Chapter Seventeen #2
“I don’t know...” She looked to James for support. She could tell he wanted to go — he’d been suggesting a meet-up of this kind for a while — but she also knew he was aware how stressed she was and would let her make the decision. She was right, he merely shrugged.
“You can have one afternoon off,” Emma insisted. She held out Maddie’s jacket, which she had obviously brought with her from the kitchen.
“That’s very presumptuous of you, Mum.”
“It’s a mum’s prerogative to presume our children will spend time with us when we demand it, especially when we’re feeling neglected,” Emma said.
Maddie rolled her eyes. “Emotional manipulation. Nice.”
Emma threw them a strained smile. “James wants to come, don’t you, James?”
“No,” James said, but Maddie felt him nodding vigorously beside her. She tried not to find that funny, but she couldn’t help it. She smiled, biffing him on the arm with the back of her hand.
“Come on!” he whined. “We can go for an hour or two.”
“Please!” Emma pleaded. “I never get to see you anymore.”
Maddie eyed her mother with mild amusement.
Emma was right — they’d hardly spent any time together recently.
When Maddie wasn’t working she was nurturing her fledgling romance with James.
She did miss her mum. Still, she faltered again, her eyes sliding between James and Emma, who both had their hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.
“Oh, all right.” She sighed, trying to hide her grin when James jumped up in the air and whooped.
He held his hand out to help her up. “Two hours only,” she warned.
“You’re the boss,” James said, as they headed for the door.
* * *
Ten minutes later, Maddie, James and Emma were strolling down the lane towards their sleepy village.
To her surprise, Maddie began enjoying herself immediately.
Her never-ending to-do list was forgotten — instead, the weight of James’ hand in hers, the quiet stillness of the wintry lane and the promising hints of spring in the air flooded her senses and lifted her spirits.
Her eyes chased a flash of red and she smiled.
A robin was following them, hopping from branch to branch, chirping excitedly as he went.
Maddie smiled, hoping that James might catch sight of it.
They often bantered about the robin in her garden, about whether it was Bowie’s spirit or Harry’s.
In the end she nudged him, gesturing with her head.
He caught her eye, mouthed ‘Harry’, and grinned when she shook her head.
Maddie forced herself to tune in to her mother, who was chewing over her concerns about Benjamin entering show business.
Maddie felt her nerves flood back. Benjamin had auditioned twice for a part in a play being directed by an old friend of Bowie’s, Larry Ross.
He was so excited he couldn’t stop talking about it.
Neither could Marley, who was now effectively a full-time, stay-at-home dad and chaperone.
“I think Marley thought he’d be bored,” Emma was saying. “But he says he’s as busy at home as he was at work.”
Maddie had heard the same thing from Autumn.
Now that she was the sole financial provider for the family, Marley had taken on the responsibility for all the household chores, giving Autumn more time to work.
She also found she had more free time, which meant she had more time to spend on her own and with the people she loved.
Their new life meant Autumn and Marley were more present at the big house than they had ever been.
Though Maddie was busy, she loved having people she cared about close by and often stopped to appreciate the buzz of the house, since she knew it wouldn’t last long.
Emma, Ben and Bluebell had started excitedly planning their travelling adventures.
They would head somewhere in Europe first, somewhere sunny and busy, then perhaps fly further afield.
Ben and Emma had set aside the big suitcases in preparation and started making sure Maddie had everything she would need to keep the house going — they’d added her to the accounts for all bills and given her a list of vendors she could call if things went wrong.
Maddie knew her parents felt better that Autumn and Marley were close by and would keep popping in.
They also knew she had James, and despite the fact it was still early days, they often commented on how happy she seemed, usually while gushing about what a nice man James was.
Maddie refocused on her mum, who had hardly paused for breath since they’d left the house. “I’m having such a lovely time building a friendship with your mum, James. It’s so much harder to make friends when you’re older, isn’t it?”
Maddie nodded, and felt James squeeze her hand supportively.
This was something the two of them had spoken about, especially in light of James’ growing friendship with Marley, who’d had lots of fickle friends he spent arbitrary time with every now and then, but nobody he was exceptionally close to, until he’d met James.
He’d had a built-in best friend in Bowie, so he’d never felt the need to build platonic relationships with anyone else when his brother had been alive, and he hadn’t had the heart to do so since Bowie had died.
James hadn’t given Marley much of a choice, though.
Their shared interests and similar sense of humour had glued them together, and the two built a firm, fast friendship.
They were so close, Marley had asked James to be a groomsman when he married Autumn.
Maddie would be lying if she said she wasn’t jealous.
She wished someone might come along with whom she could connect with in that way.
She loved her family and considered Autumn and Bluebell her friends as well as her relatives, but she was very aware she had nobody besides them.
When she was out and about, her eyes would wander to groups of women giggling girlishly together, and she would wish she had a group of women she could do the same with.
She had no idea where she’d meet a friend now, as she was certain most women already had their forever friends by the time they reached her age.
Still, she knew she should do something about it.
She had an incredible support network — a great family and a loving boyfriend — but there was something special about female friends, and while she could confide absolutely anything in Bluebell and Autumn, the fact they were all connected to the same family meant it wasn’t quite the same.
Emma interrupted her deep thinking. “You should put yourself out there a bit more,” she said. “I know you’re shy, my love, but you’re such a lovely girl. If you were in the right place at the right time a little more often, you’d meet some fabulous friends.”
“Hard agree,” James said, squeezing her hand again.
Maddie thought about reminding them she was about to launch a business.
She was going to be busier than she’d ever been in her life, so she’d have less time than ever to make new friends.
Her dad had also recently advised her to stop trying to get to the end of her to-do list, as it would never end now she was a business owner.
She didn’t have the energy to say all this, so she nodded and smiled.
James squeezed her hand for a third time, and she knew he was reading her mind.
“Don’t forget, you have me now,” he said. “I’ll be here to help with things, and you can have some of your life back.”
Maddie grinned, nudging him gratefully. They hadn’t yet talked about how this would work, but she had hoped he’d want to work alongside her to make this business a success.
She was thrilled to hear him say that was his plan, too.
The future looked fun and exciting. That made Maddie feel warm and fuzzy inside.
* * *
Jennifer was seated at a table in the café waiting for them when they arrived.
She was thrilled to see Maddie and James, who she hadn’t known were coming.
She stood to give them each a hug, holding her son for slightly longer than she did the others.
Their growing bond delighted Maddie because she knew how important it was to James.
He talked regularly about the chats they were having and the barriers they were breaking down between them.
He insisted their relationship had never been better, that his mother was willing to listen to any criticism he had of her past parenting with an open mind, and that he was confronting his own flaws when she raised them with him.
Maddie had not realised at the time, but the weight of his crumbling relationship with Jennifer had weighed heavily on James.
She could tell because he was different now — his laugh was lighter, his eyes brighter and he hardly ever frowned.
Seeing them hug in this way, as though there had been no turmoil between them, made Maddie indescribably happy.
“Sit down,” James said, pulling out two chairs for Maddie and Emma. “I’ll go and order. Soya cappuccinos?”
“Yes please,” they answered together.
“Good boy,” Jennifer said, grinning with pride. She watched Maddie take her gloves off and blow into her hands. “I cannot wait for this rotten weather to break,” she said, shaking her head in sympathy.
“Oh, tell me about it,” Emma agreed. “Maddie likes to walk in the evenings, so she really struggles in the winter because she can’t trudge the streets at nine o’clock at night.”