Chapter 15 #2
‘Well, having four children in less than four years is complete madness,’ she went on. ‘What about her career? How on earth is she going to run that post office?’
‘She has hired someone to cover her maternity leave in the post office, and she and Greg are a really good team. I’m sure they have a plan for when she goes back to work. And Greg’s aunt Maureen helps them out too,’ Lucy explained.
‘Well, if you ask me, four children is the definition of insanity.’
‘Nobody asked you!’ Lucy snapped, losing patience with her mother’s judgemental attitude.
‘I think it’s so romantic,’ Faith went on. ‘They always seem so happy. It just shows you that true love can find you when you least expect it.’
‘True love!’ Madeleine scoffed. ‘You’ve been reading too many of those silly romance novels you were always so fond of.’
Their mother had always dismissed Faith’s taste in books as light and fluffy.
Madeleine preferred to read highbrow literature – the latest Booker winner or award-winning tomes.
Although as a teenager, Lucy had once found a steamy romance novel stuffed beneath her mother’s pillow, so she suspected that Madeleine only read literary novels for show.
Faith and Lucy exchanged an eye roll and walked on, leaving Madeleine to catch up.
‘How about this one?’ Faith asked.
Lucy circled around to examine it. ‘It’s way too tall.’
‘This one?’ Faith gestured to the next one.
‘Is it just me, or does it look a little crooked?’
‘You’re right,’ Faith agreed, surveying it closely.
‘For goodness’ sake, girls!’ Madeleine sniped as she trailed after them. ‘It’s only a tree! Just choose one! How hard can it be?’
They strolled on to the next tree. Faith peered at it. It was neither too tall or too wide, the trunk was straight and there were no bald patches. Its bushy branches were perfectly symmetrical the whole way up.
‘I’ve found it!’ she announced at the same time as another woman placed her hand on the trunk and called, ‘Jack, I think I’ve found it!’ A man followed her, carrying a little girl on his back. The child’s arms were looped around his neck and she was swinging her legs happily.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Faith said, stepping back. ‘You take it; we can find another one.’
‘No, no,’ the woman said with a hint of an Australian accent, ‘you were there first. I insist you have this one.’
Madeleine was becoming increasingly agitated. ‘Would one of you just take the bloody tree?’ she barked.
Faith’s cheeks pinkened. ‘I-I’m sorry.’
The woman laughed. ‘Don’t be. Who knew tree shopping could be so stressful? I grew up in Australia and we never had a real tree, so this is a whole new experience for me.’
The man had almost caught up with her, and it was only as he got closer that Faith recognised him.
The air was sucked from her lungs and her knees buckled beneath her.
After all this time, Jack Anderson was standing in front of her.
Her eyes locked with his and all the old feelings rushed to the surface.
Her heart somersaulted and her throat felt dry.
He was wearing a wax jacket with a chunky woollen sweater beneath, blue jeans and thick-soled winter boots.
Dark stubble peppered his jawline but he still looked as devastatingly handsome as he had all those years ago.
She desperately scrambled for something to say, but words had deserted her.
‘Jack, hi…’ Lucy came up alongside her. Faith was so grateful that her sister had come to her rescue.
‘Faith … Lucy … eh … long time no see,’ he said sheepishly. ‘How’ve you been?’
‘Good, good.’
‘It’s really good to see you.’ He smiled, and she noticed that wrinkles now spread out from the corners of his eyes.
A silence fell. Faith scrambled for something to say, but it was as though her brain had taken a leave of absence.
‘Is that—’ she began.
‘Are you—’ he said at the same time.
‘Sorry – you go ahead,’ she mumbled.
‘I … eh … I was really sorry to hear about your grandmother,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘She had been ill for a while, so we knew it was coming. It doesn’t make it easier, though,’ she replied sombrely.
‘She was a lovely lady.’
‘She was,’ Faith agreed. She still found it difficult to talk about Elizabeth in the past tense.
They shifted awkwardly, the conversation dying. Then the woman moved closer and nudged him playfully. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us, Jack?’
‘I – er … This is Heidi, and this little monkey hanging off me is Rosie.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ Rosie lisped, lunging over Jack’s shoulder to shake their hands, leaving him struggling to stay upright.
He turned to Heidi. ‘And this is Faith and her sister Lucy. We … er … we all hung out for a while as teenagers.’
Faith felt her heart thud towards the ground.
She knew it was ridiculous; it had been such a long time ago, but she couldn’t help feeling hurt by how casually he had dismissed her.
Of course he had moved on. Hell, so had she.
But for some inexplicable reason it still stung.
Seeing him here with his beautiful partner and little daughter rubbed salt into her wound and made her realise how much was missing from her own life.
Jack had been her first love, and she had fallen hard.
It had taken her a long time to get over their break-up.
A part of her sometimes wondered if she even had got over it.
Although she’d had other relationships since Jack, she had never had any as free and easy or as open and honest, where she had loved so purely and given her heart so wholly.
Jack Anderson had captured her heart. When they had broken up, she had been devasted and had never really dared to open herself to love again.
‘Oh, really?’ Heidi winked at the sisters conspiratorially and linked Jack’s arm. ‘I’m sure you’ve lots of stories you could tell me about Jay.’
Jay. The way she shortened his name made Faith’s heart twist.
‘Girls, where are your manners? I don’t think we’ve met,’ Madeleine interjected. ‘I’m their mum, Madeleine.’
‘After all this time, it’s nice to finally meet you, Mrs Brennan.’
‘Please call me Madeleine. Mrs Brennan always makes me feel so old. Now then,’ she said impatiently, getting back to the business at hand, ‘who is taking this tree?’
‘You take it,’ Heidi insisted. ‘We’ll find another.’
‘Great!’ Madeleine pounced before the girls could say anything else. ‘Now that’s all sorted, let’s be on our way.’
‘Well, it was good to see you,’ Jack said wistfully.
‘We’re staying here for Christmas, so I’m sure we’ll see you around the village,’ Faith said.
He walked off with Heidi to continue their search for a tree.
‘Could that have been any more awkward?’ Faith hissed to Lucy as soon as Jack and his family had gone.
‘Are you okay?’ Lucy asked.
Faith nodded. ‘Yeah… I’m happy for him.’
‘Really?’ Lucy asked sceptically. ‘You don’t exactly look a picture of happiness right now.’
‘It was a long time ago…’ Faith said defensively.
Madeleine hobbled up to them. ‘Will you two stop chit-chatting and go get this tree bagged up?’