she’s strong enough and equipped to go back into the wild.’ Nate stood back to let Carli and Niall see the fawn.
Carli stared, mesmerised, at the creature and blinked back tears. Niall, who must have realised the poignancy of Nate’s words, touched her arm. It was a sweet gesture.
‘She’s the loveliest.’ Carli spoke softly. ‘Does she have a name?’
‘Not yet. You could choose one, if you like.’
‘Well, that’s an honour. Thank you. How about Iona? Isaw it on a map a few days. It has a calming, placid sound, like her.’
‘Iona it is. Would you like to meet some of the other animals? We’ve an abandoned bitch and some gorgeous pups that we’re going to be re-homing soon.’
‘Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes, show me them now.’
A short walk brought them to the canine annex where they found one full-grown, exhausted-looking German shepherd bitch and five pups with gorgeous black faces and floppy black and brown ears staring up at them.
‘Check out these guys.’ Niall leaned down as one pup came forward to sniff at his leg.
‘I think he likes you.’ Carli couldn’t help but think that the puppy reminded her of a younger Niall, full of curiosity and affection.
Niall picked up the pup and rubbed its head. ‘Hey, buddy, you are the cutest thing ever, aren’t you? Cancel my flight back to Oz. I’m staying here with my son.’
Nate laughed. ‘I’m sure he’d love that. He’ll need an energetic owner pretty soon, so if you decide to stay, then this guy could be yours.’
Niall held the pup up to his cheek. ‘You are the cutest. Isn’t he the cutest, Cass?’
Carli laughed. ‘Yep. Hard to say who’s cuter.’
‘Oh, it’s definitely the pup,’ threw in Nate. ‘But I’ve always found dogs cuter than my brothers. And cuter than some women as well, to be fair.’
‘You want to name him, too?’ Niall asked.
‘Can I?’ Carli looked to Nate for permission.
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
Carli stroked the pup’s head, and he looked up at her with soft, vulnerable eyes. ‘I’d like to call him Massimo,’ she said. ‘After my grandfather. He absolutely loved dogs.’
‘Aye,’ Niall agreed. ‘Hey, Massimo.’ He leaned his face to the dog’s. ‘You like your new name, don’t you? You’re the perfect Scottish-Italian German shepherd now.’
Niall put the pup down and let it go back to its siblings, and something warmed in Carli, seeing him like this. A man who was kind to animals was a giant green flag. But Nate’s words about Niall possibly staying in Scotland had hit Carli with a stark reminder that Niall wasn’t coming home to Australia. Therefore, swimming close to his green flags could still mean getting carried out to sea by a current she didn’t have the skills to swim in.
After the trip to visit Nate, Niall suggested they visit a local gold foundry where Carli ordered a bespoke bracelet for Luci. Then he took her to lunch at a farm shop where afterwards, she lost herself in the shop buying lots of healthy snacks. This was how some people behaved in a sweet shop, but to Carli a health store was a sweet shop.
‘So, tell me about your travels to Australia,’ she said as they sat in the car drinking kombucha. ‘You went to pick olives.’
‘Aye, I went to pick olives.’ Niall took a large slug of his drink. ‘Except… Well, that wasn’t the dream, was it?’
‘Is it any twenty-one-year-old’s dream? You wanted to experience the Aussie lifestyle.’
‘I didn’t go to experience the Aussie lifestyle, Cass. I went for you, to experience getting back together with you.’ Niall spoke these words with confidence but stared dead ahead through the car windscreen as he said them, as if he were ashamed. It was strange. He’d always been so open about his feelings for her, from reading her poems to kissing her unabashedly in front of his friends and brothers.
Finally, he looked at her and she took the opportunity to clarify.
‘You moved to Australia for me?’ she asked.
