Page 31 of The Allotment on Willow Tree Lane

She needed something to dilute their palpable bliss before it threatened to overwhelm her. Unbidden, Damon’s face flitted across her inner eye, and she realised she would give anything to be in their shoes.

‘Go on, tell me all about it,’ she ordered, once the wine had been poured and she’d taken a seat at the table. A rich aroma of onions and tomatoes filled the kitchen, and her tummy rumbled. Lunch had been at least six hours ago, and her hastily eaten sandwich hadn’t done a particularly good job of filling her up.

‘Aunty Ceri?’ a little voice called from upstairs.

‘You’d better go and kiss Nia goodnight,’ Rowena suggested. ‘She’ll refuse to go to sleep until you do.’

Ceri didn’t need telling twice. She had been hoping Huw’s new stepdaughter would still be awake.

As Ceri perched on the little girl’s bed, Nia snuggled into her. ‘Did you miss your mum and Huw?’

‘Yes. I had to stay with Nanny and Grandad. They said honeymoons aren’t for children, but Mammy said she’ll take me to Cornwall in the summer holidays, if I’m good.’

‘I’m sure you will be – you’re always good. I bet you were spoilt rotten when you were with Nanny.’

Nia’s expression became sly. ‘I’m not supposed to tell anyone.’

‘About how much you were spoilt?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Nia nodded. ‘I got to stay up late and I had lots of sweets. Mammy doesn’t let me have sweets.’

‘Mammies aren’t supposed to. It’s against the law. But it’s OK for nannies to give sweets,’ Ceri told her, inhaling the scent of apple shampoo and freshly bathed child. God, she could eat her all up!

‘I cried when Mammy came home,’ Nia said, her bottom lip sticking out. ‘I missed her this much!’ She held her arms out as wide as they would go. ‘I missed Huw, too. I don’t want them to go on honeymoon again.’

Ceri bit her lip. ‘I don’t think they’ll have another honeymoon,’ she said, trying not to laugh.

‘Will you have one?’

‘I’ve got to get married first.’

‘Can I be your bridesmaid? I liked being a bridesmaid.’

‘That might be a long time yet.’

‘Why?’

‘I haven’t found anyone I want to marry.’

‘Why?’

‘Would you like me to read you a bedtime story?’ Ceri asked, eager to change the subject.

‘Yes!!Twostories.’

Ceri would happily have read Nia six, if it meant she didn’t have to answer any more questions about her lack of a love life.

After being persuaded to read three bedtime stories, Ceri was eventually allowed to go back downstairs.

‘We thought you’d fallen asleep up there,’ Huw teased, handing her the wine she had barely touched.

Ceri took a grateful sip and sank into a chair. It had been a long week and she was tired. She was also hungry, so when Rowena placed a bowl of steaming, fragrant pasta in front of her, she tucked in with enthusiasm as the newlyweds regaled her with stories from their wonderful two weeks away.

Eventually, the conversation turned to Ceri’s new job, and how she was settling into her new role.

‘I feel like a fish out of water,’ she admitted, when Rowena asked how she was enjoying it. ‘I’ve been growing things since forever, but teaching other people to do it is a whole new packet of seeds.’ Determined to keep things light and not let too much of her worry show, she smirked and said, ‘See what I did there?’

‘Please, no more gardening puns,’ Huw begged. ‘I don’t think I canstakeit.’

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