Chapter 5 #2
As her mother squeezed her shoulders again, Rowan pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to tell her mother it was easy to say from her position, when she’d been the one whose actions had broken up her marriage.
Except she knew her mother was right, assigning blame wouldn’t change anything and the bitterness that grew out of that would taint everything.
That was the last thing she wanted for her children.
She didn’t want Bella or Theo to have to keep their parents separate at their own weddings, or to be afraid to tell her that they were visiting their father because of her reaction to the news.
She was still furious with James for taking more than two decades of her life from her under false pretences, but she wasn’t going to let her children become a casualty of that anger.
She wasn’t under any illusion that it was going to be easy and she wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to salvage a friendship, but she was willing to try.
* * *
Port Agnes Primary School was built from granite and it was where the children of the village had been educated for well over two hundred years.
At first glance, when Rowan had arrived for her interview, it barely seemed to have changed since she’d been a pupil there herself.
A closer inspection had revealed that there were a couple of additional buildings in the grounds and a play area covered with a stretched awning to protect it from the weather.
The playground was tarmacked, with a grassy area to one side of it that was home to a copse of trees, which had real potential to be utilised for forest school activities.
She’d spoken with passion at her interview about making it into an area all of the children could use and perhaps even grow some of their own plants.
It wasn’t a huge piece of land, but with careful planning they could achieve something special and one of the first emails she’d sent, after being appointed, had been to request some funding to move forward with making the space available to everyone.
Having discovered that one of the pupils relied on a wheelchair, she’d been particularly keen to ensure he wasn’t left out.
Green space was limited in the middle of the village and larger school events were held either on the land next to St Jude’s Church, or on one of the local farms. Rowan could still remember going up the hill to Home Farm, as part of a crocodile of children, marching side by side and chattering excitedly about the sports day to come.
Stopping by the gate, she looked at the school sign.
There’d been a change since her last visit and the previous headteacher’s name had been replaced with her own.
Port Agnes Primary was her school now and she allowed the thought to sink in.
None of this had been what she’d wanted or expected.
Becoming head of a large, prestigious independent school while she was still in her thirties had been the stuff that dreams were made of; Rowan’s dreams anyway.
Heading up a village primary of fewer than two hundred pupils was a huge step backwards career-wise.
Yet, in this moment, it felt as if it was where she was supposed to be, as though she’d come full circle from that little girl who’d always dreamt of being a teacher, and who’d made her friends play act at being the pupils, while she’d taken on the role of schoolmistress.
She’d devoured the Enid Blyton Mallory Towers and St Clare’s books as a child, so arguably Membory Grange had been the true full circle moment.
Whatever the truth of that, her days of heading up an exclusive boarding school were over.
She was head of a small village primary school now instead, and she was determined to feel grateful for it.
‘Rowan Adams! They said it was you, but I refused to believe it until I saw you with my own eyes.’ Bex White was wearing a sage green linen dress as she hurtled down the path towards her.
The dress looked too tight to run in, but somehow Bex was managing it and within seconds she’d flung her arms around Rowan.
‘I know it’s Bellamy now, but you’ll always be Rowan Adams to me.
I’m still White of course, because when your husband has a surname like Handcock it would give the Year 6s a field day! ’
Bex White had barely ever paused for breath back when they’d met as children at Port Agnes Primary.
When Rowan had decided which characters her friends should be in her make-believe school game, something they’d spent many a breaktime playing, she’d always cast Bex as the naughtiest pupil, who couldn’t stop talking.
She was a natural for the part and it seemed not much had changed in that respect.
‘It’s so good to see you and to know I have a friendly face in my new job.
’ Rowan smiled as Bex finally released her.
They’d been good friends at primary school and part of a group of close friends at Three Ports High School too.
They’d kept in touch over the years and seen each other occasionally, but after Rowan had moved to London things had never been quite the same.
Over time their lives had headed in different directions and their contact had moved mainly online.
For the past ten years her closest friends had been Pippa and Odette, who were now three hours away and the test of distance on those friendships had only just begun.
‘I can’t believe you’re going to be my boss.’ Bex was grinning as she looped an arm through Rowan’s. ‘I just hope you’re not going to shout at me as much as you used to when you were our very own Miss Trunchbull. I still think about those days when I’m walking through the playground.’
‘I promise I’ll do my best not to be Miss Trunchbull and I don’t want you to think of me as your boss. For a headteacher, the admin manager is the single most important person in a school like this. So we’re partners as far as I’m concerned.’
‘Partners it is then. You and me against the rest of the world.’ As Bex squeezed her arm again, Rowan just hoped it wasn’t true. She didn’t want her new job to be filled with conflict, she’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime.