Only a bleep announcing some kind of next appointment reminded them that they were supposed to be doing anything else.
“Listen,” Adam said, “I’d love to stay and welcome you properly, but—”
“Go,” Tess urged. “I’ll come help out in a minute. Just want to stretch my legs after so long in the bloody car. And Waffles must be bursting by now.”
“Oh, of course he came with you!” Margo exclaimed.
Tess opened the back door and unlatched his crate. Waffles bounded out with his usual enthusiasm, a trace of pup still in him despite being fully grown.
“Well, I was hardly going to put him on the van with my furniture. That’s not going to be here for ages yet. It’s in storage until I get confirmation on the new place.”
“I’m just glad to see him.” Margo was already on the ground, giving Waffles the rough cuddles he lived for.
“You two can get back to work, I’ll be fine.” Tess whistled for Waffles to come to heel. He did, with obvious reluctance, and she fixed his leash, tugging on the well-worn leather of it. “Me and Boy Wonder here are going in search of caffeine and a bowl of water.”
“Don’t go too far, please?” Adam straightened his tie. He looked very smart for someone who spent a fair part of his week with one arm up a cow’s backside. “We’ve got a potential new client coming in this afternoon, and she could really get our new three-way off with a bang, so to speak.”
“Partnership.” Tess sighed. “I really thought the three-way joke would have worn off by now, Adam. Is the coffee across the road any good?” She nodded to the café facing the surgery. It was past a roundabout with a delightful little garden in the middle, set around a white gazebo, of all things.
“It’s kept us alive this long.” Adam shrugged. “Mine’s an Americano if you’re buying. Now, I have a pug waiting for me.”
Tess waved him off and crossed the road with the dog in tow, giving a token glance in each direction. The traffic through the village certainly hadn’t increased.
The café at least belonged to the right century, with its Wi-Fi stickers in the windows and a display confirming they took cards and contactless payments. Better than Tess had hoped for, and ducking through the doors confirmed the space was light, airy, and filled with just enough comfortable chairs. The smell of freshly ground coffee competed with something sweet baking. Tess was drawn towards the counter like a cartoon character following wavy lines of deliciousness.
“Well, you must be the new vet,” the statuesque black woman behind the counter said as soon as Tess stepped up. She looked to be in her early fifties. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Have you?” Tess heard her own Scottish lilt deepening upon finally talking to someone whose accent matched hers. “Was the order for an Americano and two lattes in the newsletter as well?”
That got her a smile.
“Joan, by the way,” Tess was informed as the coffees were being poured. “Margo said you were from around here, but I don’t know your face.”
“I’ve been away a long time. And we didn’t really come here to Hayleith very much.”
“You still got family here?”
“Nah.” Tess shook her head. “My mum passed a few years ago, and everyone else had moved on by then. Like me, going off to Glasgow and then London, I suppose.”
Joan selected lids for the coffees, taking her time fitting each one. In London that would have had Tess’s impatience bursting through, but already the long drive and quiet surroundings had mellowed her just a little.
“That’s a shame. Are you staying over at the vets’ house? Margo and Adam certainly have the room.”
“For a few days, yeah. Then I’ll start settling in. Oh, I’d love to stay and chat,” Tess lied through her teeth. As soon as the cups were placed in their cardboard holder, she clutched them. “It’s just, you know, first day and all that. Got to show willing.”
Leaving with a weak smile, she collected Waffles from where he’d been taking advantage of the water bowls by the café entrance.
They took their time sauntering back to the surgery, Waffles sniffling every inch of ground and Tess sipping at her coffee while balancing the others. Only one car passed them the whole time, and there was nobody out on the street to awkwardly say hello to. Tess caught sight of a sign for the local pub, The Spiky Thistle, just down past the vet’s.
When she reached the practice’s doors, a growling pug was eying its very tall owner, who was clutching a bag full of medication and bearing a grim smile of determination. That one would be back before long. Dogs refusing medicine always made for reliable repeat visitors, and sometimes at Tess’s London practice it had felt like half of her actual job.
There was no one on reception, so Tess pushed through the door marked “Staff”, calling out “coffee!” as she did. She stopped suddenly and stared. The chatter in the room dropped off at her shocked expression, and only one person returned it.
The blonde from the wrong road.
“As I was just saying,” Margo picked up the conversation again, “our expansion is possible thanks to this lovely addition to the practice. Tess Robinson is one of my oldest friends, and we trained together at Glasgow. Tess, this is Susannah Karlson. She owns the big estate just north of here, and—”
Waffles took advantage of Tess’s slack grip on the lead to promptly betray her and start snuffling around Susannah. She couldn’t be entirely evil, because she paused to pet him before interrupting.
“Oh no,” Susannah cut in. “Absolutely not. I didn’t think
