Chapter 15
They had all agreed that Crafting and Cocktails night should go ahead despite Dixie’s absence and that they would take the cocktail-making in turns. Tonight Renee was in the hot seat and Nora already feared for her insides.
‘I went for a classic,’ said Renee, pouring from a large flask. ‘Dirty Martini,’ she added with a flourish.
Nora stared at the olive bobbing in her drink. A little swirl and the liquid adhered to the sides of the glass. ‘It smells strong,’ said Nora.
‘Wait till you taste it,’ said Renee with a sparkle in her eyes. ‘Chin chin!’ she added, closing her eyes as she took a sip. Nora and Jay waited. Renee smacked her lips together. ‘Heaven in a glass.’ The other two were still eyeing theirs suspiciously. ‘Bloody hell. Come on. Bottoms up!’
Jay took a swig and started choking. ‘Can’t breathe,’ he spluttered.
‘Give him a pat on the back. He’ll be fine,’ said Renee, savouring another mouthful of her cocktail.
‘You OK?’ asked Nora, once Jay’s hacking had reduced to a wheeze.
‘See, I wasn’t joking about the glass being half full of poison,’ he said, still sounding hoarse.
Renee pointed at Nora. ‘Are you not even going to try it?’
Nora felt it would be rude not to. She took a sip and the alcohol burned as it went down. ‘Good grief. There’s not much mixer in that.’
Renee chortled. ‘It’s gin and vermouth and the tiniest hint of the brine from the olives to make it dirty.’
‘That’s it?’ asked Jay. ‘No mixer?’
‘Indeed,’ said Renee, looking proud. ‘And isn’t it splendid?’
‘Lethal, more like,’ said Nora. ‘I’ll not be able to knit if I finish that.
’ She’d made the decision to reduce her slightly ambitious goal of a jumper for her dad’s birthday down to a sleeveless sweater vest, but it still needed to be finished.
‘I wonder if the Brownies next door have any lemonade I could put in it,’ she added, thinking out loud.
Renee gasped. ‘Damn sacrilege!’
‘Or you could have mine.’ Nora pushed her glass towards Renee.
‘I’ll not see it go to waste.’ Renee swiftly tipped it into her own glass.
Jay put his cocktail down carefully as if he feared it would spontaneously ignite, which would not have surprised Nora. She was grateful the Brownies weren’t having a campfire in the vicinity.
‘Have you heard from Dixie?’ asked Jay, glancing at Nora.
‘Have you not been following her adventures in the Instant Gram?’ asked Renee.
‘You’ve signed up to Instagram?’ asked a wide-eyed Jay.
‘Absolutely. It’s a fascinating thing. I have four Keanu Reeves accounts and a Prince Harry who keep telling me how beautiful I am.’
‘You have to block those,’ said Jay. ‘I’ve had some weird ones recently. Probably bots, at least I hope they are.’
‘I’m not worried,’ said Renee. ‘Worst case I’ll get a restraining order. It won’t be the first time,’ she said with a wink.
‘What has Dixie posted?’ asked Nora.
‘She’s made her first stop and seems quite taken with the outdoors,’ said Renee. ‘Forests here are much safer than North America, no chance of bear or puma attacks. Dolly Parton and I once had our tent trampled by a rampant elk in the rutting season.’
‘And one of the many reasons I prefer Leicestershire,’ said Jay.
‘I’ve had a few texts from Dixie.’ Nora felt a little guilty that she’d not been following the Instagram posts, but she had messaged Dixie each morning and she’d sounded like she was enjoying every minute.
They’d stuck to texts to preserve Dixie’s limited battery life on her phone but Nora missed chatting to her friend.
She was pleased for her that she was living her dream, or one of them at least. The one where Dixie invented something better than the air-fryer was still probably some way off.
Nora decided she’d give her a call when she got in.
It turned out Renee could actually knit faster after a few drinks and while she was meant to be showing Nora how to do the tricky bits around the neckline, before she knew it Renee had virtually finished it and all Nora had left to do was sew it up.
Nora and Jay had both insisted on walking Renee home because after a flask of Dirty Martinis they weren’t sure how she was still upright.
That left them closer to Jay’s place than to Nora’s.
‘You need to go that way,’ said Nora, as Jay was still alongside her.
‘It’s OK. I’ll walk you home.’
‘There’s no need to go that far out of your way and Bruce will be waiting for you. Go on, I’ll be fine.’ She could see he was reluctant to leave her. But it wasn’t late so it was still light and there were people about so Nora calculated that her odds of being attacked were remote.
‘If you’re sure.’ He bit his lip.
‘Certain. I’ll see you at climbing,’ she said and she started walking off.
After a few steps she checked over her shoulder and Jay was jogging towards his house.
He’d obviously been keen to see if Bruce had done any damage.
Nora smiled to herself and strolled on. It was a lovely evening and while she hadn’t finished the Martini, the small amount of cocktail she had consumed had given her that chilled-out feeling.
Her phone beeped and she was smiling as she pulled it from her pocket because she was sure it would be Jay checking she was OK.
It was an unknown number. She stopped walking to investigate further.
She opened the text.
Hey Nora, Long time and all that. I agree it would be good to reconnect. How are things with you?
She was surprised and delighted. The message was from Liam, who was ex number seven.
She pinged back a quick reply.
I’m good. Still playing with numbers, which I see you are too. I’ve got my own place which is a bit odd on my own but I’m getting used to it. How are things with you?
She’d not gone far when her phone rang. Her stomach flipped. She’d not been expecting to speak to Liam. She took a deep breath and answered the call – it was Jay.
‘What’s up?’ she asked. ‘Has Bruce eaten your sofa?’
‘I have no idea because he won’t let me in my own front door. Listen.’ Jay must have held the phone nearer to the door as all Nora could hear now was ferocious barking.
