Page 36 of Escape to the Country

‘I’ve bought some lovely pictures and need some things to hang them with now, but I’m at a bit of a loss, to be honest. I’ve always been the type to just bang a nail in a wall and hang a picture precariously, and move it around until it looks straight enough, but I’m told that they need to be done properly because the walls are so old. All suggestions most welcome.’ I laughed.

‘Now this is an area I do know about. I’m a little bit obsessive about things like this, so I can definitely point you in the right direction. I’m presuming you have a small hammer in your toolbox? And a spirit level, obviously?’

I looked at him blankly and then laughed. ‘Erm… toolbox? What’s one of those?’

‘Oh, goodness me, Madison.’ He shook his head, grinning at me, dumped his trolley and linked his arm in mine. ‘Come on. We need to start right at the beginning, don’t we?’

Edward and I wandered around the store, chattering away comfortably to each other. He was so easy to pass the time of day with and he advised me on the best things to get to start myself off with a small toolbox and with hanging hooks and wire, and he told me exactly what to do to put my pictures up.

‘You know, if you’re struggling, I could always pop over with your mum one day and help you.’

‘Oh, that’s so kind of you, Edward. I’ll see how I get on, and if I’m struggling, I’ll put an emergency call out to you. I’ll bake you a cake to say thank you.’

‘Ooh, I’ll do anything for a Victoria sponge these days.’ He patted his belly gently. ‘Although I probably shouldn’t.’

I grinned at him. A month ago, I hadn’t baked a cake for years, and now apparently I felt confident offering my culinary efforts as a thank you. How times had changed.

We walked out to the car park together and he helped me to load my shopping into the car.

‘How lovely to bump into you, my dear. I do hope to see you soon, and remember that offer. I’ll do anything for cake!’ He winked and kissed my cheek as he walked back towards his car.

As I drove back to the barn, I thought about how well matched he and my mum were, and I hoped so much that this was going to work out for them and be something really special. She certainly deserved some love in her life and he was perfect for her. I really liked him and hoped that after everything that had happened with my father – and with Mum choosing to wait until someone really exceptional came into her life – Edward was everything that he appeared to be.

17

After playing it cool for a few days, I now found myself on a Tuesday evening, after a busy day at Growlers, sitting across a table from Geoff from Faith and Co, and his wife Libby, next to Jamie, who was looking deliciously dapper this evening in a dark suit and a black open-necked shirt, and who smelled divine. He had booked a table in the same restaurant we went to last week on the outskirts of Birmingham, and I saw Lou, the waitress from the other evening, behind the bar. Jamie had arranged for a car to pick me up from home; I’d given in and told him where I was living but as he was sending a car rather than coming to pick me up himself, I didn’t see it as a problem.

It was actually really nice to see Geoff; he and I had always got on like a house on fire, and after lots of general chit chat he asked me my opinion about how working with a PR agency could help him to get more exposure. I’d had a couple of huge glasses of Pinot Grigio by this stage and the drink must have loosened my tongue and my brain, and I came out with a ton of PR and marketing ideas. Once I started, the ideas wouldn’t stop coming, and Jamie seemed delighted and had even been making notes on a napkin.

‘I bet you’ve missed all this brainstorming, haven’t you, Madison? You’re so good at it! Do you know, Jamie, you should be offering her a job with your company. Celine was a fool to let her go.’

‘I’d take her on tomorrow if she’d consider it, but I don’t think she’s in the right place at the moment. I’d love to be working alongside her. We’d make an awesome team both at work and at home. Maybe one day soon she’ll consider that.’ He took my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. It was a little embarrassing to be honest, so I pulled my hand away and lifted my wine glass.

My mind started working overtime and I wondered whether this was the real reason that he’d got back in touch with me. If he offered me a job, then I’d be able to stop thinking twice every time I spent any money. I had what was left of my redundancy money after I’d bought the necessities I needed, but I’d put that in a savings account, not knowing how long I was going to be out of work for, and was being particularly frugal at every opportunity. But was he doing it because he loved me, like he said, or because he needed me in his business and was trying to butter me up?

I suddenly sobered up and became a little guarded with what I was saying. My intuition was telling me something here; I just needed to work out what.

I excused myself to go to the ladies’, and to have a moment to myself to think. I was trying to work out whether he would stoop this low. When I came out, Lou was standing waiting for me.

‘I hate to tell you this, and I’m only telling you because my ex-husband was a serial cheater, but your ex has just slipped me his card and told me to give him a call if I’m ever at a loose end. You seem like a really nice lady and I hate to see people being taken advantage of. I really hope you don’t mind that I’ve told you.’

‘Bloody bastard! I should have known. What do I do now?’

‘Why don’t you wait here a little bit, then go back and tell him you’ve been sick and have to go? You could say you’ve eaten something dodgy. Come back in here tomorrow and have a coffee with me if you like and we can have a chat and see how we can pay him back. I could be a honey trap for you.’ She laughed but I thought that it might not be such a crazy idea after all.

When I got back to the table, Jamie couldn’t have been more attentive and I found it hard to believe what Lou had told me. Perhaps she wasn’t the lovely lady that I thought she was and was just one of those people who caused trouble, and just wanted him for herself, so I stayed until the end of the meal and avoided making eye contact with Lou for the rest of the evening. She must have been completely wrong about him.

Geoff was quizzing me towards the end of the evening, asking how much I missed my old job, and how much it would take for someone to poach me back into that old world. Whilst I was loving working at Growlers, I knew I couldn’t stay forever, as Beth would soon be on the mend.

‘Yes, it’s about time you stopped fannying around at that daft doggy daycare and with your little community projects and started doing something worthwhile, darling. We need to get you a proper job again, back in the real world. We could get you booked back into that hairdressers and beauty parlour and get you looking like yourself again, get some of that glamour back.’ Jamie laughed and Geoff joined in.

‘How does £50k a year and a company Jag sound to you, Madison? Something to get you thinking, maybe?’ Geoff passed me his card and it certainly did sound appealing. ‘Make sure you call me if you like the sound of that deal. OK, that’s enough work talk for tonight, folks, let me tell you about the fabulous holiday to Bali that we’re going on next week.’

The rest of the evening was lovely and the meal and wine had made me feel mellow, so when Jamie called up his driver and asked him to drop me off first, I didn’t even think about the fact that he’d be coming in the car to the farm. I didn’t make eye contact with Lou as we left. Jamie put his arm around me in the back of the car and I snuggled into him. We had always been a perfect fit and it felt so right to be back in his arms. I must have dozed off, because the driver coughed and brought me back to the present as we pulled up outside the Grange.

Jamie walked me to the front door. ‘Shall I tell the driver to come back later, or maybe even tomorrow?’

Above his head, the stars looked like a net of fairy lights, and above the farmhouse shone the brightest star in the sky. We always said that the brightest star was Aunty Jen keeping watch over her family, and I still believed it now. At the front of the farmhouse was a duck pond, and not long after Aunty Jen had passed away, Uncle Tom had bought a bench and placed it next to the pond. It was where he said he could go and chat to Aunty Jen when he needed to feel close to her and when he missed her most. It made me think of that lovely lady Grace who I’d met on my walk in the forest and her mum.

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