Walking Back to Happiness Read Online Free Page B

only person wearing shoes, including her dad, who was keeping well out of it in the sitting room, studying a Guide to Wales with his beige-socked feet up on a stool and his reading glasses perched on his bald head.
    ‘Hello, Dad!’ she called through.
    ‘ Bore da , Juliet cariad ! Shw mae ?’ he said, then added, ‘Don’t ask me anything else, it’s as far as we’ve got.’
    Louise rolled her eyes and unpacked some home-frozen food from the cool bag. ‘Any excuse to get out of the house,’ she muttered.
    ‘Just because I’m old doesn’t mean my brain’s gone,’ said Eric. ‘Or my hearing.’
    ‘ Bore da , Toby,’ said Juliet.
    Toby gazed solemnly back at her from the table with Peter’s round brown eyes, topped with Louise’s blonde hair. Though she’d never actually said it out loud, Juliet was always reminded of penguins when she saw Toby. Fluffy, serious penguin chicks, regarding the world from under Louise’s protective feet.
    ‘Well done, you, for driving over here in the traffic.’ Diane appeared from the hall, closed the door behind her to keep Coco at bay and grabbed Juliet’s hands. She squeezed them, as she would a small child. ‘That’s another hurdle you’re over, eh? The roundabouts in rush hour!’
    Juliet smiled wanly.
    ‘Now, I’ve made a list.’ Diane dug in her bag and handed her a piece of paper. ‘It’s very important that you take Coco out before eleven. She always needs to do a –’ she dropped her voice – ‘a solid toilet after breakfast but before her main walk. I usually take her out at lunchtime, once round the park, and up to the woods alternate days. Today’s a wood day. She likes to be on the lead going up, but not coming back – it makes her feel more grown-up. I haven’t fed her because going in the car makes her gassy, so here’s a bag with her kibble. Try her on half a cup before—’
    Louise and Juliet both stared at their mother.
    ‘Mum, I do have a dog,’ said Juliet.
    ‘And dogs don’t need to feel grown-up ,’ said Louise. ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I need to get a move on – I’m late already.’ She grabbed a purple file marked Toby: Routine from the breakfast bar. ‘There’s everything you need in here, plus all the phone numbers if there are any problems.’
    As she handed the thick file to Diane, Juliet wondered if children came with operating instructions after all. It certainly looked as if Toby’s full warranty was in there.
    ‘There won’t be any problems ,’ trilled her mother. ‘Toby’s going to have a lovely day with Granny, isn’t he?’
    Toby said nothing. He just stared back at Mummy, Auntie Jools and Granny, and blinked.
     
    Diane hadn’t been lying about one thing: Coco was a gassy traveller, breakfast or not. Juliet had only got halfway to the roundabout when the first wafts of nervous Labrador came drifting back from the depths of the van. She pressed on regardless: her one aim now was to get home, close the door and put the kettle on, so she could sink into another day of soothing, day-filling television, with Minton curled up on her knee. Coco too, if she felt like it..
    Diane’s list lay accusingly on the dashboard, in the non-slip tray where Ben used to put his phone and job notes. Juliet glanced over at it while the lights by the town hall were on red; it was a timetable.
    Her mother had actually written out a timetable for the dog.
    Well, she can forget that, thought Juliet. I’m doing her a favour here. It’s not like Coco’s fitted with a milometer. She’s not going to know if we’ve spent the day watching Homes Under the Hammer or scaling Longhampton Ridge. Maybe Coco would prefer a day’s relaxation.
    ‘How about it, Coco?’ she called back. ‘Feet up? Face pack?’
    Coco didn’t respond, but a fruity waft of something drifted forward. Juliet opened Minton’s window and, safe in his harness, he stuck his nose out, letting his ears flap in the breeze.

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