Chapter 6 #2
I hoped the British summer was going to be kind and that I’d be able to manage with the few clothes I’d originally packed for my trip to see Zack in Spain because every other outfit I owned was currently in storage along with everything else.
If the weather changed, I’d have to order a few things online or beg and borrow from Melody.
We looked to be pretty much the same size.
Though I might not be for long if I carried on eating her quiche and scones at the current rate.
‘Travelling light is liberating,’ said Kaya, who then appeared with a basket full of laundry and caught the tail end of the conversation. ‘Has Rick been in?’
‘No sign yet.’ Melody smiled at her sister and I gave her a conspiratorial look. ‘You’ll meet him soon, Tilly,’ she added, turning her attention back to me. ‘He looks after the gardens at Fernside.’
I thought it was interesting that Constance paid someone to look after the garden when the house needed work doing to it.
I wondered if that was because it was perhaps her sister’s legacy or if Constance valued plants above bricks and mortar.
I’d most likely soon find out, but given that Fernside was literally her for ever home, and one she was obviously attached to, I didn’t think that could really be the case.
‘You’ve been telling Tilly about Rick, have you?’ Kaya said, as she looked me over, but she didn’t ask why Rick being Constance’s gardener would mean anything to me.
As far as she knew, I was supposed to be leaving the area that day.
‘Don’t worry, Kaya,’ I said. ‘He doesn’t sound like my type.’ Melody flashed me a look. ‘And even though I’m staying now, I won’t have time to be thinking about—’
‘You’re staying?’ Kaya interrupted.
‘I am,’ I confirmed. ‘And I’m going to be far too busy to factor in a summer romance.’
The image of a very handsome man dashing down a lay-by to retrieve Mum’s hat popped into my head. I would have had time for him, but it was unlikely I was ever going to see him again, so I didn’t need to worry about time management where he was concerned.
‘Probably just as well,’ Kaya smiled. ‘I’ll go and get this lot in the wash. I’m pleased you’re staying, Tilly. My sister has mellowed a bit since she’s had you to moan to about me.’
I laughed at that and Melody shook her head.
‘I thought you were going to drop me in it then,’ she whispered, as she began to fill a couple of the jute bags which had the store name printed on them.
‘You made your bed,’ I shrugged. ‘So, you can lie in it, but I’ll be standing at the sidelines with a fire extinguisher, ready for when the bomb goes off.’
I was playing along, but I did wonder if Kaya’s smile at my mention of romance was a hint that she already knew about Rick.
‘It won’t be that bad.’ Melody grinned as she carried on adding things to the bags. ‘Here, these are for you.’
‘What?’ I said. ‘No way, Melody. I don’t need all this.’
The bags were full of foodie treats and basics like milk, bread and eggs, along with products from the natural bathroom range she stocked and a bunch of flowers from the bucket outside the door.
‘Moving in present,’ she insisted and hooked the handles over my arms. ‘And I thought you could warm up the chicken and leek pie I made yesterday for a celebratory dinner with Constance. I do worry she doesn’t eat enough…’
Given that I was certain she’d had just toast for her dinner the evening before and that there had been no sign or smell of a hot lunch having been eaten earlier, I thought Melody was right, but it wasn’t my business to say.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘that’s extremely kind of you, Melody. Thank you. I’m sure we’ll both enjoy it and the apartment will look even lovelier with these homely touches.’
‘Good,’ she said, as a couple of customers arrived. ‘Now go and get settled in and we’ll catch up as soon as you’re free.’
It was too busy, and my arms were too weighed down, to hug her again, but as I set off on the short journey to Fernside, I felt very loved and truly blessed to have found such a good friend during what had previously been planned as a brief visit.
As predicted, I quickly settled into the garden apartment.
The first thing I had done, having arrived quietly so as not to disturb Constance, was open the windows and prop open the door, which allowed the soft summer breeze to sweep through.
I had always been an advocate of having windows open in the early morning and truly felt that I was more prepared to face the day, once the old air and energy had been blown away and some fresh, welcomed in.
The fridge was doing its thing, though the shelves were currently a bit sparse, and I found all the linen in the cupboard Constance had described.
The scent of lavender filled the bedroom as I shook out the sheets, and when I went back into the sitting room the flowers Melody had given me had perfumed the air in there, too.
‘Anyone home?’ I heard Constance call from the top of the steps a short while later and just as I finished giving the place a quick dust.
How lovely did that word sound? I’d only been here a couple of hours and already Fernside felt more like home than the houseshare I’d endured ever had. I could feel a halcyon time coming as I settled into life in the safe and snug sanctuary.
‘I am, Constance.’ I smiled and rushed out to see her. ‘Would you like to come and look at what I’ve done with the place?’
‘No, no,’ she said, leaning heavily on her stick. ‘I don’t want to disturb you.’
‘You’re not disturbing me,’ I said, hopping up the steps so I could see her properly.
She was wearing the same dress she’d had on the day before and her shoes were on the wrong feet. She did have her hearing aids in, though.
‘And before you think I’m completely dotty,’ she said, also looking at her footwear. ‘I know they’re the wrong way round, but they took so long to get on, I couldn’t be bothered to change them.’
I supressed a smile. Or I thought I had.
‘It’s not funny,’ she scolded me. ‘Getting old is no fun. I don’t recommend it.’ A look of pain then crossed her face. ‘What a wicked thing to say,’ she tutted. ‘It might not be fun, but it is a privilege.’
I didn’t know what to say to that. Mum had been so young when she’d died and Dad had been no age either, not really, so I already knew we should be grateful for every day. However, it felt like far too gloomy a conversation for such a happy occasion, so I changed the subject.
‘Now I’m unpacked,’ I said, ‘I thought I might have a look at the garden and perhaps eat my lunch down by the river, if that’s all right?’
‘Sounds lovely,’ she said and looked down the sloping lawn towards the jetty.
‘Would you like to join me?’ I asked. ‘I haven’t got much in to eat, but I’m sure we could cobble a picnic together between us, and Melody has provided a moving in celebratory dinner that I’ll warm up for us tonight, if you’d like that, too.’
Constance looked taken aback. ‘Oh, well…’ she began, but didn’t get any further.
‘Unless you’ve already got plans?’
‘I haven’t had dinner plans since nineteen eighty-nine,’ she chuckled.
‘That settles it then.’ I nodded. ‘We’ll spend the day together. I’ll be on my own, otherwise. And you did say you wanted to get to know me better before we went any further with the woods, didn’t you?’
‘I also said, there’s no rush,’ she pointed out.
‘We’ll keep things purely social then,’ I promised. ‘What do you fancy for lunch?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said, shifting from one foot to the other. ‘I don’t usually bother with a meal at midday.’
I was appalled but tried not to let it show.
‘Leave it with me and I’ll put the pie in your fridge, shall I? I thought we could eat in the Fernside kitchen this evening as there’s more room. And would it be all right if I borrowed some powder and put a wash on?’
‘Is it one of Melody’s pies?’
‘Chicken and leek, fresh from her oven just yesterday.’
I had no idea how Melody found the time. The store was always busy and yet somehow, she kept the fridges stocked with the loveliest things.
‘My favourite,’ said Constance, smacking her lips, and I could have sworn I heard her tummy rumble. ‘And it’s fine to put a wash on. There might be a few things of mine in the machine, so just chuck those back in the basket.’
Here was an opportunity to help beyond filling her belly for the day.
‘I’ve only got a few bits, so I could do it all together, if you like.’ She gave me a sharp look. ‘It would make more sense to do one full wash than two part-loads, wouldn’t it? It would save energy and water.’
‘I suppose,’ she relented. ‘Yes, that would be best.’
‘Great,’ I said, going to head back inside. ‘I’ll sort it now and then make our lunch.’
‘Are you always this bossy?’ she called after me.
I reappeared again, carrying a garden chair from the apartment patio.
‘Not usually,’ I grinned, ‘but I do find an inadequate breakfast a great motivator when it’s almost time for lunch.’
She chuckled at that and leant on my arm as she lowered herself into the chair.
‘I’ll sit here while you organise us then, shall I?’ she said, a touch sardonically.
‘I won’t be long,’ I responded and whizzed off.
True to my word, I’d made cheese and chutney sandwiches, grabbed a couple of apples and some slightly soft biscuits from her cupboard and put a wash on in record time.
Constance had swapped her shoes over and was dozing when I returned to her, so I slipped by and, forgoing the exploration of the garden, headed straight down to the river that I was longing to get properly reacquainted with.
It all looked rather different from this side of the bank, but it was still utterly beautiful. And cool, too, I found when I slipped off my sandals and dipped my toes in. I wouldn’t be able to wait much longer before I took a swim.
‘I’m not sure I’ll get down there, you know!’ Constance called as I popped a couple of bottles of water into the river and secured the string around their necks with a big pebble to keep them cool.
‘Of course you will,’ I said, as I straightened up and readjusted my dress. ‘It’s only a few steps. I’ll carry the chairs first and then you if necessary.’
It didn’t come to that, but it did take a few minutes for us to get settled on the wooden jetty.
Not because Constance couldn’t manage the walk, she was fine so I didn’t know why she had doubted herself, but because we kept stopping on the way so she could do some deadheading or tell me the history of some plant or other.
‘I can’t remember the last time I sat down here,’ she said wistfully, once she’d eaten her share of the sandwiches and biscuits, but declined the apple on account of the new denture she was ‘bedding in’. ‘I’d forgotten how lovely it is.’
‘It’s truly idyllic, isn’t it?’ I sighed drowsily.
If I didn’t pay attention, I thought I’d soon be asleep. The sound of the river was soporific, and I could feel my eyelids growing heavy.
‘Wake up, Tilly,’ Constance said, what felt like seconds later. ‘You just missed the water vole. Didn’t you hear him plop out of his hole and into the river?’
My eyes snapped open and I sat up straighter. I seemed to have slipped down the chair, and my head had lolled to one side. What scintillating company I was for Constance!
‘Oh no,’ I moaned. ‘I missed him.’
‘Don’t worry, he’ll be back.’
‘I always assume a water vole is male, do you?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘That’s years of reading Grahame for you.’
‘I love The Wind in the Willows.’ I swallowed.
I couldn’t help wondering if Dad was somewhere listening.
I kept trying not to think about how I had scattered his ashes from the other bank just a few days before, but now I couldn’t help it and really, it wasn’t an unhappy memory.
‘I used to bring my copy to Willowell every year and Dad would read it to me and Zack in the evenings.’
‘What a wonderful tradition to have.’ Constance smiled. ‘And how funny to think that you were one side of the bank listening to the tale and I was the other reading it aloud, possibly at exactly the same time.’
‘That is funny,’ I agreed. ‘Who were you reading it to? Was it your sister?’
‘Sometimes,’ she said evasively.
I was tempted to ask if there had been anyone else but thought the information would be best coming unprompted from her, rather than me forcing her hand.
‘I rather wish I hadn’t put my copy into storage now,’ I sighed.
‘You can always borrow mine.’
‘Thank you, Constance. That’s very kind.’
‘Perhaps you could read it to me sometime?’ she suggested.
‘I’d love to,’ I promised, and then, despite my former thought about prying, my curiosity got the better of me. ‘I take it there’s no one else who would read to you?’
‘No,’ she said bluntly. ‘No one now.’
‘In that case,’ I quickly said, keen not to ruin the mood, ‘we could sit down here in the evenings when the weather allows, couldn’t we?’
‘We could,’ she agreed.
I didn’t get my swim that afternoon because we chatted and dozed the entire day away.
I popped back to the house to sort the laundry and make cups of tea and refill the water bottles and we talked about all sorts of things, but not Constance’s family or her past, and I respected her privacy and didn’t ask again.
By the end of the day, when the pie had been reduced to crumbs and the washing up was drying in the rack, I felt like I’d already been staying at Fernside for weeks rather than just a single day.
Falling asleep, with the gentle sound of the river babbling away in the background, came as easily as turning off the light, and as I drifted off, I knew that Constance felt as content as I did, because she’d already told me.