Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 04] by Dates Mates, Sleepover Secrets (Html) Read Free Book Online Page A

mind?’
    I shook my head. I’d
fallen in love with about six of them. Woodie and the Samoyed and Kiki the old
collie, a mongrel that looked like an old teddy, a beautiful black Alsatian and
a cheeky Jack Russell.
    Some had to be
overlooked as it said clearly on their report that they could be destructive
and didn’t like children, even teens. Others, I knew, were too big like the
Alsatian. Arm-wrestling champion that I am, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep
him on a lead.
    It was then that I
turned a corner and saw Mojo. He was sitting quietly in his room, a
medium-sized black dog with a white patch over one eye. He gazed up at us with
the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. You look how I felt last night, I thought.
Sad, lonely and badly in need of a friend. ‘Mojo is four years old and a
stray,’ said his report. ‘He has a very gentle nature and likes people. He is
very distressed at finding himself here and would like a good home as soon as
possible.’
    Mojo looked up at me
with hopeful eyes.
    I glanced over at Dad.
    ‘He’s The One, isn’t
he?’ said Dad.
    I nodded.
     
    Dad and I didn’t stop
talking all the way home. He told me all about how he had wanted to be a vet,
but didn’t think he could cope with having to put people’s pets down as you
sometimes had to do.
    We even talked about
Paul.
    ‘At least this fella
won’t get on a plane and leave us,’ said Dad, looking at Mojo who was sitting
happily in the back, looking out of the window. ‘Unlike some people I could
mention.’
    ‘Paul, you mean?’
    Dad nodded. ‘I hope
he’s all right, wherever he’s got to. He may be grown-up, but you never stop
worrying. And I know you and Mum think I go on but I know my own son and he can
be naive at the best of times. Even as a young lad, he was a dreamer, too
trusting of people… You have to have your wits about you when you’re
travelling.’
    ‘He’ll be OK,’ I said.
‘He’s with Saskia.’
    ‘Hmmmph,’ said Dad.
‘And she’s as daft as he is. Still, I guess he’s not alone.You’re right.’
    I was glad it had been
Dad who’d come with me to the Home. I felt I’d got to know him better. And
discovered he was missing Paul as much as I was.
     
    When we got home, Mojo
ran around sniffing everything. Tail wagging happily, he seemed more than
pleased when Dad opened the French doors to the garden. He ran out and sniffed
the air as if he couldn’t get enough of it.
    ‘I think he likes it
here,’ said Mum, watching him from the kitchen. As he ran about familiarising
himself with the smells, the phone rang.
    ‘Oh, that will be
someone called Lucy again. She’s phoned a few times since I’ve been back and so
has someone called Nesta.’
    I went to answer the
call. Mum was right. It was Lucy.
    ‘About Nesta last
night,’ she said. ‘She really didn’t mean to upset you. What she meant to say
was that with your potential you could look totally amazing. She wasn’t saying
you looked awful or anything.’
    I’d forgotten all
about the incident the night before. And it didn’t seem so bad in the light of
a new day.
    ‘I suppose I
was
being a bit over-sensitive,’ I admitted. ‘Overreacted a bit.’
    ‘We all have days like
that,’ said Lucy. ‘Like my mum says, only the wearer of the shoe knows where it
rubs. You know, sometimes we don’t know where each other’s sensitive spots are
and tread on them by mistake. Nesta treads on people’s sensitive spots with
hobnailed boots on. But she doesn’t mean to. We all want to be friends. Honest.
We all agreed. That’s why Nesta came to sit next to you at Sam’s talk the other
afternoon.’
    ‘Really? I thought
that was just coincidence.’
    ‘No. It was so you had
someone to sit with.’
    ‘Really?’
    We chatted on for
about ten minutes and I told her my news about Mojo. She wants to come over on
Monday to meet him.
     
    After I put the phone
down, I had plenty to think about. It looked like I had misjudged the whole
situation and I