Chapter 8
It was beautiful weather again on Monday.
Carrie and Poppy ate their lunch outside in the garden and then Carrie smothered her daughter in sun cream before walking her to holiday club.
A couple of the children had clearly been waiting for Poppy to arrive so they could start a game which made Carrie smile.
She gave Davina a quick call on the way back to the bookshop to check how her friend was doing. It sounded like mayhem in her house, so they decided to speak properly another time.
The afternoon passed quickly, as it tended to do in the shop, and Carrie and Poppy took a detour on the way home from holiday club to the park, where Poppy had a quick play in the playground before they climbed up the hill to the castle in order to investigate it properly.
“I’m still not sure this is a proper castle, Mummy,” Poppy said. “It’s a bit small.”
“Maybe whoever had it built didn’t need a very big castle,” Carrie suggested.
They wandered around the ruins and then Poppy had an ice lolly from the little café near the park’s entrance which they caught just as it was about to close.
The bookshop’s garden was looking a bit overgrown and needed a tidy up and the day had cooled down enough to deal with at least some of it. Carrie changed into shorts and a vest top and got the broom out of the garden shed. She put Poppy in charge of wiping down the tables and chairs.
The courtyard garden wasn’t big and it didn’t take long to sweep up. When she was putting the collected debris in the compost bin, she heard voices in Michael’s garden. She sent Poppy in to wash her hands in the shop’s kitchen and put the broom back in the shed. A voice called, “Well, hello there!”
She turned and laughed as she spotted Dylan’s head poking over the fence dividing the two gardens.
“Michael bought way too much food and drink for the barbecue on Saturday. Do you want to come round and help us finish it off?”
“I do appreciate the fact that you are, by your own admission, Michael’s best friend, but do you actually have the authority to give away his food?” asked Carrie.
Michael’s head popped up next to his friend’s. “He actually had a clause added to the friendship contract to include this,” he said.
Poppy came back out into the garden and stared at the two heads.
“Hi, Poppy!” said Michael.
Both men waved.
“Michael,” Poppy said, seriously. “Mummy says it’s a castle on top of the hill in the park, but it doesn’t really look like one to me.”
“Poppy!” Carrie started laughing. “I can’t believe you’re doubting me!”
“I just wanted to check,” Poppy explained.
“It’s a real castle,” Michael said. “Just a very battered small one.”
The little girl still didn’t look convinced but turned her attention to the heads peeping over the fence. “Why are you up there?” she asked.
“We were wondering if you and your mum would like to join us for leftover barbecue food,” explained Dylan.
“Oh, yes, please,” said Poppy, immediately. “Mummy was going to make shepherd’s pie, and I don’t like that very much.”
Both men and Carrie laughed.
“I’m sure her shepherd’s pie is very delicious,” said Dylan, “but we could really do with your help over here.”
Poppy gazed at her mum beseechingly. “Fine,” Carrie said laughing. “I won’t subject my daughter to shepherd’s pie. When would you like us?”
“Right away,” said Dylan.
“We’ll be round in a few minutes,” promised Carrie. “What can we bring with us?”
“Nothing, please!” said Michael. “We have so much to get through! There’s a whole cheesecake that was completely forgotten about in the fridge and goodness only knows how much meat.”
“Don’t worry,” Poppy reassured. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Carrie and Poppy went inside and up to their flat. Carrie tidied herself up a bit while Poppy tried to convince her to hurry. Carrie was fairly sure her daughter was worried the cheesecake would all be gone by the time they got next door.
They went out the back door and through the garden. Poppy forgot her drawing pad which she wanted to take to show Layla, so she ran back inside the bookshop and grabbed it from under the shop counter before they retraced their steps.
There was a car parked next to Michael’s.
Even Carrie, who knew absolutely nothing about cars and didn’t really want to, could tell it was worth a lot, and she made sure Poppy gave it a very wide berth as they went around it to knock on Michael’s garden gate.
A very smiley Layla welcomed them, accompanied by Monty who was wagging his tail so much at the sight of them that he almost fell over.
They had to be careful not to trip over him as they walked through the garden.
Layla kindly sat down with Poppy straight away to be shown her drawings and Monty settled contently next to them.
“Very glad you could come to help us out,” said Michael, handing her a beer. Did they both linger just a little longer than was usual as their fingers met?
Tabitha appeared from a bush. She glared at Carrie but deigned to go and rub herself against Poppy for a moment before climbing up and over the wall.
Dylan appeared from the kitchen and raised his bottle to Carrie. “You made it!”
“We did,” said Carrie with a smile.
“Perfect timing. Food’s almost ready. I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,” said Poppy, looking up from her drawing pad.
Carrie felt like a VIP as she was taken over to the large table, still in place from the previous night. Chairs had been added today, rather than it being simply a place for all the food and drinks. Carrie was offered the chair at the head of the table, the only one with a cushion on.
“Can I do anything to help?” she asked.
“It’s all under control,” said Dylan. “You just relax while the men finish off in the kitchen.”
