Chapter 13 #3
‘Umm, actually, you may have already been to one. Or a few. How long have you been skulking around the village before we ran into each other?’
‘This is my first full week here. I think we ran into each other on day two of my village life.’
‘Ha, no, you have no idea then. If you did, then you’d have been tempted to run a mile. Or ten, to the next town along.’ Ellie laughed. ‘The residents of Meadowfield hold fortnightly village meetings in the town hall, and everyone – and I mean everyone – is expected to attend.’
‘Village meetings.’ Grinning, Murray rubbed his hands together. ‘Now this is the village life we were talking about.’
‘Err, no, it really isn’t. You can get all thoughts of sipping sweet tea whilst listening to the village choir out of your head and replace those with a mayoress who makes even the worst of your secondary school teachers look like a teddy bear.
And by the end of the meeting, which may or may not drag on for hours, you’ll escape the hall only to realise you’ve been signed up to help with the next village event, meaning you’ve given up every single one of your weekends and all your spare time for the next ten years.
’ She leaned her back against the stair railing and eyed him, trying in vain to keep her expression serious.
‘Wow, it sounds as though I may just have to “forget” to come along to these meetings if they’re that bad.’ He chuckled.
‘Oh no.’ Ellie shook her head slowly. ‘Nobody forgets. Nobody is allowed to forget.’
‘Why? What happens if I just refuse to darken the doors of the village hall?’
‘I’m not sure. I think quite possibly you’d be put onto some naughty list and Miss Cooke, the mayoress of Meadowfield, would roll the old village stocks out of storage, set them up in the centre of the green and pass out rotten tomatoes to the other villagers so they could throw them at you.’
‘Umm, that does sound a little tricky then.’ He frowned, playing along. ‘But if I spent the following day hiding or popped into Nettleford or somewhere for a day out, then I may just escape my punishment.’
‘And you plan to do this every fortnight? What if you’re supposed to be working or have a prior engagement?
I don’t think it’s sustainable.’ She could feel the laughter waiting to escape, she just didn’t know who would break first, her or Murray.
Hopefully Murray. Every time he chuckled, she could feel the familiar warmth in her chest. The warmth she’d been missing with Rick.
The warmth she’d been missing since he’d left full stop.
Crinkling his nose as he thought, Murray nodded. ‘I reckon so.’
‘It won’t work. Miss Cooke will know where you live. She knows where everyone lives.’ She frowned. ‘In fact, I’m shocked she hasn’t already been to your place to welcome you into the village.’
‘Oh, no, I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting her yet.’
Ellie glanced behind her towards the kitchen.
He’d been out here working on the decking yesterday when Miss Cooke had been quizzing her about her plans for Laura and Jackson’s wedding.
She was surprised the mayoress hadn’t noticed Murray and made a beeline for him.
It would have saved Ellie from running off home and having to hide from the two of them. ‘You haven’t? Are you sure?’
‘I’m certain.’ He nodded firmly. ‘Or at least I don’t think I have, and from the little you’ve told me, I would know it’s her, right?’
‘Yes, you would. Are you sure you’ve not met a woman who has asked you about a billion questions, ranging over your personal life, your work and your reasoning for settling in Meadowfield?
’ She remembered her first meeting with Miss Cooke.
Well, it may have just been a casual running into each other outside the bakery, but it had felt like a proper meeting.
She’d walked away from the mayoress feeling as though she’d just taken part in some village admittance interview and being convinced she’d failed and would be chased out of Meadowfield by an army bearing pitchforks.
Yes, Murray would definitely have known if he’d encountered her.
‘I’m absolutely certain I haven’t had the pleasure. Yet.’
‘That’s so strange. She can normally smell any newcomers and track them down in an instant.
She made herself known to me on the first day I moved in, and I was lucky as I met her outside the bakery.
I’ve known her to turn up at other people’s front doors and invite herself in for tea.
’ She shook her head. ‘Plus, she would have noticed you were out here when I was trying to avoid her yesterday, but she probably just hadn’t realised you had moved into the village. ’
‘Maybe.’
‘Yep. Whereabouts do you live? I’m guessing it was the gateway to your workshop I had to pull into when I had a flat?’ She held her hands up, palms forward, and laughed. ‘I promise I won’t tell her your address, I’m just wondering if there’s a reason she’s not hunted you down yet.’
Wiping his palms down his trousers, Murray stood up and chuckled. ‘Oh, I’m not sure you won’t be sending her my way if I told you.’
Twisting around, she watched as he walked back towards where he’d been working. He really wasn’t going to tell her where he lived? But why would he? They were practically strangers now after all. Although he’d never feel like a stranger to her, but perhaps she did to him.
She turned back to face the garden and closed her eyes.
Maybe she was nothing to him. Less than nothing.
Perhaps their relationship hadn’t meant what she’d believed it had.
She wrapped her hands around the empty coffee mug, gripping it so tightly she was shocked the ceramic didn’t just crumble against her skin.
How could she go from being the happiest she’d been in a very long time whilst sitting and talking to Murray to feeling as deflated and let down as she did now?
‘You okay, Eleanor?’
Murray’s voice broke through her thoughts, and she took a deep breath in before standing. ‘Yep, all good. I was just thinking about what I needed to get done next.’
‘Good, good.’
She watched as he smiled at her as though nothing had changed, but couldn’t he feel the shift between them?
No, because there wasn’t one. They were just two people who happened to be working in the same vicinity, who shared a little bit of history together. That was all.
‘Anyway, I’d best get on.’
‘Okay, catch you later.’ Murray held his hand up in a wave before pulling on his safety goggles and picking up a plank of wood ready to cut.
Stepping through the glass door into the kitchen, Ellie paused and watched as he expertly fed the long plank against the electric saw.
How long had he been a carpenter? His dad’s business, the firm he’d moved halfway across the world to save, had been something to do with finance, she was sure of it.
Closing the door behind her, she walked slowly back to the table she’d been working at before flopping into her chair. She supposed she’d better get used to the fact that there were things about him, about his life, she’d probably never know.