‘He thinks you’re an … Jay?’ All she could hear was barking. ‘Jay! I can’t have a conversation with Bruce.’ She waited longer than she would have liked to for Jay to come back on the phone.
‘Did you hear that?’
‘Yes, he must think you’re an intruder. Have you tried talking to him?’
‘I can’t hear myself over that racket and I doubt he can either. I don’t know what to do.’
‘It’s OK. We’ll figure it out. I’m heading your way now.’ Nora turned around and it wasn’t long before she reached Jay’s house, where he was lying on the front path trying to talk to Bruce through the letterbox that inconveniently was at the bottom of the front door.
‘Thank goodness,’ said Jay, looking relieved as he got to his feet. Bruce was still barking inside. ‘Look at this.’ Jay put his key in the door and had only opened it a crack before the door was slammed shut by the force of the dog on the other side.
‘You have to admit he’s an excellent guard dog,’ said Nora. ‘In some areas it’s thought that homes with dogs are a third less likely to be burgled.’
‘Very reassuring,’ said Jay, raising his voice to be heard over Bruce. ‘But I’m not a burglar.’
‘Here, give me the keys and let me try.’ Nora crouched down to the letterbox because that was as far as she was prepared to go. She opened it. ‘Bruce.’ The dog continued to bark. Nora leaned a little closer and shouted, ‘Bruce!’ The barking paused.
‘That’s amazing,’ said Jay. Which set the barking off again and Nora glared at him. Sorry.’ Jay held up his palms and backed down his own front path.
‘Listen, Bruce. I’m coming in and you need to be a good boy.
’ The barking stopped. Nora put the key in the door and opened it a fraction.
A big black nose instantly appeared. ‘Get ready to grab him if he runs out,’ said Nora to Jay, who took up an exaggerated goalie pose.
Nora put her hand through the gap in the door and started petting Bruce while talking to him gently.
She then slipped inside the door and shut it behind her.
Bruce tried to jump up but she commanded him to sit.
When he eventually did, she gave him a big fuss.
‘You are such a good boy.’ Bruce flopped on to his back in the hope of a tummy rub. ‘Let’s see how much of the house you’ve eaten.’ She went to investigate and Bruce followed dutifully at her side.
‘Er, hello,’ came the faint voice from outside. ‘Any chance you could let me in please?’
Nora shut Bruce in the kitchen and came back to let Jay in. ‘Oh thank goodness,’ said Jay, seeming genuinely relieved. ‘I thought he’d eaten you.’
‘Bruce is a pussy cat.’
‘I wish he was. Actually I wish he was a guinea pig. I’m sure they’re a lot easier to manage and far less likely to gnaw on my leg bone while I’m sleeping.’
‘You still having that dream?’ asked Nora.
‘Yeah,’ said Jay with a whole body shiver.
Sometimes Nora couldn’t help smiling at Jay. ‘The good news is Bruce hasn’t done any damage. Well, none that I can see. Relax. You’ve got this.’ She handed him back his door keys. ‘Night.’
‘Bye,’ said Jay, holding the keys to his chest.
‘Night, Bruce!’ called Nora and the dog started barking. She took that as her cue to leave. As she stepped outside her phone beeped with a reply from Liam.
I’m single too. It sucks.
*
Dixie was almost tearful at the sound of Nora’s voice.
It had only been a couple of days but she was starting to understand why lonely people went to the supermarket daily just so they could speak to someone.
Dixie was a talker. Sometimes she overshared but she was one of life’s chatty people and spending hours alone in a defunct campervan was not something she was enjoying.
‘Nora, how are you? How was Crafting and Cocktails? How are Jay and Renee?’ she asked.
‘That’s a lot of questions,’ said Nora with a chuckle.
‘I’m good. I had a bit of a drama with Benicio and a cannabis house but I’ll tell you about that in a mo.
I’ve tracked down another ex called Liam.
Renee made a lethal Martini that could strip paint so when you get to that stage with Elsie, let me know and we’ll send you some.
Jay is having a battle of wills with Bruce and the dog is currently winning by a mile.
I think that’s everything from my end. How about you? ’
Dixie stalled for a second. She had a choice to make.
Nora was her closest friend. Could she tell her the truth?
She certainly felt like offloading everything would make her feel better.
But was it going to help? She feared Nora would try to fix things and the only way to do that was for Dixie to give up and she definitely didn’t want to, well, not just yet anyway.
Although sitting there with only a tealight for company, she suspected she wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer.
She took a deep breath and put a smile on her face.
She’d once worked briefly in a call centre where they insisted that everyone smile while they were on calls because they believed it made a difference to how you came across.
It was the weirdest place she’d ever worked.
Rows and rows of depressed minimum-wage individuals all grinning into space.
‘I am still fabulous. We’re great, me and Elsie.
We are enjoying escaping the rat race and appreciating the simpler side of life.
It’s quite a revelation, being on my own.
Although, I’m not entirely sure I am on my own because I keep finding notes under the windscreen wiper.
I’ve had two so far. One told me to move Elsie and the second one threatened to have her clamped. How rude is that?’
‘Um, it’s not nice, but I’m thinking that maybe you should just move on to somewhere friendlier,’ suggested Nora.
‘But that would be giving in to the system,’ said Dixie with conviction. ‘I won’t be bullied by the patriarchy.’
‘Is it a man leaving the notes then?’
‘I don’t know, but they have that sort of arsey-bloke tone about them. Clearly it’s some old man dog-walker who doesn’t like me parking here. But it’s a public right of way in a woodland so he can’t stop me and I won’t be intimidated.’
‘Good for you. But do be careful.’
‘I am. You don’t need to worry about me,’ said Dixie, finding it hard to maintain her call-centre smile.