Rowan was pulling his lips into his mouth, as if biting down on them, his lids blinking, and Marcus suspected he was fighting back tears. His voice was hoarse. ‘Yes... I do believe he will.’
‘Marcus!’
Marcus sighed. Back to reality. He turned around to see Veronica heading his way. She stopped in front of him breathless.
‘They are here... the first of the contestants are parking up on the seafront.’
Marcus’s heart immediately ramped up a gear, and began to thunder in his chest. ‘Thanks, Veronica.’
He turned back to Rowan, his eyes wide with nerves.
‘It’s going to be fine. We’ve got this.’
We’ve?
Marcus breathed in deeply, and exhaled loudly. ‘I’d better go.’
Rowan nodded, a smile—a real smile sliding onto his lips.
PIPPA WAS SITTING DOWNat a table on the edge of the competition site. She’d volunteered to be the first port of call, much to the despair of Marcus and Oliver, insisting that writing down names of entries was doing her part, and not at all tiring—an easy way of her being involved.
Marcus couldn’t believe the length of the queue waiting to be signed in by Pippa. He was quite surprised by how well behaved the dogs standing next to their owners, were behaving, St Bernards next to Chinese Crested dogs, only a few of them fidgeting and barking at the other dogs.
Pippa seemed to sense him there because she glanced up at Marcus in between welcoming and signing in the next owner and pet.
‘Morning, Marcus.’
Good morning, Pippa. Are you okay doing this on your own, do you need me to get anyone to sit with you?’
Marcus smiled at the sea of faces looking his way.
‘No it’s fine. Ollie will be here soon. He’s just taking Ginger and Jess to the pub so that Dad and Aunt Morgan can watch them for an hour while we’re here doing our bit.’
‘Okay, that’s great.’ Marcus looked back to the sea of faces. ‘Good morning, everyone. Thank y—’ A flock of seagulls flew overhead squawking loudly, setting some of the dogs off barking. Marcus felt something drop on his shoulder, and looked down to see one of the gulls had left a deposit there. ‘Ugh, great.’
‘That’s good luck,’ called someone from halfway down the queue.
Marcus flashed his most charming smile, even though he was mortified. He hadn’t even thought to bring a clean top with him. ‘Fantastic... As I was saying. Thank you all for attending Seagull Bay’s second annual dog competition. Pippa here, will sign your pets into your desired entries and hand you a list of today’s competition’s itinerary. Good luck, and I’ll see you all later.’
Marcus turned to leave and was stopped in his tracks by a rupture of applause. He couldn’t believe it. It was as if all his hard work had been rewarded in that moment. He turned around and bowed his head.
Still in a daze from the impromptu applause, Marcus found himself wandering near to the quiet zone again. Rowan came out of the marquee just as he was passing. ‘Oh no. They got you.’
Marcus frowned slightly, unsure what he meant. ‘Who?’
Rowan pointed to his shoulder. The gulls.’
Marcus had already forgotten about the mess. He smiled and groaned as he nodded. ‘Yes. Just as I was welcoming the owners and their pets as well.’
Rowan held his finger up. ‘One second.’ He disappeared back into the marquee, reappearing a moment later with a denim shirt in his hand. ‘Here. You’re about the same size as me.’ He dipped his head to the side and narrowed his eyes as he stared at Marcus’s chest. Marcus suddenly felt very self-conscious, andwished instead of thinking of doing push-ups these past few months, he’d actually done some. ‘Maybe not quite as broad, but this should fit.’
Marcus reached for the shirt. ‘Thank you.’
Rowan gestured to the marquee. ‘Go in there and change. There’s only Atlas in there at the moment.’
Marcus nodded and entered the marquee. He glanced back over his shoulder, but Rowan had chosen to wait outside. He didn’t know whether to be sad or glad.
Atlas was lying down and he lifted his head, giving a small wag of his tail when he saw Marcus.
