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‘Well, if you’re apologising, I should too,’ Evelyn replied easily. ‘Or we could just gloss over that, and pretend this is the first we’ve met.’

‘Sounds good. So what’s Tilly’s appointment for? Boosters and flea treatment?’

‘How did you know that?’ Summer looked at him in surprise. ‘Did she tell you?’

‘Sort of,’ Jake admitted. ‘She looks like she’s really well looked after, and doesn’t seem unwell. She’s friendly, and clearly well-loved. Am I right?’

‘Yes. She’s my best friend, aren’t you Tilly? I haven’t got any brothers or sisters, but I’ve got you instead. And you’re much better, aren’t you?’ Tilly answered with a happy yip. ‘See?’

They stopped outside a converted stone house where the front garden had been replaced with gravel for parking and a swinging sign painted with different animals hung from the gate post.

‘Here we are.’ Jake unlocked the door and held it open proudly. He’d worked really hard to set up the surgery, and was incredibly pleased with everything he’d achieved.

‘Badger Hospital?’ Summer ran her gloved fingers over the wording on the door. ‘But Tilly’s a dog, not a badger.’

‘I look after dogs every day,’ he reassured her. ‘Most of my customers aren’t badgers. It’s just the name I liked.’

‘How come?’

‘Summer, don’t be rude,’ Evelyn chastised gently.

‘It’s OK.’ Jake could happily talk for hours about his work without getting tongue-tied once. ‘One of the first animals I looked after was a baby badger.’

‘That’s so cool!’ Summer was transfixed. ‘What happened?’

‘Well, it was when I was young – probably only about your age – and we had a really mild winter, which meant a lot of animals woke up from hibernation, and had their babies early. But spring was really, really cold and we had more than ten inches of snow that lasted for weeks.’

‘Oh no!’ Summer cried. ‘What happened to all the early babies?’

‘Well, I told you my dad’s a doctor, and the village didn’t used to have a vet. So when people found poor little cold babies, they brought them to us. One of them was a badger.’

‘And you looked after him?’

He nodded, suddenly feeling a bit nostalgic for those old, simpler days. ‘He was really little – his eyes were barely open – and he needed to be kept warm, and be fed every couple of hours. I made myself a bed in the living room by the fireplace, and slept by him for three nights, feeding him every time he woke up and mewled for food. Dad said I saved his life.’

‘Was he OK?’ He was surprised to see Evelyn was watching him as intently as her daughter. He hadn’t expected his story to be that interesting to her.

‘Yeah, he was. When the snow thawed, we were able to get him to a specialist wildlife rehabilitation centre. When he was big enough, he was released into a nature reserve along with other young badgers who had been rescued that year.’

‘You saved his life! That’s so cool.’ Summer’s comment filled his heart with warmth.

‘Yeah, I guess I did. That was when I decided I wanted to be a vet. If not for that little guy, I could have ended up doing a really awful job. Or something really boring. I don’t think I’d do very well in a boring office job.’ He remembered belatedly that a lot of people had “boring office jobs” and flashed an apologetic look at Evelyn. ‘Sorry.’

She laughed. ‘Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t be an office worker either. So, you named your surgery after the animal who inspired you.’

He nodded. ‘That, and it seemed appropriate to have another badger-themed business here.’

‘Did you know they sell badger cakes in the café?’ Summer asked, wide-eyed. ‘Mum said we can have one later, but not before lunch. There’s badgers everywhere here.’

Evelyn chuckled, filling the surgery with the light happy sound, and Jake felt a twinge of something akin to longing. For some reason he couldn’t understand, he felt protective of her – of them both – and wanted to make them smile, and laugh, like that again. He shook his head, trying to clear the feeling. He’d only just met them, and they weren’t his family. He was probably just feeling a bit overtired after staying up late with a foaling mare at a local farm.

‘Do you know why there’s badgers everywhere?’

‘Coz people like badgers,’ Summer replied, like it was the most logical thing in the world.

Jake laughed, touched by the innocent answer. ‘They should do, shouldn’t they? Badgers are cool. But it’s not just that. Brockle is an old, old word for badger. So Broclington means “Badger’s Town”. And there are lots of badgers in the woods round here.’

‘Awesome!’ Summer’s eyes lit her up and she looked up at her mum. ‘Can we go find some badgers? Please Mum!’