Page 64 of Summer in Greece

‘Good boy,’ she said softly.

*

An hour later, with the dog anaesthetised, Shelly cleaned below its gumline. ‘There it is, the reason for his bad temper. It looks like a bee sting inside his mouth,’ she said. ‘Must have driven him crazy, especially when Mrs Jackson put the muzzle on.’

‘Your dad was amazing, wasn’t he? I mean, even I was a bit rattled, but he just stood there, calm as you like.’

Shelly straightened and stretched her back. ‘Yes, he was, even I was surprised. That’s the plaque removed. Now a quick de-scale and polish for a brighter, whiter, smile.’

‘And a more kissable mouth . . .’ Eve interrupted, then giggled. ‘Come on, now. I need to know all the details about Mr Fantastic.’

They laughed and joked until Shelly started to feel a little disloyal, because in fact, she missed Harry terribly and couldn’t wait to finish work and give him a call. She would just thank him for a wonderful week, and wasn’t naïve enough to think he would be missing her already. She’d seen Shirley Valentine and suddenly realised Harry bore a strong resemblance to Tom Conti when that film was made, decades ago. She closed her eyes and imagined his smiling face.

‘Excuse me,’ Eve said. ‘You’re doing far too much grinning, vet. It’s a little scary after all these years.’

They laughed again and got on with the day until Ann Jones collected a miraculously recovered Bob at half past three.

‘I’ve got a little present for you, Ann,’ Shelly said. ‘It’s a booklet on how to take care of Bob. It’s for grown-ups really, so do you think you could get Mummy to read it to you?’

Ann nodded seriously and passed it to Mrs Jones.

*

On the way home, Shelly pulled over and opened DJ’s letter. She had to see him, or risk regretting it for the rest of her life. Why was all this happening to her now? It couldn’t have come at a worse time. He sent a date, time, and place. A small snack bar, The Honeypot Café, not far from the practice. Agreeing to see him was one thing, but she hardly dared think about the effect he would have on her.

*

‘You had a good time then, Shelly love?’ Gordon asked halfway through their meal that evening. ‘You going to tell me about it?’

‘I had a wonderful time.’ She told him about the egg-laying turtle, and diving the Burdigala wreck. ‘The island’s so close to mainland Greece, yet it’s almost a wildlife sanctuary.’

‘Will you be going back any time soon?’

Shelly nodded, watching her father’s face. ‘In about two months, I think. I’d like to see the baby turtles return to the sea.’ She thought about Harry. Eight weeks seemed a long and lonely time before she’d see him again. There was so much she didn’t know about him, silly stuff, trivia. If she could, she would go back tomorrow. She closed her eyes and imagined being in his arms.

‘That’s good,’ her dad said, pulling her back to reality. ‘’Cause next time I might come with you.’

Shelly looked up, her mind racing through several scenarios of what that might entail. With a tight feeling in her chest, she threw all her effort into sounding delighted. ‘Oh, Dad! How lovely. What brought this on?’

‘Well, Bill got the hang of taking care of me birds. And that was the biggest reason for me not going with you.’ He peered at her, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he contemplated. ‘And I have to tell you, Shelly love. I’m not as young as I was. Don’t be fooled by the pomade and Pond’s cream—’

‘Dad!’

‘No, really. Today, I realised how hard you work. In fact, I realised that I don’t know that much about you, my own daughter. And I was dead proud of the way you handled that rabid dog. I thought you just took money off cat people and puppy lovers.’

‘Dad!’ she cried again, trying to stop herself laughing. ‘It wasn’t a rabid dog, it had a bee sting in its mouth. Can you imagine how that felt?’

‘Well, anyway, the long and short of it is, I’m coming to Greece with you, next time.’ His eyes narrowed in a scheming way. ‘Would you mind if I brought Malcolm along?’

So that was what this was about. ‘Dad! No, you can’t bring Malcolm. I hope you haven’t said anything to him.’

‘He really likes you, Shelly.’

‘I’ve met someone!’ she blurted. His face lit up, and she almost said something she might have regretted later, so she just thought it: Oh, for fuck’s sake!

‘Really? Was that—’

‘Stop right now, Dad! I’ll tell you about it when I’m ready. Now let’s drop the subject before I get angry. It would be lovely if you came to Greece with me, but I’m just as happy for you to have Bill or Malcolm round here for the week. Now, I’m going to play another one of Gran Gertie’s tapes because I’m hoping to know the whole story before I return to Kea. So, you can listen with me or go and watch the telly.’