Chapter 5
5
When I woke the next day, reality hit me again. I had no job, no income, no purpose; I felt like I had no identity. I needed to do something about it.
The one thing I did have right now was time. For the first time in what felt like ages, I put on my dressing gown and slippers, plonked myself on the sofa with a bowl of cereal, grabbed the remote control from the coffee table in front of me and put on morning television. I didn’t normally sit down and eat breakfast, maybe grabbing a protein bar, sandwich or a low-fat flapjack along with a skinny latte from the local drive-through Costa or garage on the way to work. There was a feature on the show about a woman who had been the victim of domestic violence for years before one day murdering her abusive husband. I wondered what on earth the catalyst had been that had tipped her over the edge. Her friends came on the show, talking about how they’d known that something was going on but that she wouldn’t admit it, which got me thinking about how long she’d put up with his behaviour and their backstory. It made me realise that I was always quite quick to judge people in situations such as this and I couldn’t believe that they’d let a situation go on for so long, but perhaps you just really never knew what went on in people’s lives and shouldn’t make judgements.
* * *
I decided that later I would pop over to Growlers and check out some more job sites on the internet. Perhaps I just needed to get straight back into the PR scene. That was what I would look at today, rather than trying something random and new. It would be nice to have some company, and I also wanted to see whether there was any chance of getting Baxter a place. I felt I should repay Alice’s kindness and wise words with the same. I was feeling so sorry for myself, I completely forgot yesterday.
I texted Beth and asked if it would be OK to use the office, and she texted back.
Don’t be long. Kettle’s on!
When I arrived, Uncle Tom and Beth were looking very serious and I wondered what I was walking into. I soon discovered that Beth’s hospital appointment had come through and they needed her to go in a week on Monday for her operation. She was stressing about how they’d cope at the farm and kennels. The doctor had said that she’d be on crutches for at least four weeks, certainly not able to drive for a good while after that, and would be needing physio for three months before she was back to work as she had a physical job. She’d be able to manage the office-based duties when she was feeling up to it, but she was really worried about how they’d manage the manual work. Russell would do extra hours, and at some point Alex would come over from America, but it was quite short notice and he might not be able to come straight away.
Beth put her head in her hands. ‘What are we going to do, Dad? God, I wish Mum were here right now.’
Heartbreak and devastation had hit their family a week before Beth’s sixteenth birthday when Aunty Jen was tragically killed in a horse-riding accident. I knew how much Beth missed her mum, particularly when she needed to make a big decision in her life.
He rubbed her shoulder and rested his chin on the top of her head. ‘I know, darling. I do too. But we’ll sort it out somehow, don’t worry. You have to have that op and we’ll just have to manage. Let’s wait until Alex is up. He’s five hours behind, so we’ll call him after lunch and see when he can get here. We can’t really do anything until then. Then we’ll make a plan.’
She smiled back at him but it didn’t reach her eyes.
I made a split-second decision. ‘I’ll do it!’
They both turned to look at me and gave a double-take.
‘I’ll help!’
‘You? Really?’ Uncle Tom started to titter. ‘You do know this is a farm, don’t you?’
‘OK, very funny. But yes, me. Why not?’
‘Darling, you know we love you, but it’s not really your thing, is it? Apart from mucking out the horses when you were a teenager, you haven’t been near a farm for years. Walking around in jeans and wellies all day cleaning up dog muck and cleaning out the chicken shed? That’s not really your style, is it? And I didn’t think you even liked dogs that much.’
Beth looked thoughtful. ‘Wait, Dad. Let her speak.’
‘Look, you need help. I have time on my hands. I have my redundancy money so don’t need paying. And honestly, just how hard can it be?’
Uncle Tom stood and hugged me. ‘Madison, my darling, if you are really one hundred per cent sure, I think you could just be the answer to all our prayers. However, I do insist on giving you a wage for working here. We’ll sort something out that we’re all happy with.’ For the first time in a couple of weeks, I actually felt useful and knew that I would be able to help them. And that felt good.
‘Well, there you go then. All sorted. Now, where’s that cuppa you promised me?’ Beth grinned and headed for the kitchen.
‘Thank you, darling. This means the world to us. It really does.’
‘I won’t let you down, Uncle Tom. You both mean so much to me and it’s the perfect solution for all of us.’
‘To Growlers, Giddywell Grange and us!’ We toasted the arrangement with three mugs of tea.
Suddenly realising that I’d forgotten something important, I asked them whether they had space for another dog for next week and after I told him the story about Alice and Baxter, Uncle Tom said he’d be delighted to take Baxter for as long as she needed. We sorted out a plan for Alice to come along to have a look later that day, and then I would stay afterwards and have a chat about what else I needed to do to help.
I couldn’t wait to ring Alice and tell her that everything was sorted, and I knew that I’d be able to keep an eye on Baxter for her too if I was helping out a bit. He really was an absolute darling. I sent her a quick text asking if I could pop round after lunch as I had some great news to tell her, and she quickly replied and said that around 2p.m. would be perfect and she’d make sure the kettle was on. I didn’t think I’d ever drunk as much tea in my life since I’d been made redundant.
* * *
When I arrived at Alice’s house, Baxter ran in circles around my ankles and kept brushing himself against my legs, and I was flattered when Alice said that he only did that with people he really liked. I stood leaning against one of the kitchen cupboards while she laid the tea tray, and I told her that I’d managed to bag Baxter a spot at Growlers if she wanted it. As Uncle Tom suggested, I asked if she’d like to come and have a look round this afternoon and make sure she was happy with it before she made her mind up.
Her face lit up and she stepped towards me and threw her arms around me. ‘I knew you were lucky when I met you. I had a feeling.’ She grinned. ‘I trust you already, so if you say it’s OK, then I’m happy for Baxter to go there, but yes, it would be lovely to see where he’ll be staying. I do worry about him being away from me.’ She reached down and gave him a treat from her pocket. He scampered off to his bed by the back door and munched away.
‘Well, I’ll be able to visit him and I’ll be working there quite a lot over the next few weeks, so I can even text you pictures of him to reassure you.’
‘Oh Madison, I’m so happy. I was really worried that I might not be able to go. It’s a huge thing for me to leave him behind while I visit my sister, but knowing that you’ll be on hand makes me feel so much better. Let’s have a quick cuppa, then can we go and have a look? Do you think it would be OK if I bring him along?’
‘Of course, Uncle Tom said that dogs settle in better when they’ve already visited and know the place, and he’s going to be there to show us around. He’s looking forward to meeting you both. I’m going to be stopping there for an hour or two afterwards, so is it OK if you follow me in your car?’
‘Of course, and honestly, Madison, you’ve really taken a weight off my shoulders today. I hope you realise what a difference you’ve made to us.’
My heart lifted and for the first time in a long time, I realised that helping others was a good thing to do.
Perhaps I wasn’t a nobody after all. If Alice thought I had made a difference to her, then perhaps I could make a difference to others too.
I vowed that from here on, I was going to do at least one thing every day for someone else. I was going to do something that would make a difference to someone and brighten their day. It could be someone I knew, or it could be a random stranger. And it would give me something to focus on for the future. I felt like I’d spent so much time looking out for Ronington’s and my position there that I had forgotten about the important things in life.