Page 10 of Sweet Dreams at the Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane (The Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane #2)

Despite Nora being twenty minutes early (the animal sanctuary didn’t officially open its doors until two p.m.), Elijah was there ahead of her, lounging against the wall of the reception area, arms folded, legs crossed.

He was wearing jeans, trainers and a tee shirt, and she suspected he’d walked up Muddypuddle Lane this afternoon. To prove a point, obviously.

Nora vowed to do the very same thing tomorrow.

She needed to show that she was just as— What?

Fit? Hardly. Able to walk that distance comfortably?

That would be a better description. It was also a goal, because at the moment she wasn’t entirely sure she could walk from the centre of Picklewick to The Forever Home Kennels since quite a bit of it was uphill!

But wasn’t that the reason she was here, to get fit?

It was barely a week since she’d been given her diagnosis, and this morning when she’d stood on the scales she’d seen a reduction (yippee!) but she still felt like rubbish (boo!).

However, the rubbish feeling should pass any day now, as soon as her body became accustomed to having less sugar circulating in her bloodstream.

Yeah, well, her body might get used to it, but her taste buds hadn’t: every time she saw cake, chocolate, crisps, bread (the list of things she couldn’t have was endless), her mouth watered and she was hit by an intense craving that she had to battle hard to resist. So far she’d managed it, but it hadn’t been easy, and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to get any better.

Being here was taking her mind off her cravings though, because how could she think about sweet food when she had a sweet pup to concentrate on and a not-so-sweet baker to oust?

Jakob took one look at the pair of them and sighed loudly. The poor man seemed to be sighing an awful lot, and she suspected she and Elijah were to blame.

‘I hope you’re not going to give me grief?’ he warned, looking from one to the other.

Nora shook her head vigorously as Elijah said, ‘I just want to give Biscuit the opportunity to get used to me.’

‘So do I,’ Nora stated, in case Jakob had forgotten why she was there.

Jakob didn’t look convinced. ‘Should I give you time slots?’

Actually, Nora would prefer to see Biscuit on her own, but she also wanted to see how Biscuit interacted with Elijah, so she quickly leapt in with, ‘I’m sure that won’t be necessary. We’re both adults, after all.’ She caught a flash of a scowl on her rival’s face and suppressed a smirk.

‘I was hoping I could take him for a walk,’ Elijah said. ‘A big dog like him needs a lot of exercise.’ His sideways glance at her was pointed.

‘That’s just what I was going to say,’ Nora fibbed.

‘We could take him together?’ Elijah suggested, and Nora narrowed her eyes. He was up to something, but she wasn’t sure what.

‘Maybe next time,’ Jakob said. ‘You can take him to the exercise field instead. It’s secure, so you can let him off. He likes playing fetch.’

When Elijah’s face fell, Nora guessed he’d been hoping to out-walk her, to go so fast that she’d soon be out-paced and left behind, and she shot Jakob a grateful smile. When Jakob didn’t respond, she realised he hadn’t vetoed the walk for her benefit. He’d done it because he didn’t trust them.

Oh, dear, that didn’t bode well for her or for Elijah, if Jakob didn’t think either of them was capable of looking after the dog they were hoping to adopt.

‘Good idea,’ she said. ‘It’ll let him get used to me first, before I take him out.’

‘Get you used to how strong he is,’ Elijah countered. ‘I reckon you’ll struggle to hold him.’

Nora gave him a scathing look. ‘I’ve probably got a better chance of holding him than you.

’ She flexed her arm, showing off a muscle that she didn’t actually have or if she did, it was hidden by a pudgy covering of flesh.

Still, she was confident she’d be able to control the dog, and Mr Weedy wouldn’t .

He didn’t look as though he’d be able to hold a Chihuahua back.

‘Actually, Biscuit walks nicely on the lead,’ Jakob told them. ‘He’s very well-mannered.’

Nora had a feeling he thought they weren’t, but was too polite to say.

‘I’ll bring him over to the exercise field for you,’ he told them, his tone brooking no argument.

