Chapter 11

The next day, Monday, we both slept in but I had to rush off to work leaving Jill still in bed. I’d first rang Jill’s school myself as she asked me to. I told the receptionist Jill had been ill all weekend and that she wouldn’t be coming in today. She didn’t sound at all surprised, saying there was a bug going around their school and one of the other teachers had been off with it all last week. I shouted the good news up to Jill and in turn she shouted back down to remind me to let Zak out for a pee before I went, as she was having an extra hour ‘lie in’ bed now she had a rare Monday off.

I did, then raced into work, just getting there on time. The boss, Mr Crabshaw, explained that Mick was now delayed over in France and he’d volunteered that I’d be happy to cover his clients as well as my own. I put on a good pretence to the boss that I didn’t know about that but agreed that I would, and I got down to it. My work phone rang at lunchtime, it was Mick, phoning me from France.

“Well I got that job,” he said, sounding elated. “They want me to start as soon as possible, next week if I can get things all sorted out in the UK. I’m getting the noon ferry home. I’m in the Terminal now.”

“That’s really great news Mick,” I said, happy for him. “When you picking the dog up?”

“I rang your place about ten o-clock to say I’d be back up there for Zak this afternoon about three but there was no answer.”

“She must have taken Zak out for an early walk,” I said, puzzled that there was no answer from the home phone but told Mick I’d get in touch with Jill myself just as he hung up to board the ferry.

I rang Jill to tell her Mick would be coming for the dog at about 3pm and she said that would be fine, that she’d take him out for a last walk early and be back home by then.

“Where were you this morning?” I asked curiously. “Mick said he’d phoned up at ten o-clock but got no answer.”

“Oh, I thought that was just you, just being nosy and imagining what I was doing. I’d realised you had left the doors open on purpose for Zak to come up when you shouted you were leaving for work.”

“What were you doing then? I asked curiously, “You didn’t answer Mick’s call did you?”

“I was doing pretty much just what you were hoping and imagining what I was doing I suppose, I was just busy having my lie in.” came the answer.

“With Zak?” I prompted, getting very interested now.

“Sort of. I’ll tell you later,” she laughed. “Don’t forget it was you who suggested I say goodbye to him nicely on my own and left the doors open to make sure he came upstairs after you’d left for work.”

“So did you? I went on, admitting I had and trying to get her to tell me more.

“Well let’s just say he kissed his favourite Rabbit goodbye and it appreciated it.” She teased, “Like I said I’ll tell you later. I’m taking him out for a run now before Mick comes over for him.”

I rang off, relieved that Jill didn’t sound half as upset as I’d thought she might be, now knowing Mick had got his job and was moving over to France for definite along with his dog. I was also hoping she wasn’t teasing me about ‘saying goodbye’ to Zak. I certainly wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not.

I got home about six o-clock and Jill had made a nice meal. “Did Mick get here for Zak ok then?” I said, a little unnecessarily, as neither Zak or his basket were now in our kitchen.

“Yeah, he left us loads of wine and stuff, some smelly French cheeses too,” she laughed. “I put them outside in your shed when Mick left, they were stinking the kitchen out, Zaks nose was twitching like hell. He loves cheese as an odd treat.”

“He got another odd treat before he went didn’t he? “ I prompted but Jill changed the subject.

“Leave it for a while Luke, she said.” I’m a bit upset I won’t be seeing the daft Mutt again for a while, possibly for ever. I was a bit tearful when I took him out over the Moor before Mick came. It hit me.”

“I know, I was fond of that fluffy monster too you know, he obviously loved the pair of us. I’ll miss him a lot. I really did in the summer when Mick’s kids were staying over here. We hardly went out for any long walks together when we didn’t have him here. Zak kept us fit apart from anything else.”

I purposely left the subject of Jill’s indiscretions with Zak on the back burner, despite being curious as hell about her letting Zak come upstairs for his last goodbye. I left it until I knew for sure Jill did want to talk about it, hopefully in bed. She didn’t all that week so I didn’t mention it to her either.

Mick had come into work on the Tuesday and when Crabshaw told him he had to work a month’s notice Mick told him to shove his job. He knew he would forfeit a few days wages but he decided that spending his last week in England ferrying his stuff across the Channel in a hired Transit van was a far more productive and lucrative idea than working out his notice in our office.

I saw Mick again waiting outside work for me on Thursday. He asked me if I could give him a hand with all the heavy stuff at the weekend. Zak had evidently gone across to France with him on the first load on the Wednesday. Mick told me the dog had gone wild seeing the Kids and Annette again and had so far settled well in their rural house. Mick’s town house in England had only been rented one so he had simply paid up his month’s legal notice then opted to leave it empty three weeks early. Mick did well that week, he eventually managed to get Zak and ALL their stuff to France doing only three ferry trips across in a ‘five day’ Transit van hire. He was really keen to get himself back in his family’s lives, he’d worked his little socks off.

I helped him load some heavier stuff on that Saturday afternoon for the last trip and we had a last pint in the pub together on the Sunday when he came back over again the next day to weight the hired van back in. Again Mick handed over even more bags of duty free stuff for us. Wine and Brandy this time, and some perfume for Jill. I had politely declined any more soft smelly French cheeses.

“You’ll have to come over to choose your own cheese in future, so you must stay overnight with us,” He laughed, giving me his address in Normandy. “We have loads of room, it’s an old converted farm, Zak loves it because it’s so much like your own place, loads of countryside full of rabbits to chase.”

“Yeah he liked catching the odd Rabbit” I answered wryly. Remembering Jill’s standing pussy joke.

Half an hour later I was waving Mick off down to get the ferry for the last time in his own car, packed out with the very last of his stuff from the house. Zak became a memory, a rather exotic one at that!