‘So, Mum, I told you Rufus is coming tomorrow, didn’t I? I’ll make up the bed in the spare room for him. That’s okay with you, isn’t it?’
Mum was obviously distracted getting ready to go back to work. She hoped she hadn’t forgotten he was coming and make a scene about it. She didn’t seem very interested about her and Rufus’s idea of reopening the kennels.
‘I’d wait a while and see what happens,’ she said vaguely. ‘I mean the holiday time is over for most people so there probably won’t be any pets needing to go there until Easter.’
‘But we’ve got to get it up and running first, Mum,’ Sophie said. ‘You don’t want to be landed with all those pets again, cute as they were.’ She remembered the enthusiastic welcome Ziggy always gave them when they returned home.
‘I wouldn’t mind having a dog again, like we did when we were little, and Dad was here,’ she said, remembering Barbie, the terrier they’d had when she was a child, and how she joined enthusiastically in all their games.
‘I was at home a lot then, so we could look after a dog. But, Sophie…’ Her mother stopped going through her lesson plans and faced her. ‘Remember, we are quite new here, and you must be careful how you handle this. The kennel saga has caused enough trouble already. People taking sides and such.’ She told her about the scene with Jules in the supermarket. ‘We didn’t even know the place existed, so maybe it’s best to give it a rest for a while.’
‘But Rufus spent much of his youth there. He wants to see what’s happened and check on their house.’ She hoped Mum wasn’t going to suggest he came a bit later, she was all fired up to get it up and running again, restore their business to them.
‘That’s fine, it is his aunt and uncle’s house and I expect they want to know it is all right, but just don’t go on making a fuss about Jules closing it down. It’s done now,’ Mum said, leaving the room to go and see to her clothes for the morning.
When she’d told Dom that Rufus was coming to stay to sort things out, he said he’d like to come down too as he hadn’t seen him for ages. That would be great as she was missing him more than she thought she would. When it was just the two them together it was good, but she felt hanging about with his family over Christmas had put a dampener on their love. She felt guilty at not being with him when he started his new job, though when she chatted to him on the phone, she had the feeling he was quite relieved so he could get on with it without her fussing around, and it wasn’t as if she had a job of her own to go to. It was so depressing looking for one at this time of the year.
The only thing she didn’t know, and nor did Rufus, whom she’d only spoken to once, was if they would be able to get into the kennels or if Jules had locked them up and they’d have to ask him to let them in. When Rufus was here, they’d confront him together; he couldn’t stop them if his aunt had asked him to check on it.
But later, when she went shopping for Mum, she almost bumped into Jules in the street.
‘Oh, Sophie, isn’t it? How are things?’ He sounded friendly enough, but it didn’t soften her anger.
‘Fine, thanks. Rufus, Dodi and Jim’s nephew, is coming to stay with us tomorrow and we hope to get the kennels open again,’ she said firmly, standing a little taller to confront him. He had just come out of the post office, his car keys in his hand, obviously heading off somewhere.
‘We are determined to do it whatever you say.’ She glared at him before he could escape.
‘Once it is safe to take in animals that’s fine,’ he said reasonably, which rather floored her as she was all geared up to fight him. ‘But it needs to be pulled down and started again from scratch and that will be expensive. Is there enough money somewhere for that, do you know? I’m pretty certain Dodi and Jim don’t have enough for a complete makeover as they would have repaired and replaced things as they went along, but nothing had been done for ages, so it had reached the point of no return.’
‘There’s no money at the moment. But we’ll get it, crowdfund or something. But Dodi knows he’s coming, she’s told him he can live in the house, as she and Jim are now with her sister and he’s got nowhere else to live – he’d been sofa-surfing since he got back from Europe. We’ll need the key to get in.’ This was not going as she imagined. She’d worked herself up into thinking Jules was an enemy that needed fighting, but he didn’t seem at all fazed with her intentions.
‘Dodie gave me the spare key when they left for her nephew to pick up when he comes. He glanced at his watch. ‘Now, sorry but I must rush, got to get back for evening surgery. Let me know when Rufus arrives, he can pick up the keys from the surgery. I think, when you see the state of it, you will understand why it had to be closed. As I said, there is no way you can have any animals there now and rebuilding it will be very expensive.’ He gave her a quick smile and strode off, leaving her feeling rather flat. She’d geared herself up, all ready to fight him, expecting him to say there was no way the kennels could be started up again, but instead, he’d made it sound as if he had no concerns about it opening again, provided it was started from new. But who would pay for it? It was bound to be expensive and they’d have Jules breathing down their necks while it was being done. Though rumour had it that he was leaving the district, even though his son had just started in Mum’s school, which would be a very good thing, indeed.