There were fewer houses lining the road here, and at the end of the road she passed a large wooden bungalow that had a sign attached to its fence, which read “SUMMER BEACH VETERINARY HOSPITAL” next to a picture of two paw prints. The front garden had been cleared and paved to provide parking spaces, and judging from the number of cars already in place, it was going to be a busy session that morning.
Sara thought of her Beagle, Coco. She had managed to make a quick call home the previous evening and she had been reassured to hear from Fern that Coco was fine. Being spoilt rotten, more like , Sara thought with a wry smile. Still, she missed her dog and wished again that she could have brought Coco with her.
The road didn’t extend much farther beyond the animal hospital. Sara saw it end in another small car park, this time next to a huge, rambling beach bungalow which looked like some kind of café. But her attention was riveted to the side of the road, where the trees and bushes had suddenly dropped away to reveal an open view looking out onto the beach.
“Oh!” Sara stood and stared.
It was absolutely spectacular. A strip of white sand beach stretched out in front of her and, beyond it, the shimmering waters of the Pacific Ocean was such a vivid shade of turquoise, it looked almost unreal. White waves crashed and foamed on the sand, and in the distance, the shore rose up into a series of cliffs. Just in front of the cliffs, a clump of palm trees waved in the strong breeze that blew in off the sea. Arching across all of this was a blue, cloudless sky, dominated by a blazing sun.
It was even better than a postcard. As a California girl herself, Sara had grown up by the seaside, but there was still something about this beach on the other side of the world that took her breath away.
She hurried down the rickety wooden staircase leading to the beach, nearly stumbling in her haste. As she reached the last step, she kicked off her flip-flops and sank her toes into the sand. It was as soft as powder and felt cool against the soles of her feet, in spite of the heat from the sun above.
Sara snatched up her flip-flops in one hand and ran towards the water. She let out a shout of laughter as she met one of the waves head-on. The water surged up to her knees and sprayed into her face, tasting salty on her lips. Tossing her hair out of her eyes, Sara ran along the edge of the sea, giggling as she splashed through the waves.
Finally, she stopped, trying to catch her breath. Her legs were covered in sand and half of her clothes were soaked, her hair tangled and her cheeks red from the sting of the sea breeze, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t felt this carefree and happy in ages.
Sara realised that she had gone a fair way up the beach—she was almost beside that clump of palm trees now. Walking slowly over, she dropped her flip-flops onto the sand and sank down next to them, leaning back to rest against one of the palm tree trunks. Shading her eyes against the glare of the sun, Sara looked back in the direction she had come. The rickety wooden stair she had come down looked like a brown streak in the distance now and that café looked like a little wooden toy house, perched on a promontory above the water.
She sighed as she suddenly thought of Coco again. How her Beagle would have loved it here! So many new smells to investigate, so many new places to explore…
Sara frowned and sat up, wondering if she was seeing things. She squinted into the distance. Was that her imagination playing tricks on her because she was missing her own dog badly or was she really seeing a Beagle wandering up the beach?
CHAPTER 3
Jumping up, Sara grabbed her flip-flops and headed back up the beach. As she got closer, she could see that this was no mirage. This was a real, living, breathing pup. She ran over and dropped to her knees beside the Beagle, reaching out to pat it gently.
“Hello…” she said. “What are you doing