The Friends We Keep(92)

“He looks like he belongs to you,” said everyone who stopped, after Maggie and Evvie told them they had just adopted him. And they smiled, sure this was true.



* * *



? ? ?

Hello?” Maggie called through the front door as they walked in, Scout stopping to smell all the unfamiliar scents.

“Hello!” Topher echoed from the kitchen. He came out, saw the dog, and stopped in his tracks.

“What the hell is that? Have you brought home a pet lamb?”

“It’s not a lamb. It’s a dog. A Bedlington terrier called Scout. He’s our new mascot.”

“Hello, Scout. Aren’t you lovely! Come and say hello.” Topher crouched down, extending a hand, which Scout ignored, taking off into the kitchen. “Knows his name then?”

“We don’t know very much about him, but he’s definitely very clever,” said Maggie, who was delighted at having a dog again in the house. “This was an impromptu rescue.”

“Honestly, this was fate,” said Evvie, bringing the bags into the kitchen. “There were no suitable dogs at the shelter, and just as we were leaving, this grumpy woman showed up with Scout, and we just . . . took him.”

“House-trained?” asked Topher.

“Yes,” Maggie and Evvie said at the same time. They all turned at the sound of something trickling, and sure enough, Scout was marking his territory on the leg of the kitchen table.

“Oh fuck,” said Evvie, giggling despite herself. “I’m not cleaning that up.”

“I’ll do it. It’s not like I haven’t done it a million times before. He’s just nervous. I can train him,” Maggie said. Scout emerged blithely from the laundry room and made his way over to the table. He came straight over to Topher, sat down, and looked up at him.

Topher leaned down and lifted Scout onto his lap, whereupon the dog curled up, snuffling his snout under Topher’s arm. “Well,” he said. “Aren’t you the cutest lamb ever? He is adorable. I didn’t know we were getting a dog.” He shot a look at Maggie, who shrugged, with no apology whatsoever.

“Don’t blame me,” she said. “Evvie took me to an animal shelter today and we were supposed to be just looking. For fun.”

“No one goes to an animal shelter and looks just for fun. You have to come back with an animal. It’s a universal law.”

“Shhh. Don’t tell her now,” said Evvie.

“He seems like he belongs here.” Topher stroked him softly. “Can he sleep on my bed tonight?”

“I’ll fight you for him,” said Evvie.

“We’ll all take turns.”

Evvie sidled up to Maggie. “You know how earlier you said you were worried that this would all end and we would go back to our lives and you’d be left alone in the same old house? Now it can never be the same again. We’ve brought Scout in, which means that the future will be different, no matter what.”

“You’re right. I feel the difference. And I didn’t think I wanted a new dog, but already it feels like this house is filled with love again. Thank you for suggesting it, even though I know you didn’t really think we’d end up with a dog.” She gave Evvie a hug.

“You know me so well!” laughed Evvie. “We should go out to celebrate. Can we go to the pub in the village for a celebratory drink? We’ll bring Scout.”

“Great idea,” said Maggie. “Do I have time for a shower first?”

Evvie frowned. “Why? Is the pub posh?”

“God, no! It’s a proper country pub, with a lovely big roaring fireplace, I might add. I just didn’t shower earlier. Give me about half an hour, that okay?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Upstairs, Maggie took a shower, and threw on some jeans and her old, comfortable boots. It was only the pub, but she paused in the hallway before returning to the bedroom.

It may be the local pub, but she hadn’t been there in months, hadn’t seen Karen and Pete in months. They were such good friends when she ran the village fete, and Karen was fantastic after Ben died, but Maggie had been so depressed, everyone had deserted her after a while. She didn’t blame them. Karen would keep inviting Maggie out to things and Maggie kept declining. After a while she stopped asking, and after a while, she stopped phoning.

Maggie would fix that tonight. She was looking forward to seeing them and was bound to run into people she knew. It would be nice to let them see the new, improved Maggie, the Maggie who had a constant smile on her face. Ever since the reunion, she lost the sad, drawn air that dragged her features down, and thanks to her home dye job, she was no longer a dull ginger streaked with gray, but back to her vibrant red hair.

But the biggest change was on the inside. Maggie, who had spent her entire life feeling older and wiser than her years, was finally feeling her age rather than ten years older. In fact, if she was being honest, she felt ten years younger. Maybe fifteen. Being surrounded by friends from her youth had brought a youthfulness and a levity back into her life.

Last week Topher insisted on taking her shopping to SouthGate. Instead of the conservative country housewife skirts and ballet flats or sensible boots that had been her uniform all her adult life, he had her trying on platform sandals, faux fur vests, and floral maxidresses in shops that Maggie had always ignored, presuming them to be for teenagers and the young at heart, which Maggie had never been.