Chapter 10
I’d had my share of dates and relationships over the years – some short, fun and sweet, others longer and rather more serious – but none of them had ever started in the same way as my connection with James. Yes, it had been fun and flirty, but it had felt intimate, too.
Considering we were only just on first name terms, I had shared a lot about myself over that bowl of ice cream.
It had been a revealing encounter and initially I wondered if that was the result of the barrister in James coaxing things out of me and making me say more than I usually would, but then I realised that hadn’t been the case because he had shared just as much as I had.
As first conversations went, it certainly felt… unique.
Even though meeting James proved to be a distraction, the closer I got to Willowell and then Fernside on the journey home, the further thoughts of him drifted away, and in their place my last conversation with Constance began to play out in my head again.
I felt wretched to have upset her and hoped that she really would be able to forgive and forget, as she so distressingly had phrased it, the upset I had caused.
‘Tomorrow then,’ I whispered when I arrived back and found both the sunroom door and the one beyond it closed. ‘I’ll talk to her tomorrow.’
Having forgone my early morning swim the day before, I was up with the lark and in the river extra early the following day.
My continuing concerns about how much I’d hurt Constance meant I hadn’t slept well.
My tossing and turning in the increasingly hot bed matched the thoughts toing and froing in my head, and I hoped that the dawn swim would cool me down and help me get some perspective on the situation.
I was also mindful that I hadn’t heard from James, but then I hadn’t messaged him, either…
The river was refreshingly cool and restorative and, in my body at least, I was feeling almost back up to speed when I later went in search of my dear new friend.
I had heard the sunroom door open while I was eating my breakfast and I found Constance sitting in her usual chair, with the paper in her lap and a pen between her teeth.
Her brow was furrowed in concentration, and I guessed the crossword was proving extra tricky that morning.
‘Tetradecagon,’ she triumphantly said aloud as she filled a word in.
‘A fourteen-sided shape?’ I ventured, hoping the memory of my high school maths was correct.
She looked at me over the top of her glasses. ‘Oh dear,’ she sighed.
‘Was that not right?’ I grimaced. ‘Maths was never my strong suit.’
‘No, you were right,’ she said, setting the paper aside. ‘What I meant was, oh dear, look at the bags under your eyes. They almost match mine.’
My swim had perked me up a bit, but the river didn’t have magical healing properties and Constance was right; I did look tired.
‘I didn’t sleep well,’ I told her.
‘Me neither.’ She smiled. ‘I didn’t like our quarrel.’
‘Neither did I, Constance,’ I said and rushed over to sit on the small sofa next to her chair. ‘I’m so sorry I even mentioned that wretched rumour.’
‘And I’m sorry that I didn’t see your upset for what it was.’ Constance tutted and reached for my hand.
It was a kind show of affection and one I immediately returned.
‘Which was?’
‘That you were scared that you were going to miss out on buying the woods, of course,’ she said, giving my hand a squeeze.
For someone of her age she had a surprisingly strong grip and I returned the gesture, though not with too much force.
‘Can we really put it behind us?’ I asked.
‘Of course we can,’ she said stoically as she let go of my hand. ‘I’ve already given Rick a piece of my mind. He should have known better than to take heed of gossip. My advice is, listen to it if you can’t resist but always go straight to the organ grinder if you want the facts.’
I took a moment to consider that.
‘Like I did, you mean?’ I said softly.
It was Constance’s turn to think then.
‘My goodness, Tilly.’ She gasped. ‘You’re right. You did, didn’t you? You came straight to me, and I was so cross I told you off! I’m so sorry.’
‘We’re both sorry,’ I said.
I had the strongest feeling there wasn’t any substance to the Fernside needs work and that’s why the woods are up for sale gossip, but given we’d only just cleared the air, I wasn’t going to mention it.
‘We are,’ she agreed. ‘I think we should carry the lesson forward but let the upset that it taught us go. Tea will help. Why don’t you go and put the kettle on?’
‘And I’ll leave this in the kitchen, shall I?’
I held up the envelope I’d got for her.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘The rent I promised you. And we’re going to look for a cleaner today, aren’t we?’ She suddenly didn’t look as on-board with the plan as she had before. ‘Someone who will keep Miss Lyons and her crew off your back?’ I reminded her.
‘Yes, I suppose so…’
‘Or, like I suggested before,’ I pushed harder, ‘I could do the whole place myself. I really wouldn’t mind and it would save you—’
‘Absolutely not,’ she objected loudly. ‘Put the envelope in the Quality Street tin in the cupboard above the kettle and bring the parish magazine back out with the tea. There’s bound to be some firm or other in there that we can try.’
‘Right you are.’ I smiled, knowing that I’d won that battle, at least.
The tin turned out to be stuffed with cash, mostly five-pound notes, but it was a substantial amount, and I had a job to squeeze the envelope in with it.
‘Do you know how much money you’ve got in that tin, Constance?’ I asked her, when I rejoined her with the tea tray and the magazine she’d asked for.
‘No idea,’ she shrugged. ‘I haven’t been able to reach inside that cupboard for quite some time, but I hadn’t forgotten the money was there.’
‘Well, there’s quite a lot. I could barely get the lid back on.’
‘My father always said you should keep some cash in the house,’ she told me. ‘He didn’t trust the banks and always kept a tidy sum in various hidey holes about the place.’
‘Well, you’re clearly following his advice,’ I told her. ‘You haven’t got any more tucked away, have you?’
‘No,’ she said, but she didn’t sound sure. ‘I don’t think so. I’ll have to have a think before we get the cleaners in, won’t I?’
‘You will,’ I agreed as I picked up the magazine and flicked through it. ‘Now, let’s have a look at the domestic section, shall we?’
An hour later we’d long emptied the teapot and exhausted the list of cleaners and cleaning firms offering their services locally.
Constance had raised some objection to all of them.
Some were ‘too big an outfit’ while others fell into the ‘I haven’t trusted that family since the grandfather was discovered scrumping our gooseberries’ category.
‘Oh Constance,’ I grumbled. ‘This is impossible.’
‘Well, I’ve got to have someone I can trust, haven’t I?’ she sniffed.
‘Yes,’ I said, tempering my frustration, but only just. ‘Especially if you’ve cash hidden all over the place.’
‘It won’t be much—’ she started to say, but my phone pinged loudly, and I made a grab for it, knocking over my empty cup and dropping the magazine in the process.
‘For goodness’ sake, Tilly!’ Constance scolded, as I read the message that had landed. ‘Steady the buffs.’
I had no idea what that meant, but her tone told me I was in trouble.
‘Sorry,’ I blurted, but I knew I didn’t sound it because I couldn’t stop smiling.
‘You don’t look very sorry. Good news?’
‘Ever so.’ I blushed.
The message was from James. An apology for not yet ringing and a succinct explanation that he had been caught up in an unexpected meeting in Sudbury and was now reading some case notes he’d had to quickly get to grips with.
Apparently, his boss hadn’t been impressed that he’d taken so long over the pro bono meeting and not made it back to London.
He would have been raging if he knew how long James had lingered over dessert!
‘Is it a love note from your amore?’ Constance asked. ‘Do you even have an amore? I can’t believe I’ve never asked.’
‘It’s a message from a friend,’ I told her. ‘Someone I’ve only recently met.’
‘Oh,’ she said, her eyes twinkling. ‘Tell me more.’
She settled further back while I explained how I had bumped into someone because of Mum’s runaway hat and that we had then met again by fluke, but for longer, the previous day.
I didn’t say that the person was drop dead gorgeous, because I didn’t want Constance to think that I was shallow, but as I described our chance meetings, I felt myself dazzled again by James’s beguiling brown eyes and wonderful smile.
‘That sounds very much like what you youngsters call a meet-cute, doesn’t it?’ Constance grinned, once I had finished.
‘I suppose it does,’ I laughed. ‘But I wouldn’t have expected you to have heard of that expression, Constance!’
‘Rick keeps me up to date,’ she laughed. ‘Sometimes in a little too much detail. The things that boy gets up to! I’d love to see him find the right man and settle down, but something tells me he still has wild oats to sow. If that phrase applies…’
‘Constance!’
‘Well, it’s true,’ she laughed. ‘And I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying it. In fact, he’d be thrilled to know that the topic of his rampant love life had formed a part of our morning conversation.’
Knowing what a show-off and how full of himself Rick could sometimes be, even if it was tongue in cheek, I didn’t think Constance was wide of the mark in saying that.
‘You’re right,’ I laughed, too. ‘And what about you, Constance?’ I got swept along and asked.
‘Me?’
‘Yes,’ I nodded. ‘I’ve shared, now I want to hear about your love life.’
‘I haven’t had one of those for a very long time.’
‘Am I rude to ask?’