‘I helped.’
‘How old were you?’
‘Six or seven,’ she muttered, summoning a brief burst of speed when the entrance to the exercise field came into view.
‘As I said,’ Elijah crowed, easily keeping up with her, ‘your parents looked after it.’
She opened the gate. ‘I suppose you’ve owned dogs before.’ Would that be a black mark against her? It would, wouldn’t it? Drat! She caught the shifty look on his face as he turned away to close the gate behind him. ‘How many dogs have you had? One?None?’
‘This will be my first,’ he admitted.
Result! Not that she was keeping score, but this was one-nil to her. As for everything else, they were roughly level pegging. She topped him on the “dog won’t be left on its own much” stakes, and he topped her on the exercise front. But exercise was something she could improve on, whereas he wasnevergoing to be able to take Biscuit with him to the bakery.
Feeling quietly confident, Nora checked out the field while she awaited the dog’s arrival. A high fence surrounded a large grassy area, with a couple of benches dotted around it, and in one corner was a short plastic tunnel and a couple of low jumps. A wooden crate containing a variety of balls and other throwy type toys sat next to the gate, and there was also a standpipe and a water bowl.
When Nora saw Jakob walking towards the field with Biscuit plodding by his side, she could hardly contain her excitement.
‘Biscuit!’ she called, before they were even inside.
Elijah crouched down and held out his hand. ‘Hello, boy; remember me?’
Jakob gave first her, then Elijah, a keen look. ‘He’s not a toy. If he doesn’t want to come to you, don’t force the issue.’
‘I won’t.’ Elijah’s reply was confident, as Nora said, ‘Of course not. We’ll let him decide.’
Jakob unclipped the lead from Biscuit’s harness.
Biscuit didn’t move.
Jakob said, ‘I’ll be in the kennel block if you need me.’ His expression clearly said that he hoped they wouldn’t.
‘We’ll be fine,’ Nora assured him with more confidence than she felt. She wished she’d agreed to Jacob’s offer of giving them time slots now.
Neither she nor her arch-rival said anything further until Jakob left, then both called the dog simultaneously.
‘Hi, Biscuit. Come here, Biscuit,’ Nora called, in a high pitched, encouraging tone.
Elijah, the sneaky git, went for a different approach. ‘What have I got for you? Come see.’ He was holding out his hand, and in the middle of his palm lay a treat.
Elijah wasbribinghim!
Nora wished she’d thought of that. Note to self: bring a variety of treats tomorrow. And a toy.
Obviously Biscuit was tempted by the morsel of food, and triumph flashed across Elijah’s face.
Remembering what Jakob had said, Nora armed herself with a ball. ‘Fetch!’ she yelled, flinging the ball a decent distance, surprising herself. She hadn’t thrown a ball of any description since those hateful netball matches at school.
The dog immediately bounded after it in a blur of tail, paws, and fur. He was quick to bring it back and drop it at her feet, and it was Nora’s turn to look triumphant. However, her expressionquickly became a grimace when she picked up the soggy ball. Ew.
Get over it, she told herself.It’s only a bit of slobber.
She threw it again and Biscuit chased after it once more, Elijah and his sneaky treats forgotten.
Nora watched the guy out of the corner of her eye, noting the dismayed drop of his shoulders, and for a moment she felt guilty. But all’s fair in love and war, and they were warring over the love of this gorgeous dog, so to her mind whatever advantage she could gain was worth it. And she was fairly certain thathehadn’t felt guilty when he’d stuffed his pockets with doggy treats.
Nora and Biscuit were getting into a rhythm, her throwing, him fetching. It couldn’t go on indefinitely though, for two reasons: Nora’s arm was beginning to tire (who knew that chucking a ball could be such hard work?), and Biscuit was taking longer and longer to drop the ball, until he eventually sank down onto the grass, his tongue lolling, the ball nestled between his front paws.
‘I think I’ve worn him out,’ she declared smugly.
