Chapter 1 #2
The following weekend, Avery had, once again, come to stay at Kate’s. She knew she would need to become accustomed to this new arrangement, and seeing Beth so happy made it all worthwhile.
Deep down though, Kate was aware that the couple needed their own space.
Beth had already brought up the subject with her during their lunch break at school that week, saying that both she and Avery had been actively looking for a property but there really wasn’t much available.
Kate had discussed it with Rose who had said it was obvious that things had to change.
Kate hadn’t expected them to change quite so soon.
It was the last weekend of January when she, Beth and Avery were having Sunday lunch at Rose’s house because, as Rose had declared the day before, she and Frank had an announcement to make.
Kate wasn’t sure whether to be excited or concerned but as Rose refused to shed any light on this “announcement” until they were all seated around the dining table, Kate was experiencing a mixture of emotions.
‘Frank and I have been chatting,’ Rose said, drowning not just her own roast beef in her signature, thick, yummy, port-laden gravy, but also drowning Frank’s.
‘I know you’ve been looking for somewhere to buy or rent nearby, Avery, but that might take a while.
We’ve got a proposition for you. And an announcement,’ she added, winking at Kate as she handed her the gravy boat before smiling at Beth.
‘At our ages, Frank and I can’t afford to waste any time, so I’m going to move in with him right away. ’
Kate had tried to suppress her gasp of surprise but had failed miserably, and had also poured rather more of Rose’s delicious gravy onto her roast beef than she had intended. ‘Are you sure, Mum? It’s a big step.’
Rose had laughed. ‘Hardly a big step. Frank lives next door. Oh, don’t worry.
I know what you mean, sweetheart. Perhaps it is.
But we both feel we’re ready. And that’s why this is perfect.
’ She looked directly at Beth once again.
‘Rather than sell my house, or rent it out to a stranger, we were thinking that you and Avery could move in. Then you’d have a place to call your own.
Until you decide where you want to spend your future together. ’
Now it was Beth who had gasped with surprise, while Avery glanced from Rose to Frank to Kate with a look of disbelief etched on his handsome face, before he and Beth had beamed at one another.
‘That would be fantastic,’ Beth said to Avery, clearly amazed.
‘Absolutely fantastic,’ Avery agreed looking equally astonished and yet delighted.
‘Oh, Nanna!’ Beth exclaimed, as though Rose’s words had just sunk in, and she smiled at her grandmother as if all her prayers and hopes and dreams had been granted.
‘Are you sure? Isn’t that a wonderful plan, Mum?
’ She looked at Kate with such an exuberant smile that Kate didn’t have the heart to disagree.
‘Well, it’s certainly something to think about, darling,’ Kate said.
‘I’m leaving everything as it is,’ Rose continued.
‘For now, at least. All I’ll be taking are my clothes and personal belongings.
You and Avery can move in right away. Today, if you like.
Provided the two of you, and Kate, will help move my things into Frank’s.
I know you’ll want to make some changes, in time, if the arrangement suits you both, but for now I’m sure you won’t mind living with my furniture.
Although, if you do, we can move it into storage, I suppose.
Or donate what I don’t want to keep, to one of the many local charity shops. We can sort all that out later.’
Beth had leapt to her feet and hugged both Rose and Frank. Avery had looked elated. Even Rufus’s bark – caused by Beth’s sudden movements and delighted shrieks, sounded happy somehow. But Kate’s head was swimming.
This was all happening fast. Too fast. She was still getting accustomed to the fact that both her mum, and her daughter, were engaged. She wasn’t ready for either of them to take the next step and live with their fiancés.
At least they wouldn’t be moving far. That was one thing to be grateful for. But Kate had never really lived alone – and she wasn’t convinced she would like it. The two weekends that month that Beth had spent in France had given Kate a taste of what that might feel like.
Previously, when Beth had been away, Kate had spent more time with Rose. Now that Rose was with Frank, Kate had tried not to do that, despite both Rose and Frank assuring her that she was always welcome.
Kate did have friends, of course, but they all had husbands, or partners, and most had families. Understandably, they wanted to spend their weekends with their loved ones, although they had also told Kate she was welcome to call, or pop round for a coffee or a glass of wine at any time.
Until now, Kate hadn’t given much thought to the fact that she … and Granny Viv … and Avery’s great-grandmother, Millicent, were the only people she knew who were, in fact, single … and alone.
Kate had lived with her parents until the day she had married, and after that, although her husband was away more than he was at home, he was usually only gone for a few days at a time, so Kate didn’t think of those times as living on her own.
Then Beth had come along, and since the day Beth was born, thirty-five years ago, she had lived with Kate.
Other than perhaps a week or two here and there when Beth had gone away without her.
Beth had even attended the local university, having obtained her teaching degree at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford.
So, as far as Kate was concerned, she had not lived on her own.
A vision of her future played out before her eyes.
Evenings alone in front of the TV. Dinner for one.
Eating breakfast on her own. No one to bring her a cup of coffee in bed on a leisurely Sunday morning.
No more dancing around the kitchen with Beth as they prepared their various meals.
No one to share a bottle of wine with at the weekends, or to sit in the garden with after work, drinking tea and chatting about the day.
