Page 5 of Escape to the Country
Hey stranger! Spoke to your mum and she told me that you were having a tough time right now. If you fancy a coffee tomorrow with an old friend, pop on over. I’d love to see youxx
It was so lovely to hear from her. I took a deep breath. Right now I had two choices. I could wallow in bed all day and feel sorry for myself, or I could get my arse out of bed, dust myself down, get dressed and go and see Beth. It had been a while since I’d seen her last. She was a lovely girl, and we’d been such good friends over the years, even though I’d neglected her over the last few, so I knew which option I needed to take to move forward.
* * *
Bethany Jane Millington and I met three hours after I was born when Mum and I were taken back to the sunny maternity ward of Stafford Hospital where two roomies bonded over their beautiful newborns, sharing some of the most cherished and precious moments of their lives. Her parents were farmers, a lovely couple who somehow managed to be wonderful parents as well as run Giddywell Grange, a small but busy farm just on the outskirts of the village. Beth was their second child and their son Alex was two years older. They were so kind to Mum, who was parenting all on her own, after my dad, apparently, buggered off the minute she told him she was pregnant.
Our families did everything together, from those early days when our mums used to get together for coffee mornings and just stare at us babies, through to reception class where allegedly I used to cry until my bestie arrived, when I’d run in excitedly holding hands with her, looking forward to the day, through our early years at primary school and then on to high school.
As I pulled up into the courtyard in front of Giddywell Grange, I got a warm fuzzy feeling deep in my tummy as I remembered how much I loved this house and what it meant to me. I hadn’t been here for a couple of years and it really felt like I was coming home. It was their family farm, which had been handed down through the generations, and had always been a welcoming, warm and wonderful place to be. The big ivy-clad stone farmhouse, set in acres of land, held so many good memories for me. It was almost like the thick stone walls were ingrained with happiness, warmth and love that oozed out to those who were in it like a warm, cosy hug.
Much of my childhood was spent there, and my teenage years had been so much fun, helping to muck out the stables and grooming the horses with Beth, doing our homework at the kitchen table while Aunty Jen made us hot chocolate in the winter and doorstep sandwiches with her homemade bread, singing into our hairbrushes and pretending to be the Spice Girls in Beth’s room.
Beth must have heard the car pull up as she was standing at the front door. She enveloped me in a hug.
‘Oh, Maddy, my love, it’s so good to see you.’
My lip quivered and tears threatened, but Beth, tactful as ever, turned round and led the way into the kitchen. ‘Come on, love, I’ll pop the kettle on.’
‘It’s really good to see you, Beth, I’m so sorry it’s been such a long time since I popped by.’
While I was living the life of Riley in the corporate world, staying in swanky hotels, dining at the most salubrious restaurants and making sure I had Christian Louboutin shoes and the latest Mulberry handbag, Beth had launched and was running a very successful doggy daycare and boarding business called Growlers at the Grange, happy in wellies and wearing a backpack where she always had dog treats and poo bags at hand.
‘How’s business?’ I asked her. I realised that I didn’t actually know much about her work and I felt quite bad. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that I’d been so wrapped up in myself for the past few years that I had distanced myself from everyone who was once close to me.
‘It’s going really well actually. We’re dead busy. We’ve expanded Growlers so that we can have up to ten dogs in the daytime, and we do overnight boarding now too, so it really keeps us on our toes. Dad and I do most of the work between us – obviously Dad has the farm to run too, but he’s really cut back on the actual farming now. We have way fewer animals than we’ve ever had before and the ones we do have we can just about cope with. He’s renting out a couple of the large fields to neighbouring farmers who are keeping their own cattle on our land, and he’s renting out allotments to local people. Oh, and we also have a side business where we have a totally secure field that we rent out to people who want to bring their dogs along, those who don’t normally let their dogs off the lead. That’s a money-maker, I have to say. Oh, and we’ve got the barn that we do a long-term let on too. It certainly keeps us busy. And gives us various income streams coming in.’
I hadn’t realised that Beth had such a good business head on her shoulders. Perhaps she wasn’t living the dull and boring life, stuck in the village, that I’d thought.
‘Crikey, that sounds like a lot to do.’
‘It is, and it certainly takes some juggling and keeping on top of, but we both love it. We have a young lad called Russell working some hours for us too. Really nice lad and he loves dogs, which helps.’
‘That sounds amazing, Beth. You really seem to be happy and living the dream.’
‘Well, I’m sure you’ve always thought that my life is dreary and unexciting after the work that you do and all those swanky hotels you stay in and fancy restaurants.’
I gulped. It was as if she could see right through me.
‘I love it and it’s just my way of life. And I’ve also become involved in a couple of local community projects too through the library to give me some variety away from here and because I wanted to do something to help others.’ Beth had always been so very kind and it was in her blood to help others before helping herself. Just like her mum. She really was one of the nicest people I knew, and perhaps I hadn’t been the best friend to her that I could have been. Like with Mum, I’d neglected our friendship, another thing I’d prioritised my job over… and for what? For them to get rid of me. I hoped I could make it up to her.
‘And how about your health, hun? Are things better on that front?’
‘Not really, they have decided that the best thing for my dodgy knee is to operate. The torn cartilage needs sorting out and they’re going to shave some of the bone away, quite disgusting really and probably better that I’m out under general anaesthetic for it. They offered key-hole surgery but you know how squeamish I am. I’m just waiting for a date for the op to come through. That’s going to be quite a challenge. And I don’t think I’ll get much notice either. To be honest, it’s really playing on my mind at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll work something out. Dad will have to work extra hard and Russell will up his hours, but obviously the cost is going to hit the business hard. Luckily Alex is going to come over to help out for as long as his work will allow him to, but he can’t stay forever; he has his own job, and Sophie, to get back to over in the States.’
Alex was Beth’s older, cooler brother, who was always out with his super cool mates when we were teenagers hanging around the farm, but then he went away to uni. I don’t think anyone ever realised that I’d always had thehugestcrush on him.
‘Anyway, it stresses me out to think about that so let’s get back to chatting about you. What are your plans going forward? Do you have any? Or are you just going to give yourself some time to look around?’
Another great quality of Beth’s was that she was very direct; there was no pussyfooting around with her. She just came straight out and asked what she wanted to know.
‘Well, I suppose I’ll just look around for a similar role; it’s all I know really. I might see if there’s something in the interim. There must be jobs out there that I can do. My redundancy money won’t last me forever. One of the first things I need to do is to buy myself a computer. I desperately need to get myself set up so that I can use the internet properly instead of just on my phone, and start looking around, I suppose. I need to buy a car too; my company car will go back at the end of this month.’
‘You can always use the office computer here, you know. It would be great to spend some time with you, and there’s always one desk free. Would that help at all? You could even come and help with the dogs, too. An extra pair of hands around the place would never be refused if you are looking to fill your time.’ She laughed and went on to say, ‘I could just see you getting stuck in with the poo pick-ups. Only joking! I know you’d never get your hands dirty in that way.’ Clearly she knew me well. Way better than the people who I’d worked with day in and day out and who I’d thought were my friends, but who were strangely silent right now. If they’d known me as well as Beth did, they’d have realised that one of the kindest things they could have done for me would have been to say something, even if they weren’t sure what to say; sometimes a friendly word is all you need to hear.
‘Not sure about picking up poo, but being able to use the internet would be amazing, Beth, thank you.’ I stood to hug her.
Warmth, generosity and kindness oozed from every one of her pores. ‘You’re welcome here anytime, Mads, I hope you know that.’
