Chapter 5
Cath was in her back garden, secateurs to hand, tidying and deadheading a pink-blossomed rhododendron that had rather taken over one of the borders.
Bursts of its delicate sweet scent surrounded her, as a message popped up on the WhatsApp supper group thread.
She straightened up, with a slightly creaky back, and pulled out her mobile phone from her jeans pocket. It was Lily.
Anyone up for a Final Fling before my exams? Please help save my head from exploding!
She swiftly messaged back, a big smile on her face, with a: Yes, please. I’d love that. C x
Back to the task in hand once more, she continued filling her trug basket with spent blooms. Hah, a year ago she’d have felt like that was her, abandoned in her fifties like ‘a spent bloom’.
But here, in this rural village, in her flourishing garden, with new friendships formed, she was having her own second flowering.
She wasn’t done yet, by any means. The gut-wrenching changes which had felt very much like an ending to all the good things she’d known, had merely meant the start of a brand-new chapter.
Life was filled with hope and happiness again.
And one by one, the messages rolled in from those very friends, until they were a full supper club house of ‘Yeses’. Brilliant! And an afternoon tea to look forward to, how wonderful.
*
It wasn’t long before her phone began buzzing once more. Oh, lovely, it was Adam. After her gardening stint, it was the ideal time to head in for a reviving cuppa, and a chat.
‘Hey, Mum.’ His tone was cheery.
‘Hi, Adam. How’re things going with the new job?’ He’d recently landed a new role in ‘Research and Education’ at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park near to Doncaster. His dream of working with animals, and particularly in conservation, finally coming true.
‘Great, actually. Three weeks in, and already I’m working on building links with local schools and colleges. I’ve even been looking to establish more meaningful connections with conservation researchers at a few universities. It’s cool.’
‘Sounds great.’ She was so pleased for him, hearing the joy in his voice lifted her so much.
‘Yeah, I also have to monitor current educational visits – hah, some of those are pretty full-on, I don’t know how you managed in school for all those years, and I’ve been tasked to come up with ideas for improvements, to move the “visitor experience” forward.’
‘Wow, you sound busy, and happy.’ His clear enthusiasm was brilliant.
‘Yeah, there’s a lot to think about, but I’m loving the challenge. And the team are really good. Helping me find my feet.’
‘That’s great, Adam. I’m so pleased for you.
It’s all come together, at last. All those applications and interviews were well worth it in the end.
’ His perseverance and resilience in the face of many rejections and interviews, some that seemed hopeful but then led to a dead end, had finally paid off.
‘Yeah, I still can’t believe my luck.’
‘Hey, not just luck, your love of animals and your wildlife work and volunteering put you in the frame. And your zoology degree, of course.’
‘And my sparkling personality …’ he took up, half-jesting but sounding delighted.
‘Of course, Son.’ And she thought with much relief that he was sparkling again, with his tone upbeat, and his cheeky sense of humour back on track.
He asked about village life, and Cath chatted about their recent very sociable supper evening.
She also mentioned that things were going well with ‘the cycling guy’ Will – whom Adam had met briefly in the village – hoping to make her son aware that her new relationship might be one to last the distance.
Adam was well aware of the tough time his mum had been through.
He had been there through the worst of it, witnessing the pain and destruction within the family unit.
Though gutting at the time, he had gradually learned to accept the situation.
And he’d always been supportive of his mum moving on.
With her tea brewing in a mug, she squished out the tea bag as she continued to talk, then added a splash of milk, before heading back outside to take up a garden chair on her crazy-paved patio. She could hear the sparrows chattering in the hedgerow too, as she listened to her son chat away.
‘Right, Mum, I’d better get going. I’ve got a primary school landing in precisely ten minutes.’
‘Ah, well, good luck with that.’
‘Thanks.’
‘It’s been lovely to catch up. You take care.’
‘Will do. And you. And once I get settled in more and find my feet here, I’ll have to make another trip up to good old Tilldale.’
‘You know you’re always welcome here, any time.’
‘Cheers, Ma. Love you.’
‘Love you, too.’
And knowing that Adam was happy and doing well career-wise, her heart felt like it had been topped up.
Even when your children became adults it didn’t stop you worrying about them, or wondering how their lives were panning out in their new roles and residences far away.
Parenthood was a permanent and precious thing.
*
‘I can get the keys … tomorrow. Do you fancy coming along to view the beach hut with me?’ Will’s voice came animatedly down the line. Crikey, her phone was a hotline this morning.
‘Oh, yeah, absolutely. What time are you thinking?’ She wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity.
‘Well, my mate Josh has offered to help out in the cycle shop in the morning, and we can fetch the keys from the solicitors any time from 9 a.m. So shall we leave around a quarter to?’ He sounded excited about the imminent viewing of his seaside inheritance. ‘I’ll come and pick you up.’
Cath’s response echoed his buoyant mood. ‘Yep, of course. Great. I can’t wait to see it.’
She loved that part of the coast; it held some cherished memories.
Walking at Low Newton and Embleton Bay on family holidays, then this summer’s picnic with Will sat in the dunes, followed by that almighty downpour and the mad dash back to the car, holding hands in the rain.
It was already a special place, and now it was lovely to think that lots of new memories might soon be made there, too. Hopefully, together.
It was Will’s beach house, of course, but a part of her couldn’t help but hope they might be sharing a future of some kind. That they’d be having more time as a couple, and what an amazing place to spend time getting to know each other.