Page 104 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
‘Nothing too strenuous, I hope…’ Fliss was making her way over with Lavender while Flo, having shown Ottilie that she’d noted her presence, went straight to the kitchens. Ottilie thought it odd, but then when was Flo anything other than odd?
‘I’m sure I’ll manage,’ Charles replied. ‘You worry too much.’
Fliss looked faintly incredulous. ‘Is it any wonder when you give me far too much to worry about?’
‘A little heart attack? All done and dusted now, and you’d never even know I’d had one.’
It was Ottilie’s turn to look sceptical. Charles looked older these days, not quite the robust man she’d met when she’d first moved to Thimblebury. Life, or the heart attack, or perhaps living with Fliss for the first time in decades, or perhaps all three…something had taken its toll.
As if to make certain nobody argued with him, Charles turned his attention to the garlands being hung by Magnus and Geoff, who were now being ably assisted by Simon. The hall itself was like many village halls: neutrally painted with a wooden floor and various noticeboards and community art projects pinned to the walls. Magnus and Geoff were doing a good job of dressing it, though Ottilie couldn’t help but feel the real star of the show was the view beyond the windows. There were hills in every direction, bathed in a setting sun, casting their dark hollows and peaks in a bronzed glow. Already some of the leaves on the trees that framed that view were turning amber and russet, and soon there would be a carpet of them on every corner of the village and the hills would glow with colour.
‘It looks very nice in here,’ he said. ‘Very festive. Very…’
‘Farm-yardy?’ Fliss cut in.
‘Which reminds me,’ Ottilie said. ‘Did Victor and Corrine say they’d be coming down?’
‘I should imagine so,’ Fliss said. ‘They don’t usually miss the harvest dinner. I expect Corrine is putting the finishing touches to a metric tonne of home-made cake.’
‘Probably,’ Ottilie agreed with a smile. ‘I was hoping Ann and Darryl might come too. I keep trying to persuade her to come and use the kitchen for the odd meal, but she doesn’t seem to think it’s for her.’
‘Today’s a celebration rather than a charity thing, though,’ Lavender said. ‘So perhaps she might decide to come down for that.’
Ottilie nodded. ‘I hope so. It would do Darryl good to interact with someone other than his mum and me. I know he’s happy enough, but I do worry about him.’
‘Of course you do,’ Fliss said sagely. ‘I wouldn’t have expected anything else from you, Ottilie. You worry about everyone and never give a care for what you might need yourself. It would do you good to think about that once in a while too.’
Ottilie floundered, uncertain how to react to Fliss’s statement. She was content and she was well and settled – she didn’t need anything else…Did she? Did everyone see her that way? Did it matter?
From the corner of her eye, she noticed Flo come out of the kitchen and go to speak to Magnus. And then Magnus called over from where he was holding a set of ladders for Geoff.
‘I don’t suppose anyone fancies helping with the chopping…Ottilie? You’re good at veg prep, aren’t you?’
‘I’m already doing veg prep of sorts,’ she said with a laugh, angling her head at the half-built harvest display.
‘Yes, yes, very good.’
‘I can finish this,’ Charles said. ‘I need to make myself useful, and this is…’ He cleared his throat very deliberately and looked at Fliss. ‘This should be exactly the sort of non-strenuous activity my GP would approve of.’
‘I’ll go with Ottilie,’ Stacey said. ‘I think I’m more or less done with the tablecloths anyway.’
‘Yes, yes, we can finish that,’ Magnus said as Geoff and Simon nodded agreement. ‘You go and help with the cooking. I think they’re getting behind.’
Ottilie handed Charles the sack she’d been holding. ‘Good luck. I hope you can make it look better than I was doing.’
Charles was chuckling as she followed Stacey to the kitchen. When they got in there, Flo was back at her station. They greeted the other volunteers before being set to work. Stacey was making batter mix for Yorkshire puddings while Ottilie had been put on onion-chopping duty again. She could have sworn that Flo had had something to do with that because she was smirking across the room.
Ottilie searched the drawer for a knife and then reached into the bag for the first onion.
‘Do you need a teaspoon to suck on?’
Ottilie spun round, her legs suddenly weak. ‘Heath! What are you…?’
‘Sorry,’ he said, his smile immediately slipping to be replaced by a rueful expression. ‘That wasn’t meant to be—That was a stupid thing to do. I don’t know why I thought it would be—Well, I was trying to be witty or cool, but it didn’t really work, did it?’
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Gran said they needed as many volunteers as they could get, and I was at a loose end and I thought…well, I couldn’t keep on avoiding Thimblebury, could I? It seemed a good place to start making things right…I mean, not right, but getting things to a place where I don’t have to fall apart every time I see you. I know you can never forgive me for what happened, but I’d like to think we could put it behind us enough to get along. For Gran’s sake if nothing else.’