Nora replied brightly, ‘Great, we’ll see you there.’ She was determined to prove that she, for one, could play nice. If Elijah couldn’t, that was his lookout and it wouldn’t do him any favours in the long run.

After Jakob pointed out where they needed to go, Nora didn’t wait for Elijah but headed off at a rate of knots.

After a brief pause, he caught up and fell into step. ‘Dogs can sense emotions, you know,’ he said.

‘Is that your thought for the day?’

‘Just saying.’

‘No need. I was already aware of that pearl of wisdom. I’ve had dogs in the past.’

He looked crestfallen. ‘You’re an experienced dog owner, then?’

‘Experienced-ish.’ She wanted to lie, but feared Jakob might let the cat out of the bag.

‘What do you mean, ish? ’’

‘I had a dog when I was a child.’

‘ Ah… ’ Elijah nodded sagely, and she had a brief surge of one-upmanship until he followed it with, ‘So your parents looked after it. I see .’

‘I helped.’

‘How old were you?’

‘Six or seven,’ she muttered, summoning a brief burst of speed when the entrance to the exercise field came into view.

‘As I said,’ Elijah crowed, easily keeping up with her, ‘your parents looked after it.’

She opened the gate. ‘I suppose you’ve owned dogs before.’ Would that be a black mark against her? It would, wouldn’t it? Drat! She caught the shifty look on his face as he turned away to close the gate behind him. ‘How many dogs have you had? One? None? ’

‘This will be my first,’ he admitted.

Result! Not that she was keeping score, but this was one-nil to her.

As for everything else, they were roughly level pegging.

She topped him on the “dog won’t be left on its own much” stakes, and he topped her on the exercise front.

But exercise was something she could improve on, whereas he was never going to be able to take Biscuit with him to the bakery.

Feeling quietly confident, Nora checked out the field while she awaited the dog’s arrival.

A high fence surrounded a large grassy area, with a couple of benches dotted around it, and in one corner was a short plastic tunnel and a couple of low jumps.

A wooden crate containing a variety of balls and other throwy type toys sat next to the gate, and there was also a standpipe and a water bowl.

When Nora saw Jakob walking towards the field with Biscuit plodding by his side, she could hardly contain her excitement.

‘Biscuit!’ she called, before they were even inside.

Elijah crouched down and held out his hand. ‘Hello, boy; remember me?’

Jakob gave first her, then Elijah, a keen look. ‘He’s not a toy. If he doesn’t want to come to you, don’t force the issue.’

‘I won’t.’ Elijah’s reply was confident, as Nora said, ‘Of course not. We’ll let him decide.’

Jakob unclipped the lead from Biscuit’s harness.

Biscuit didn’t move.

Jakob said, ‘I’ll be in the kennel block if you need me.’ His expression clearly said that he hoped they wouldn’t.

‘We’ll be fine,’ Nora assured him with more confidence than she felt. She wished she’d agreed to Jacob’s offer of giving them time slots now.

Neither she nor her arch-rival said anything further until Jakob left, then both called the dog simultaneously.

‘Hi, Biscuit. Come here, Biscuit,’ Nora called, in a high pitched, encouraging tone.

Elijah, the sneaky git, went for a different approach. ‘What have I got for you? Come see.’ He was holding out his hand, and in the middle of his palm lay a treat.

Elijah was bribing him!

Nora wished she’d thought of that. Note to self: bring a variety of treats tomorrow. And a toy.

Obviously Biscuit was tempted by the morsel of food, and triumph flashed across Elijah’s face.

Remembering what Jakob had said, Nora armed herself with a ball. ‘Fetch!’ she yelled, flinging the ball a decent distance, surprising herself. She hadn’t thrown a ball of any description since those hateful netball matches at school.

The dog immediately bounded after it in a blur of tail, paws, and fur. He was quick to bring it back and drop it at her feet, and it was Nora’s turn to look triumphant. However, her expression quickly became a grimace when she picked up the soggy ball. Ew.

Get over it , she told herself. It’s only a bit of slobber .

