Chapter One #4
Luckily, James’ whining brought her back to the present. He was slouched dramatically over the kitchen island, his face set in a deep frown, while Emma tapped him gently on the back, as though he was a baby she was burping.
“I don’t know how I’m going to work there now, actually, on reflection.”
“Then get another job!” Maddie snapped at him. She couldn’t help herself. All three of them planted their eyes on her, their faces contorted in surprise and confusion.
“He’s explained all that, darling girl,” Emma said. “Goodness me, where have you been these past ten minutes?”
Marley was watching her closely. Maddie suspected her brother knew exactly where she’d been, because he’d been there too, back in that bedroom, cradling a dying Bowie in their arms.
James rolled his eyes at Maddie. “For those of us who weren’t listening, I’ll repeat myself, shall I?
I’ve tried finding another job, I really have, but there aren’t any locally.
I’ve just been travelling and I’m living in the house my gran left me half of.
I can’t sell it and fuck off abroad again because my mum owns and lives in the other half.
So I need to save up some money before I can go travelling again.
I’m back too late for seasonal work, I’ve tried every employer in a ten-mile radius.
There’s nothing except for the farm. It’s my only option. ”
Emma winced at his bad language, but did not stop soothing him with motherly taps to the back.
“You are in a pickle,” she said. James nodded, theatrically knitting his eyebrows as though in physical pain. Maddie resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“Why don’t you work here?” Marley said, refilling James’ mug from the cafetière. Maddie reeled, planting her outraged gaze firmly on her brother. He ignored her.
“Absolutely fucking not,” she said.
Emma shook her head, as though beaten.
Marley continued to ignore her. “Are you any good with a drill, James?”
“ Marley ,” Maddie hissed.
“Er...” James hesitated. His eyes darted to Emma, who was slowly positioning herself between her children.
She didn’t offer him any reassurance, she merely sighed, and Maddie knew that was because there was nothing she hated more than a spat between her kids.
James continued cautiously. “I’m not too bad with a drill, Marley, but why do you need someone to work somewhere like this? ”
“Maddie is opening a recovery retreat for people who’ve had cancer in the spring,” Marley said.
“Mum and Dad are heading off travelling for a bit with our sister, Bluebell, who’s currently in Asia somewhere, rescuing street dogs.
The rest of us don’t live here anymore. We have a lot of space that no one’s using, so we thought it might be good to do something cool with it. ”
“It’s been slow progress, to be honest with you, James,” Emma said.
“Marley is very busy with work and, if we’re all being truthful, he’s not very good with a drill.
Ben’s getting too old to be climbing ladders, I am hopeless at DIY.
Poor Maddie is learning as she goes along and doing a lot of it by herself.
We’ve been needing a helping hand for a while. ”
“I’m all right with a drill, aren’t I?” Marley asked disbelievingly. Maddie and Emma both shook their heads. “Right. Well, that’s news to me. Anyway, James, we’ll pay you a good wage.”
“And you’ll get a room here to use as you want and your food cooked and paid for,” Emma added.
“Is nobody listening to me?” Maddie butted in.
“I am, actually,” James said, surprising her. “Look, guys, that’s a lovely offer, but the lady of the house clearly does not want me here. This is her project. It would feel wrong to impose myself without her blessing.”
Everyone turned to Maddie. She knew she’d regret meeting her mother’s or brother’s gaze because she’d just sink into their sky-blue eyes and give them whatever they wanted, so she planted her eyes on James’.
They’d seemed lighter as they’d walked through the garden in the dazzling winter sun.
In the shade of the kitchen they were chestnut brown.
He fluttered his thick dark eyelashes at her and she wondered if he’d done it on purpose.
He was handsome, there was no denying it, but there was something about him that she didn’t like.
A self-assuredness, a cockiness, an ugly confidence that made him unappealing.
She was sure he felt he was better than her, and that he always thought he was right.
His comments about her family home and personal situation had been flippant, rude and reductive. She did not want him here.
“Good, that’s settled, then,” she said.
Emma and Marley sighed and shook their heads, and Maddie almost changed her mind. She hated disappointing her family, but not enough to have James Byron under the same roof. “So what are we going to do about this piglet?” she asked.
“Oh, gosh, yes, the pig.” Emma frowned.
“We can’t let you take it,” Marley said, slapping James heartily on the back. James opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it as Marley shook his head forcefully. “How about you go back to the farm and tell them you can’t find it?”
“I’m a terrible liar,” James said.
“Tell them someone stole him,” Emma suggested.
Marley nodded. “Yes, then you wouldn’t be lying.”
“What if they call the police?” James asked.
“They won’t,” Emma, Marley and Maddie said together.
“Darling, they don’t care that much,” Emma clarified.
“They’re not going to halt operations to look for a pig,” Marley concurred.
James looked unsure. “What will you guys do with it?”
“He can be our first resident,” Emma said.
“Where will you put it?” James’ features were heavy with bewilderment.
Emma moved to clear up the coffee cups. “He can stay in the orangery until we build him an enclosure.” Maddie and Marley nodded along dutifully with their mother’s plan.
James stared at each of them in turn, blinking theatrically. “But you said it was destroying the orangery.”
“Well, he is, but that doesn’t mean we want him to die,” Emma said, putting the mugs in the sink and then wringing her hands at the very thought of it.
Maddie was once again overcome by an urge to hug her mother.
Emma was distressed by the impending death of any living creature and always had been. She was truly a pure soul.
“You’re going to let the pig destroy the orangery instead of giving it back to me?” James spelled out the situation. They all nodded in unison. “You’re not normal people, are you?” he said.
Maddie had had enough. She turned and stalked out of the kitchen, aware that her reaction would alarm her mother, but past the point of caring.
Maddie was proud that her family was different and had no interest in being around anyone who thought it was a bad thing.
She was tired and grouchy. She had enough to do without pig-proofing the orangery, a task that had been added to her ever-expanding list. She didn’t have time to argue with a thirty-odd-year-old fuckboy brimming with audacity.
She took herself out into the garden and headed for the double swing, her favourite place to sit and contemplate.
She’d allow herself five minutes alone and then she really must get on.
She had sanding and painting to do, mood boards to create, furniture to order, guests to attract.
James Byron and the pig had really set her back.
She could do with the entire evening to catch up, but had promised Benjamin that she’d watch him in the pantomime he’d been cast in.
She’d been looking forward to it for weeks.
Sure, she was stressed now, but she’d have a good time when she got there.
She tried to quiet her mind, but it was almost impossible these days.
She had thought giving herself a major project to work on would distract her from her ongoing and relentless grieving, but all it had done was add to her woes.
She couldn’t tell anyone, of course. Everyone she knew and loved had enough to deal with already.
Plus, she had done a good job of convincing everyone she was all right, so she couldn’t go back on that now.
From her spot on the swing, braced against the cold with Bowie’s coat clasped tight around her, she saw the front door open, and James Byron step onto the wrap-around porch.
He bid her mother and her brother goodbye, then headed for the driveway.
It was snowing. Maddie watched him tilt his head back and stare at the sky.
She could see him in her imagination, his fat black lashes covered with snowflakes.
She was seized by a baffling and almost uncontrollable urge to call him over.
She ignored it.