Page 5 of Sweet Dreams at the Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane (The Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane #2)

Monday morning saw Nora stepping stark naked on the bathroom scales and glaring at the display in disbelief.

Weight loss: half a pound. Was that all?

Considering she’d had almost three full days of eating leaves, she’d hoped she would have lost more.

She also felt dreadful: nausea, tummy ache, headache, weak and lethargic.

What she needed was proper food, such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, biscuits…

Last week, when she’d been telling Trinny about her diagnosis, she’d had no intention of going cold turkey, but since her eyesight scare on Friday, and after doing some research (lots of research), she realised the best way to reduce her blood glucose to non-diabetic levels was to lose weight fast .

Which meant not eating anything carby – because if she had one biscuit, she’d have to eat the whole packet.

Nora Bunting , she’d said to herself, you’ve got no self- control.

It’s got to be all or nothing. And in her case, she had to settle for nothing.

Which meant that she hadn’t gone to the tapas bar as planned on Saturday evening and neither had she gone to The Black Horse for Sunday lunch.

Right now, she was feeling woefully deprived and extremely depressed.

And seeing the meagre weight loss wasn’t doing anything for her mood.

‘One day at a time,’ she muttered, as she threw on some clothes and contemplated breakfast. But maybe her motto should be ‘one meal at a time’ she thought after she’d eaten it, because the berries and yoghurt might look healthy and wholesome, but she may as well have eaten fresh air since it failed to fill her up.

Disheartened, she wondered how much longer she’d be able to keep this up. No wonder she’d never bothered dieting in the past; she must have sub-consciously realised how awful it would be. Maybe increasing the exercise instead, would be a more realistic way forward than restricting her food intake?

She was trying to think how best to fit more exercise into her day (okay, fit in some exercise, since she didn’t actually do any at all at the moment) when she arrived at the salon.

Her idea of getting a dog was something she was still considering, and she’d spent most of last night mulling it over – when she hadn’t been thinking about food, that is.

There were pros and cons to dog ownership, and she had to make sure the pros outweighed the cons, and that this was something she really wanted and could seriously commit to.

Plus, at least when her mind had been occupied with a puppy, it hadn’t been on the chocolate chip cookie and the caramel latte she’d been craving.

Nora decided to canvas opinions. ‘I’m thinking about getting a dog,’ she announced, while putting layers into Dulcie Fairfax’s hair.

Kendra gaped at her. ‘A dog? You? Why?’

‘Is it really so outlandish?’ Nora was taken aback.

‘A dog needs walking, like daily, and I don’t mean to the shops.’

‘I know; that’s the point. Not the whole point, of course,’ she added hurriedly. ‘It’ll also be good company.’

‘You’re never in!’

Nora drew herself up to her full height. ‘I’ll have you know I stayed in all weekend.’

‘Were you not feeling well?’ Kendra teased, then hesitated. ‘Actually, Nora, you do look a bit peaky. Are you okay? I noticed you haven’t been to the bakers this morning.’

Lori piped up, ‘She didn’t go on Friday, either. And she’s not touched the chocolate digestives I brought in.’

‘And you weren’t in on Saturday,’ Kendra added.

‘I told you; I had to go to the opticians because my reading glasses broke. I’m fine, honestly.

’ She wasn’t fine, and she was also fibbing.

But she wasn’t ready to tell her staff just yet; she needed to get her own head around it first. All they needed to know was that she wanted to be a bit healthier, and a dog might help her achieve that.

‘We were talking about me getting a dog,’ she reminded them. ‘What do you think, Dulcie, since I can’t get any sense out of this lot?’ She sidled around to stand in front of her client and checked the length of the hair at the sides, pulling down the strands to make sure they were even.

‘It’s a commitment and a dog can be a lot of work,’ Dulcie said.

‘Do you have a dog?’

‘No, but my sister runs The Forever Home Boarding Kennels on Muddypuddle Lane, so I get to hear all about it,’ Dulcie explained. ‘And I get to cuddle a puppy now and again.’

‘Puppies are so cute,’ Lori said dreamily.

‘Puppies are even more work than adult dogs,’ Dulcie pointed out. ‘House training, training in general, then there’s the chewing. Would you get a puppy?’ she asked Nora.

When the idea of having a dog had first occurred to her, Nora must admit that she’d had a vision of an adorable ball of cute fluffiness, but she was now having second thoughts.

