Page 81 of Outlier

I mean, Mike hadn’t seemed to mind at the time, but I knew people didn’t always say what they meant, not like I did.

He'd taken me to his mum’s on Monday night, which I’d been worried about.

Hetty had always been nice to me, and she was very kind the day of the wedding, but I didn’t really know her very well. Then when I got there, I was shocked to see Lucy and Felix sitting in Hetty’s kitchen waiting for us, as if Felix being in Little Buckingham mid-week wasn’t a never event.

“But who’s running the company?” I asked a valid question, seeing as we were both here.

“Don’t worry, Vics,” Felix told me, giving me a firm side hug. “I’ve been there today. We came down for the evening.”

“Why?”

Felix had frowned at me then as if I’d grown another head.

“What do you mean ‘why’? Vicky, we wanted to see you. We were worried about you.”

“Oh.”

As far as I was concerned, Felix’s interest in me did not go further than our business partnership. I made Felix a lot of money, end of story.

“Are you okay, hun?” asked Lucy, giving me her own tight hug after a brief pause and a nod from me.

“I’m fine,” I said, bewildered by all the attention.

“You wanna see some of my new maps?” Lucy asked, and I smiled.

“Yes, please.”

Lucy was a successful author of epic fantasy. She knew I loved how she structured her worlds, and the intricacies of the maps her illustrator created for her.

And then the dogs ran in and bombarded me.

Hetty had two massive golden retrievers. I’d only ever seen them from a distance before, and I always thought they were beautiful. The younger one, Samwise, was so excited to see me, that he jumped up on my chest and licked my face.

Mike pulled him off, shouting at him to get down, but I just dropped into a crouch so that both dogs could get at me, throwing my arms around their furry necks in turn.

Samwise got over-excited again and toppled me over, then decided to sit with his front paws on my chest, his weight pinning me down whilst the older dog, Frodo, licked my face.

“Oh my God!” shouted Lucy. “Bloody hell, Mum. You need to train those dogs. This is getting ridiculous.”

Mike pushed the dogs back so I could get to my feet.

When I looked up, Lucy and Felix were trying to push a fat pony out of the kitchen.

The dogs were still rubbing up against my legs, and I sank my hands into their thick fur.

“Sorry, love,” Hetty said, not really looking that sorry at all. “My fur babies can be a little much. It just means they like you.”

“Mum,” Mike snapped. “Vicky doesn’t want to be?—”

“I don’t mind,” I said, smiling down at Hetty’s “fur babies”. There used to be a black Labrador at Buckingham Manor. I loved him more than anything.

I found touch more difficult as a child, but not with animals.

When we were halfway through supper, the fat pony pushed his way in through the double doors and ate my salad with its velvety nose.

It was one of the best meals I’d ever been to. I hadn’t laughed that much in years.

The next day, we ate at The Badger’s Sett again, but instead of heading straight home, Mike walked us over to Pete and Emily’s house, so we could watch the hedgehogs.