Chapter 5
Sitting on a bus, trundling along the main road leading from Abergavenny to Tanglewood, was a far cry from the journey Kazz had made from her flat to her mum’s house less than a week ago.
Was it only on Tuesday that her world had been turned upside down? It felt like a lifetime, not a mere four days. So much had happened, and none of it good. However, despite needing to sound off to Stevie, Kazz was determined to try to enjoy these few days away and make the most of them.
With that in mind, she settled into her seat and watched the countryside roll by. It might be November and most of the trees had lost their leaves, but the fields were still green, and like every other time she had visited Tanglewood, Kazz was blown away by the view of the wide flat-bottomed valley with a river running through it, and the mountains rising above.
The mountain range to her left boasted the third highest peak in Wales, and it was far more impressive and majestic than the London skyline she was used to. The lower slopes of the hillsides were a patchwork of fields interspersed with woodland, and higher up they opened into heathland covered in bracken and heather, with the occasional rocky outcrop. The landscape was simultaneously chocolate-box pretty and wonderfully wild. No wonder Stevie had fallen in love with it.
When Stevie had first moved to Tanglewood to open her little tea shop, Kazz thought she was mad. Stevie was a city girl: she would be lost in the wilds of the Welsh Marches. But Stevie had thrived, and Kazz felt more than a little envious. And when the bus bumped over the narrow stone bridge with its lovely arches which spanned the river, her heart leapt in delight. Even with winter around the corner, Tanglewood was still pretty.
The main road led away from the river, with artisan shops and privately owned businesses lining both sides, and Kazz craned her neck as the bus drove slowly along the street, grinning as Peggy’s Tea Shoppe came into view. And there was Stevie herself, standing next to the window, talking to a couple seated at a table.
Kazz lifted her small suitcase onto her lap and prepared to disembark. She hadn’t told Stevie what time she was catching the train, knowing that her friend would insist on driving to the station to collect her. Kazz hadn’t wanted to put her out more than she was already, and she had rather enjoyed the journey from the station to the village.
Stevie didn’t notice Kazz when she walked into the tea shop, but Betty, Stevie’s elderly employee, did and her face crinkled into a wrinkly smile.
‘I knew you’d be early!’ she exclaimed. ‘I could feel it in my water. Stevie! Kazz is here.’
Stevie looked up and let out a squeal. ‘Kazz, my bestie! I didn’t expect you until much later.’ She rushed towards her, arms outstretched, and engulfed her in a huge hug that lifted her off her feet.
‘I told you she’d be early,’ Betty repeated, sniffing. ‘But does anyone ever listen to me? No! I’m just the old biddy in the corner.’
Stevie released Kazz and laughed. ‘I don’t think anyone would dare refer to you as an old biddy, Betty.’
‘Hi, Betty.’ Kazz gave her a little wave. Turning to Stevie, she said, ‘Sorry to drop in on you like this, but I couldn’t wait to get here. Is there anything I can do? I can see you’re busy.’
Betty snorted. ‘Pish, this isn’t busy. You wait until the week before Christmas, then you’ll see what busy looks like.’
Stevie sent Kazz the look that meant she was trying to hold in a giggle.
But Betty wasn’t done yet. ‘Sit yourselves down, the pair of you. I bet Kazz is dying for a cuppa, and she’ll want you to keep her company, Stevie.’
‘I’m sure—’ Kazz said, but Stevie hushed her.
‘Betty’s right, we’re not busy, and she enjoys bossing me around. Anyone would think she owns the place, not me, but I don’t mind them thinking that, if it keeps her happy.’
Betty had started work in Peggy’s Tea Shoppe after her cottage by the river was flooded and she had nowhere to live until it had dried out, so she’d moved in with Stevie for the duration, staying in the spare bedroom in Stevie’s flat above the tea shop. During that time, Stevie discovered that Betty used to work in the kitchen of a big hotel on the south coast when she was younger, and she was a mean baker.
After Betty returned to her little cottage, Stevie had given the old lady a job, and now Betty was as much a part of the tea shop as Stevie. According to her, Betty had a reputation for knowing things she had no business knowing, and life was certainly more interesting with the old lady around.
Stevie led Kazz to a vacant table. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked.
‘Starving.’ Breakfast was a very long time ago and Kazz’s mouth watered as she studied the chalkboard on the wall behind the counter, where today’s specials were advertised. ‘Could I have a bowl of pumpkin soup with rye bread, please?’ she asked, trying to ignore the loud rumbling coming from her stomach.
‘Of course! I’ll join you, I haven’t had any lunch either.’ Stevie hurried off to prepare the food, returning quickly with two steaming bowls and a plate containing hunks of crusty bread.
