Page 69 of A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft

‘Why don’t you go in and tell Greg and the others all about it?’ I suggested. ‘I need a word with your mummy outside.’

Tilly glared at me. ‘It’s cold out.’

‘Then put a coat on,’ I muttered, my voice cold as I glared at her. Then I smiled and said in a brighter tone, ‘Bye, Imogen. See you later in the week for tea with Grandma Audrey and Granddad Trevor.’

‘I hadn’t agreed to that,’ Tilly protested when Imogen disappeared into the lounge.

‘It’s not your decision to make. Put your coat on. We need to talk.’

She grabbed her coat and followed me outside. ‘She’s already spent the weekend with them,’ she said, her voice thick with the whiny tone she always used when trying to stop me from spending time with Imogen.

‘She was at a wedding with a couple of hundred guests. She barely saw them.’

‘That’s not my fault.’

‘Fine. We won’t have tea with them this week. I’ll book a week in Portugal over Easter instead. Which would you prefer?’

She reeled back, surprise in her eyes that I’d challenged her.

‘I’ll take that as a yes to tea this week.’

‘Okay, but there’s no need to be so arsey about it.’

‘You think this is arsey? I haven’t even started being arsey. What should we talk about next? Ooh, how about you planning on moving to Scotland with our daughter?’

She tutted loudly. ‘She wasn’t meant to say anything.’

‘Don’t blame Imogen. What the hell, Tilly? When were you going to tell me?’

‘Ssh! She’ll hear you! It’s not definitely happening. We’ve seen a camping and glamping site for sale so the reason we’re hoping to go to Scotland over Easter is to check it out.’

It all fell into place – that guilty look last weekend when I’d broached the issue of Greg wanting Imogen to call him Daddy but Tilly thinking Imogen had let something else slip. She’d covered her tracks by mentioning the holiday, but she’d clearly thought Imogen had told me about the move.

‘Where in Scotland?’ It came out gruff, but I didn’t care.

‘Does it matter?’

‘Of course it matters! It’s four and a half hours to Edinburgh which is bad enough but somewhere like Inverness is probably another three hours on top of that.’

The flinch followed by an averted gaze when I said Inverness confirmed we were talking the Highlands rather than the borders. Absolutely unbelievable.

‘How could you keep something like this from me? How could you ask our daughter to keep it quiet? And how the hell could you think it’s okay to even consider it?’

‘It might not happen.’

‘There’s nomightabout it. It’snothappening. She’s my daughter and there’s no way on earth I’m letting you take her to Scotland.’

She straightened up and fixed me with a hard stare. ‘It’s not your decision to make,’ she said, repeating my words from moments ago. ‘I have full custody of our daughter. I think you’ll find that I can do whatever I like.’

She slammed the door and locked it. I stood on the path, feet rooted to the spot, my stomach in knots. She couldn’t take Imogen to Scotland. She just couldn’t. But Tilly had always done whatever the hell she liked and if she decided that campsite was for her, she’d get it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the lounge blinds twitching. I had to get out of there, away from prying eyes. I ran to my car and pulled away but I only made it down their street and round the corner before I had to slam on the brakes and yank on the handbrake, thinking I was going to throw up. I wound the window down and took in several deep gulps of air until the nausea subsided and I sank back into my seat, shaking. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I couldn’t live without Imogen. Every goodbye was painful when she lived in the same town as me. I could not have her living hours away and I knew she wouldn’t want it either. And I wasn’t going to let it happen.

27

POPPY

I pulled onto the drive at Whisperwood Farmhouse shortly after 11a.m. and had the strongest sensation of coming home. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d experienced that feeling of contentment at Dove Cottage. If anything, pulling onto the drive there made me feel anxious and lonely.

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