Raincoats and Retrievers

Mark and Cat exchanged a glance.

‘Sorry,’ Juliette said, shaking her head. ‘I don’t mean to – I’m still interrupting. I’ll leave you to it.’

‘No, Juliette,’ Cat said, ‘we don’t mean for you to go, it’s just…’

‘Thank you so much for walking the dogs tomorrow, Cat. Have a good evening.’ She gave them a brusque smile and turned, her court shoes echoing as she walked the few yards back to number six.

Cat watched her go, her embarrassment at being interrupted fading as Mark snaked his arm around her waist. But as she spun to face him she noticed a car parked further up the road, and her stomach swooped for an entirely new reason.

‘Now,’ Mark murmured, his lips brushing her neck. ‘Are you coming inside? I don’t think there’s anything you can do to prepare for walking Juliette’s dogs, is there?’

Cat closed her eyes. His touch and his taste, his confidence, his dark eyes, they were all so enticing. ‘I – I can’t,’ she said. She put her palms flat on his chest. He flinched slightly and tried to pull her closer, but Cat resisted. ‘There is nothing I would like more than to come in with you right now. But I can’t.’

‘Why?’ He smiled at her, only a hint of confusion on his face. ‘Because of Juliette?’

‘No, not that. Because the red Renault with a World’s Greatest Inventor bumper sticker that’s parked outside number nine belongs to my parents.’ She sighed and rested her head against his chest, which was a mistake, because it felt good and it made her even more reluctant to leave. ‘They must have come for an impromptu visit and – depending on how long they’ve been there – Polly and Joe might be beyond rescuing.’

‘Then there’s no need to go back,’ Mark said, ‘if it’s too late to save them.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ she murmured, leaning in for a final, delicious kiss. ‘If I thought I could get away with it, I’d stay.’ Reluctantly, she left Mark standing on the top step, watching her. His face gave nothing away, no frustration, no flicker of disappointment. She reached number nine, searched through her bag for her keys and then, pushing open the front door, went in to face the carnage.

Chapter 2 (#ud27b8342-e471-5f3c-8a8c-6fef3b90e189)

Cat’s mum and dad were wedged on the smaller of the two sofas, Shed stretched out with his head on her mum’s lap, his back legs on her dad’s. The cat was snoring. Despite the weather, her dad Peter was wearing his usual fishing waistcoat over a short-sleeved shirt, and Delia, her mum, had her sunglasses perched on her head, sending her short brown hair into disarray. Polly was sitting opposite them, hands clasped together, and Joe was on the arm of the sofa, as if trying to make it obvious that he wasn’t staying. He’d probably been there, his bum going numb, for hours. That’s what happened in the presence of Cat’s parents – you couldn’t escape.

‘Cat,’ Joe said, standing as she walked in. She could hear the relief in his voice, and she flashed him an apologetic look. ‘How was it?’

‘Catherine dear.’ Her mum reached her arms up towards her as if she was a toddler asking to be picked up. Obviously, Shed couldn’t be disturbed. ‘It’s so lovely to see you.’ Cat reached down and hugged her mum, taking in her overly floral perfume, and then her dad with the musty workshop smell that hung around him like a fog.

‘You too,’ she said, ‘though you could have called ahead, told me you were coming. I kind of had plans tonight.’ She gave them a tight smile, and folded her arms.

Her mum and dad exchanged a cheeky look. ‘We wanted to surprise you,’ her mum said.

‘We had no idea you’d be out on a date,’her dad added. ‘Couldn’t fathom it at all! Joe and Polly have been the perfect hosts in your absence. How much detail do we get?’

‘Hardly any,’ Cat said, not adding that the potential for juicy gossip would have been much greater had they not turned up and cut short her evening.

‘Oh, come on, Cat,’ Polly said, standing up and embracing her friend, ‘we’re all dying to hear how it went.’

‘And I’m sure they’ve heard enough about my handheld seed sower,’ her dad chipped in.

Glancing at Joe and Polly, Cat thought that a truer word had probably never been spoken. She could see Mark again whenever she wanted – she hoped all was not lost there – but her friends would never get their evening back.

‘All right then,’ she said, rolling her eyes and flopping down onto the sofa, ‘but is there any tea left in the pot?’

Cat gave them the edited highlights of her evening, focusing on the grand venue and food, the view from the top of the hill, and trying to skirt around the conversation and her complicated feelings for Mark. Her parents seemed placated, mainly because her dad was a keen gardener and was appalled that he’d never visited one of the vineyards along the south coast, and her mum wanted to hear about every flavour and ingredient Cat had eaten.

