Page 27 of Sunset at Embthwaite Farm
“I should get back,” she said hurriedly. “I think I might have left my shopping on my doorstep.”
“If that included a large bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin,” James interjected, his eyes twinkling at her, “then, yes, I think you did.”
Anna would have been embarrassed, save for his smile. He looked far too kind for her to take offence. “It certainly did include such a bottle,” she replied with an attempt at pertness. “But were you snooping in my groceries?”
“Not at all,” he assured her, his mouth quirking up in a smile as his eyes glinted at her. “The bottle was practically rolling out into the street.”
“Oh!” Anna shook her head at him, and he grinned, and belatedly she realised their behaviour was, well, ratherodd. They were acting as if they’d known each other for years, and they really hadn’t.
“I should go,” she said, glancing at Jane, who was starting, she feared, to look a little bit annoyed. Anna hoped she hadn’t jeopardised their friendship with her amateurish attempt at flirting with a man she barely knew. “Lovely to meet you,” she threw at James, not quite looking at him, and then she blew Henry a kiss before hurrying out of the house.
Back in her house, having lugged the groceries into the kitchen and unpacked them all, including the gin, Anna found herself in too much of a flutter to settle to anything. She thought about going back to Embthwaite Farm as she’d originally planned, but she didn’t think she could face a big emotive conversation with Harriet and Rachel just now, not in the mood she was in.
Yet what moodwasshe in? Feeling so fluttery and jittery and out of sorts? It was silly, in a woman her age. It washumiliating. Somehow, this realisation settled her down, maybe a bit too much. She started to feel quite flat. Really, it was positively ridiculous that she’d got in such a tizz, and over absolutely nothing.
With the groceries put away, Anna decided to do some ironing. It was, somewhat perversely, something that relaxed her. Maybe it was the satisfying way wrinkles were smoothed out with just a little heat and pressure. There was a metaphor for life in there somewhere, Anna thought wryly as she set up the ironing board, but she wasn’t sure what it was—or at least she didn’t really want to think too hard about it. She put on the television, choosing a mindless game show, and thought about breaking open the Bombay Sapphire, but decided against it. It was only just past five, after all, and she still might motivate herself to head back to Embthwaite Farm…maybe.
As if her daughter had sensed her thoughts from four miles away, a text from Rachel pinged onto her phone.
I’m going out with Ben tonight. Let’s talk with H. tomorrow.
Phew. Anna felt only relief. She could have that gin, after all, and she’d enjoy it, too. She’d just finished mixing her drink, trying not to feel either guilty or like a lush, when a light tap sounded on her front door. Anna tensed, bracing herself for some kind of awkward conversation with Jane, although really what could Jane possibly say?Don’t smile at my dad.Really, Anna was reading far too much into the situation, never mind Jane. And yet…why else would Jane come over?
Sighing, Anna put her drink down by the TV and went to the door, opening it to find not Jane but James Adams standing on her stoop.
“Hello again,” he said with an easy smile, his bright blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “Do you mind if I come in?”
“Er…” Anna was dumbfounded. Despite his friendliness, she had not expected him to seek her out. To come right to her door…andinside.
“No, of course not,” she said a bit belatedly, because what else could she say? She stepped aside and James strolled into the house.
“How are you finding it here?” he enquired as he headed back towards the kitchen. Anna hurried after him, pausing in the lounge to turn off the TV and iron.
“It’s lovely,” she told him as she joined him in the kitchen, where he was standing by the French windows, his hands in his pockets of his chinos as he gazed out at the twilit garden. “You’ve done a fabulous job renovating it.”
“It was fun,” he replied, his back to her. He sounded distracted. Anna wondered why on earth he’d come. She didn’t feel she could ask.
Finally, resolutely, he turned around. “You’ve been very kind, taking an interest in Jane.”
Ah, so they were talking about Jane. Anna felt a confusing welter of relief and disappointment. “I’m sorry that I didn’t realise she was struggling a bit, until today,” she told him. “She seems so cheerful and on top of things most of the time.”
“Yes, she doesn’t like to cause trouble. Well.” He smiled wryly. “Causemetrouble. Or worry. She’s very protective of me, but she got married just eighteen months ago and then moved and had Henry almost right away—something of a surprise—and I think it’s all been a bit difficult.”
“Honeymoon babies often are,” Anna replied with a small smile, impressed by his emotional astuteness on several levels. “I had one myself, and then another fifteen months later. Those first few years were a complete blur.”
“I can imagine.” He paused and then admitted, “Jane told me a little bit about you…that your daughters live here, and you’ve come to help them out with their father. I’m sorry about your ex-husband…his diagnosis.”
“Thank you,” Anna replied, and then felt compelled to add, “And she told me a little bit about you, as well. Your wife…”
He nodded, a bit quickly. “She died fourteen years ago. Cancer. It was quick.”
They both nodded, smiling a little wryly. It was odd, Anna supposed, to know such broad strokes about a person without any other detail.
“It sounds like you have a lot going on,” James told her, “So I really don’t want to impose, especially as you’ve already done so much for her today. Jane told me how you had a chat and a cup of tea,” he explained, “and watched Henry and cleaned the kitchen while she had a shower. That really is so kind.”
“It was no trouble,” Anna assured him. “Jane’s been so lovely and welcoming to me.”
“Well, then.” He gave a grimacing sort of smile as he rubbed the back of his neck; Anna got the sense that he didn’t enjoy asking people for favours and also that he was genuinely concerned about his daughter. It made her like him all the more…and she was conscious that she alreadydidlike him, or at least what she knew about him.
