Chapter 21 #2
Having perused the paintings and then checked the bath in the stripy wallpapered bathroom that had once belonged to Grace was still fit for purpose, Constance then refused point blank to let me help her undress or get into it.
However, once her modesty was covered in bubbles, I was allowed back into the room.
‘How is it?’ I asked, from my position on the dusky pink Lloyd Loom chair on the opposite side of the room.
‘Heaven,’ Constance sighed dreamily and splashed a bit. ‘Absolute bliss.’
‘I’m so pleased.’
‘The only thing spoiling the experience is my frustration at not having used it years ago!’
‘Well, that time’s gone,’ I said sensibly. ‘So, there’s nothing to be gained from fretting over it now. How do you fancy another cup of tea, only this time in the bath?’
‘No, thank you,’ she said and closed her eyes. ‘But you could top the water up a bit.’
‘All right, but just a little. It’s almost full to the brim already.’
‘This is one of life’s pleasures that I’d forgotten about for far too long,’ she said blissfully, once I’d turned the tap off again.
‘A bit like playing the piano?’ I risked asking.
She opened her eyes, looked at me and gave me a wobbly smile.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I hadn’t forgotten about that. I just…’
‘Yes?’
She rested her head back against the bath pillow.
‘Let’s just say, you hit the nail on the head when you talked about your dad feeling guilty for having the opportunity to live more life than your mum.’
I had known that had been a moment for her.
‘As I recall,’ I gently reminded her, ‘when I said that you told me we should make the most of our talents.’
‘I did,’ she accepted. ‘And going forward, I am going to try. Grace would hate to know that I still wasn’t playing on a regular basis after all these years.’
‘Will you play for me?’ I asked.
‘Perhaps,’ she smiled. ‘We’ll see.’
I wanted to ask if she had been James’s teacher but given what I’d said earlier about not discussing anything related to him, I didn’t bring him into the conversation again. That didn’t stop me thinking about him, though.
A lot might have been said since I’d heard him playing when our unexpected connection to Fernside had been revealed, but I hadn’t forgotten how accomplished, if a little robust, his playing had been.
Perhaps I’d get the opportunity to ask him about his musical education when we’d finally had the chance to talk about the woods and other subjects were back on the table. That is, assuming they ever would be…
‘I think I’d better get out,’ Constance said after some time had passed and as she inspected her fingers. ‘I don’t really want to, but I’m starting to prune.’
I came out of a daydream which involved James and I sitting side by side at the piano, his fingers over mine as he taught me some simple tune, and I asked Constance if I could help.
She refused my offer, even though I promised to keep my eyes closed, but she called me back in sooner than I expected.
‘I can’t get my slippers back on,’ she tutted. She was sitting in the pink chair now, with the towel wrapped around her. ‘I haven’t got my shoehorn.’
‘Well, that’s all right,’ I told her. ‘I can help, but I was going to ask if you fancied a bit more pampering, so you might not want your slippers on yet. How about a mani-pedi to complete the spa experience before the slippers go back on?’
‘How about a what?’ she frowned.
‘A manicure and a pedicure,’ I smiled.
‘The chiropodist does my feet,’ she said, looking down. She had very nice feet. ‘They look all right, don’t they?’
‘Perfectly serviceable,’ I grinned. ‘But no polish.’
‘Tilly, really!’ Constance gasped. ‘In spite of my rather tempestuous youthful years, I’ve never had my toenails painted and I’m not about to start now. What would Mr Trotter think?’
I let out a bark of laughter. ‘Please don’t tell me that your chiropodist is called Mr Trotter!’ I giggled.
‘I know,’ she said, looking minxy. ‘Isn’t it too perfect? It’s his real name, too.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ I laughed again, and pressed a hand to my stomach.
‘It’s true.’ She grinned and looked at her toes again. ‘What colour have you got? Anything subtle that might suit an octogenarian?’
I had a couple of shades of pink, and we settled on the darker for her toenails and the lighter for her fingers. I wasn’t an expert in the field, but I’d had a few mani-pedi treats myself, so was able to give her a gentle foot and hand massage before applying the polish.
Carried out in the sunroom, once she’d applied the arnica to her bruises and was dressed, it felt like an intimate experience, and it tugged at my heartstrings and made me think even more of our friendship.
‘I feel like I could sleep for a week,’ she yawned lazily, as she inspected her fingernails again. ‘I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt so… unkinked.’
‘That’s a brilliant word,’ I said, as I tidied everything away. ‘Unkinked was the last sensation you might have experienced today, so I’m so pleased the bath’s helped.’
‘It really has.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you, Tilly. You’re a dear, kind and thoughtful girl and I wouldn’t mind making this a regular treat.
’ A flicker of upset crossed my face and unfortunately, she spotted it.
‘But not if you haven’t got the time, of course,’ she said hastily, and I hated that she’d noticed.
‘I’m sure I can manage the bath, if not the nails, on my own. ’
‘It’s not that…’ I started to say, thinking that I might not always be around now, but my words trailed off.
How could I possibly express that to her? In the end, I didn’t have to because my phone started to ring, and James’s name flashed up on the screen.
I jumped up to answer it, making sure the screen was shielded from view. Constance might not make anything of the fact that I had her nephew’s number already keyed into my phone given that I was looking out for her, but then again, she might, and I wasn’t about to take any chances.
‘Hi,’ I said briskly. ‘Yep. Yes, it’s me. Can you hold on a sec?’
I could hear him saying something as I turned to talk to Constance.
‘I’ll just take this outside,’ I told her. ‘The signal is better out there.’