‘Well,’ Delia said, when Cat’s words had dried up and Shed had disappeared out through the catflap. ‘We don’t want to keep you all. We’re in the bed and breakfast up the road. Lovely couple, both men, two dogs. Perfect little alternative family. The room is English cottage luxury, silver wallpaper – sounds awful, but it works.’

‘You’re staying?’ Cat said, only just managing to keep the squeak out of her voice.

‘Only for a couple of days, love,’ her dad confirmed. ‘Thought it would be easier than driving back. We’ll take you out to dinner tomorrow. Have a proper catch-up, hear all about the dogs and this Mark chap.’

‘And we want to meet some of your new doggy friends.’

Cat led them to the door, let them take their turn to smother her in their hugs which, she had to admit, couldn’t be beaten by anyone, then waved them down the terrace until they climbed the steps to Boris and Charles’s.

It was close to one in the morning, and while Cat was tired, Polly and Joe looked as though they’d had the life sucked out of them.

‘I am so, so sorry,’ Cat said, sinking onto the sofa. ‘What time did they arrive?’

‘About half an hour after you left,’ Polly said, grinning. Polly had met them on several occasions over the years, and so had prior warning of Cat’s overenthusiastic, eccentric parents, and the way they doted on their only child. Cat knew Polly liked them, though she wasn’t sure how welcome their surprise visit was mid-revision. It was Joe who looked shell-shocked.

‘So you’ve had them here all evening?’ Cat’s voice had dropped to a whisper.

Joe nodded and ran a hand over his face. ‘To be fair they brought lemon drizzle cake. And home-made sausage rolls and cheese-and-onion pies. We didn’t have to cook, but I’m going to have to run a marathon to use up all the carbohydrate.’

‘My mum’s a great cook.’

‘Why don’t we get home-made sausage rolls?’

‘Because I’m a dabbler,’ Cat said. ‘I’m nowhere near as good as Mum is. I’ll have a go if you like, but not now. Now, I’m going to bed.’

They all traipsed up to the first floor, and Joe headed on to his attic bedroom.

‘Why are they staying?’ Polly asked, pausing at the bathroom door. ‘Brighton’s not far.’

‘Because it is inconceivable that my parents could go out to dinner without consuming at least two bottles of wine. If they were going back to Brighton, then one of them would have to drive.’

‘So I shouldn’t expect you to be sober tomorrow night, then?’

Cat closed her eyes. She felt utterly exhausted, and the thought of dinner with her parents which, while fun, would again be late and boozy, wasn’t an entirely happy one, especially after they’d waltzed in and interrupted her evening with Mark. If she hadn’t noticed their car, done the right thing and rescued her housemates, where would she be now? After a shaky start, the date had gone well. Cat felt she knew Mark a lot better, could start to see him as a real person instead of the glossy, overly confident persona he projected, and she wanted that to continue. With the image of his dark eyes, and his lips so close to hers, dancing in her mind, she said goodnight to Polly and, gratefully, climbed into bed.

‘So this is Alfie, and this is Effie.’ Delia pointed at the dogs in turn. ‘Alfie’s curlier, Effie straighter,’ she said, as she eyed the two boisterous retrievers.

‘That’s right,’ Cat said, sidestepping a pair of greyhounds coming the other way. She hadn’t banked on her parents wanting to actually join her on one of her walks – nobody else had to deal with ‘take your parents to work’ day, and her mum’s sandals were not ideal, especially not with the two retrievers who, Cat knew by now, wouldn’t slow down for anything.

Her mum and dad bustled along behind her as she did a wide circuit of the park, warming the dogs up before she let them off the lead. As her Pooch Promenade client list had grown, she had tried out different ways of walking the dogs, and knew that Alfie and Effie were best walked on their own, as their larger size and energy meant that she’d struggle if she had Jessica’s Westies or Elsie’s mini schnauzers at the same time. And this was an impromptu walk, the one Juliette had asked for while Cat had been trying to kiss Mark on the doorstep.

‘So it’s going well, then?’ her dad huffed, almost jogging to keep up. ‘You seem very adept at it, I must say.’

Cat laughed. ‘At walking? I’ve had lots of practice.’

‘You’re in charge of the dogs,’ Peter clarified. ‘I can see that they like and respect you.’

‘They’re gorgeous, friendly dogs,’ Cat said, bending to stroke Effie. There was something so sturdy and dependable about the retrievers; with their large, brown eyes and loping movements, they were completely different from the bounding, cheeky Westies.

‘And they belong to your neighbour?’ Delia asked, jumping as a football came sailing towards them. A small, blond-haired boy raced up to collect it, apologizing noisily.