Chapter 21 Cherry #2
‘Ah, it’s a long story, but I’ve known them all since I was a teenager.
My adoptive mum fostered Nate, Cara and Eilidh as babies.
When I moved to Kinshore as a teenager, we got to know each other and into this habit of meeting for tea once a week.
All the foster babies together. Sean too, actually. ’
‘Really? But he’s not…’
‘No, he’s not, but he came all the same. That’s Sean for you! Love him.’
‘That’s fascinating. I’m still learning about him. Do you all still have tea together?’
‘I wish. It’s rare that it’s ever the five of us now that Eilidh’s in Edinburgh and Cara’s busy filming.
Nate visits when he can… Works a lot of lates.
Sometimes it’s me, him and mum, which is…
’ She trailed off, holding the scanner in one hand and a geranium plant in the other.
It didn’t take close scrutiny to see that her mind was distracted.
‘Is…?’ Cherry prompted.
‘Sorry.’ Summer’s eyes readjusted from somewhere far away. ‘It’s lovely…really lovely. Anyhoo, Mrs Butler, pop back if there’s anything else you need. Or give us a call and someone can deliver.’
Ten minutes after returning home from the garden centre, motivated and restless, Cherry started on the lawn.
She hacked back the grass with a scythe, then hauled out the lawnmower from the shed and ploughed it up and down until the grass was a respectable length and the flowerbeds reachable at last.
Unfortunately, reaching them also meant weeding them.
With the sun at its highest point in the sky, she was a sweaty, grass-stained mess, but invigorated. Alive.
Around 4.30 p.m. as she was laying out all the plants and equipment for the next part of the job, she realised she’d forgotten to bring home the bird bath and feeders. She would need to collect them tomorrow.
After clocking off around 7 p.m., Cherry took a cooling bath, watched a little TV whilst eating a sandwich and thinking about how empty the house was without Sean.
As she was about to head to bed, her phone pinged with a message.
Campbell Duff. Jesus Christ.
Or so he likes to think.
CAMPBELL: Cherry, hey. Long time, no see.
How are you? I’ve been invited to your pro-am poker tourney in Kinshore via Connor Donoghue (his sister is shacked up with your husband’s brother or something).
I hear you live there now. I’ve been filming up near Dornoch, but have a gap in my schedule if you fancy a wee dram? C x
What? Did she fancy a ‘wee dram’ with her ex from ten years ago? The short answer was no. The more considered response was: say yes, clear the air before the tourney and ask the question that had been bugging her of late.
CHERRY: Hey, Campbell. It has been a long time. I’m good, thanks. It’ll be great to see you at the tourney. My schedule is a bit busy before then, but a coffee would be fab when you’re here.
That stalled the problem for a while. Bought some preparation time. She would tell Sean when he got back.
The following morning, Cherry headed back to the garden centre to pick up the forgotten items.
‘How’s the garden shaping up?’ Summer asked.
‘Cherry tucked a bird feeder under her arm. ‘I’m happy with progress so far. I just have to work super hard today to make sure it gets done by the time Sean comes home from London tomorrow.’
‘Listen, I’ll tell you what…’ Summer spoke in her bright, sing-song lilt. ‘I could come over this afternoon and help you, if you like. There’s folk here who can mind the shop. I could even bring homemade ginger wine for when we’re done. Or for while we’re doing.’ She wiggled her eyebrows.
‘Seriously? Help would be amazing, and I’m not going to say no to ginger wine. Thank you so much, Summer.’
Summer grinned and clapped. ‘Amazing! I love a good garden project. Can’t wait!’
As Cherry was toiling in the midday sun, the doorbell signalled the arrival of Summer. She was effortlessly vibrant in her green overalls, carrying the promised bottle of ginger wine. Two grab bags of crisps spilled out of her overflowing tote bag.
‘I’ve brought snacks.’ Summer put the crisps down on the counter, followed by dips and biscuits. ‘These can go in the fridge.’
‘You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.’ Cherry was blown away by this generosity. Life really was different in small-town Scotland. For every busybody in the local store, there were five people who excelled in loveliness.
And Summer was so easy to talk to. No sooner had they pulled on their gloves and begun tugging out the last of the weeds than they were chatting away like they’d known each other forever.
‘I’ve never met anyone who got married after two days,’ Summer said as they raked back the soil in the flowerbeds. ‘What’s that like?’