Kazz ate with enthusiasm, gobbling her meal down. When her bowl was empty and she had a huge cup of hazelnut-infused coffee in front of her, she finally sat back in her chair, replete.
‘That was delicious,’ she said with a satisfied sigh, and grinned at her best friend.
Stevie didn’t grin back. Her expression was serious as she asked, ‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or do I have to guess?’
‘You know me too well,’ Kazz said, sombrely.
‘I should do – we’ve only known each other since we were little! Come on, spit it out. Something’s wrong and I want to know all about it.’
Kazz began with her mother asking her to help clear the house, and ended with the house clearance man yesterday, and the paltry sum he’d offered her for the contents.
‘And he wouldn’t even take any of the blasted books,’ she moaned. ‘I wish I could go to Spain with Mum, but I can’t cramp her style. Imagine how Vince would feel with his partner’s adult daughter hanging around like a spare part. Anyway, I haven’t told Mum that I’m jobless and soon-to-be homeless. She would only insist on coming back to look after me, and I can’t let her do that. I shouldn’t need looking after.’ She drank some of her coffee to lubricate her throat after all that talking, then carried on, ‘So that’s my sad little tale – no job and nowhere to live, just a load of worthless furniture and a pile of old books that I’ll either have to foist onto whichever charity shops are willing to take a boxful, hire a skip or try to sell them online, which will probably take forever, and in the meantime I would have to find somewhere to store them. What the hell am I going to do with all those sodding books?’
Betty slapped a plate of assorted cakes down on the table, and said, ‘That’s easy – open a bookshop.’
Kazz and Stevie stared at each other, but waited until Betty was out of earshot before either of them spoke.
‘I’ll give her that,’ Kazz said, ‘she certainly thinks outside the box. A bookshop, indeed!’
‘I didn’t see that coming either.’ Stevie examined the plate of cakes, then wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t think I can face anything sweet – I’ve been staring at these for hours, starting with this morning when I took them out of the oven. I’m all caked out.’
Kazz wasn’t. Stevie was one of the best bakers she knew, and she happily got stuck in. ‘Mmm, this is delicious,’ she said, around a mouthful of pumpkin layer cake, her voice somewhat indistinct.
Stevie said, ‘Tell Betty; she baked it.’
Kazz’s eyes widened. ‘She’s good, isn’t she?’
‘She most definitely is. I don’t know what I’d do without her.’ Stevie pursed her lips. ‘I wish I had room for you here, but I’ve got a full complement of staff. If it had happened after the wedding, it might have been a different story.’ Stevie was getting married in the summer, and Kazz was one of the bridesmaids.
Kazz asked, ‘Why, are you thinking of cutting back your hours?’ She knew that running a tea shop like Stevie’s was hard work, and took a lot of time and dedication, and with Stevie’s fiancé Nick owning a training yard for horses, it was a wonder the pair of them managed to spend any time together.
‘I might be,’ Stevie said coyly. ‘It all depends on how soon I get pregnant.’
Kazz almost spat out the morsel of cake she was eating. ‘Are you trying for a baby right now ?’
Stevie shook her head and put a finger to her lips. ‘Shh, I don’t want Betty to know, otherwise I won’t hear the end of it. No, not yet. We thought we’d wait until after we’ve tied the knot. I’ve spent a fortune on that wedding dress and I want to be able to fit into it on the day!’
‘Bagsy I be godmother,’ Kazz said, keeping her voice low.
‘I don’t think you can bagsy godmother rights.’ Stevie laughed. ‘But don’t worry, you’re at the top of my list. Anyway, it’s all in the future; we need to concentrate on the present and on what you’re going to do.’
‘Run away and hide?’ Kazz pouted.
‘That’s not like you. You’re the sensible one.’
‘I’m the one without a job or a home,’ Kazz shot back. ‘I don’t feel like being sensible.’
‘Sensible is overrated,’ Betty declared, as she bustled past with a laden tray. ‘Now, if you’ve finished gossiping, I would appreciate a hand because – if you hadn’t noticed – we’re getting busy.’
Stevie gave Kazz an apologetic grin. ‘See what I mean? Bossy.’
‘Can I help?’ Kazz offered as Stevie rose to her feet. ‘I need to feel useful.’
‘Aw, my lovely, don’t be so down. Something will turn up.’
Kazz sighed. ‘I suppose so, and if it doesn’t, I can always open a bookshop and sleep behind the counter.’
