CHAPTER 6
“IT’S OKAY, HONESTLY. I can get home by myself,” I said to Joe, my back burning from the touch of his hand as we walked along the dark high street. Fraser’s Veterinary Surgery took up a double storefront between a hair salon and a florist, and Mr. Fraser told me when I first went there that he lived in the flat above so he could be on hand for the animals. Now, the shops were silent, with music from the pub on the corner providing the backdrop to our conversation as revellers spilled out onto the pavement.
“It’s almost midnight, and Thursday night is drinking night,” Joe said. “My mother brought me up to make sure a lady got home safely at the end of the night.”
I echoed Mr. Fraser’s words to me. “She’s a good woman.”
Joe nodded but didn’t smile. “She was.”
Was? He’d lost hi
