Page 5 of A Recipe for Love
Arrivals at an airport never gave Bella those warm and fuzzyLove Actuallyfeelings. The mass of people around her greeting and hugging were just obstacles she had to get around to find the bus stop or the cheapest, which usually meant dodgiest, taxi option. Not today though. Today she wasn’t travelling solo for the first time in a lot of years.
‘Oh! Flinty.’ Adam stopped suddenly and leaned over the barrier to envelop a woman in a hug. Bella stepped back. She didn’t know what this was, but it didn’t seem like she was part of it. A sign hung from the stranger’s hand:Lowbridge. ‘What are you doing here?’
The stranger pulled back. She was an older woman, at least seventy, Bella guessed. Not Adam’s mum, because he’d greeted her by name. Too old to be an ex or a sibling.
‘Sorry. Bella, this is Flinty. Flinty, this is Bella, my—’
‘Sorry Adam. I’ve got some bad news. Your grandmother asked me to come. Goodness knows how she knew what flight you were on.’
He shrugged. ‘Grandmother has her ways.’
The woman smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. ‘Come around. We should sit down.’
Adam froze. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Oh darling, I’m so sorry. Your father died this morning.’
Chapter Two
No. Adam shook his head. No. His father wasn’t the sort who would do something like that. He was… he was… constant. Whoever moved on, whoever left, whatever changed, his father was there. ‘What happened?’
‘I’m sure your grandmother will tell you properly. Or Darcy.’ She trailed off.
‘What happened, Flinty?’
‘It was sudden.’ She wasn’t meeting his eye. ‘Well, if he was ill I never heard anything of it.’
‘Babe,’ Bella’s voice cut through the soup that was swirling around him. ‘Come and sit down.’
He let her lead him, as compliant as a child, to a row of hard plastic seats.
‘Shall I see if I can find us some tea?’ she asked.
‘No need, lass.’ Flinty produced a giant thermos from her bag. ‘I came prepared.’
A plastic cup was pushed into Adam’s hand and Bella all but guided his hand to his mouth so he could take a sip. He could hear her asking Flinty questions somewhere out there but the voices echoed like recordings from some place far away.
‘So what now?’ Bella was asking. ‘Do you know when the funeral will be?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Do we need to come and help plan that or is someone…?’ His fiancée’s voice trailed away. ‘Sorry. Who are you?’
He heard Flinty half-chuckle. ‘Was thinking to ask you the same thing. I’m Flinty. Miss Flint. Maggie, but none of these have called me that for fifty years.’
‘Hello Maggie. I’m Bella. I’m Adam’s…’
The silence she left pulled Adam back to the conversation. ‘Bella’s my fiancée.’
Flinty looked from Adam to Bella and back again. ‘Your grandmother didn’t say anything.’
No. She wouldn’t have. ‘My grandmother doesn’t know.’
‘Well, this is going to be interesting.’
‘So what do we need to do now?’ Bella asked again.
‘Well, I was going to take this one back tonight so he could get stuck into everything in the morning.’
