Coming Home to Jasmine Cottage Read online

  ‘Oh Sal.’ Lucy reached out and hugged her friend again. ‘I’m so pleased for you. Both of you. And thanks for letting me in on the secret.’

  ‘Well I do have an ulterior motive, I want help with my hair and make-up.’

  ‘You’re on.’

  ‘And somewhere to hide my suitcase.’

  ‘So when is the big day? Charlie told me you were having a weekend off, but that’s really close.’

  ‘Nope, that’s the date. Half term hols.’

  ‘Gosh, that’s not long off.’ Lucy realised with a jolt that a good part of the half-term was already over. September was drawing to a close, it was already autumn and soon the green would be draped with the soft golds and ambers of the leaves. Soon the classroom walls would be decorated with the colourful pumpkins that the children had been painting, and they’d be talking about bonfires and fireworks. ‘That’s practically tomorrow.’

  ‘Well not tomorrow.’ Sally giggled. ‘But it’s very soon, isn’t it? But I’ve picked an outfit, and Jamie’s got a suit, he’s going to look so sexy. I mean he does anyway, but he’s always in his farm gear, and we’ve got rings.’ She frowned. ‘Though once we get home they’ll be spotted straight away, well we did think we might take all the parents for lunch at the Taverner’s, then they can’t kick up a fuss.’ She paused. ‘Do you think Eric and Charlie will be okay without me? Charlie is panicking already.’

  ‘I’m sure they will.’ Lucy nodded reassuringly. ‘And now Charlie’s taken up a permanent post it might do them good,’ she grinned, ‘they can do some male bonding.’

  ‘Not sure bonding is the word, but it’s funny you know. They are so totally different, but they kind of rub along together alright, like an old married couple. Charlie tidies up after Eric, and finishes his sentences off. They’re hilarious, and Eric is so pleased to be back. He said he feels useless stuck at home, but I’m sure he’s even more vague and forgetful than he used to be. I caught him chatting to a parrot he’d booked in the other day, couldn’t remember what it was there for and he’d crossed the entry out of the appointment log to make room for some notes.’

  ‘That sounds a bit, well, serious.’ No wonder Charlie was worried. ‘Did the parrot tell him?’

  ‘Oh no, all it can say is ‘off for a pint again, are you, Albert?’ in a sarcastic voice. It belongs to Mrs Graham, but every so often Albert drops it off with us on the pretence of some strange imaginary illness. He’s hoping that one day there will actually be something wrong with it. Eric’s always doing stuff like that though, says he’ll remember and of course doesn’t. But I have backups.’

  ‘I hope you’ve told Charlie.’

  ‘Oh I have a plan, Charlie will be fine. Quite honestly though, as long as they don’t castrate anything they shouldn’t, then it can’t be that bad, can it? I mean it is only a few days. Oh gosh, is that the time? I’ve been going on and on, it’s just it’s so nice to talk about it, and I know you won’t tell anybody. I’m supposed to be meeting Jamie. He’ll be so pleased you’re in on the secret,’ she kissed Lucy on the cheek and gave her another hug, ‘I really better go, see you later.’

  ‘I’m pleased too, are we allowed a secret bottle of wine the night before you go?’

  ‘Only if we can watch Love Actually on DVD.’

  ‘You’ve got a deal.’

  Chapter 10

  Charlie squinted as the low autumn rays of sun sneaked over the top of the school roof. Things had certainly changed since Eric had decided he was ready to return to work.

  He still wasn’t entirely sure about the go-with-the-flow attitude to appointments, and he definitely didn’t approve of the ‘drop the payment in any time’ strategy. But it was nice to have a bit more flexibility as far as his days went. Now, if he was called out at 5 a.m. to deal with an emergency, some days he’d be away for 3 p.m. and be able to pick Maisie up from school.

  Not that she was as bothered now; she was more interested in discussing worms with Ted. Or guinea pigs. They were apparently going to train his as a showjumper. Charlie suspected that the nearest the guinea pigs would get to completing a show-jumping round would be to eat it.

  Maisie spotted him the moment he stepped into the playground (fashionably late compared to most of the other parents) and he couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her happy made him happy.

  She flew into his arms managing to simultaneously kick him in the groin and nearly give him a black eye. He glanced up, knowing Lucy would be laughing at his mock groans. She wasn’t.