She threw it again and Biscuit chased after it once more, Elijah and his sneaky treats forgotten.

Nora watched the guy out of the corner of her eye, noting the dismayed drop of his shoulders, and for a moment she felt guilty.

But all’s fair in love and war, and they were warring over the love of this gorgeous dog, so to her mind whatever advantage she could gain was worth it.

And she was fairly certain that he hadn’t felt guilty when he’d stuffed his pockets with doggy treats.

Nora and Biscuit were getting into a rhythm, her throwing, him fetching.

It couldn’t go on indefinitely though, for two reasons: Nora’s arm was beginning to tire (who knew that chucking a ball could be such hard work?), and Biscuit was taking longer and longer to drop the ball, until he eventually sank down onto the grass, his tongue lolling, the ball nestled between his front paws.

‘I think I’ve worn him out,’ she declared smugly.

‘I think he needs a drink,’ Elijah countered, taking the wind out of her sails.

Darn it, he was probably right, but before she could make a move, he’d picked up the chunky metal bowl and was filling it with water from the standpipe. Biscuit got up and trotted over to him, lapping noisily.

Nora retrieved the ball, fully expecting the dog to resume his game once he’d slaked his thirst, but instead Biscuit’s attention was caught by the scent of something edible in Elijah’s pocket, and she gritted her teeth.

Biscuit sat and offered Elijah his paw.

‘Aw, he’s saying please,’ Elijah said, a smile spreading across his face, and something about his delight tugged at her. It was the first time she’d seen a genuine smile, and it lit him up.

Nora paused to look at him. Really look at him, and she liked what she saw.

Elijah Grant was tall and thin, wiry rather than skinny, possibly in his early fifties (it was difficult to tell), with grey hair, and the bluest of blue eyes.

When he wasn’t being a pratt, he seemed quite nice.

Not bad looking, either. A slim silver fox, she mused, and a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time swept through her: attraction.

It kind of put her on the back foot, being so unexpected.

Dismissing the feeling, she brought her focus sharply back to what she could do to counteract his upper hand, because right now, at this precise moment, Biscuit preferred Elijah. But only because the man was feeding him.

Let’s see what happens when the treats run out , she told herself. And very soon, they did, because Elijah, in his eagerness to impress Biscuit and keep the dog close, fed him the little morsels one after the other until the dog had scoffed the lot.

Nora, who was observing intently, saw the exact moment when Elijah lost the dog’s attention, and she leapt on it.

‘Biscuit!’ she called, waving the luminous green ball at him. ‘Come here, boy.’

Biscuit happily obliged. His tail was waving from side to side like a feather duster, his eyes were bright, and he seemed to be smiling. This dog was having the time of his life. And no wonder, with two attentive humans, endless ball playing, and handfuls of treats.

Nora shot Elijah a smug smile.

Elijah scowled. But the scowl didn’t last long, because her arm soon began to ache again, and before long, Nora’s throws had once more lost whatever power they’d originally had.

Gleefully, her rival selected a ball of his own and threw it.

Biscuit didn’t hesitate. He ran after it, grabbed it, and brought it back to drop at Elijah’s feet.

It was Nora’s turn to scowl. Inwardly seething and having run out of options, she sat on the nearest bench and sulked. And that was how Jakob found them when he returned a short time later.

‘I’m going to have to kick you out,’ he said. ‘I need the field for a family who want to get to know their potential new pup.’

Elijah groaned in disappointment, but Nora was secretly relieved. This visit had swiftly become a spectator sport and although she loved watching Biscuit, she hadn’t wanted to watch him having fun with Elijah .

Jacob attached the lead to Biscuit’s harness. ‘It looks like he’s had a good time.’

‘Oh, he has!’ Elijah enthused. ‘He’s played a game of fetch, and has had some little treats, and I gave him some water, too.’

Nora’s scowl became a full-blown annoyed simmer. From the way Elijah was talking, Jakob must think she’d sat on her backside for the whole time and ignored the dog.

Well, the gloves would be off tomorrow, just see if they wouldn’t!