Page 19 of Escape to the Country

A loud wolf-whistle stopped me in my tracks as I turned to see, of all people, Alex. Oh, bloody great!

‘Mad, you look, erm, stunning.’ He flicked up his phone and took a picture before I had a chance to say a thing and grinned at me. He was gorgeous but I was going to kill him.

‘I hate you, Alex Millington. Delete that picture right away!’

‘Will not! I’m going to put it on Instagram right now!’

‘Don’t you bloody dare.’ I leaned forward to grab the phone off him and he held the phone up above his head, so I had to reach even closer and up the length of his arm to grab it. As I did, he grasped my other wrist and I stumbled and fell against him. I could feel the warmth of his body, even through my gorgeous wax dungarees, and I shivered. He looked deep into my eyes and time stood still. Every nerve ending in my body tingled. We were literally millimetres away from each other. I could just reach up and kiss those lips and – oh God! – I really wanted to. As I bit my lip, his eyes lowered to my mouth and I’m really not sure if it came from him or me but I heard a groan.

‘Ah, there you are. Is Alex teasing you again? He was always doing that to you when you were a teenager. Put her down, Alex. She must hate you. Here you go, Maddy, a nice cuppa for you.’

Uncle Tom passed me a thermal cup and I laughed nervously and blushed as I brushed invisible dirt from my legs with my free hand. When I snuck a glimpse of him again, he had a smirk on his face and he was still looking at me with a sparkle of mischief in his eye.

‘Right, Alex and I just have to get some paperwork sorted, so I’ll get that out of the way while you take your tea out to the kennel barn and you can go and let the dogs out. They’re ready for their exercise session. If you want to go and take them over to the first field and then while you’re out there with them, I can go in and mop the kennels out. I won’t subject you to that today. They’ve all had their breakfast and a little snooze afterwards so they’ll all be ready for a play. Russell is due in soon too and I’ll send him out to help you.’

They ran around like lunatics to start with and we used a ball flinger and a flying disc to get them chasing around the field. Baxter was having such fun and I got my phone out and took a couple of snaps and texted them to Alice. I knew it would put her mind at rest. After an hour or so, the dogs were panting for a drink so we filled the troughs with fresh water and sat down on a bench in the corner of the field for a rest as they drank, chatting easily about Russell’s plans for uni. Baxter came and lay down by my feet. He was a lovely little fella and I really did have a soft spot for him.

That evening, when I got back to the flat and turned on the TV because I hated silence, I wished that Baxter was snuggling up to me on my sofa. I had never felt so lonely.

9

The following morning, when I arrived at the farm, Uncle Tom raised a hand in a wave.

‘Beth’s in her bedroom, darling, go on up,’ he yelled before heading for the doggy daycare. I was so happy when I called him last night to learn that she had been given the all clear to come home. Alex had arranged to pick her up so that she didn’t have to get into Uncle Tom’s smelly old Land Rover. I was glad to hear this – I was sure she could have picked up all sorts of infections from it.

Breathing in the old familiar smells as I entered the farmhouse felt like a warm blanket being wrapped around my shoulders. I headed up to Beth’s room and used the hand sanitiser before knocking on the door. ‘It’s me, babe, are you decent?’

‘As decent as I can be right now. Come on in.’

Beth was looking much better and said she felt a million times brighter being at home in her own environment.

‘And look at you, Mads. You are full of enthusiasm and spark. Your cheeks are red and your eyes are sparkling. I haven’t seen you like this for a very long time and it’s so great to see. I’m so pleased you enjoyed my little community jobs. I love my business but it’s great to get out and about and help people too. I didn’t know what to expect when I started, but I immediately loved it.’

‘I feel great, to be honest, Beth.’ I hadn’t realised that for myself until she just said it, but I did feel better than I’d felt for a long time. I felt at ease with the world, lighter than I’d felt for a while.

Beth turned the volume on the bedside radio up. ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen was on and we smiled and swayed to the music as we remembered how we used to sing it at school. We sang along, remembering every word.

The school choir was always my thing. I had loved to sing from a very early age and I’d joined a choir after university but then work got in the way. I’d be in a different part of the country and unable to get to practice and I couldn’t keep letting the others down, so I gave it up and hadn’t sung properly in a choir for a very long time.

‘You have a beautiful voice, Maddy. You always have.’

‘Aw, Beth, that’s so kind of you to say so. I’m a bit out of practice, to be honest.’

‘Well, it’s funny you should say that. I have another little job for you to do at the weekend,’ she explained as she handed me a piece of paper and a CD. ‘This is a backing CD and all you have to do is turn up at Meadow View Care Home at twop.m. next Saturday afternoon. The address is here. You need to phone ahead and speak to the activities co-ordinator to discuss what you are going to sing.’

‘Sing! Me? In public? You are kidding, right?’ My lips pressed together and I grimaced. The only singing I did these days was in the shower. My breathing was starting to speed up again and that familiar pounding of my heart seemed to be getting louder and louder in my body.

‘Darling, you have the voice of an angel and you know it. I haven’t heard you sing for years. They have a piano there, so you’d better brush up on your keyboard skills too.’

‘But-but…’

‘But nothing, Maddy. Haven’t you always trusted me? Have I ever once let you down in my life?’

‘Well, there was that one time you kissed Martin Bennett when you knew I fancied him.’

‘Darling, we were ten and at school. And I’ve always told you that he kissed me, not the other way round. So I’ll ask again, do you trust me?’

‘Of course I do, but?—’

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