Page 75 of The Allotment on Willow Tree Lane

Hyacinth’s presence was still very much in evidence in this room, as it was throughout the rest of the house and the garden. As far as Ceri could tell, nothing much had changed since the woman’s death, apart from the addition of some of Damon’s possessions scattered around the house. She couldn’t imagine this room being stripped of all its character and replaced with stark modern furniture. It was lovely just the way it was, and although Damon had spoken about modernising the kitchen and putting in a new bathroom, so far he had made no discernible changes.

It confirmed her fears.

He wouldn’t be coming back.

A flash of light and the sound of buzzing startled her, until she realised it was Damon’s phone. He had left it on the table next to a gold-covered winged back chair, and it was busily shuffling about with the force of the vibration from the incoming message.

Ceri didn’t mean to look, her intention was only to stop the dratted thing from making such a racket, but the screen was illuminated, the message on it clearly visible.

Can’t wait to see you! Looking forward to making sweet music together. Wake me if I’m in bed. All my love, Sadie xxx

Ceri had always thought that the phrase ‘my blood ran cold’ was just a saying, that it had no basis in truth. But when she read those words before the screen went black, she knew it was true. Cold encased her from the inside out, a deep chill that invaded her heart and turned her blood into chilly rivers of dread.

Wake me if I’m in bed… Would he slip into her room and make love to Aiden’s sister with the same love and tenderness he had just made love to her?Sweet music… his lovemaking was the sweetest, and agony ripped through her heart, tearing it to shreds.

The image of Sadie flinging herself into Damon’s embrace, her face buried in his neck, flashed into her mind. Ceri remembered how well-suited she’d thought the pair of them were, how good they had looked together, how Sadie was so much a part of his world, and how Ceri was so very removed from it.

Slowly, her heart crumbling into ash, her body cold, she knew she had to leave. She couldn’t return to his bed, to lie next to him in stunned and crippling silence for the rest of the night. How could she face him in the morning, knowing what she had read? Knowing that he was travelling to London where Sadie was waiting for him, and he would be waking her from slumber…

The French door was still open, a breeze stirring the fine voile curtains, and she was about to close it when something occurred to her.

She couldn’t run away without explanation, but she could hardly leave him a note, and she didn’t want to send him a message. Neither did she want to wake him – she couldn’t face speaking to him, because she didn’t know what to say.

His garden called to her, and she ventured outside for a moment, seeking a peace amongst the growing things that she suspected she would fail to find. As she drifted bleakly along the path, her feet took her to an old rose bush. It was a hybrid tea rose of such deep red that it appeared black, and she knew what she had to do.

She chose a bud that was half-unfurled and broke off a length of stem. A faint scent emanated from it that would grow stronger when the flower was fully open, and she held it to her nose as the first of many tears filled her eyes and spilt over.

Her heart broken, she went back inside and with a slow, heavy tread she climbed the stairs.

It was time to say goodbye.

Ceri stood in the doorway, taking a final long look at the man she loved.

Then she placed the black rose on the snowy white pillow where her head had rested a short while earlier, and wondered whether the symbolism of its colour would mean anything to him – black for sorrow, deep red for undying love.

When she kissed her fingers and touched them briefly to his lips, tears falling like rain on his bare chest, Damon didn’t stir. Neither did he hear her whisper, ‘Goodbye, my love, goodbye.’

Chapter 20

It was already light when Damon woke, which at this time of year could be as early as four-thirty a.m. The dawn chorus was in full voice, and he groaned. It was loud, even though the window was closed.

Did he have time to make love to Ceri, he wondered as he turned onto his back. But when he saw that her side of the bed was empty, his spirits sank. A deep red, almost black rose lay where he had expected her to be, and he smiled ruefully. It was so typical of her to leave him a flower instead of a note. He wished he’d had a chance to say goodbye, but he could understand why she hadn’t hung around this morning. He, too, had been dreading this parting, even though he would only be gone a few days. She had been so upset last night and had tried her best not to show it, but he’d been able to tell. He hoped Frank would give him the green light to share the news that the band was dissolving, so he could tell her he would be staying in Foxmore forever. He hadn’t even left yet, and already he couldn’t wait to get back.

He might be gone a little longer than a few days though, because he wanted to sort out his flat. He was undecided whether to rent it out or put it on the market, so he wanted to have a chat with his accountant. And there would also be the legal aspects of dissolving the band and its contract with the record company which would have to be ironed out.

He wasn’t looking forward to any of it, apart from seeing Luke, and it would be great to spend some time with him, although it would never be like old times. How could it be, without Aiden?

With Ceri already having left, he guessed he should probably make a move. He was supposed to be at the studio by eleven and he wanted to swing by his flat beforehand to drop the car off. He’d collect Sadie at the same time (he’d told her she could stay at his place for the duration) and they’d grab a taxi to the studio together.

When he eventually found his phone – he’d plonked it down in the parlour last night and had forgotten to take it upstairs – Damon saw he’d had a message from her. Wake her up indeed! He’d phone her and wake her up now! Or maybe not. It was only five in the morning – a little early. But it was time he was on the road. The four-hour drive wasn’t something he relished, but he had refused Frank’s offer of a car. He liked his independence, and if, for whatever reason he decided he’d had enough of London and the whole damn caboodle, he could easily hop in his car and hightail it back to Foxmore.

Hastily he leapt into the shower and was out and dressed in less than ten minutes. Grabbing his case, he slung it in the back of the car, checked the house was secure, and set off. Although he was excited to chat with Frank about his new career as a songwriter and it would be great to catch up with Luke and Sadie, he wished he didn’t have to leave Ceri and his new life. And he had two pieces of exciting news to tell her when he returned – that Black Hyacinth had disbanded so he would be staying in Foxmore permanently, and that he was gifting her the allotment.

Ceri briefly closed her eyes and valiantly tried not to let her heartbreak show. What she really wanted was to curl up in a ball and howl her anguish, but she was at work and she didn’t want to scare the kids, although she suspected it would take more than a teary teacher to drag them away from their mobile phones.

‘Put your phones away,’ she instructed. ‘We’ve got a lot to get through this morning.’

The class was slow to settle, and she had to ask them again. They kept shooting her looks as though they expected her to demand to know what had got them so het up, but frankly she didn’t care. What went on outside college was none of her business. The closer it came to the end of the academic year, the more restless the class had become. And not just this one. The other classes she taught were the same, and when she’d mentioned it to Mark he’d said he didn’t blame them and he felt like that too. He couldn’t wait for the last day of term and the freedom of the summer holidays. Ceri couldn’t wait either, but it wasn’t freedom she craved – it was solitude and the privacy to grieve in peace.

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