“Oh, I don’t know.” She rested her chin on her hands. “I’ve always thought there was something a little sad about her. She’s so gorgeous, Mary. You know she’s supposed to have had her heart broken when she was young, and she never got over it?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“She’s had loads of offers over the years apparently, but she could never fall in love with anyone else.” Leah’s eyes glittered.

I smiled. “Are you crying?”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” She widened her eyes and slapped herself on the cheek. “It’s these blooming hormones. I’d cry at the Angelus at the moment.”

I placed my hands on the counter. “Tell you what, pregnant lady. I’ll make you some chamomile tea.”

It turned out that Mary wasn’t the only client who insisted on seeing me that day. I supposed it was good to be missed. Leah brought me back a sandwich and takeaway soup from the Oak to keep me going but being trapped in the office all day meant I couldn’t get back to Malin to let Guinness out.

So, at a quarter to three when I emerged from the front room to find yet two more clients waiting for me, I rang Maeve, local vet and my good friend, who clocked up quite a few miles around the peninsula. Maeve had a key to my cottage, and I hoped she might be passing through Malin at some stage during the afternoon. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, you’re back!” She was driving and had me on speaker. I could hear the jeep’s windscreen wipers battling the same rain shower I was looking out at on the street.

“In more ways than one,” I sighed. When I explained my problem, Maeve said she was about two miles from Malin, on her way back from a calving, and would let the cat out on her way through.

“So, you’re back at work?” she asked, raising her voice above the torrent.

“Trying not to be and failing,” I said. “Catch up at the weekend?”

She started to reply, but her voice began to cut in and out and eventually the connection went completely. I tried to ring her back without success, assuming she was passing through one of the many black spots in Inishowen.