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Pippa wedged the empty laundry basket on one hip as she opened her front door and stepped out onto the street. She glanced up at the sky. Ever since the rainstorm last weekend—when she was at Matt’s winery in the Hunter Valley—the weather had remained unpredictable. Bright and sunny one day, grey and rainy the next. Today, it was looking like the rain would be taking over again—the sky was grey and covered with dark clouds.
She hurried across the street and entered Summer Beach Veterinary Hospital. It was late afternoon and the clinic’s weekend hours were nearly over, so she was surprised to see that the waiting room was still fairly full with several people holding cat carriers on their laps and one man clutching a terrier who was eyeing the cat carriers with great interest. Then she realised that the waiting area also seemed to be filled with several people who didn’t look like pet owners and there were cables running along the ground and what looked like camera and sound equipment all over the place.
Megan looked up and smiled in relief. “Thanks so much for coming,” she said, standing up behind the reception counter. “I felt really bad calling and asking you, but we’re a bit desperate and you said last time not to hesitate to call if we needed help—”
“It’s no problem at all,” said Pippa, smiling. “I’m glad to help. I thought you’d gotten your dryer fixed though?”
Megan rolled her eyes. “The repair guy promised it would be fixed by this weekend but then he needed to order a part in—it’s a really old model, you see, and the parts aren’t easily available anymore—and so there’s been a delay. He said the part won’t arrive till Monday, so we’re stuck until then.” She glanced out of the clinic windows. “And it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting any dry weather for a while.”
“Never mind,” said Pippa. “I’ll dry them and bring them back for you. Just dump it all in this basket.”
“Ta. It’s really nice of you,” said Megan gratefully, letting a vet nurse take her place on reception and stepping out to show Pippa the way to the back of the hospital.
“What’s going on?” asked Pippa in an undertone as she followed Megan down the hallway, nearly tripping over a bundle of cables on the floor.
“They’re filming an episode of Aussie Beach Vet, Craig’s TV show,” Megan whispered back. “It always causes mayhem when they come in to do the show and it delays all the appointments.”
“Craig’s on TV?” Pippa raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Megan grinned. “He’s our resident celebrity vet.”
Pippa shook her head. She had met Dr Craig Murray briefly last night. After that strange phone call with Matt, Pippa would probably have spent the whole night brooding if Sara hadn’t called and invited her to a girls’ night out. The American girl had arrived with her cousin, Ellie, and had whisked Pippa away for drinks and laughter at a trendy bar in a neighbouring town, and she’d been grateful for their cheerful company. She had been puzzled and hurt by Matt’s offhand manner in that phone call but it had been impossible to dwell on things too much while out with the girls.
By this morning, she had convinced herself that it had just been her overactive imagination. Matt had probably just been tired and preoccupied with work stuff. Heaven knew, she hadn’t been the best company herself when they had met up for drinks earlier in the week, so she should cut him some slack.
Craig had come to join the girls at the end of the night and Pippa had instantly liked the handsome vet with his deep blue eyes and dark blond hair. Not that he was her type, but she could see how Sara had fallen head over heels for him and left everything to move over to Australia to be with him. Craig hadn’t said anything about being a celebrity though. In fact, he had seemed like a really nice, down-to-earth guy—although now that she thought about it, she did remember a lot of interest and attention in the bar when he walked in. She also remembered Sara looking slightly uncomfortable.
Must be hard dating a celebrity, Pippa thought as she negotiated her way around a trolley with a monitor and playback equipment in the hallway. Several people were hovering around the outside of one of the consult rooms and, as she passed the open doorway, she caught sight of Craig inside, wearing a white coat and talking to a woman holding a wriggling puppy. A cameraman was standing behind a wide-lens camera mounted on a tripod, pointed at them, and next to him stood a sound man holding a boom mike positioned above Craig’s head.
“Normally Saturday’s not too bad,” said Megan as she pushed the swing door open to the utility room at the back. “But with Dan away at an orthopaedic conference and Craig doing his show... and Charlie having to fill in for Matt today—and of course, she’s not as experienced, being the most junior vet here—”
“I didn’t realise that Charlie was filling in for Matt—I mean, Dr Pearson—today,” said Pippa.
Megan gave her a coy look and said in a conspiratorial tone, “It’s all very exciting. Well, you probably don’t know this, but Matt and his girlfriend broke up over Christmas last year. It was so sad—we all thought they were going to get married. They’d been together for over two years, you know. But they split up and she went off to Sydney. Poor Matt. He didn’t talk about it much but we could all tell that he was really hit hard by the whole thing. But in the last couple of weeks, he seemed to be a lot happier again and I think I know the reason... his girlfriend! Well, I should say his ex-girlfriend really,” said Megan. “Although she might be dropping the ‘ex’ label soon.”
Pippa found that she was breathing very shallowly. “What do you mean?” she asked.
Megan did an excited little bounce. “It looks like his ex-girlfriend’s back in town this weekend!”
“She... she is?” said Pippa faintly.
“Yes!” Megan beamed. “Matt was supposed to be covering the clinic this weekend but he asked at the last moment if Charlie could swap on the roster with him. He said he had a friend visiting from Sydney—but then Jenn, one of the vet nurses, arrived after lunch for the late shift and she told me that she saw Matt and his ex together outside The Pelican’s Foot—that’s a new bistro type thing that’s opened on the edge of town, Jenn passes it on her way in—anyway...” Megan ran out of breath and had to stop to inhale “...guess what: she saw them kissing!”
Pippa’s stomach lurched. “Kissing?”
“Yes! And a serious pash too, not some peck on the cheek. Which I think means they’re going to get back together!” Megan clasped her hands rapturously. “Oh, it’ll be so nice if they do! Matt really deserves a bit of happiness—he’s such a decent bloke. And bloody good-looking too. Those gorgeous brown eyes of his. If I wasn’t already engaged, I could go for him myself, I tell you.” She giggled and raised her eyebrows at Pippa, obviously expecting her to comment.
“Um... yeah,” Pippa mumbled.
“Oh, and I haven’t told you the best part!” Megan’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Yesterday arvo, I happened to walk past the inner office and I saw Craig and Matt in there together, talking really seriously. And then I saw Matt show Craig this jewellery box and inside was this great big diamond ring! So you know what I think? I think he’s going to propose to his ex!”
Pippa stared at her.
Megan nodded eagerly. “I knew he never got over her. And now that she’s reached out to him again, I’m sure he’s going to grab the opportunity to patch things up with her, see if she’ll give him a second chance. Wouldn’t it be amazing if she said yes?”
