“This is cool. I bet the puppies would love it in here,” said Sam.
Lauren nodded. “They haven’t been outside much yet, but Dad’s making a wire run so they can play in the orchard.”
Sam looked up. “Oh, that’s my mum calling. I suppose we have to go and unpack.”
He handed Buster to Lauren, and they headed back to the farmhouse. Lauren supposed Sam was OK really – at least he liked the puppies – but she didn’t think they were going to be best friends or anything, which was obviously what Mum was hoping.
“He was nice, wasn’t he?” Mum asked, as they waved goodbye to Sam and his mum. “Gosh, look at Buster!” She tickled the puppy under the chin. “He’s huge. I must see about putting an ad in the local paper about new homes for the puppies. And there are a couple of good puppy websites too.”
Lauren swallowed. Her heart seemed to have suddenly jumped into her throat. New homes! She had almost forgotten about that – she had wanted to forget.
“But they’re only a month old, Mum!” she cried.
“I know. But puppies go to their new owners at about eight weeks, and people don’t just turn up and take a puppy home. We’ll have to let them come and see the puppies – and we need to meet them to make sure we like them.” She hugged Lauren. “We’re not going to give Bella’s lovely pups to just anyone, sweetheart, don’t worry.”
Lauren nodded. “But – but not Lucy?” she asked quickly. “She isn’t big enough yet, Mum.”
Mum nodded thoughtfully. “You’re probably right. Lucy will have to be a bit older than the others when she goes. Not much though, I shouldn’t think. You’ve done so well feeding her, she’s catching them up.” She looked at Lauren. “I know you really love Lucy, and it’ll be hard for you to say goodbye, but you’ll still have Bella, remember.”
Lauren buried her nose in Buster’s soft fur. She loved Bella, of course she did. But Lucy would have died if Lauren hadn’t woken up that first night. It felt like she and Lucy belonged together. But Lauren just didn’t think she could explain that to Mum.
She put Buster back in the puppy pen, and ran upstairs to fetch Lucy. When she opened her bedroom door, Lucy scrabbled at the side of the box with her claws, squeaking frantically.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I went off and left you, didn’t I?” Lauren scooped up the puppy, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t mean to.” She sighed, feeling Lucy wriggle and squirm against her neck. “I don’t ever want to leave you. But I’m not going to, am I? You’re going to leave me. Oh, Lucy, I don’t want you to go!”
The summer holidays seemed to have gone by so quickly, Lauren thought. She could hardly believe there was less than a week to go until school started! She supposed it was because she’d been busy all the time looking after Lucy and Bella, and the other puppies.
Lucy’s brothers and sisters loved the little outdoor run that Lauren’s dad had made for them, and spent lots of time out there now. Lauren’s mum had put a photo of them all romping about on the grass on the pet website where she was advertising them to new owners.
Lauren wasn’t sure about letting Lucy go out in the run yet – she was still so much littler than the other puppies, and Lauren was worried that they might hurt her with their rough and tumble games.
“Mum, can I take Lucy out to play in the orchard, if I’m really careful not to let her run off?”
Her mum put down the phone. “Yes, that’s fine. Although I’m sure she’d be all right in the run with the others, you know. She’s a lot bigger now.”
Lauren sighed. She supposed Lucy was catching up. But she still wouldn’t feed from Bella like they did. Dad said she liked her special bottles too much. They wouldn’t have to do the bottle feeds for too much longer, though. Now that the puppies were five weeks old, they were all having solid food too. Lauren loved to watch them all eating. The first few meals had gone everywhere but into the puppies’ mouths, and Bella had ended up having most of it as she’d licked it off the puppies. They had the same dry food as Bella, but mixed with the puppy milk Lucy had, and they always ended up with mush caked all over their ears.
“Who was on the phone?” Lauren asked, as she finished her toast. “It wasn’t someone about the puppies, was it?”
“No, it was just Nicky, Sam’s mum. We’d talked about sharing the school run next week, and she wanted to know if we’d rather do morning or afternoon. I said we’d pick you up in the afternoon, is that OK? I like hearing about your day.”
Lauren gaped at her. “Sam’s going to my school?” she asked.
“Well, of course he is. Yours is the only school close by.”
“He’s not in my class, is he?”
“No, he’s in the other class in your year.” Her mum frowned. “His mum and I talked about it when they came round, didn’t you hear us?”
Lauren shook her head. She supposed she’d been too busy being grumpy about having to entertain Sam. And now she had to share lifts to school with him! She knew it would make less work for Mum and Dad, but she didn’t want to share her car journeys; she liked having the time to chat to them.
Crossly, she picked up Lucy and a ball from the puppy pen and stomped out into the yard.
Lucy squirmed excitedly in Lauren’s arms, sniffing all the interesting new smells. She’d been everywhere in the house with Lauren, but this was different. A butterfly fluttered past, and she yapped at it in delight. When they got to the orchard, which had a brick wall all round it, Lauren gently put her down on the grass.
Lucy looked up at her, not sure what she was supposed to do. She gave an enquiring little whine.
“Go play!” Lauren rolled the ball, and Lucy chased after it, yapping. She tried to sink her teeth into it, but it was just too big, and she ended up rolling over on top of the ball with a squeak of dismay.
Lucy bounced up and went off sniffing around in the grass, until she came to a dock plant, with big shield-shaped leaves. She licked a leaf thoughtfully, and then seized it in her teeth, pulling hard. It sprang back, and she jumped around yapping fiercely, until Lauren nearly choked with laughter.
All of a sudden there was a heavy thud, and a big football bounced over the orchard wall and thumped on to the grass right next to Lucy, who whimpered in fright. She scampered over to Lauren.
Lauren snatched Lucy up in one arm, grabbed the ball with the other and ran across to the wall, to find Sam peering over it.
“Hey! You almost hit Lucy with that! What are you doing?” Lauren snapped.
“Sorry! I was just kicking the ball around…” Sam looked guilty.
“You could have hurt her!” Lauren told him, as she shoved the ball into his hands.
“Sorry…” Sam muttered again, and he walked away with his shoulders hunched up.
Lauren almost felt sorry for telling him off, but then Lucy wriggled into her neck, whimpering, and Lauren felt cross all over again.
When school started the next week, Lauren had to share lifts with Sam, as her mum had arranged, but Lauren hardly talked to him. She didn’t really know what to say, and Sam seemed shy of her. She supposed it was because of the way she’d told him off in the orchard.
It was great being back at school and seeing all her friends again, but she really missed Lucy and the other puppies.