Kate’s tummy tied into a tight knot at the prospect of her future.
And then she silently reprimanded herself.
What was wrong with her? This wasn’t about her. This was about her mum’s, and her daughter’s, happiness. She let out a sigh of resignation, before quickly pulling herself together.
‘I think this is wonderful news,’ she had said, also getting to her feet now and hugging everyone in the room, including Rufus, which may have been going slightly over the top. ‘Let’s eat our lunch and get started on the move. There’s no time like the present.’
Beth gave Kate another hug. ‘You are okay with this, aren’t you, Mum?
I know everything has changed since the New Year and we’re all getting used to it and figuring things out, but I love Avery with all my heart.
I’ll be sad to move out, obviously, but we’ll see each other every day.
And at least, thanks to Nanna and Frank, I won’t be going far. ’
Kate tucked a loose strand of golden brown, long, straight hair behind Beth’s ear and then cradled her daughter’s face in both hands. ‘Of course I’m okay with it, my darling. More than okay. I’m delighted. Congratulations.’
‘Well,’ said Rose, a few hours later, ‘I think this calls for champagne. I happen to have a couple of bottles chilling in the fridge. Avery, would you do the honours?’
‘With pleasure,’ he said, heading off in the direction of Rose’s kitchen which was soon to be his and Beth’s.
They had moved Rose’s clothes and other personal belongings next door to Frank’s house after lunch, but agreed that they would move Beth’s things in stages during the week.
Avery had to be back in Meribel on Monday for a day or two but he would return later with some of his own things, and he and Beth could get themselves settled in.
This time, unlike on New Year’s Eve, as they had all quaffed champagne and celebrated, Kate was beginning to understand how different her own life would become.
And now, two weeks later on the Friday evening before Valentine’s Day, and the start of half term at the school where Kate and Beth both taught, Kate was standing in the pouring rain, alone.
Well, not entirely alone. Frank’s black labrador, Rufus, stood beside her, sheltered beneath her umbrella, as they both stared at the rear lights of the stretch limousine that Avery had hired to take him and Beth, and Rose and Frank to Heathrow airport.
Beth and Avery were flying off to France to spend a romantic week at Avery’s home in Meribel, surrounded by snow.
Rose and Frank were jetting off to Barbados to spend, a no doubt equally romantic, two-week cruise in the Caribbean sunshine.
Kate and Rufus would soon be getting into Kate’s Ford Puma and heading down to Bluewater Bay to spend a week with Granny Viv, more than likely in the wind and rain.
Their suitcases and Rufus’s favourite bed were already in the car, parked on Frank’s drive, where it had been for the last hour as Beth and Avery, and Rose and Frank, and Kate and Rufus had all said their goodbyes in their own ways, and the humans had all wished each other – and Rufus – happy holidays.
‘Well, handsome,’ Kate said to Rufus, once the limo had disappeared from view. ‘I don’t envy them, do you?’
Rufus gave a low, soft, muffled bark and met Kate’s look.
Kate laughed. ‘Yeah. You’re right. We need to get out of this rain and be on our way.’
Kate wasn’t complaining. Before they had booked their trips, both couples had invited her to join them but Kate had declined.
Being a gooseberry at home was bad enough; being one on holiday was bonkers.
Not that Kate had said so. She had merely suggested that, rather than place Rufus in a dog hotel slash kennel, he could stay with her and they could both spend the half term week with Granny Viv.
Frank had been relieved. As much as he had wanted to go away with Rose, the prospect of leaving Rufus, even in a dog hotel owned by a friend, wasn’t something he was overjoyed about.
‘Are you sure?’ he had queried.
‘Absolutely,’ Kate had confirmed. ‘It will be a wonderful break for me and Rufus.’
That wasn’t a lie. The tiny seaside village was her happy place, her second home, her sanctuary, her escape.
Chelmsford was a lovely place to live and work, but being by the sea, in Bluewater Bay, had always breathed new life into her somehow.
Perhaps a part of that was due to Granny Viv.
She might be one hundred, but she didn’t act her age.
And Kate loved Rufus. Even more so since spending Christmas and New Year with him.
She was looking forward to long walks on the beach with Rufus, and rooting around in Prince’s Wood.
She was also eagerly anticipating leisurely lunches and lazy afternoons.
Chats, and card games in the evenings with Granny Viv; and having the time and space to make some decisions about her future now that Beth and Rose had made such monumental decisions about their own.
Unlike Beth and Rose, Kate and Granny Viv wouldn’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day tomorrow, because they had no one to celebrate it with.
Kate didn’t particularly want a man in her life. The last one hadn’t been that great. Although she did have her beloved daughter, thanks to him. But a man would only be yet another complication and she had enough of those right now.
Having said that, Kate had to admit that Beth had been nothing less than euphoric since Avery had declared he loved her. And Kate couldn’t deny that Rose had an almost constant air of exhilaration about her since coupling up with Frank.
Rose had always loved life and made the most of every opportunity, never once showing any signs of slowing down despite being seventy-eight. And she had never looked her age. Yet she now seemed to have even more vim and vigour than before.
The trick was clearly to have the right man in your life.
Perhaps, one day, such a man might appear for Kate.
But she wouldn’t hold her breath.