Kazz gazed around the table at her Tanglewood friends and felt the remaining tension ease from her shoulders. This was just what she needed, a night out with the girls. Stevie had suggested everyone meet in the Hen and Duck this evening for a meal. By everyone, Stevie meant her and Kazz, obviously, plus Tia, Leanne and Edie. The bride-to-be and her four bridesmaids. But, for once, the focus wasn’t on Stevie’s forthcoming nuptials. It was on Kazz’s predicament.
Tia waved a glass in the air. It was conspicuously empty. ‘Before we carry on putting Kazz to rights,’ she said, ‘I need a refill, and I believe it’s my round.’ She swivelled her wheelchair around and called to the landlord, ‘Same again, Mads!’ And when he had gathered up the empties and retreated behind the bar, she asked, ‘Where were we?’
Kazz pulled a face. She couldn’t for the life of her remember. She had been too busy scoffing a plate of rather delicious scampi and fries.
Tia was gazing at her expectantly. Kazz shrugged.
‘You’ll have to do better than that,’ Tia said, smacking her palm down on the arm of her wheelchair. ‘This is your life we’re trying to sort out. Not ours.’
Kazz blew out her cheeks. Tia was right. Everyone else’s lives were already sorted. Stevie had her tea shop and lived with Nick in a large bungalow at the stables. Leanne had her flower shop, a lucrative sideline with a famous floristry chain in London, and she lived in a cute cottage with her ranger boyfriend, Rex. Edie owned a classy bridal shop and lived on a smallholding with her other half, James. And Tia, who was Nick’s sister, lived and worked in the poshest place of them all: Tonbridge Manor. She and her husband, Will, had their own wing and shared the rest of the impressive old building with Will’s parents, Lord and Lady Tonbridge. When the current Lord popped his clogs, Tia would become a Lady.
And what did Kazz have? A pile of old furniture and a load of crusty old books. Hardly comparable, was it?
‘Betty suggested I open a bookshop.’ She sighed. ‘Unfortunately, that’s the best idea anyone has had so far. I suppose I should bite the bullet and hire a skip. At least the chap from the house clearance company will take everything else away, so that’s something, although I won’t get much for it.’ Kazz pressed her lips together in disbelief. ‘At one point he had the cheek to tell me I should be paying him to take it off my hands!’
‘Could you make use of any of it?’ Stevie asked Tia. ‘From what I can remember of Kazz’s grandad’s house, most of the furniture is old.’
‘Old as in antique old?’ Tia asked, looking at Kazz.
Kazz took a guess. ‘1950s?’
Tia gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Er, that’s not really old. Everything at the Manor is nineteenth century or earlier.’
Leanne tapped her fingers against her chin. ‘How much will it cost to hire a skip?’
Kazz shrugged. ‘Not sure. A couple of hundred.’
‘Why don’t you find out how much a small storage unit would cost? Then you could sell the books online,’ Leanne suggested.
Edie giggled. ‘Or you could fill a rucksack and every time you go out, you could drop a couple in the nearest public bin. You’d have some exercise and get rid of the books at the same time.’
‘This is starting to get silly,’ Stevie scolded. ‘What you could do, Kazz, is you could visit every library within a twenty-mile radius and leave them on the shelves.’
‘You lot are no help at all,’ Kazz grumbled.
Tia decided to join in. ‘What about making those bookish sculptures out of the pages? Or carve out the insides and sell them as somewhere to hide your valuables?’
Kazz stared at the ceiling, refusing to look at any of them. ‘When you’ve finished, can I have some sensible suggestions, please?’
Leanne said, ‘Betty’s suggestion was sensible.’ She even managed to look serious as she was saying it.
Kazz hmphed at her and folded her arms.
Stevie, Tia and Edie looked at one another, then at Leanne, who was nodding and smiling.
Stevie said, ‘Actually, it is a good idea.’
‘Not you as well!’ Kazz exclaimed. ‘Are you all mad?’
‘Probably.’ Tia giggled.
For one crazy, stupid second, Kazz considered the idea. Then she came to her senses. ‘Don’t be silly. Do you know how much it costs to rent a retail unit in London?’ If she was honest, Kazz didn’t know herself, but she guessed it was probably a lot.
The four of them were looking at each other again, and grinning like loons.
Leanne said, ‘Who said anything about London?’
‘Where else would it be?’ Kazz was baffled.
Edie tutted. ‘You do realise there are other places in the world? Your shop doesn’t have to be in London. In fact, it’s probably better that it isn’t.’
‘Where, then?’ Kazz demanded. She would go along with this ridiculous suggestion, but only because she wanted to see how far they would take it.
‘Tanglewood,’ Leanne announced.
Kazz burst out laughing. ‘You can’t be serious?’
