Chapter 30
THIRTY
Gordon was completely within his rights, the internet informed her. As the farmer, he could rent the wood out to a motocross club for twenty-eight days a year without even applying for a permit – effectively, every other Saturday.
Later that morning, Mary Snow, Fresco’s owner, turned up with a trailer to take the pony away. There was a field that urgently needed grazing, apparently, or the weeds would take over. Tilly was inconsolable, weeping into the horse rug that was all she’d been left with.
And Will got a message from Andy, the boy in his class he’d gone beating with. The shoot was going to be on the far side of Pelham Park for the rest of the season, and Will was no longer invited.
Will didn’t cry, but he went and turned on his Nintendo Switch in a furious silence.
‘I did this,’ Kate said, with a stab of horror. She turned to Matt. ‘The pony, the shoot – it’s all my fault.’
‘What do you mean?’ he said, puzzled. ‘Of course it isn’t.’
‘I told Guy Pelham I’m not leaving because the children are my number-one priority and they love it here. So now they’ve decided to make the children miserable.’
Matt swore quietly. ‘I can’t believe Rosemary and Paul could be so evil. They said they adored our kids.’
‘Not as much as they adore Jamie’s. And I don’t suppose Paul’s giving any actual orders in all this, anyway. This is just the hangers-on, doing everything they can to winkle us out.’
Matt was silent a moment. ‘They’re right, though, aren’t they?
We can’t go on like this. Keep Out signs at the bottom of our garden, not being able to go to our own local pub without being stared at .
. . Everything we liked about this place is slowly being taken away.
I could talk to Paul – we could name a steeper price, find somewhere even better, start again—’
‘No!’ she cried. ‘I’m not leaving Trade Cottage!’
He stared at her, silenced by her vehemence.
She added, ‘I just refuse to be forced out like this.’
‘You should know . . .’ Matt took a breath. ‘I’ve been meaning to tell you – we’re having some problems at work. Financial stuff. There’s a possibility I might have to repay some of the loan. If we sold up for a really good price, it would mean, in the next place, we’d be a lot more secure.’
She didn’t know what to say. Everything was falling apart.
‘Sorry,’ he added.
She shook her head. ‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault.’
‘I feel a failure,’ he admitted. ‘The truth is, I let us get overstretched.’
‘Of course you’re not a failure,’ she said, going to hug him. ‘You’ve worked so hard. We both have. And we’re not going to let these bullies win.’
Something occurred to her. ‘If we get that planning permission, it’ll increase Trade Cottage’s value, yes?’
He nodded. ‘Should do.’
‘Well, then. Let’s fight as hard as we can for that.
If we get it, hopefully the objectors will just give up and we can get on with our lives.
But if for some reason they don’t, we can choose to sell up if we want to, knowing we’ve made a good profit on the place.
Either way, let’s not make any decisions until after the committee meeting – yes? ’
‘And if we lose?’ he said quietly.
She knew there was only one logical answer to that, but her mind didn’t want to go there.
‘We’re not going to lose. We’re just feeling low because everything’s piling in on us at once.
Look, let’s get out of here for today. You try to cheer Will up, and I’ll go and work on Tilly.
And then we’ll go out as a family for lunch and a movie, somewhere we don’t have to listen to this racket. ’