  She was pressed hip to hip with Matt Harwood, who had a possessive arm resting across her shoulders, his dirty blond-brown hair brushing against her head.

  He leaned in, his lips inches from her ear, and she laughed as he whispered something. Then Archie, his tiny Chinese crested dog licked her chin and made her laugh more.

  Charlie shook his head; Matt Harwood had to be the only farmer in the country who’d decided a small, bald dog was preferable to a collie or terrier.

  ‘Daddy. Daddy.’ Maisie wriggled. ‘Stop squeezing me so hard, I want to tell you about the story we had today, and the pumpkin I painted.’

  Charlie gently put her down on the floor and turned away, trying to ignore the irrational twinge of annoyance. He knew he could trust Lucy, knew she loved him – despite all the complications – and he really couldn’t blame Matt for ladling the charm on. After all, who wouldn’t want to chat to Lucy? And Matt was charming, the man was popular with most of the girls in the village. Charlie reckoned he was one of those men that just couldn’t help himself. He just had to flirt.

  Lucy had told him more than once that Matt was like a loveable big brother. But he still didn’t like it. Every time he saw her close to another guy it made something tighten in his stomach. Love had obviously brought out a possessive streak in him he hadn’t known he had.

  But he knew why he was disgruntled. In a way, these moments when he was able to meet Maisie from school were shared moments, he’d look and she’d be watching them from the school doorway and they’d swap a look. A little raised eyebrow from her, if Maisie had had a tough day, a thumbs up or wink if things were going well. The shake of a hand if he needed to be careful how he handled things.

  He sighed. It was as intimate as it got some days.

  But irrational disappointment flooded him when he missed out.

  ‘Come on Daddy.’ Maisie tugged at his hand. ‘Home time.’ He let her guide him, weaving between the parents who were still waiting for the older children to emerge from the small school building.

  Maisie was happy. They were getting there. Slowly. So why wasn’t he?

  ‘Can I go?’ He nodded, letting his daughter run ahead to catch up with Ted.

  The brutal truth of the matter was, he’d been running away since Maisie had come back into his life.

  He’d told himself he’d been facing up to his responsibilities, but he hadn’t, not really. He’d been doing what he thought was the right thing, not what his gut was telling him. And if he didn’t own up to what he really wanted, and fight for it, then he risked losing the lot.

  ‘Are you listening, Daddy?’ His daughter was back, and he wasn’t even giving her the few minutes of time she needed. ‘I’m going to tell you about the pumpkin painting.’

  ‘I’m listening, Maisie. If you draw me a picture of your pumpkin, then I’ll make sure we make one for real, exactly the same.’

  ‘Out of a real pumpkin?’ Her brown eyes opened wide. ‘Not tissue paper? With eyes, and teeth.’ She bared her own and he laughed.

  ‘A real pumpkin, but after the holidays.’

  ‘I know that. I’m not silly. Hallowe-en is just before we go back to school. Will you make pumpkin soup?’

  ‘You might be pushing it a bit there.’

  ‘Well we can ask Lu—. I mean Miss Jacobs. She knows how to make pumpkin soup. She told us so. You need bacon and other spicy stuff. Come on, let’s go and tell Roo, then you can ask her to come and show you.’

>   ***

  ‘Ted says summat nasty might happen to it if you don’t say yes.’

  ‘Something.’ Charlie corrected Maisie then glanced up from the laptop and frowned. ‘Something nasty will happen to what?’

  Maisie gave a heavy sigh and folded her arms. ‘The guinea pig of course.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘Daddy you haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?’

  Lucy gave a muffled squeak, then put her hand over her mouth apologetically. He loved the way she switched from professional, but caring, school teacher to relaxed funny person. He loved lots of things about her.

  ‘I thought you were talking to Lucy, not me.’

  ‘I was talking to everybody, but she said I’ve got to ask you.’

  ‘Ask me what?’ He’d been studying some case notes when Lucy had arrived, and she’d smilingly told him to finish off while Maisie gave her a tour of their new home.

  ‘It’s called Treacle.’

  He raised an eyebrow at Lucy, who grinned. ‘Ted’s guinea pig has had babies, and he asked Maisie if she wanted one of them.’

