Drew grinned. ‘Ellie and I developed this place as a resource for the community and a learning centre for all aspects of the natural world.’
‘How do you manage it all?’ She peered at Drew. ‘You don’t have an old treasure chest under your bed, do you? Or a rich uncle...?’
‘No, nothing like that. We were given the land by a local benefactor, and we’ve had grants to help develop some of the community and learning aspects of the centre. Ellie and I have been in practice together ever since veterinary school, and when we got the opportunity to expand we grabbed it.’
‘So you do diving...and conservation...?’
‘Hasn’t Lucas shown you around?’
Caro shrugged. ‘He gave it a go. I was concentrating on my stuff, and he had stuff with Ellie to think about. Between us, there wasn’t a great deal of time for anything other than what was strictly necessary.’
Drew chuckled. ‘You think you can tear your head away from your work for a few hours?’
Yes, actually she could. Drew’s ability to tear her head away from almost anything was a little frightening, and if Caro wasn’t careful, she’d lose focus. But she could worry about that tomorrow, when the sun wasn’t shining and his smile wasn’t so close at hand.
‘I’ve got a small window of opportunity.’
‘I won’t let it go to waste, then. I’ll give you the guided tour, and then we’ll go and see Jake at the diving centre. He’s probably having lunch at the moment.’
She followed Drew through the reception area, giving Tegan a wave as they passed. He made for the trees, walking along a woodland path until they were out of earshot of the clinic car park. Leaves were beginning to carpet the ground, and there seemed to be all kinds of rustling going on but Caro couldn’t see where it was coming from. Drew sat down on a bench.
‘What’s here?’
He smiled. ‘Wait and see...’
She sat next to him, suppressing the urge to tap her foot. Drew stretched his legs out in front of him, seeming wholly at peace.
Silence. Nothing was happening, and Caro wondered how long they would
have to wait before Drew either gave up or they saw something. And then, suddenly, the empty woods began to come to life.
A small pinkish brown bird, with a black beak and bright blue flashes on its wings, seemed to be foraging amongst the undergrowth. Drew leaned over, whispering.
‘It’s a jay. Looking for acorns to bury for the winter.’
Caro watched the bird as it made its way amongst the fallen leaves, moving them to one side with its beak. Sliding towards him on the bench seemed very natural. They were whispering after all...
‘Do they remember where they’ve put them?’
‘Often enough, I guess. When they don’t, you’ll get an oak tree.’
Caro was suddenly very aware of his arm, slung across the back of the bench behind her. If keeping quiet and still meant they wouldn’t disturb the wildlife, then it also meant that she could keep this feeling of being close to Drew for a moment.
A chaffinch flew down onto the path, almost in front of them. A rustle amongst the leaves turned out to be a fox, treading warily and stopping every now and then to sniff the air.
‘I never thought that if you stayed still for a moment, you’d see all this.’
Drew smiled. ‘We manage these woodlands very carefully to encourage all kinds of different wildlife. We have hedgehog boxes in a more secluded spot over there and if you come down here at night, you can hear them all snuffling around in the undergrowth. There are a few badgers too, and we’re thinking about having a beaver enclosure.’
‘Beavers? I didn’t think you had them in this part of the country.’
‘We don’t, but they’ve been reintroduced in enclosures in various parts of England. When they build their homes, a natural wetland forms so you get an increase in those plants and animals too. We’re also looking at building a red squirrel enclosure.’
‘Don’t they catch something from the grey squirrels?’ Caro racked her brains for the name of the disease that had decimated red squirrels and came up with nothing.
‘Yes, SQPV. Squirrel pox virus. The greys carry the virus, but it doesn’t affect them.’
‘And that’s why you’d have to keep the reds in an enclosure?’