‘We can and we are. All in agreement, ladies?’ Stevie asked. There was a chorus of affirmations.
‘You seriously want me to open a bookshop in Tanglewood ?’
Leanne could barely contain her excitement. ‘No, you seriously want to open a bookshop in Tanglewood. Think about it: you’ve got goodness knows how many hundreds of books to sell and you aren’t tied to a job or a flat, so you can go anywhere you want and do anything you want.’
‘If that was true, I’d be off somewhere hot, with beaches and cocktails, and hunky waiters,’ Kazz retorted.
‘Such a cliché.’ Tia groaned.
Kazz shot back, ‘Says the woman who lives in a mansion.’
‘Guilty as charged,’ Tia replied cheerfully. ‘But I’m not the one who needs a job and somewhere to live.’
‘And you did tell me last night that you’d had a gut full of catering,’ Stevie leapt in.
Kazz muttered, ‘Et tu, Brute?’
‘Isn’t it funny how that’s the only quote I remember from Shakespeare. That and “out damned spot”.’ Edie laughed.
‘How about “beware the Ides of March”, or “double, double toil and trouble”?’ Tia suggested.
Edie said, ‘Wasn’t there a bestseller a while back, based on a line from Romeo and Juliet ? Something about faulty stars.’
‘It’s from Julius Caesar ,’ Kazz replied absently. ‘The book is called The Fault in Our Stars .’
‘See! You know booky things!’ Stevie exclaimed, and Kazz rolled her eyes in exasperation.
‘I know that I don’t know enough to open a bookshop,’ she argued. ‘Anyway, never mind the shop. Where would I live?’
‘The flat above the tea shop,’ Stevie said. ‘I’ve been letting it out to holidaymakers, but I haven’t got any bookings until February. You could stay there.’
Kazz hadn’t finished making objections. ‘What about the shop itself?’
Edie said, ‘There’s an empty one by the entrance to the courtyard.’
‘But I’m a sous chef.’ Kazz played her trump card. She cooked for a living, she didn’t sell books!
Stevie said, ‘You don’t want to do that anymore. You said so yourself. You want to change jobs.’
‘I was thinking about getting a job in a small place similar to Stevie’s, not opening a sodding bookshop. I can’t afford it, anyway. Refurb and all that jazz.’
Stevie pointed out, ‘You’ve got your mum and grandad’s furniture – you can use that. Bookshelves, chairs to sit in, that old bureau – if your mum hasn’t thrown it out. You could even take the doors off the wardrobes and turn them into shelving units. A dining or kitchen table will do for a counter. All you need is a card machine and a sign, and you’re ready to go.’
‘But I’m not sure I want to work in a bookshop for the rest of my life.’
Tia patted her arm. ‘It doesn’t have to be forever. You could give it a go until Christmas. Short-term retail lets are popular these days.’
Leanne cried, ‘They certainly are! Jarred had one a couple of months back to test the waters before committing to opening another shop. He takes out a short-term lease to gauge whether it’s viable. He’s opened shops in two new areas this way. Pop-up shops, they’re called. It’s surprisingly easy to start one.’
‘It’s all right for Jarred Townsend, the famous florist, to have a pop-up shop.’ Kazz scowled. ‘He can afford it with his celebrity status. If he opened a crisp packet, people would flock to it. No one would be flocking to a second-hand bookshop in the middle of nowhere.’
‘You’d be surprised,’ Leanne said. ‘Tanglewood has more going for it than you think.’
Kazz tried a different tack. ‘OK, let’s say for argument’s sake that I move into Stevie’s flat and that I can get a short-term lease at a price I can afford. How do I get everything from London to Tanglewood?’
Leanne clapped her hands. ‘Simple! Use a trailer. The farm has a ruddy great big one. It’ll need a good clean-out, but it’ll do the trick.’
‘For one thing, I don’t have a car, and for another, even if I did, I’m not driving a trailer.’
‘You don’t have to, my brother will.’
‘Your brother?’
‘Saul.’
‘I don’t think I’ve met him,’ Kazz mused.
‘He’s nice,’ Stevie said. ‘I went out with him once.’
Leanne wrinkled her nose. ‘I’d forgotten about that. You had a lucky escape.’ She turned her attention back to Kazz. ‘A word of warning: he might look pretty, but pretty is as pretty does. If you take him with a pinch of salt and you understand that he’s a good-time guy, you won’t get hurt.’
Kazz declared, ‘I won’t get hurt anyway. Don’t you think I’ve got enough to be getting on with? I don’t want a man in my life right now.’
Leanne sighed. ‘Yeah, that’s what they all say – until they meet him.’