Chapter 4
4
‘May I help you with that?’
Sadie turned from where she’d been apprehensively eyeing her suitcase on the top shelf of the luggage rack to find a young woman with the most beautiful head of chestnut curls she’d ever seen smiling at her. ‘Oh, I love your hair!’ Sadie burst out, unable to help herself. ‘I always wanted curls when I was younger, but mine’s as straight as a poker.’ Having not got around to getting it cut, Sadie had dragged hers back into a low ponytail that was practical for travelling, but not exactly her most flattering look.
The woman laughed, clearly pleased. ‘Thank you.’
‘Oh, and yes, if you wouldn’t mind helping with my case, I’d be so grateful. I’m worried I’ll clatter someone with it.’ It had been absolute carnage at Paddington station, and even though Sadie had been poised beneath the big display screen for her platform to come up, she’d been no match for the speedwalking commuters. By the time she’d boarded, the rack had been almost full and she’d blocked the aisle while trying to work out where to squeeze her case in. An exasperated man behind her had grabbed it without a word and heaved it up out of the way before pushing past her to claim one of the last remaining seats. Though she’d booked her seat online, the young man occupying it had given her a blank stare before turning his attention back to a video playing at full volume on his phone. Not up to a fight, Sadie had retreated to the corridor and tried to hold her breath every time the door to the toilet had swung open and shut. Thankfully the train had thinned out at Reading and she’d been able to find a seat. Another crowd of humanity had belched out onto the platform at Swindon and the person next to her had moved onto an empty table of four.
With the friendly woman’s help, Sadie got her case down with no disasters. Having thanked her good Samaritan, she shuffled into the corridor to wait for the train to pull in at Kemble station. A moment later the connecting door to the carriage popped back open and her friend from the luggage rack appeared, laughing with two other women around her age. Sadie exchanged another smile as she tucked herself into the corner to make room for them and their luggage. The train lurched and slowed, forcing her to grab for the safety handle with one hand and her suitcase with the other. It seemed to take an age but eventually the light on the door control illuminated and one of the women pressed it. Sadie stayed in her corner, waiting for the others to disembark before making her way down the steep steps, bumping her suitcase behind her.
A gust of cold wind threatened to cut her in half and Sadie yanked her hat from her coat pocket and tugged it on as she looked around to orient herself with the exit. It was a little two-platformed station much like the one she’d departed from that morning in her home town. The gods must have been smiling on her because she’d disembarked on the station-exit side so wasn’t faced with the prospect of carting her luggage up and over the footbridge. The three friends from the train were just a little ahead of her and Sadie followed in their wake as she recalled the instructions from the email she’d received from the Juniper Meadows team coordinating her arrival. They’d told her not to worry about a taxi, that they were running their own shuttle service from the station and to look out for a black Range Rover with the company logo on the door.
As promised, a vehicle was waiting. A broad-shouldered man she judged to be around Jake’s age stood beside it, bundled up in a blue quilted jacket and a black knitted hat. He stepped towards the three women, a broad smile on his handsome face. ‘Ladies! I think you might be looking for me.’ He laughed as he seemed to catch his words. ‘Goodness, that didn’t come out quite as I intended! Are you headed for Juniper Meadows?’
‘Yes, we’re booked in for the long weekend package,’ Sadie’s helper from earlier said. ‘I’m Charlie, and this is Anna and Jane.’
‘I’m Rhys and, when I’m not running a taxi service, I look after the farm on the estate. Leave your bags and jump in out of the cold.’ He frowned. ‘Mum said I should expect four of you?’
‘I think I’m your fourth.’ Sadie raised her hand, resisting the urge to shrink back as the other guests all turned to look at her. She’d been feeling a bit apprehensive about her trip as it had loomed closer, but she’d given herself a pep talk. She had no baggage, other than her literal suitcase. No one would know her, or know about how Pete had humiliated her. She would not be prejudged or seen as a bystander, or an appendage, not someone’s wife or someone’s mother. Just herself – whoever that might be. Maybe that was something she could work on over the next couple of weeks. She straightened her shoulders and smiled. ‘I’m Sadie Bingham.’
Rhys beamed at her. ‘Sadie, of course! It’s a pleasure to meet you. Am I right in thinking you’re joining us for the whole of Christmas?’ He stepped back as he spoke to open the front passenger door for her as the three younger women climbed in the back.
She smiled in thanks as she took her seat. ‘Yes. I’m here until the 28th.’
‘Oh, lucky you!’ One of the women, Jane she thought, said, leaning between the seats to grin at her. ‘We’re going home again on Monday.’
‘It took most of the year to coordinate a weekend that worked for all three of us,’ Charlie said with a laugh. ‘Imagine trying to plan for a fortnight.’
‘Still, a weekend is better than nothing,’ Anna said, her perfectly spoken English carrying a European accent Sadie couldn’t immediately place. ‘And we’re celebrating your birthday!’ The three of them laughed as though at some private joke.
‘Happy birthday,’ Sadie said as Rhys climbed onto the driver’s seat.
He glanced around. ‘Whose birthday?’
‘Mine,’ Charlie replied. ‘Although not really as it was back in May. It’s just taken us this long to sort it out.’
‘We’re not completely disorganised,’ Jane interjected. ‘We did have a weekend booked for the summer, but the spa had a burst pipe and cancelled at the last minute so we decided to wait and have a pre-Christmas treat instead.’
‘Well, I can promise that we’ll do everything to make sure it was worth the wait,’ Rhys said. ‘Right, everyone got their belts on? Then let’s get going so you can start those birthday celebrations.’
Sadie was content to listen to the other three chat, her gaze fixed on the window as they left the town. The view changed, the shops and houses giving way to the Cotswold countryside. The landscape was almost monochrome, the fallow fields brown, the stone walls separating them washed out beneath a pale afternoon sun that was already edging towards the horizon. She tried to overlay what she was seeing from the photos on the Juniper Meadows website full of rolling green hills and dancing fields of waist-high wheat. If she had a good time, perhaps she could treat herself to another visit next year. It wasn’t as if she had anyone else to please. Perhaps she could get Jake and Liam to look after the children and treat Katie and Rachel to a weekend away, just the three of them. Or they could all come during the summer holidays and rent a couple of the eco-pods on the estate. The kids would love the chance to run around and explore, and Sadie could babysit in the evenings and give their parents a chance to spend some quality time together. As the car slowed to turn into a pair of impressive ornamental gates, Sadie felt her pulse quicken in excitement.