Page 83 of All Wrapped Up
‘You just can’t resist the urge to say the wrong thing, can you, Joanne?’ I snapped, feeling cross with her again and just when I had thought how lovely it was that she cared about Lizzie. ‘There’s nothing wrong with my heart but if there was, you’d be the last person I’d tell.’
‘Oh,’ she said, sounding shocked to have been so harshly told off. ‘Right.’
‘I know for a fact that Ash has told you to stop poking your nose into my life,’ I said even more sharply as I screwed the empty brown paper bulb bag up with some force, ‘so if I were you, I’d take his advice toyourheart and leave mine alone.’
I didn’t hang around to find out how she was going to react to that. I very rarely lost my temper, but my head wasstill thumping and if I was being honest, I was still smarting over Ash’s frosty return. None of that was Joanne’s fault, of course, but she did have a knack for winding me up and this time, I’d let her know it. So much for seizing the moment and becoming a shoulder for her to lean on should she need it!
Early the next morning, and with thoughts of Ash’s lukewarm return and the ticking off I’d given Joanne firmly banished, I called Mum and Dad to talk about when would be best for them to visit and with a view to delaying them a little. I wasn’t exactly regretting my former eagerness to show them what I had set in motion, but with everything other than the festival feeling in a muddle, I wasn’t sure I could cope with them descending and staying with me just yet.
‘But isn’t that when it’s all over and done with?’ Mum frowned, in response to my suggestion that they should come in November.
‘Not at all,’ I said, guessing that she’d been perusing the festival events pages. ‘The weekend I’m suggesting is actually thegrandfinale and there’s going to be all sorts of celebrations happening in the town along with a party in the pub. And,’ I added, hoping it would be the clincher to delay them driving down and as a result, give me a little more time to get my ducks back in a row, ‘it will be the best chance I have of introducing you to everyone.’
Assuming I still had friends left to introduce them to by then…
‘But we rather fancied being with you for Halloween,’ Dad chipped in. ‘We could come for an even longer weekend then.’
‘Yes.’ Mum nodded keenly. ‘There looks to be loads organised for that.’
‘But it’s mostly kids’ stuff,’ I explained, which was true. ‘Films in the town hall, followed by a procession around the square. The finale events will be more up your street.’
‘I think Clemmie’s right,’ Dad said to Mum, after having mulled it over. ‘We want to get to know her friends, don’t we? And if the last weekend of the festival will be the best time to do that, then I think we should go then.’
Mum looked at me and smiled. ‘All right,’ she relented. ‘We’ll come then.’
‘In that case—’ I started to say, but then someone knocked on the cottage door and Pixie began to bark. ‘Oh, sorry,’ I apologised. ‘Someone’s at the door.’
‘We’ll talk later in the week,’ Mum said as I blew her a kiss and ended the call.
‘Just a sec!’ I shouted as whoever was visiting knocked again.
In spite of our former awkwardness, I rather hoped it was going to be Ash, but it wasn’t.
‘Can I come in?’ asked the gargantuan floral bouquet I found on the doorstep. ‘This weighs a tonne and my arms are about to give out.’
‘Joanne,’ I said, failing to keep the sigh out of my greeting. ‘Yes, come in.’
‘I hope these are okay?’ she asked, as she transferred the flowers from her arms to mine and I almost buckled under their weight. ‘I hope they’re the sort of thing you like.’
Given that they were an autumnal extravaganza of dahlias, chrysanthemums and grasses in my favourite colour palette, they were perfect.
‘They’re beautiful, thank you,’ I said, staggering to carry them into the kitchen with Pixie trying to jump up to see if there was anything hidden among them for her. ‘But what have I done to warrant them?’
I propped them in the sink and turned around.
‘Put me in my place, of course.’ Joanne blushed. ‘Given me the talking to that my mum then carried on with when I got home and told her why you’d snapped my head off.’
‘I see.’
I rather pitied Joanne’s mum. She must have needed the patience of a saint to cope with a full-on daughter like Joanne.
‘And you did it with good reason, Mum said.’ Joanne grimaced, puffing out her cheeks. ‘And I know she was right. I know you were right, too. I’ve had a think back over all of our conversations and I’m really sorry that every time we’ve talked, I’ve done little other than try to dig into your past.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘you do sound sorry.’
‘I am,’ she said, sounding sincere. ‘I really am. It’s just that you and Ash would make such a lovely couple.’ She wouldn’t have said that if she’d seen us at the pumpkin picking. ‘No,’ she then said crossly, shaking her head and wringing her hands. ‘Never mind. None of my business. I’m butting out.’
‘I really do hope you mean that,’ I said sternly.
