Page 48 of Just the Beginning

Rick struggled to process what he was hearing. ‘So that’s where we’re at? If I tell anyone in the family about you being ill, you’ll sack Anya?’

Davy didn’t reply, just turned his head to stare out the passenger window.

Disappointed, Rick started the engine and drove them back to the hotel in silence. He knew Davy was lashing out because he was scared and in pain, but Rick couldn’t let things go on like this. He didn’t really believe Davy would get rid of Anya, but if he did then Rick had plenty of savings in the bank. Living at home might not be ideal, but he’d been squirrelling away every spare penny that hadn’t gone into building his business and there was enough there to see her through until she could find something else.

He pulled up outside the front of the hotel and his great-uncle got out and slammed the door. Rick let him take a couple of paces up the path before he lowered his window and called out, ‘You’ve got until after Ma’s party to work out how you’re going to break the news to everyone.’

Davy turned to glare at him. ‘Or what?’

‘Or I’ll tell them myself. Let me know when you hear about your scan.’ Without waiting for a reply, Rick pressed the button to close his window and drove off. He couldn’t face seeing Anya, not with everything bubbling so close to the surface. One look from her and he’d give the game away. All he could do was hold his nerve and hope Davy saw sense sooner rather than later.

24

Anya was curled up on the sofa trying to finish off the apron she was making for Ma’s birthday. It wasn’t the most glamorous gift, but she’d never seen Ma in her kitchen without one and Anya had found an old cotton skirt she’d picked up in a charity shop once for fifty pence when she’d been sorting through the bags in the shed. It had a cream background and was covered in beautiful butterflies in every colour of the rainbow. She’d found a pattern online and it hadn’t taken more than a couple of hours to cut out the pieces and stitch them together on her sewing machine. The skirt had been hemmed with white lace and Anya was using that to add a little bit of detail to the front pocket of the apron.

Her phone vibrated next to her and Anya reached for it, expecting it to be Rick calling to say goodnight. They hadn’t had a chance to rearrange a meeting since their aborted lunch date the previous week but they’d spoken every evening after Freya had gone to bed. They’d even watched a movie ‘together’ on Saturday night, using a watch party function on a streamingapp. Anya had cancelled all her memberships months before, but Chloe seemed to have a subscription to everything going and had left them all logged in on the TV in the summer house. It hadn’t been quite as good as being able to snuggle up together, but being able to chat and share jokes with Rick had been better than sitting on her own. Freya was showing no ill effects from the events at the regatta and Anya was doing her best not to be to clingy with her. They’d even been back down to the beach for a paddle, because she hadn’t wanted Freya to develop a fear of the water. They’d not gone in deeper than Freya’s knees but it had been enough to reassure them both. Shelly had called into the hotel to thank her and they’d ended up arranging a playdate as Leo would be starting at the village school in September as well. Anya wasn’t sure if they’d ever be close, but she couldn’t afford to be at odds with someone she was likely to bump into frequently at the school gates.

Instead of Rick it was her mum and she was trying to video call rather than just send a text, which had been their usual method of communication since they’d fallen out.

‘Hi Mum, what a lovely surprise!’

She recognised the abstract blue and green print on the wall behind her mother. It was the one hanging in the dining area of the open-plan ground floor of the two-storey villa her mum shared with her husband, Bill, in the mountains above Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.

‘Hello, love, how are you?’

A little surprised, but very relieved that the cold war appeared to be over, Anya crossed her legs and settled down to chat. ‘I’m good thanks. How about you? You’re looking well. How’s Bill?’ She was so excited they were talking again that the questions tumbled out one after another.

Lisa laughed. ‘We’re fine, aren’t we Bill?’

‘What’s that?’ Anya heard Bill say in the background.

‘It’s Anya, she was asking how you are.’

Bill popped into the background, clutching a spatula. ‘Hello! All good, all good, I’m just making us a spot of supper. Fajitas,’ he added with a wink. ‘Your favourite.’

Of course Bill would remember a little thing like that. He was one of the good guys. She’d always kept him at arm’s length and yet he’d never held it against her. She’d yearned so long for a father figure and still she hadn’t let herself trust him to fill the empty space in her heart. ‘I miss your cooking, Bill!’

‘Bring Freya for a holiday and it’ll be my pleasure to cook for you both every day.’ The way he beamed at her rare compliment was bittersweet. He really did deserve better from her.

Her mum nodded. ‘Yes, do come. We’ll pay for the flights – and no arguments, young lady.’

Anya shook her head. ‘As if I would bother arguing when I know I’m not going to win. Honestly, it would be lovely to see you both,’ She made a point of including Bill in her smile as she said it. ‘We might have to wait until a bit later in the year, though. Freya is starting school, so it would have to be October half-term, or maybe Christmas.’

‘Well I can’t wait until Christmas, so October it is. And how on earth is Freya old enough to be going to school? It feels like only yesterday you were bringing her home from the hospital.’

Anya shook her head. ‘That was a long time ago, Mum.’ They both fell silent and Anya knew she wasn’t the only one experiencing a pang of regret. How delighted they’d all been when Freya was born. How happy.

‘Let us know the dates and I’ll look for flights,’ Bill said, bringing Anya back to the present. ‘I’d better go before I burn my chicken!’ He blew a kiss and disappeared from view.

‘Bill never changes, does he?’ Anya said, meaning it as a compliment. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a bad mood.’

‘No, he’s like that morning, noon and night,’ her mother said in a voice full of affection. ‘Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky. Speaking of which, are we booking two flights, or three?’

Anya gasped. ‘Who told you?’

Lisa rolled her eyes. ‘Helen, of course, though I must say it’s a poor do when I have to hear from my sister that you’re going out with Rick Penrose of all people!’

Anya frowned. ‘What do you mean “of all people”?’

---