Trying Not To Love You

Part Ten

Chapter Ten

The next night Sonny was walking home from the bookies, five hundred pound up after a ridiculously positive day courtesy of the horses. With a swing in his step and a smile on his face, and a bottle of vodka and a large pizza in his hands, he was looking forward to eating, drinking, then sleeping, tonight would be a night that he'd actually get some rest, he was sure. It had been a long time.

As he almost skipped down the path to the farm he saw something in the distance, he wasn't sure what. It was dark but there was something moving to his left. With the recent damage and vandalism to the farm that he knew was deliberate sabotage, he had to investigate. As he got closer he realised it was Martha, stooped over something.

"You ok?"

When she looked up he almost gasped at the pained expression on her face, "Portia." She nodded at the dog in front of her. He'd not seen the animal until that moment, because she was barely moving and it was dark.

He felt genuine pain for her, and the animal, whilst he wasn't that keen on pets, the two farm dogs were cool, and he'd taken to throwing sticks around the yard for them when he was bored, "what happened?"

"I don't know. She didn't come in for her dinner, and that has NEVER happened before, so I thought I'd look for her."

He dropped the pizza and vodka onto the soft verge, "is she alive?"

"Barely breathing. I've got to get her to the Land Rover, but I'm too scared to move her. She's heavy, and what if I hurt her?"

Sonny sighed; she was such a gentle and good person, he'd encountered so few like her, "I thought nothing scared you."

She laughed, "that's just bravado, I think I'm petrified at least eighty percent of my life."

"Grab my stuff, I'll carry her."

Picking up the pizza and vodka he offered, she glanced at him, "haute cuisine hey?"

"Needs must!" He grunted as he lifted the dog into his arms. "And tonight that was as much as I could manage."

The Land Rover was parked at the end of the lane, Martha had opened the rear door open and laid out an old duvet, it was hard, but he managed to slide the dog gently on to it, and she was too lifeless to even grumble. Then he turned to see Martha still terrified, "get in the back with her, I'll drive you. Just need to tell me the way."

She paused for a moment, wanting to exert her independence, but he was taking control and it was a relief to have someone else in charge for five minutes, she wasn't sure her fraught nerves would cope with making decisions.

They reached the vet and Sonny once again took control, lifting Portia and carried her into the surgery, the team were awaiting their arrival as Martha had called repeatedly on their reasonably short journey. Instantly the vet wasn't optimistic; the dog was in a terrible condition.

"Let me see what I can do. Call me later," he suggested.

Martha shook her head, "I'm going to hang around...just in case."

Sonny looked at her; she was being so brave wanting to do right by the animal, even though she was tired, sad, stressed.

"Come share that pizza with me," he gave her a nod, then looked at the vet, "we'll be outside in the car."

It was surprisingly cold outside, and she looked up at him with a shiver, "I'll drive you back." She offered, "I'm disturbing your evening."

He shrugged, "was going to be me, a pizza and an Ian McNabb book. I'm not missing anything."