  ‘There’s two left. Ted is keeping Peanut, but said I can have Treacle, and Treacle’s the best anyway. They can carry on seeing each other then and be friends, like me and Ted. I might not always want to be his friend, cos he is a boy and he doesn’t know how to make daisy chains,’ she glanced at Lucy, ‘Daddy can’t either, so I don’t think Ted will, do you?’ She didn’t wait for a response. ‘But he told me he can climb really big trees instead. So it would be mean not to have Treacle, wouldn’t it, Daddy?’ She ended on a hopeful high.

  ‘We haven’t got a hutch.’

  ‘You can make one. Ted’s dad made theirs and it’s big.’ She held out her hands as far apart as she could. ‘It likes sprouts, which will be very useful at Christmas because I don’t. So it could eat them for me, couldn’t it? You said you don’t like waste.’

  ‘I don’t.’

  ‘I’m going to go and have another look at it. You can have a think, but I think you should say yes quickly.’

  With a wave she was off, diving out of the door, Roo at her heels.

  ‘Well she seems happier.’ Lucy was laughing as he fought to keep his face straight.

  ‘She is, it’s been good for us moving here. You were right, as normal. What would I do without you?’ He spoke lightly, but he meant every word.

  ‘Well you’d have a pizza all to yourself for a start.’ She smiled back and for a moment everything was perfect in Charlie’s world. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Research into alpacas. Poor Maria’s been plagued with bald spots, well the animals not Maria herself.’ He folded down the lid of the laptop. ‘It’s been bugging me for ages, but Eric suggested a zinc deficiency. I’ve checked for mange, ringworm, you name it. I even thought they might just be plain bored and rubbing on the fences. Then Eric pops up with the answer, just like that. He comes across all vague and forgetful, but he’s brilliant, sharp as anything underneath. Sorry, this must be boring.’

  ‘Not at all.’ She shook her head. ‘Obviously not as funny as watching you try and wriggle out of taking on a guinea pig, but still interesting.’

  ‘Do you think I should let her?’

  ‘Well she might have a point about the sprouts.’

  ‘Thanks for those words of wisdom.’

  ‘Pleasure.’

  ‘So what’s the half term hols got in store? I was hoping we could go for a day out, if you fancied it? Although with Sally buggering off for a few days, it might be a bit mad at the surgery.’

  ‘A day out sounds good. I can help out with Maisie as well if you like? Mum said she’d pop over one day, and I’ve got marking to do, and some quotes to arrange for work on the cottage before I put an offer in.’

  ‘Time for a pizza one night?’ He sat down beside her on the sofa, and pulled her in close to his side.

  ‘I’d like that.’

  ‘So would I, I’ve missed you, we’ve both been far too busy.’ She smelled far too good, looked far too good.

  ‘True.’

  He slipped his fingers under her hair, ran his thumb over her slender jawline. ‘We should find time. I know I’ve been a bit preoccupied with Maisie, but I want you. I’ve decided that I can’t just ignore us, Lucy. You’re too important to me.’ He rested his forehead against hers, looked into her clear blue eyes. ‘That’s if you’re happy to put up with a single dad who’s also a workaholic?’

  ‘What if Josie, you know, if it gets nasty …?’

  ‘If it’s going to get nasty I’d rather have you by my side than be on my own.’

  ‘But it might annoy her, make it worse.’

  ‘She’s already shown me the worst, Lucy. I’m not going to let her dictate to me how I live my life any longer.’ He hadn’t thought this through, he was just saying it as it came into his head. The words that mattered. Life without Lucy was lonely. ‘I know we can’t throw ourselves into this like teenagers, but we can make sure we don’t lose it, can’t we?’

  The words hung between them. It mattered what she said, how she reacted. He didn’t want her to be with somebody else, he wanted to give them a chance.

  She nodded, blonde waves cascading around her face. He wanted to kiss her, but he wouldn’t. There was time; he was old enough to be patient. But not too patient.

  ‘Stay for dinner?’

  ‘Don’t you have an itchy alpaca to sort out?’

  ‘Tomorrow. This is supposed to be my afternoon off. We can make pizza with Maisie?’

  ‘You make pizza?’