Cherry leaned on her rake. ‘Honestly, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. The easiest. From the moment I saw him, I was gone. We have this mad connection, you know?’ This was all true; it was what came after that crazy connection that was difficult.
‘If you know, you know, I guess,’ said Summer. ‘Sean is a kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of guy, so it doesn’t surprise me he got married quickly.’
She must have seen some hesitation on Cherry’s face.
‘I mean, he makes decisions fast, but he’s not rash,’ she added, hurriedly. ‘It’s like his operating system is built of faster RAM or something. He knows what he wants, and he doesn’t waste time deliberating over things – or regretting them afterwards. Not that everyone believes that about him.’
‘I guess you’ve known him a long time.’
‘Since he was a teenager, but it doesn’t feel like that much has changed.
He’s still handsome, still the life and soul, with a reputation as “boyfriend material”.
Although he doesn’t always get the girl.
I think what’s changed is his decisions don’t land him in hot water like they once did.
Take this house – when he bought it, it was a shell and people thought he’d made a huge mistake, but they’re eating their words now. ’
‘The house is incredible,’ Cherry agreed. What Sean had done here was impressive. ‘He does work super hard and put his whole heart into things.’
‘And it’s a huge heart,’ Summer added. ‘Sean is a smart guy, just not in a conventional package. He’s unique.’
Cherry wouldn’t argue with that. How funny that the love of her life lived here, on this little village in this remote peninsula in Scotland, and she’d met him in New York. If fate was something she believed in, she might say it was lending a hand.
‘Are you and Nate an item then?’ Cherry asked a little later, pushing the familiarity but acting on a hunch.
Summer began to dig holes in soil rather more busily than before. ‘Er…no, we’re close but just friends.’
‘Okay. Sorry, that was rude of me.’
Surprisingly, Summer didn’t change the subject, but flushing from something more than the early afternoon sun, she talked whilst bedding impatiens.
‘Nate is incredible. The way he is with animals would melt anyone’s heart, but I’ve known him since I was thirteen years old and he’s almost like a brother to me.’
‘Mm-hmm.’ There was something there, floating so close to the surface; it was like Summer wanted to talk to someone about it. ‘Almost?’
She laughed and shrugged coyly. ‘Well, he’s not my brother. He was adopted; I was in the foster system for a long time. He gets what that does to your psyche; not everyone does.’
‘No, I’m sure they don’t, and I can see why that would give you a strong bond.’ Cherry saw the irony of her trying to read someone else’s love life when her own was barely legible. But reading people was fun; she liked Summer, and it was a nice diversion.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the two women dug and planted and talked, until their skin was burning.
Cherry was settling plants in the flowerbeds while Summer, guiding honeysuckle up a bamboo trellis, asked if she wanted some ginger wine.
This was another thing Cherry wasn’t putting up a fight about.
‘The Butlers are an amazing family, aren’t they?’ Cherry said, leaning back on her elbows on the grass, emboldened by half a glass of the alcoholic drink.
‘They are,’ Summer agreed. ‘I love them so much.’
‘Yeah.’ Cherry noticed how truly potent the buzz from this wine was.
‘I know they’ve had their problems – big ones.
Jimmy dying, for one, but sometimes I feel I’m short-changing Sean.
’ She glanced at Summer, who was listening with interest, giving her encouragement to continue.
‘He’s bringing warmth and love and this amazing clan to the table.
I’ve come from a rollercoaster life playing poker that my mum, the tarot reader, likes to remind me is no good for anyone. ’
Summer turned on her side to face Cherry, strategically bringing her wine with her and not spilling a drop. Her expression was warm but serious.
‘I don’t have a vast amount of successful experience to draw from, but don’t we bring different things to a relationship?
You don’t need to give Sean exactly the same thing he gives you.
He has a big, strong family, and that’s there for you.
And you, gorgeous Cherry, are bringing him all this vibrancy and grab-life energy and this beautiful soul of yours. I don’t know if he’s ever had that.’
Vibrancy and grab-life energy and a beautiful soul?
These words were so kind that Cherry wanted to weep and hug Summer.
This was exactly what she needed to hear – that she was more than what she was not.
It was so simple, thinking of what she did bring to Sean’s life, yet she had become fixated on what she might not give him.
‘Thank you, Summer. That’s so incredibly kind of you to say.’