Lori said, ‘We’ve got a dog. For the first few nights after we brought her home, she howled the place down.

It only took a couple of weeks to house train her, though.

’ She laughed. ‘My mum said she had to have eyes in the back of her head, because whenever her back was turned Pippin would do a wee, or worse. And she used to chew everything . She ate my watch strap once, and we were on pins until it came out the other end.’

Nora shuddered, not wanting to contemplate what that might have involved. ‘On second thoughts, maybe a puppy wouldn’t be a good idea. I can’t have it pooping and peeing in the salon.’

Lori’s eyes widened. ‘You’d bring it to work?’

‘Absolutely. I couldn’t leave it at home on its own all day.

That wouldn’t be fair.’ Nora hesitated. She had to make sure her staff were happy with this, and she was also worried that she might be making a mistake.

‘Would you be okay with that?’ She ruffled her fingers through the back of Dulcie’s hair, watching to see how it fell.

‘No objections from me,’ Kendra said.

‘What about you, Lori? I know you’re on work placement and you’re not a member of staff as such, but your opinion still counts.’

‘I don’t mind, I love dogs. What sort would you get?’

‘A small one,’ Nora replied.

‘Boy or girl?’

‘Girl.’

‘Smooth coat or fluffy?’

‘Smooth.’ Nora laughed. ‘I see enough hair at work; I don’t want to have to spend hours grooming a fluffy dog when I’m at home.’

‘If you do go ahead and get a dog,’ Dulcie said, ‘please consider a rescue. There are so many adorable dogs looking for someone to love them. The Forever Home helps out the animal sanctuary in Thornbury by housing some of the dogs they don’t have room for, and they have several rescues there now, if you wanted to go see them.

They’re open between two and four today.

I could let Maisie know if you wanted to pop along; she’s my sister. ’

Nora bit her lip. Was this moving too fast? Should she take more time to think about it? As Dulcie said, owning a dog was a big responsibility. It wasn’t a whim or a fashion accessory; it was a lifetime commitment.

Was she prepared for that? Not really, but neither had she been prepared for the news that she had diabetes, and that was a lifetime thing, too.

Nora’s lifestyle had to change drastically, and she knew she couldn’t do it all by herself. She needed help, and if that help arrived on four paws, she’d take it.

As she held the mirror up for Dulcie to see the back of her hair, Nora made a decision. ‘If you can manage without me for an hour, Kendra, I’d love to go visit The Forever Home this afternoon.’

Was Elijah feeling excited or apprehensive? It was difficult to tell. Both, probably. Getting a dog was a big decision, especially since he’d never owned one before. What if he was a crap owner? What if the dog didn’t like him?

The person he’d spoken to on the phone earlier had told him they’d do their best to ensure they found the right dog for him, but what if he wasn’t the right person for the dog?

The woman must have sensed his concern because she’d suggested he popped along to The Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane to have a chat with a guy called Jakob, who was responsible for the rescue dogs there.

No time like the present, he’d thought, on learning that he could visit it this afternoon, so as soon as the final batch of baked goods was out of the oven and in the display counter in the shop, he was out the door.

The Forever Home Kennels were on the outskirts of Picklewick, up a steep lane lined with hedgerows and flanked on either side by fields in which horses peacefully grazed.

The road led past a riding stable, and then a farm, before heading towards the top of the mountain.

The kennels was situated on rolling moorland, and surrounded by tussocky grass, bracken, and wild bilberry bushes, with fantastic views over the village and the valley below.

Elijah knew the area well. He’d run across the mountain more times than he could count, following farm tracks and sheep tracks alike, and he’d seen the previously tumbledown and abandoned old farmhouse transformed by Maisie Fairfax and her partner Adam, into a beautiful house.

Maisie had then opened a boarding kennel, since it was the perfect out-of-the-way location to care for numerous noisy dogs, but he hadn’t realised that the kennels also helped the animal rescue centre in Thornbury by housing those dogs they didn’t have room for.

Reluctantly, Elijah had driven up Muddypuddle Lane, unsure whether his newly healed leg would be up to the task of walking up it, and when he scrambled out of the car he could already hear the voices of several dogs, and his heart began to race.

Eager to meet them, he followed a sign that said “Reception” and found himself in a wooden shed-type building with a counter, behind which sat a young woman with long blond hair tied up in a ponytail.

‘Hi, I’m Maisie. How can I help?’

‘I’m here about a rescue dog? I’m thinking about adopting one.’