“Are you awake, Daisy?” her mum called. “You went to sleep really early last night, are you feeling OK?”
“I’m fine,” Daisy called back, twitching the blanket over Barney, in case her mum decided to look in and check on her. “Can I go for a walk before breakfast, Mum?”
“I suppose so…” Mum sounded surprised.
“We’re going home tomorrow,” Daisy added. “I just want to make sure I – um – see everything…”
“You’re mad,” Oliver muttered from deep inside his sleeping bag. He hated getting up in the morning.
“I’ll be back soon,” Daisy promised, flinging on some clothes and unzipping her secret door. Barney stuck his nose out as soon as she’d opened the zip enough, sniffing happily at the damp grass.
“Come on,” Daisy whispered. “Julie gets up early to feed you lot. She’ll probably have noticed you’re missing by now.”
She hurried over the bridge, with Barney pattering after her, his little shiny black claws clicking on the wood.
“Ugh, it’s cold.” Daisy shivered, wishing she’d looked at the weather before she’d put on her denim shorts. At least she’d brought a hoodie. “I think it might rain,” she added sadly. “On our last proper day.” She swallowed. Her last day at Riverside. After tomorrow, she wouldn’t be able to see Barney again.
For a moment, she was tempted to run back to the tent and try to hide him, somehow smuggle him into the car and take him home. But she knew it would never work. It was just a silly daydream.
“Barney!” she called, hurrying down the path. She wanted to get this over with.
Barney trotted behind her, his head hanging a little. He could tell where they were going. He didn’t want to return to the pen with his brothers and sisters. He’d liked being with Daisy much more.
Daisy had decided she’d better take Barney to the front door of the farmhouse, as the door in the yard would still be locked. She wasn’t quite sure what she was going to say – just that she’d found the puppy. Which was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. She slowed down as she came up the path, suddenly worrying that Julie might ask her difficult questions.
Barney hung back at the gate and whined, wishing he was still in the tent. He wanted to snuggle up next to Daisy and have some more of those treats. There was a strong wind blowing, and he didn’t like the feel of it whistling round his ears at all.
Daisy came over and picked him up gently. “I know,” she muttered in his ear. “I don’t want to leave you, either. But you’re not mine, Barney.” She sniffed and knocked on the front door.
It flew open almost at once, and Julie was there with a phone in her hand.
“Oh! He’s here, it’s all right! Yes, Daisy’s got him! I’ll call you again in a minute.” She ended the call, and hugged Daisy and Barney. “That was Amy, she’d gone to look along the road for me; we were worried he might have got out there. Oh, Daisy, you star, where did you find him?”
“Um, he found me,” Daisy told her. “By the river.”
“Thank you so much. I went in to feed the puppies this morning, and realized he was gone. He’d dug a little hole under the wire of the run; I don’t know how he squeezed himself out.” She patted Barney gently. “I really thought we might have lost you. I’m going to have to block up that hole, aren’t I?” She looked Barney over anxiously. “He’s all right? He wasn’t limping or anything?”
Daisy shook her head. “He looks fine to me.”
“His new owner’s coming to see him today, which just made it all worse – can you imagine having to explain that we’d lost him!” Julie sighed. “At least, I hope she’ll be his new owner. I’ve not actually met her yet, but she sounds very keen.”
Daisy nodded, and tried to blink away the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes. “Is she going to take him today?” she managed to ask.
Julie put an arm round her. “No. She just wants to meet him. I’m sure she’ll be nice, Daisy. He’ll have a lovely home. And you’ll get a dog of your own soon. I told your mum and dad how helpful you were, and how you’d be a brilliant dog owner.”
“Thanks,” Daisy said quietly. But it wasn’t the same. She wanted Barney, and she knew she couldn’t have him. Blinking away her tears, she passed the fat furry bundle to Julie, and Barney whimpered, wriggling back towards her. “I’d better go. I just went for a walk before breakfast. Mum doesn’t know where I am.”
“Come and see us later,” Julie suggested. “I want to give you something to say thank you.”
Daisy nodded, and hurried off up the path.
Barney stared after her, whining miserably. He’d gone and found Daisy, and she’d been pleased to see him. Why was she leaving him again?
“That’s really nice of Julie,” Mum said, when Daisy explained about going over to the farmhouse later. “You just found Barney wandering along by the river?”
“Yes.” Daisy nodded. She had. She just hadn’t been very clear about when, that was all. “And so I took him back.”
Mum eyed her thoughtfully, and Daisy tried not to go red as she ate her cereal. She was pretty sure that Mum thought there was more going on than she was telling.
“I’m supposed to be going canoeing on the river this morning,” Oliver said dismally, staring out from under the canopy at the dark grey sky. As Daisy walked back from the farmhouse, it had started to rain.
Dad shrugged. “Well, you’re going to get wet anyway…”
Oliver made a face. “I know. It just doesn’t feel like holiday weather any more, that’s all.”
“Maybe it’ll blow over,” Mum said. But it didn’t look like it would.
Daisy walked down to the canoe shed with Oliver and Dad later that morning, while Mum nipped to the village shops. Daisy was going to go over to the farmhouse once she’d watched Oliver for a little while. It was nice of Julie to want to give her something, but it was making her feel a bit guilty.
It took ages for the canoeing to get started. Oliver had to be kitted out with waterproofs and paddle, and told all the safety rules. The instructor kept suggesting that Daisy join in, too. In the end, she told Dad she was going to the farmhouse, just to get away before she was forced into a canoe.
When she went back up to the farmhouse, Julie was already talking to someone – and Daisy gulped, remembering what she had said.
It was Barney’s new owner.
Daisy didn’t really like the look of her. That might be because she was jealous, Daisy thought, trying to be fair. But it seemed strange that the woman was in a smart dress, when she was coming to see a litter of muddy-pawed puppies. Her frilly umbrella kept trying to turn inside out, too. Daisy hung around by the gate, trying not to get in the way, but now it seemed the woman was leaving.
Julie folded her arms and watched as the woman went down the path. She looked a bit annoyed. Daisy wondered whether Julie had discovered that Barney had stayed in her tent all night. But Julie smiled when she saw her.
“Was that Bar— I mean, the puppy’s new owner?” Daisy asked her, in a small voice.
Julie shook her head. “No. It should have been. But she’s decided she doesn’t want him after all.”
“Why not?” Daisy stared at her. How could anybody not want him?
“Because of his floppy ear. She’s looking for a show dog, you see. It would disqualify him in the show ring.”