‘Not bad. I’d come and help try to cajole him inside, but as you can see, I have my hands full.’
‘No worries. Is it okay keeping this door open? I’ve shut the gate.’
‘Yes, as long as the gate is closed, take all the time in the world.’
Rowan looked from Atlas to Marcus, a small grimace stretching his mouth. ‘I’m really hoping it’s not going to take that long.’
To Marcus’s amazement, Atlas took a tentative step... Then another, until moments later, he’d crossed the threshold without any instruction from Rowan.
Rowans eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped. He blinked a couple of times, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. Marcus wanted to shout from the rooftops, but instead, he watched silently to see how Rowan was going to react first.
Rowan’s response was more sedate than Marcus was expecting. First he closed the door, then he lowered down, bending one knee, as if he were about to propose, then slowly he placed his forehead to Atlas’s, whispering words inaudible to Marcus.
Marcus’s breath caught in his throat, and he had to gulp past the lump which had miraculously appeared there.
When Rowan looked up at Marcus, there was no denying the depth of emotion Marcus saw behind his eyes, but like the first few times Marcus had seen Rowan, his face was once again calm and restrained.
Rowan nodded once to Marcus. Marcus clipped the Shih tzu’s lead tighter so he couldn’t jump down from the grooming table, and he took a step towards Atlas. Dipping his hand in his pocket first, Marcus reached it forward slowly for him to sniff, before offering Atlas a treat. Atlas took it, chewing it slowly, before swallowing. Marcus patted him softly. ‘Hello, Atlas. Welcome to Ruff to Regal.’
Atlas moved his head from side to side, as he looked from the Shih tzu, to his owner seated in the waiting area. As if determining there was no threat, to Rowan’s and Marcus’s astonishment, he took another step into the parlour, sniffing at the pile of wet towels in the laundry basket, before retreating back to Rowan, and sitting at his feet.
Marcus could barely drag his eyes from Atlas, but when he did, he saw the subtlest of quivers on Rowan’s chin.
It was too much. He had to quickly turn away, using the excuse of getting back to the Shih tzu to gain control of his own emotions. ‘Right, young Jack. Let’s get you finished.’
Marcus had just returned to Jack’s curls when the bell above the front door tinkled.
It was not loud. Not usually.
But this time, it came with the sharp scrape of the door being pushed too hard, the sudden bark of a dog on the other side, and a woman’s flustered voice calling, ‘Sorry! Sorry, we’re early. He got away from me in the street.’
A young Labrador burst through the doorway, all paws and excitement, dragging his lead behind him.
Everything happened at once.
Jack, the Shih Tzu, jerked on the grooming table.
His owner gasped from the waiting area.
Marcus reached automatically to steady Jack, his elbow catching the metal water bowl on the edge of the table beside him. It tipped, hit the floor with a ringing clang, then spun across the tiles, rattling louder than something so small had any right to.
The Labrador barked again.
Christine’s salon door opened behind them, and someone called, ‘Is everything all right?’
Then the glass treat jar on the counter trembled from the impact, rolled, and dropped.
It shattered.
The sound cracked through the parlour.
Atlas froze.
Not startled. Not merely frightened.
Frozen.
His body locked so hard, Marcus could see the line of tension running from his shoulders to his tail. His ears shot forward, his head lowered, and his eyes fixed on a point somewhere beyond all of them, as if the parlour had vanished and something else had taken its place.
