Chapter 10
10
‘And then he said, “I’ll come and find you later,”’ Sadie said to Charlie in hushed tones a few hours later. She was back in the corner of the orangery, having decided to let the more enthusiastic members of the group get stuck in. In the centre of the room, Rowena was guiding the group in charge of painting the impressive model of a tree that would form the heart of the centrepiece, while the rest of them focused on creating decorations to hang from its branches. A young man called Ben – another Travers, by the look of him – was showing half a dozen people how to paint some ceramic leaves he’d pre-made in his pottery. In another corner, Carrie-Ann, who had been introduced as a silversmith with her own workshop on the estate, was leading a group who were using stamps and templates to cut out and shape leaves from different types of metal.
Sadie’s attention had been caught by a basket of yarn and several printouts with crochet patterns on them. It was something she hadn’t done in ages, but the sight of them had conjured many happy hours she’d spent making blankets, jackets and hats, first for her own children, then more recently for her grandchildren. When Charlie had seen her pick up one of the patterns she’d asked if Sadie would mind if she joined her and the pair of them were settled happily on the sofa. The mist had lifted, offering a lovely view out over the gardens, and Sadie had already promised herself a walk after lunch to explore them. She wasn’t quite sure how they’d got onto the topic of Dylan, other than Sadie mentioning she’d woken early and their ending up having a cup of coffee together. Before she knew it, the words were out of her mouth.
‘Sounds like you’ve got yourself a date,’ Charlie replied with a grin as she worked her crochet hook through the next stitch of the leaf she was making.
Sadie yanked the yarn she was working, cursing under her breath at the tightness of the stitch. She removed her hook and unravelled it. ‘A casual agreement to meet for a drink with a fellow guest is not a date.’
Charlie’s face fell. ‘It was a joke. I didn’t mean to imply anything by it.’
Of course she hadn’t, but Sadie hadn’t been able to get it out of her mind. ‘I was saying it more to remind myself than anything. It’s been playing on me, wondering if I’ve given Dylan the wrong impression, but then I think I’m probably overthinking it.’ Well that stream of consciousness was going to reassure precisely no one.
The smile Charlie sent her was sympathetic. ‘I’m sure he was just being friendly. If you’re both going to be here for the full fortnight then it’ll be nice for you both to have some companionship, especially if his children want to do their own thing from time to time.’
Sadie nodded, feeling relieved. ‘I’ll have to scope out if there are any other single people staying and we can maybe set up an informal group for anyone who wants company.’
‘That sounds like a plan, and you’ve got us three for the next couple of days as well.’
Sadie finished off her leaf, stitching the loose ends of the yarn into the back before snipping them off and smoothing it out. ‘That’s turned out quite well, I think.’
‘It looks beautiful. I’m nearly done with this one.’
Sadie laughed as she picked up a different shade of yarn. ‘I’m amazed at how quickly it’s all come back to me.’
Charlie smiled. ‘It’s fun having someone to chat with while we work. I’m more used to being curled up on my sofa alone. I’m glad I decide to give the spa a miss.’
‘Me too, because I’m enjoying your company,’ Sadie said, her hands moving almost unconsciously as she crocheted the chain for her next leaf. ‘Now, I was wondering how the three of you met.’
The rest of the morning passed in easy conversation. A few other guests drifted over from what they’d been doing to try their hand at crocheting, including Tara and Jon, a couple she guessed were around her age who were going to split their time between the estate and visiting their son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who lived on one of the military bases in the area.
Sadie found she rather enjoyed her unofficial role as leader of the group, and she gained in confidence as the morning went on and they turned to her for help. It was also just nice to spend time getting to know people, something she hadn’t done in a long time. Before Pete had left, she’d had little in the way of a social life. When they’d been younger, they’d been out all the time, but then the kids had come along and her friendship group had revolved around the school run, play dates and afterschool clubs. There’d still been work dinners with Pete, but those had stopped. Pete had claimed at the time that they were a chore and she’d done more than enough to support him over the years, but now she wondered if he hadn’t wanted her around for more nefarious reasons. If she started worrying about how long and how often he might have been carrying on behind her back, she would drive herself up the wall. Best to focus on the gift of potential new friendships than keep harking back to the past.
By the time the session had ended, there was a good collection of leaves ready for decorating the tree. Ben had collected all the painted ones to take back to his kiln for glazing and firing. Rowena gathered them into a group around the main work area where a tray of Buck’s fizz and sparkling fruit juices waited to reward them for their hard work.
‘I hope you’ve all had fun this morning.’ There was a general murmur of agreement, smiles and nods. Rowena smiled. ‘Lovely. Now, the plan is to carry on over the next few mornings until we have everything complete. As ever, those sessions are entirely voluntary and you are welcome to drop in for an hour, stay for the whole thing or spend your time doing other things. The choice is entirely yours. Tomorrow we’re going to start making the pears and there will be a variety of different techniques we’ll be using, all of which are suitable for absolute beginners.’ She pointed to Ben, who was lurking at the back of the group. ‘Ben will be back to help with decorating, together with his partner, Amelia, and I’ll be here, of course.’
Ben stepped forward with a shy smile. ‘It’s a bit more hands-on tomorrow, as we’ll be sculpting the pears, not just decorating them. We’ll be using modelling clay, and for those of you with fond memories of your school art classes, we’re going to use papier maché, although the recipe we use these days is a lot less messy.’ A ripple of laughter greeted that pronouncement, though Sadie wasn’t sure she fancied doing either because she didn’t want to ruin her nails, apart from anything else.
Rowena drew their attention back to the front and gestured towards Carrie-Ann. ‘And you’re going to be focused on making the partridge, isn’t that right?’
Carrie-Ann nodded. ‘I’ll need a couple of volunteers and it’ll be quite fiddly work so anyone who has tried their hand at jewellery-making at home, or is handy with a pair of pliers, let me know.’ To Sadie’s left, Jon raised his hand. ‘I can do a couple of hours tomorrow before our family joins us at lunchtime.’
‘Brilliant, thanks.’ Carrie-Ann looked around. ‘Anyone else?’ A couple of other people volunteered and they finished their drinks and broke up for lunch.
‘I’m not sure I fancy any of that,’ Tara said, echoing Sadie’s own thoughts as they placed their glasses on the tray.
Charlie shook her head. ‘I want to explore the estate more tomorrow so I’ll give it a miss. I had a lot of fun today, though. I’m going to find Anna and Jane, see how they got on in the spa.’
‘Have a lovely afternoon, and thanks for your help. We wouldn’t have achieved half of what we did without you,’ Sadie told her.
‘I’m not sure about that, but I did enjoy it. Might see you in the bar for a drink later?’ Charlie raised her eyebrows, a knowing grin on her lips.
‘I’ll be there,’ Sadie replied, refusing to rise to the bait.
‘Are you coming through for lunch?’ Tara asked her once the younger woman had left to find her friends. ‘You’re very welcome to join Jon and me.’
‘That would be lovely, thank you.’
They were halfway to the door when Rowena swept up to them in a jangle of bracelets. ‘Ah, my crochet queens! I was just having a look at what you’ve done this morning and I’m very impressed. I wasn’t sure if we’d have any experienced hands but I’ve got the cutest template for a pear if you’re not all stitched out?’
Sadie turned to Tara. ‘What do you think? I haven’t got anything planned for tomorrow, if you want to give it a go?’ It was the sort of project she could carry around afterwards and do the odd extra hour here and there as the fancy took her.
Tara nodded. ‘Why not? Jon’ll be here anyway.’
Rowena beamed at them. ‘Oh, you are brilliant. I’ll bring it with me tomorrow and you can see what you think.’