Chapter 13 #2
Having sat for a while, letting their dinner settle, with the camaraderie and chat still flowing, Cath headed out to the kitchen to make a pot of tea.
It gave her space to think. It was lovely that the lunch had gone so well, but could she ever imagine sitting that comfortably with Will and Adam at the table?
It seemed such a long way off. They had to get it right themselves, before including family in their romantic stakes.
‘So, what’s coming up next in the village for you folks, then?’ Adam asked on her return.
‘Well, we’re organising a community Christmas dinner in the village hall here,’ Dan started.
‘Ah yes, Mum mentioned that last night.’
‘Yep, bring the old place back to life, and give the elderly and anyone living alone locally a bit of a treat,’ said Andreas. ‘Your mother has been the driving force, actually.’
Adam looked to her proudly. ‘Ah, that’s the schoolteacher coming out.
Always a key part of the school fete, weren’t you, Mum?
Her organisational skills are tremendous.
Kept me and Dad in check for years.’ He gave a cheeky wink.
‘And, I’ll have you know, “Mrs Taylor” was a whizz on the coconut shy, too. ’
‘Oh, impressive. We’ll have to watch our coconuts, then.’ Dan laughed.
‘Behave, you lot.’ Cath couldn’t help but smile.
‘Oh, but we’ve had some news …’ confessed Andreas.
‘Yes, just as we came out, we heard from Nikki. It’s on the WhatsApp supper club chat,’ confirmed Dan.
‘And?’ She must have been busy cooking and missed the message. What exactly were they stalling on telling her?
‘Do you want the good news, or the bad news?’ Andreas pulled a concerned face.
‘Bad first. Let’s get it over with.’ Oh no, was her community lunch about to fall at the first hurdle?
‘Well, Kev’s been to check out the electrics in the hall …’ Dan started.
‘And it’s not good news,’ Andreas continued.
‘The ovens in the kitchen are both on the blink, and need new thermostats at the very least,’ Dan followed.
‘And though the panel heaters are working, he doesn’t think the two alone will be enough to keep the big hall warm on a winter’s day, either,’ Andreas finished.
‘So, there are some repairs to be done,’ said Cath.
‘Yeah, expensive repairs,’ said Dan.
‘And there’s no guarantee the boiler will work properly,’ added Andreas gloomily. ‘We need a central heating engineer out to check that next.’
‘Oh.’ Cath felt like a balloon that had been popped. Was another of her dreams about to go by the wayside?
‘Sounds like you’ve taken on quite a task, Mother.’
Cath nodded, absorbing the facts and her disappointment, whilst still desperately trying to formulate a plan.
She took a gulp of tea. Her thinking cap firmly on.
‘Right, well, we’ll need to have a full list of costings,’ said an undeterred Cath, ready to take the lead on this.
‘I’ve already jotted down a few thoughts on the finances.
’ It had sent her head into a spin the other night, to be honest. ‘So, I’ll now get in touch with Nikki’s Kev and find out the full estimate.
And yes, the boiler will need checking and servicing as soon as, with the priority being to get ourselves a warm venue with a functioning kitchen.
There’s bound to be a few other practical repairs needed, too.
‘And then we’ll have cleaning costs – that’s all in-house really with Nikki taking the lead on that – but we might need a few additional products, and any marketing costs, fliers and such like.
The food will be a major expense, of course, and drinks on the day.
Christmas decorations?’ As she was speaking, she was adding to a list on her phone, and the weight in her mind.
‘Wow, it’s mounting up already,’ observed Andreas.
‘It is a bloody mountain,’ Cath agreed. ‘And hey, of course I don’t mind chipping in, it’s been my idea after all, but really this is too much for us to take on personally.’ She paused, as they sat in a second of stunned silence taking in the reality of the large-scale event they’d committed to.
‘Fundraising, that’s what we need.’ With that, Cath gave a rallying smile.
‘See, I told you she was ace at organising,’ Adam proudly told the lads. ‘She’ll have you lot sorted out in no time. You’ve absolutely got the best woman for the job, and she doesn’t give up easily.’
‘Well, that’s good to hear,’ said Dan. ‘’Cos neither do we.
Not when it’s for a bloody good cause. Look, if we can get our village hall back up and running, it’s not just our Christmas event that’ll benefit, it’s the whole community.
And think of all the other lovely things that might happen there in the future.
Clubs, birthday parties, yoga, your Pilates.
Once the building’s fit for purpose again. ’
‘Absolutely,’ agreed Andreas. ‘We know it’ll need a lot of money, so let’s start with some fundraising in the shop.
A raffle to begin with. How about a luxury Christmas hamper with all the goods being donated by ourselves?
’ he offered generously. Shirley even gave a reaffirming yap from beside Andreas’s feet.
‘Ah, that’d be amazing.’ Cath was touched by their kindness.
‘What about if I do a charity run or something?’ Adam was up for helping out, too.
‘I was thinking of trying for a half-marathon. That’d be my incentive to crack on, do some training, and get it done.
I could sign up for a JustGiving page for the Tilldale Hall.
Mention the Christmas event. Maybe I could even run dressed as an elf or something. ’
Cath beamed at that. ‘That’d be brilliant, Adam.’
She felt her heart lift. It wasn’t all down to her. These people she loved, and yes, she’d grown to love Andreas and Dan these past few months, were ready to put themselves out there, and do something to help. To help her and, more importantly, all those other people in their community.
*
The Sunday dinner had gone down well, which they followed with a slice of lemon drizzle cake and a cuppa. Glancing at her watch, from her prone sofa position, toasty warm with the log burner on and Shirley nestled beside her, Cath was surprised to see it was already past four p.m.
‘Oh, I think it’s time I cleared the plates.’
‘We’ll wash up, lovely. Just leave them stacked on the kitchen side,’ offered Dan.
That was sweet of them. ‘You sure?’
‘Absolutely, you can make the most of your time left with Adam that way.’
‘Fantastic.’ Adam beamed. ‘That gets me out of the drying up, too.’
Cath shook her head with a smile. Typical of her son to want to shirk the household chores. But yes, it’d be lovely to make the most of these last couple of hours with Adam around. All too soon, she’d be back on her own, after all.
Washing up done as promised and the kitchen left spotless for her – ‘The least they could do after such a fabulous lunch and afternoon’ – the lads and Shirley set off for home.
A doggie bag for them all had been packed: with spare cake, some Yorkshire puddings for the lads – the best they’d ever had apparently!
Well, she was a Yorkshire lass after all – and a juicy slice of pork with gravy for Shirley’s supper.
Adam and Cath had a final hour of catching up before he needed to repack his bag and make the journey back down the road, to her old city, her old life.
He had been chatting about his city days, about getting the bus that was always jam-packed and steamed up, to the bar where he worked near the Trinity Shopping Centre.
She could picture the bustling grey-toned suburbs where he lived.
It seemed a world away now, not a mere six months past. Saying goodbye to her son was never easy, but she didn’t feel as heavy this time.
It had been a wonderful weekend, and a lovely surprise.
Her heart felt like it had been topped up.
It was great to see and hear that Adam was on the up.
She was so very thankful for that, and she had so much to keep her busy over the next few weeks.