Innocent Secret. Josie Metcalfe

‘What’s that about?’

      ‘It’s a fundraiser-cum-social. Everything’s been organised locally—food, music, entertainment. It’s in aid of the farmers who were particularly badly hit by the foot-and-mouth epidemic last year. Apparently, they’ve had their compensation from the Government for the slaughter of their animals, but some of the smaller concerns are living from hand to mouth until they can get their farms properly stocked and running again.’

      ‘What’s involved in this barn dance, then?’ It didn’t really matter. Vicky would probably go purely because it was for a good cause but it would be nice to know what to expect.

      ‘According to my patient there’ll be a group doing an exhibition of line dancing, which they then undertake to teach the rest of us. The rest of the evening is more like the country dancing we used to have to do in junior school when it was too wet to play outside.’

      Vicky checked the date. ‘That’s this weekend. They’re not giving people much chance to get the word around.’

      ‘I think they’re seeing this as a bit of a trial run. If it goes well, they’ll run several of them. We might even borrow a leaf out of their book later on when it comes to a fundraiser for the hospital.’

      While he was speaking Vicky had been checking the duty roster and found that she was going to be free that evening. This could be just the thing to show the world that she wasn’t sitting at home, moping about Nick’s apparent defection.

      ‘Who are you going to be taking?’ she asked. ‘I presume this is a couples thing.’

      ‘You know me,’ he said with a grin. ‘I don’t like to plan anything too far in advance, especially something like a date. You never know what might have happened to the relationship in the meantime.’

      ‘Relationship?’ Vicky hooted. ‘I don’t think you’ve ever kept a girlfriend longer than a couple of days and I don’t call that a relationship.’

      ‘Are you any better?’ he retorted, startling Vicky with the sudden edge to his voice. ‘You eat your heart out for a dozen or more years, and when the guy finally asks you to marry him you back out at the last minute.’

      There was something in the unexpected sharpness that made her wonder if her Jack-the-lad brother might not have sailed through his life quite as smoothly as she’d always believed. Was there something hidden in his past that had made him wary of even the most elementary level of commitment? Had she been too wrapped up in her own concerns to notice?

      ‘Well, if neither of us has a ready partner, perhaps we should go together,’ she suggested, shelving her intriguing thoughts for later.