Blue Skies Ahead

Chapter 1

‘Hope you have a good last day of term,’ I said to my seventeen-year-old daughter, Maddie, as she crouched down by the front door fastening her trainers.

‘Last day of half-term,’ she muttered. ‘Get it right.’

I sighed inwardly at the familiar, unnecessarily snarky tone, but kept my voice light as I corrected my statement. ‘Hope you have a good last day of half-term, then.’

I gasped. ‘You’ve split up with Alfie? When?’

‘Last night.’ Maddie grabbed her coat from the peg and thrust her arms into the sleeves. ‘Not that you’ll care. You hated him.’

‘I didn’t hate him. That’s a very strong word.’

‘Well, you didn’t like him.’

I couldn’t deny that. Maddie had started seeing Alfie in September, shortly after returning for her second year of sixth form.

I’d wanted to like my daughter’s first serious boyfriend and had desperately searched for some positives but all I could see was a cocky, arrogant teenager who was obsessed with his hair and a hideous but phenomenally expensive pair of red and yellow trainers which were apparently on trend.

I’d never have matched him with Maddie. As far as I could tell, they had nothing in common and, much as I hated myself for thinking it, I’d longed for the relationship to end.

But, equally, I hadn’t wanted her to get hurt, which she clearly was now.

‘What happened?’ I asked gently.

‘Carmen happened.’

I reeled back at that. ‘Your best friend?’

‘My ex-best friend and, no, I don’t want to talk about it.’ She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and yanked the door open. ‘Two months they’ve been seeing each other. Two months of lying to me. Who does that?’

I winced. ‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart.’

‘Yeah, sure you are, cos you never liked her either.’

‘What I think of them doesn’t matter. I know they both mean a lot to you.’

‘Meant. Past tense. I wish I never had to see them again but I can’t avoid them – especially her. The teachers won’t let us move seats so I’ve got to sit next to that devious bitch for four hours today.’

I winced at the insult. It wasn’t like Maddie to use language like that, even though it sounded justified in this case.

‘So you can keep your have a nice day crap,’ she continued, ‘’cos nothing about today’s gonna be good.’

The slam of the front door sent our three-year-old ginger tabby cat, Clemmie, scarpering down the hall and set the dogs off barking.

‘It’s all right, you two,’ I said, returning to the kitchen and giving some attention to Nova – my six-year-old golden retriever – and her two-year-old daughter Skye. ‘Just Maddie in a mood. Again.’

* * *

Maddie was on my mind as I drove the short journey to work – Langley Lodge Equestrian Centre a few miles outside the Berkshire village of Twyford where I’d lived for nearly twenty-five years.

Losing both her boyfriend and best friend at the same time would be hard to deal with, especially when she didn’t have a wide circle of friends.

A couple of years ago we’d have talked it over together, but now she barely spoke to me.

I couldn’t bear the thought of her going through this on her own.

I arrived at work and parked alongside my best friend Jude’s car.

I loved my job as an equine-assisted therapist and I used to love where I worked but we’d been taken over by our neighbouring equestrian centre in November and it had been downhill ever since.

The new owner, Ross Langley, was incredible with horses, charming towards customers but horrendous to his staff.

If there’d been other options locally, neither Jude nor I would ever have chosen to work for him.

As I headed towards the stables to prepare for my first client of the day, Ross’s assistant, Belinda, hurried out of the office block on my left.

‘Mr Langley wants to see you,’ she said.

‘After my first appointment?’

‘Now.’ She looked around her shiftily before adding in a hushed voice, ‘I’m so sorry, Grace.’

‘About what?’

‘I can’t say. I just wanted you to know I’m sorry.’

That didn’t sound good but I gave her a weak smile of thanks and followed her into the offices. How a lovely woman like Belinda had managed to stick it out working for a man like Ross Langley for over a decade was beyond me. I was struggling after only three months.

I knocked on his door and pushed it open. Ross was looking out of his office window with his fingers laced behind his back.

‘You wanted to see me?’

‘Yes. Sit down,’ he commanded in his clipped Home Counties accent.

I sat in one of the two chairs on the other side of his desk.

‘When I assumed control of Silvervale, I kept the staff on out of the goodness of my heart,’ he said, still with his back to me. ‘In fairness, you’ve all been reasonable.’

Reasonable? High praise indeed!

‘I wasn’t convinced by you, though.’

My stomach lurched. Was he saying I wasn’t good at my job? Surely not.

‘Or, rather, I wasn’t convinced by what you do.’ He finally turned around and fixed his eyes on mine. ‘Equine-assisted therapy? I thought it was a fad – woke gibberish – but, against my better judgement, I gave it a go. It’s not working.’

‘But I kept all my clients and I’ve introduced new—’

‘Did I say I was finished?’

I flinched at the volume of his voice. ‘Sorry. Continue.’

‘As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, it’s not working having you here. We offer many equestrian services and we excel in them but we’re not a heavy horse breeding programme or a counselling practice. I’ve found a buyer for the Shire and the Clydesdale.’

My stomach lurched once more. So this was what Belinda was sorry for. He was selling those beautiful horses and I was getting my marching orders.

Ross sat down, placed his elbows on his desk and steepled his hands under his chin. ‘I’m letting you go with immediate effect. Belinda has cancelled all your clients and I’ll give you one month’s pay in lieu of notice. This isn’t up for discussion. You can leave now.’

I pushed my chair back and stood up, battling with my emotions.

It broke my heart to be leaving behind the horses, my lovely former colleagues from Silvervale and Jude.

But I couldn’t be more relieved to be walking away from Ross Langley.

I wanted to give him some feedback on his management style but he was not the sort of man who’d respond positively to constructive criticism.

The equestrian world was too small and leaving under a cloud wouldn’t do me any favours.

‘Thank you for giving me a chance,’ I said. ‘Would you mind if I said goodbye to the horses?’

‘Do what you like, but don’t distract my staff.’

* * *

I pulled up onto the drive back home an hour or so later and sat there, feeling too numb to turn off the engine and exit the car.

My eyes were burning from the many tears I’d shed.

Saying goodbye to my colleagues had been hard but saying goodbye to the horses had broken me.

The bond we’d built up, the trust we had in each other, the gift of healing they’d brought to my clients over the years.

As I’d stroked and hugged each of them I’d felt as though they knew it was the last time they’d see me and that their hearts were breaking like mine.

I didn’t care that I’d lost my job but I cared that I’d lost them, so very deeply.

I’m not sure how long I sat there, tears streaming down my cheeks, but my phone ringing snapped me out of my trance. A local number showed on the screen and I wiped my eyes with my sleeve before connecting the call.

‘Grace Coates speaking.’

‘Hi, Mrs Coates, it’s Sarah-Jane from Finchley Underwood,’ a chirpy woman said. ‘I have some fabulous news for you. The couple who came for a second viewing at the weekend have put an offer in for your house…’

I sank back into the car seat after the call ended and closed my eyes. So this was really happening. The beautiful forever home that Laurie and I had moved into shortly before Maddie started primary school was no longer forever. Just like my marriage. Just like my job. Did nothing last?

Maddie had said nothing about today’s gonna be good and my day was panning out that way too. Thank you, Friday the 13th, for adding to the shitshow my life had become.