A Summer to Remember by Victoria Connelly Page B

walked faster, wincing each time her right foot hit the ground, but eager to round the corner in the hope of Ziggy being there. The path moved away from the river, skirting a barley field, which moved like a gentle green sea under the summer breeze. Once again, she heard a bark, but her spirits sank when she realised that it wasn’t Ziggy’s bark after all.
    Sure enough, from around the corner came a sleek black and white collie who, as soon as she saw Nina, started barking again, causing Nina to flatten herself up against the hedge.
    ‘Don’t show her you’re afraid!’ Nina told herself, but that was easier said than done when a dog was eyeing you up with a none-too-friendly expression on its face.
    ‘Bess?’ a voice called from around the corner and Nina watched as a tall, fair-haired man came striding into view. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said, seeing Nina’s pale face as she stood frozen to the spot. ‘Heel, Bess.’
    Nina watched as the collie turned and slunk back towards her master.
    ‘Are you okay?’ he asked when it was obvious that Nina had no intention of venturing out of the hedge until she was quite sure everything was under control.
    ‘I, er—’
    ‘Bess wouldn’t harm a fly – honestly,’ he continued, giving his dog a fuss and then brushing a hand through his hair as he stood back up to full height. ‘She’s the soppiest girl on the planet, aren’t you, Bessie? Just likes a bit of a bark when she meets new people.’
    ‘Right,’ Nina said, swallowing hard and finally moving away from her hawthorn security blanket.
    ‘She didn’t mean to scare you and I’m sorry she did. She sometimes runs ahead of me.’ He looked at her and Nina was suddenly gazing into a pair of bright blue eyes.
    ‘It’s okay,’ she found herself saying. ‘I wasn’t scared.’
    ‘No?’ he said, looking amused and unconvinced.
    ‘It’s just best to be sure before you approach a strange dog, isn’t it?’
    ‘Oh, absolutely,’ he said.
    ‘ Dog! ’ Nina suddenly cried.
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘I’ve lost my dog.’
    ‘You’ve got a dog?’
    She nodded. ‘She got away from me just before I met yours and I haven’t seen her since.’ Panic rose once again in Nina’s chest as she stumbled along the footpath.
    ‘You’ve hurt yourself,’ the man said, following in her stumbling wake.
    ‘Yes, I’m afraid I twisted my ankle when Ziggy got away from me.’
    ‘Ziggy?’
    ‘The dog I was walking. Do you know her?’
    ‘I’ve seen her around,’ the man said.
    ‘Will you help me look for her? I mean, if you’ve got time.’
    ‘Of course,’ he said with a little smile. ‘Anything for a fellow dog-walker.’
    Nina felt the weight lift from her a little as they walked along the track by the hedgerow. A skylark was pouring its song down from a peerless blue sky and the sun was sparkling on the river in the distance, but there wasn’t time to enjoy the beauty of the day.
    ‘Ziggy!’ Nina cried.
    ‘Ziggy!’ the man echoed.
    The hedgerow petered out and a large expanse of field greeted them and, there in the distance, was the missing dog.
    ‘Ziggy!’ Nina called. ‘Come here, boy!’ She bent forward, her hands on her knees in what she hoped was an encouraging position, but Ziggy didn’t appear to hear his new mistress. ‘Oh, dear,’ she said at last. ‘I don’t think we’re going to get him back.’
    ‘Don’t give up so easily,’ the man said. ‘Mind if I give it a go?’
    ‘Be my guest,’ Nina said.
    ‘ Come on, Ziggy!’ the man cried and Nina watched in wonder as the dog’s ears immediately pricked up and his head cocked to one side as he acknowledged the man. And then something bizarre happened. Ziggy suddenly seemed to forget what he was doing in the middle of the field and tore across it at great speed, the force of his movement pushing his flappy ears behind him so that they looked like furry bunting.
    ‘Wow! You really have a way with animals,’ Nina said, impressed, as the dog