Chapter 9
Despite my best efforts to shrug off what Rick had said he’d heard, I decided that for clarity’s sake and my own peace of mind, I would mention it to Constance.
Deep down I knew we were on the same page, but I didn’t want to carry around an unnecessary niggle when a tactful conversation would rid me of it.
‘Constance!’ I called, as I arrived back at Fernside and heard her walk out of the sunroom. ‘Are you there?’
My voice was louder than I had realised, and it made her jump, which wasn’t the best of starts.
‘What is it?’ she asked, as one hand flew to her chest. ‘What’s happened? Is there something amiss in the woods? Or is it the cabin?’
‘Sorry,’ I hastily backtracked on panicking her. ‘No, it’s nothing like that. Everything’s fine.’
I shifted from one foot to the other, wondering how to broach the subject without her thinking that I was questioning what she’d previously said, which of course, was exactly what I was doing.
‘Spit it out then,’ she said. ‘For heaven’s sake, you’ve got me imagining all sorts now.’
So much for being tactful and keeping the situation light.
‘It’s nothing bad,’ I finally began. ‘I saw Rick down there…’
‘Oh well, I don’t mind him having a wander and if it’s nothing worse than that?’
‘He said something,’ I continued awkwardly. I seemed to be making more of a hash of it with every word. ‘And I just thought I should mention it. Even though I know it isn’t…’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Constance tutted. ‘Will you just get on with it?’
‘He said there’s a rumour going about that you’ve already accepted an offer on the woods,’ I blurted.
‘I see,’ she said.
‘And given that we haven’t gone public with our arrangement yet…’
I knew Melody wouldn’t have mentioned anything to anyone because she hated gossip.
‘You wanted to check there wasn’t some truth in it and find out if I was intending to play you off against someone else in a bidding war, is that it?’
She sounded both angry and appalled and I felt every bit as bad as I deserved to.
‘No,’ I said and hung my head. ‘No, of course not. I’m sorry. I should never have said anything.’
‘I wish you hadn’t,’ she snapped. ‘I appreciate that you might not be used to village life, Tilly, but this is part of it. Gossip and rumours are always rife and the sooner you learn what to do with both – I recommend doing nothing – then the happier we’ll be.’
After the harsh but justified telling off, I could feel tears gathering behind my eyes. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ I apologised.
‘Well, you have upset me.’
‘I’m very sorry,’ I said sincerely. ‘Can we please pretend I never mentioned it?’
I hoped I hadn’t done our relationship any lasting damage. Her reaction had been unexpectedly sharp.
‘I think we’d better had,’ she said, and I felt marginally relieved.
‘I promise I’ll never question you again,’ I told her.
‘Good.’
‘Shall I go and put the kettle on?’
I just wanted us to get back on the friendly footing we’d been enjoying before.
‘No, thank you,’ she said and turned away. ‘I have some telephone calls to make.’
‘I’ll see you later, then,’ I said, as she walked off.
She didn’t answer and I hoped I hadn’t shaken her faith in me. The next time I saw Rick, even though what had just happened wasn’t really his fault, I would tell him to keep any rumours he heard about the woods, village or Fernside strictly to himself.
I didn’t see Constance for the rest of the day or the following morning.
Knowing that I had a few jobs to do in Sudbury and wanted to set off early, I didn’t go for my early swim and left feeling unsettled.
I didn’t like missing the swim and I hated not seeing Constance for breakfast and having the opportunity to completely clear the air between us.
I’d been staying at Fernside no time at all, but the comfortable pattern of my mornings was already set, and as I joined the faster and busier roads that took me away from the lanes around Willowell, I realised how happy I was to no longer be subjected to a daily commute and what a luxury it was to be able to organise my time in a far more relaxed way.
Going forward, assuming I hadn’t blown my chances of buying the woods, when I launched my business, I would make a point of setting my days up how I wanted them to run.
My current laidback schedule was holiday mode, but there was no reason why I couldn’t adopt a more stress-free approach to work once everything was organised.
‘You’re looking at… well… at least a couple of hours,’ the mechanic in the third garage I later stopped at told me. ‘Maybe even a bit longer than that.’
During the hot and sticky journey to town, it had become increasingly obvious that the air con in my car needed gassing, and having finished my errands at the bank and my few bits of shopping, including buying some more clothes, I decided that I’d see if I could get it sorted on spec.
Third time was looking likely to be a charm, even if I was going to have to wait around.