‘Is it Zack?’ she asked loudly, as I lifted the phone to my ear again.
‘Yes,’ I said quickly. ‘Yes, it’s Zack, so I’d better hurry up. You know I don’t get the chance to talk to him very often.’
‘Say hello from me!’ she cooed.
I rushed out of the sunroom and down the lawn towards the river.
‘Tilly!’ James’s voice quacked. ‘Have I lost you?’
The question felt like a punch to my gut.
‘No,’ I said shakily. ‘You haven’t lost me. I’m still here.’
He was quiet for a second and I wondered if he was thinking about the words he’d said, too. Had he asked, I would have told him he hadn’t lost me in any way. Not yet anyway.
‘Is Aunt Constance okay?’ he asked. ‘I rang the house phone a few times earlier, but no one picked up.’
‘We were in the bathroom,’ I told him. ‘I thought it would help Constance’s bruises if she had a bath before applying the arnica cream I picked up for her from the store.’
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see. That was kind, Tilly. Thank you.’
‘And then I gave her a bit of a pamper session, so we didn’t hear the phone. Sorry.’
‘You gave her a what?’
‘A pamper session. I gave her a manicure and pedicure and painted her nails. Just made her feel nice after the fall.’
‘That was kind, too.’
‘She really enjoyed it,’ I smiled. ‘She told me she’s never had her toenails painted before.’
I was still feeling surprised about that.
‘You painted her toenails?’ James echoed incredulously.
‘Yep,’ I laughed. ‘A lovely shade of pink to surprise the chiropodist with. Did you know he’s called Mr Trotter?’
‘I don’t believe you!’ James laughed. ‘You’re having me on.’
‘I’m not,’ I giggled. ‘Constance swore that was his name.’
‘That’s ridiculous, but hilarious.’
‘I know!’ I agreed.
‘Oh Tilly,’ James said, surprisingly, and the mood seemed to change in an instant. ‘I do wish I was there with you.’
It had been wonderful to laugh with him, but the jovial moment had ended abruptly.
‘I wish you were here, too,’ I told him, as I looked back towards the house and imagined the pair of us snuggled up together on the apartment sofa.
Not that that was likely to happen under the current circumstances.
‘We could get our talk over with then,’ I said, thinking of more practical matters.
‘I think I’ve pieced together some of your reasons for not wanting to sell the woods. ’
‘Have you been talking to Aunt Constance about it?’ he asked, rather sharply.
‘No,’ I said, feeling a little offended. ‘Of course not. I promised you I wouldn’t. This is stuff I’ve worked out for myself.’
And Rick’s comments about James helping his mum in the woods in the school holidays and therefore wanting to hang on to them because of that had helped, too.
‘Sorry,’ James backtracked. ‘I honestly didn’t mean to sound so suspicious. I’m just so tired and narky.’
‘You sound like you need to get outside for a bit.’
‘That would be wonderful.’
‘Can you maybe go for a walk when you finish work?’ I suggested. ‘Hug a tree or something.’
‘No chance,’ he sighed. ‘I’m already going to be at least an hour late picking Buddy up from the sitter tonight.’
‘Will they mind?’
‘They won’t, but Buddy probably will.’
I wondered how feasible it was for James to have a dog given the long hours he worked, but he seemed organised and Buddy was certainly a happy hound.
‘Do you think there might be a chance that we’ll get to talk soon?’ I asked.
I hoped he didn’t think that was a selfish question.
‘If I keep putting these ridiculous hours in all week,’ he told me, ‘there’s a chance I might be able to come up this weekend.’
My heart raced at the possibility of that.
Before I had known he was Constance’s nephew, that would have been solely because he was my new beau, but now it skittered with a little trepidation mixed in too because seeing and talking to him was going to potentially mean the end of something important for me.
I was full of contradictions with one half of me craving the conversation, but the other wanting to put it off.
‘Well, that would be great,’ I said.
‘Would it?’ he asked. ‘You don’t sound so sure.’
‘No, I am,’ I tried to say more convincingly. ‘But I’m scared, too.’
‘If it’s any consolation,’ he confessed, ‘so am I.’
‘Are you?’
‘How could I not be? This whole situation is just one big mess, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘It does feel like that at the moment, but hopefully everything will become clearer once we’ve talked things through.’
‘My aunt still doesn’t know that we’d met before, does she?’
‘Not unless you’ve told her.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I haven’t said a word, and I suppose that’s something to be thankful about.’
I wasn’t sure how to take that.
‘Should I be offended that you’ve just suggested that keeping our relationship from her is a silver lining?’
‘No,’ James rushed to say. ‘That’s not what I meant at all, because had we not been at odds over the woods I’m certain she’d be ecstatic that we’re a couple. She was full of praise for you that evening at the hospital.’
‘Was she really?’ I asked, noting that he’d referred to us as a couple in the present tense.
‘It was all “Tilly this, Tilly that”,’ he mimicked, and I smiled and bit my lip because he’d sounded so funny. ‘It was infuriating really.’
‘Well, I’m sorry about that.’
‘Um,’ he said, ‘you sound it. At least her not knowing is going to mean there’s one less person in this situation with a broken heart.’
‘Does your heart feel broken?’ I whispered.
‘It doesn’t feel great,’ he said back, softly. I heard a door noisily open and close and a man’s gruff voice in the background. ‘Oh Tilly,’ James sighed. ‘I’ve got to go. I’m sorry to cut this off. I’ll see you at the weekend, okay?’
‘Yes.’ I swallowed. ‘I’ll see you at the weekend.’