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‘Like I said. Don’t worry about it.’ Jake felt a warm glow of pride at being able to help, and take some of the burden off her.

The blare of a car horn and crunch of gravel in the surgery’s car park interrupted any reply Evelyn might have given. The antivenom had finally arrived. Jake rushed to the door and grabbed the medicine’s bag from the taxi driver, shoving a bundle of notes and thanks at him. Within seconds, he’d drawn out the meds and plunged the needle into the catheter.

Even though they both knew she couldn’t respond, Evelyn murmured soothing words to Tilly, running her fingers through her thick, soft fur. Jake watched as the slender digits rippled through the fox-like fur, leaving delicate patterns where they trailed, offering comfort and warmth. As he watched the fingers move, he realised there was a paler ring encircling one of her fingers – where a wedding band was clearly now missing. How had he missed that before?

He checked Tilly’s vitals again, and crossed his fingers, hoping this was going to work.

Half an hour later, Tilly’s front paw twitched and she let out a tiny whimper. Evelyn looked up, her eyes wide with worry as a huge shiver rippled through the little dog. Jake checked her vitals, and gently tapped the tip of her nose. He grinned when Tilly’s nose twitched, and her long pink tongue popped out to lick away the offending sensation.

‘I think she’s waking up.’

‘Tilly …’ Evelyn slipped from the sofa to kneel in front of the little dog and be level with her eyes. ‘Time to get up, Tilly.’ She laughed in delight as the back of the blanket jumped and slipped as Tilly started to wag her tail and wriggle.

This time, Jake’s reassuring smile was genuine. ‘I think we might be out of the woods.’

‘Really?’

Jake checked her vitals again, then nodded. ‘Her readings are looking better, and she’s certainly looking brighter.’

‘I really don’t know how to thank you.’ Evelyn wiped away tears. ‘Did you hear that, Tilly girl? You’re going to be all right. Jake’s made you better. You can come home with me to see Summer and Nanny soon.’ She glanced at Jake. ‘When can she come home? Do you need to keep her in for observation?’

‘Honestly, I usually would want to keep her here, but I don’t want to stress her out in a cage when you said she’s had such bad experiences of them in the past. To be honest, I’d been focussed on getting her through these first few, critical hours.’

‘What would you do if you kept her in, specifically?’

‘Keep her hydrated, keep an eye on blood pressure and heart rate. Possibly more pain killers and antihistamines. Additional sedation if she seemed distressed.’

‘If I can borrow your sphygmomanometer, and you can prescribe the meds, I’m pretty confident I can do all that at home.’

‘Well, it’s not really all that easy. If you get things even slightly wrong, especially with medications, you can do a lot of harm.’ He tried not to be condescending, but sending home an animal needing IV medications wasn’t something he was ever happy doing.

He was surprised when Evelyn laughed in his face. ‘Jake, it’s fine. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t confident or competent. I’m a Band 7 Community Nurse. I know she’s a lot smaller than most of my patients, but you’ve already put in the line, and I know how to use that and keep it clean. I know about the importance of adhering to doses, and how to accurately measure meds. But if you’re worried, you can measure them out for me into single use syringes.’

‘I was a bit patronising, wasn’t I?’ He laughed.

‘Maybe a little, but only to someone with my experience. I’d probably be the same. You have to be, don’t you?’ She gave him an easy smile that filled him with warmth. ‘So what do you think?’

‘I think she’ll probably be calmer with you than with me.’ He ran his hands through his dark hair, thinking.

‘You can even come back with me, and check her over and settle her in, if it would make you feel happier about discharging her.’ His stomach growled, and Evelyn laughed. ‘And if you’re hungry, you really should say yes. My mum’s a stress baker. Between her and Summer, there’s probably enough food for a whole bake sale all cooked up.’

‘I couldn’t possibly impose.’

‘Jake, please. After everything you’ve done today, offloading some food on you is the very least we can do.’ She hesitated and in that moment Jake was worried she’d changed her mind, and realised how much he really wanted to accept her invitation. ‘Unless you’ve got other patients you have to stay here for, or other plans. Which you probably do. Plans, I mean.’

‘No, no plans. I’ve got a litter of newborn kittens here. I’ll check on them now, and can check in again in a few hours. It’s all I’d usually do anyway. Once they’re here and safe, it’s really best to leave mum alone to do her thing.’

‘OK. I’ll give Mum a ring, let her know we’re headed back, and make sure Summer knows how to treat Tilly.’

Chapter Four

Summer was waiting at the door as soon as Evelyn opened it.

‘Where is she?’ she demanded. ‘You didn’t change your mind and leave her, did you?’

‘Hi Mum, how are you?’

‘Hi Mum how are you where’s Tilly?’ She didn’t stop for breath.