Michael gave a little roll of his eyes. “He’s acting like he’s Gordon Ramsay when all he’s doing is helping to heat up what I cooked yesterday.”
“And most of that was bought pre-prepared from the supermarket,” said Layla, joining them at the table.
“Layla! Don’t give away all my culinary secrets!” joked Michael. “Can you sort out some drinks for you and Poppy, please, sweetheart?”
“On it.”
Poppy came over and sat next to Carrie as Dylan and Michael began bringing plates of food out.
“I really am grateful to you for helping us get through this,” said Michael.
“It’s our pleasure. For future reference, we are always available to help eat up yummy food, aren’t we, Poppy?”
“Definitely,” said Poppy solemnly. She was taking the task very seriously.
Layla rejoined them laden down with various bottles. She sat on Poppy’s other side, much to the little girl’s delight.
They all tucked into plates of burgers, sausages and salads.
“What a wonderfully impromptu evening,” said Michael, sitting back in his chair with a contented sigh, a clear plate in front of him. “Dylan just popped by after work to help Layla with her laptop. He works in computery things,” he said, teasingly.
It was Dylan’s turn to roll his eyes. “I’m an ethical hacker,” Dylan explained. “Companies hire me to try to break into their servers.”
“That sounds . . . complicated,” said Carrie.
“It is a bit,” Dylan admitted.
“When you said you’d made the bookshop’s website, I thought that’s what you did for a living.”
“No, I just help friends out with stuff like that occasionally.”
“Which reminds me,” said Michael, “my website’s still playing up, and you mentioned checking it for bugs?”
Dylan raised his drink in acknowledgement.
Once Poppy had finished eating, Layla took her into the house to watch a Disney movie and the grown-ups continued to chat outside.
“So, just how did you two end up being best friends?” Carrie asked Michael and Dylan. “I mean, you’re not exactly similar.”
“You mean I’m attractive and charming, and my dear friend Michael is a bit of a mess?” said Dylan.
“No, I did not mean that!”
“We’ve known each other since we were babies,” Michael said. “Basically, I’ve been putting up with him for so long that I’m used to him.”
“Thanks, mate.” Dylan raised his glass.
“He’s a very good friend,” said Michael with a smile. “And he’s seen me through some rough times as well as good ones.”
“As you have me . . .” Dylan added.
“It sounds like you’re very lucky to have each other,” Carrie said.
“Have you still got friends from when you were tiny?” Dylan asked.
“No,” Carrie replied. “There are a few from secondary school I keep in touch with, mainly via social media, but none before that.”
“In my opinion, knowing someone from when they used to accidentally pee their pants is the key to a wonderful friendship,” said Dylan.
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Carrie grinned.
They cleared the table and Carrie went to check on Poppy.
The sitting room was on the first floor of the building.
One window looked out over the high street and the other the back garden, and there were two beaten up brown leather sofas perpendicular to each other with a coffee table in between.
The girls were stretched out on a sofa each watching Inside Out while Monty snored in his basket in the corner.
“Hey, Pumpkin. Everything OK?” Carrie said as she entered the room.
“Yes, thanks, Mummy.” Poppy’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Guess what? Layla’s birthday is only three days after mine! She’s going to be sixteen.”
“I think August birthdays are excellent because you never have to go to school on your special day. Would you two like some cheesecake in a bit?” Carrie asked.
“Yes, please,” they said in chorus.
“We’ll come down and get it in a few minutes,” said Layla. “Dad doesn’t let me eat on his sofas without covering them up. It’s a whole big thing. He says I’m a spiller.”
Poppy giggled.
“OK, see you in a bit then.” There was something rather sweet about Michael not letting his teen eat on the sofa. Such a sensible dad thing to do.
Carrie helped load up the dishwasher and dry up the stuff that needed to be hand-washed then Michael served up cheesecake, declaring they needed to finish the lot as it was not going back in the fridge. Nobody needed telling twice.
* * *
Carrie and Poppy went back home through the garden still feeling rather full. “Let’s get you bathed quickly so we can finish The Enchanted Wood and start the next in the series, yeah?”
“OK! I’ll be super quick,” said Poppy running ahead into the bookshop’s back door.
“Oh, Pumpkin, you left the back door open earlier when you went to get your drawing pad. Try to make sure you close it behind you if we’re going out, OK?
” said Carrie. They could never have got away with that in London.
As it was, not only was this a really safe area but the garden walls were high, they’d only been next door and the garden gate had been shut.
They went up to the flat, and Poppy was as good as her word getting bathed quickly. They finished reading the last few pages of The Enchanted Wood before deciding to call it a night; Poppy could barely keep her eyes open.
Carrie went over to the window to close it and looked down into Michael’s garden.
Layla had gone in, but the two men were still sitting outside putting the world to rights.
They made an unusual pair. Dylan was so confident and social, and obviously found conversation easy which made him good company.
Michael was that bit more reserved, but she liked that he was more thoughtful.
You knew that he meant what he said and wasn’t just saying it to get a reaction or to just continue a conversation.
It was a very good trait. She took one last look at Michael before closing the curtains.