‘That’s fine,’ I said. ‘I’m just grateful that you can do it. I don’t suppose there’s anywhere I can get something to eat around here, is there?’
‘There’s a burger van round the corner.’ I didn’t much fancy that on such a hot day but needs must. ‘Or a pub further up the road. It’s a bit of a walk, but the grub’s half decent.’
‘I’ll try there,’ I said, unlocking my phone to search for it. ‘I really appreciate you fitting the car in.’
‘It won’t be done very quickly, but if you leave your number with my mum, who’s covering the desk today, she’ll message you when it’s ready to pick up.’
‘Brilliant. Thank you so much.’
The mechanic’s mum, Cath, was just heading out to another garage to pick up a part and, hearing that I was walking to the pub, kindly offered me a lift as she was going to be driving practically past the door.
‘I won’t be about to take you back,’ she said, ‘but you’ve got your brolly so you should be okay to use that for a bit of shade.’
‘Thanks again,’ I said, as I climbed out with my bag and the umbrella I would later use to shield me from the heat on the return journey. ‘At least I’m nowhere near as hot now as I might have been if I’d had to walk.’
She laughed at that. ‘You wait until you’re my age,’ she smiled. ‘You’ll always be hot then!’
I waved her off thinking that was something to not look forward to, and when I walked into the pub I felt even more grateful that I hadn’t arrived looking like a hot mess, or not too hot a one anyway, because I immediately spotted the hat retriever sitting at a table with a guy opposite him. How fortuitous was that?
They were talking intently and looking at some paperwork and, as I slipped discreetly by and made for the loos, I thought it was a shame that I hadn’t brought the hat with me, because I might have been able to use it as a conversation starter as well as wearing it on the walk back to the garage.
‘What are the odds?’ I smiled at my reflection, as I washed my hands, then touched up my lip gloss.
I hoped we might have an opportunity to at least say hello. My faux pas with Constance and the guilty, tummy churning feelings it had evoked were temporarily forgotten. That said, my tummy did still feel fluttery, but for an entirely different reason.
I sat at a table tucked just around the corner from hat man – I really needed to find out his name if we were going to keep bumping into each other – and as I first drank a thirst-quenching Coke and then tucked into a crisp and fresh chicken Caesar salad, I wondered if he’d left and I’d missed my chance to chat.
Though that said, he might not have even recognised me, and I could have just been saved the humiliation of being met with a blank expression when I said hello…
I tried to put him out of my mind and was thinking about whether to order some ice cream to spin the time out further when I looked up to ask the server if I could have another minute to decide and found it wasn’t the server standing next to my table.
‘Hello.’ I smiled at the guy, who hadn’t left after all. ‘Are you here to take my order for two scoops of strawberry and chocolate ice cream?’
‘I’m not.’ He laughed and looked around. ‘But I’m sure I can find someone who will.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘You’re all right.’
‘I thought it was you,’ he smiled down at me.
‘And I thought it was you.’ I smiled back, hoping I didn’t look as hot as I suddenly felt. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his tanned forearms were a sight to behold. ‘But I didn’t want to interrupt.’
‘Just a bit of business,’ he explained, and I noticed he didn’t have the paperwork he and the other man had been looking at.
‘Do you conduct all of your business out of pubs on the edge of industrial estates?’
‘Not as a rule,’ he grinned. ‘This was my first time.’
‘And how have you found it?’
‘Time will tell, but the steak was decent.’
‘Did you have dessert?’
‘I did not.’
‘Well,’ I said, looking at the server who was now approaching, ‘I’m about to. Would you like to join me?’
The question took me by surprise as I wasn’t the sort of person who usually made such a forthright offer, but my flash of confidence was rewarded when he pulled out the chair opposite mine and sat down.
‘So,’ he said, once we’d ordered, and as he looked around the table and on the floor. ‘No hat today?’
‘No,’ I confirmed, as our eyes met. ‘And that was a mistake, but then I wasn’t expecting to have to take my car into the garage and have a long walk in the hot sun. I have my umbrella for the trip back. The mechanic’s mum gave me a lift here, so…’ My words trailed off. ‘So, no. No hat.’
He smiled and nodded, and I felt my cheeks start to flame. Rambling and feeling hot, I must have been making a glorious impression. So much for the flash of confidence. That had obviously upped and left.
‘Do you live in the area?’ he asked, before I had gathered my wits enough to fire a question at him.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Well, sort of. No… not really.’ Oh god.
‘Are you not sure?’ he frowned.