  ‘Well.’ He shrugged self-consciously. It had been a ‘thing’ since Maisie had been about four years old; she made cupcakes with Josie and pizza with him. ‘It involves a lot of flour and mess. I can manage a basic dough, and she makes faces out of pepperoni, sweetcorn, mushroom and pepper.’

  ‘I’m impressed, a man of hidden talents.’

  ‘I’ll be impressed when you make us that pumpkin soup.’

  The door suddenly swung open and distracted both of them from all thoughts of cooking. Roo hurtled in and launched himself at Charlie, Maisie following more slowly.

  She was staring intently at the animal in her arms.

  ‘I’ve got to be very careful not to drop him.’

  Charlie looked from his daughter to Lucy. This looked a bit of a mission accomplished.

  ‘This is Treacle.’

  ‘Sorry about this.’ Mrs Wright dressed in her normal overalls and muddy wellingtons, a collie at her feet, waved cheerily from the doorway. ‘I won’t come in duck, what with my wellies and the mess.’ There was a broad smile on her round face, and there could never be any doubt that she was related to Ted. ‘The kiddies told me you were happy to have one of these, but I thought I better check myself.’ She winked. ‘I know how it is.’

  ‘Well I …’

  ‘Now you’ve not been having me on young Ted, and Maisie, have you now?’

  ‘Daddy,’ Maisie edged closer and hissed, ‘you don’t want anything bad to happen to him, do you?’ He looked down at the dark whiskery face, then carefully extracted the animal from her arms and looked more closely.

  ‘I’d say it’s a boy from the way it’s been behaving. Had to separate them from their mother we have, haven’t we Ted?’

  Ted nodded, his face solemn. ‘They play naughty games, they’re a pain.’

  ‘I’d say you’re right Mrs Wright. Well, you’d have to feed him Maisie.’

  She nodded, her auburn curls bobbing.

  ‘And help keep his cage clean.’

  Another nod.

  ‘But,’ he glanced up at Mrs Wright, ‘we’ll have to sort a cage and run out.’

  ‘That’s no problem, lad. We’ve got a spare. I’ll pop the little one back for now, then get our Ed to bring him over with all the stuff later, shall I?’ She held out her hands for the guinea pig, and Charlie gladly relinquished it. ‘The kiddies will help, won’t you?’ Ted and Maisie nodded i
n unison. ‘Right then, I’ll leave you two in peace. Come on Maisie, we’ll put Treacle back for now, and you can help me feed the calves. If that’s all right with you, Charlie?’

  ‘If you’re sure?’

  ‘Oh she’s no trouble, are you love? I’ll get her a pair of Ted’s wellies.’

  ‘I’ve got my own.’ Patting the guinea pig on its head, she raced upstairs and came back with flowery pink boots. Charlie wasn’t sure they’d ever be that colour again.

  ‘You can see my chicks too.’ Ted grinned. ‘You can have one if you want.’

  Charlie shook his head, and held a hand up. ‘No chickens. No more pets.’ He shared a look with Lucy as the children followed Mrs Wright across the yard. ‘Was it really such a good idea to live on a farm?’

  ‘She’s happy.’

  ‘She is. I just hope we’re not going to turn her life upside down again.’

  ‘Stop worrying.’ She put a hand over his. ‘Let’s concentrate on happy for now.’

  ‘True. Talking of which, I’ll be glad when Sal is back.’

  Lucy laughed. ‘She’s only just gone.’

  ‘Yes, but I’m imagining how bad it can get in four days. Although she did show me her alternative online appointment book, that Eric hasn’t got a clue about.’

  ‘Sneaky.’

  ‘Necessary. Castrate the wrong animal and we’re up that creek without a paddle. If he didn’t have a habit of crossing stuff out we’d be okay.’

  She giggled.

  ‘Any idea where she’s gone?’

  She shrugged. ‘Not exactly.’

  Charlie frowned, the way she said it came across all wrong. ‘Do you know something I don’t?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You’re rubbish at lying.’ Deceit didn’t sit happily with Lucy, she was far too open and direct. Now there was a look of mild panic on her face.

  ‘It’s probably better if you don’t ask. Please?’

  ‘Girlie secret?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  He shook his head. ‘Well, whatever she’s up to, she better be back on Tuesday.’

  Chapter 11

  ‘Oh, Lucy.’