Page 80 of The Wishing Tree Beside the Shor
I reach out and run my fingers over it. The faded heart shape containing the words Ry + Fee etched into the wood forever, long-standing proof ofwhyI risked that kiss.
‘It’s really there.’ I half-thought I’d imagined it. Maybe I’d got caught up in the emotions of it being my last day and he’d just carved a circle or something, and since I came back, I’ve been one hundred per cent convinced that the fact I couldn’t find it was a sign we were never meant to be.
It’s in exactly the place I thought it would be, but higher up. I’ve misremembered it as being lower, but it’s there. It’s been there all along. Nestled between a carving of a carousel horse and an Edelweiss flower.
‘Maybe the tree waited until you were ready to show you,’ Tonya says, doing nothing to allay my fears about her mind-reading abilities.
The thought makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but I force out a fake laugh. ‘More like I was looking in the wrong place.’
‘It’s never too late to fix something that was broken. The tree brought you back here for a reason. You and Ryan have given a lot of us a second chance with the strawberry patch – why shouldn’t it give you a second chance too?’
‘Because he’ll never forgive me? You heard the venom in his voice just now. He hates me.’
‘He could never hate you, Fliss. He’s hurt and shocked. People react in the heat of the moment when they find out things like that. He needs some time to process things. Apology cakes might not work for a while, but you should keep bringing them in; we’ll be sure they don’t go to waste.’
It makes me laugh again, but it’s not a real laugh. An actor with a cue card up reading “laugh now” would come across less wooden. ‘I think I’m going to have to go home.’ I say it to the tree so I don’t have to look her in the eyes.
‘Come back tomorrow, won’t you?’
‘No, I mean to London. Maybe I can still salvage my job out of this mess.’
‘Oh, Fliss.’ She pulls me down and forcibly hugs me. ‘You’re not happy there. You don’t even like your job – why would youwantto salvage it?’
‘Because I’m an adult and I have responsibilities.’
‘The only responsibility you have is to make yourself happy. If you stay, there isalwaysa chance to fix things with Ryan. If you leave now, thereneverwill be.’
The tree rustles above us like it’s whispering an agreement.
I’m about to burst into tears again when my phone rings, and I can’t hide the groan at the name onscreen when I pull it out of my pocket. I’m going to use talking to Tonya as an excuse to avoid him for a bit longer, but she must clock the look on my face because she gestures towards the punnet table where the first few customers are starting to filter in. ‘I’d best get back anyway before Mr Barley does something unspeakable to that Jacob Rees-Mogg scarecrow. He’s having far too much fun sticking that pole in.’ With that, she’s gone, and my phone is still ringing in my hand.
‘Harr—’ I say as I reluctantly answer it, but he interrupts before I can get the full word out.
‘Ah, Felicity—’
‘I quit.’ I don’t realise I’m going to say it until the words burst out before I can think about them. I can’t take my eyes off the carving. It’s still here after so many years. What if Tonya’s right? I didn’t want to come back here, and maybe the fact that mere weeks later, I don’t want to leave does mean something. Even if it’s nothing to do with Ryan. Being back here makes me feel more alive than I have in years. Spending time with my dad and sister makes me wonder why I’ve stayed away for so long.
‘Oh, that’s useful,’ Harrison says. ‘Because I was phoning to sack you. Saves me the trouble. We’ll mark your date of departure down as the day you left the office, so don’t expect me to pay you for the sabotage you’ve done on my time.’
‘I haven’t—’
‘I’ve just had averyinteresting chat with Steffan, Felicity. He’s burnt the paperwork I sent him and apparently the land is no longer for sale.’
I squeal in delight, which will certainly tip Harrison off about what I’ve been doing here. Several residents turn to look at me and I duck further behind the tree because I can’t share the news while still on the phone to Harrison.
‘He says he was talked out of it by a woman with blue hair,’ Harrison continues. ‘I wonder who that could possibly be …’
‘Talked out of it is a bit too strong. I only suggested how he could make better use of it. I didn’t …’ I stop myself because I’m still lying and there’s no need for it now. ‘You know what? Yes, I did try my absolute hardest to talk him out of it. What your hotel company is trying to do to these residents is unthinkable. This place isbeautiful. There’s a tree here that’s simply magic.’ My fingers are still tracing the outline of the heart shape. ‘So many people love this tree. This patch of land is special. It’s something that money can’t buy – something that can’t be sold and bought as an object. It has a personality. It has a family.’ I look at the residents who are doing all they can to run a strawberry patch despite being mostly octogenarians who probably had no plans to go back to work anytime soon. The number of people we’ve met who’ve shared their stories of the tree, knowing that those are just a handful of the people it’s touched over the course of its life.
And then there’s Ryan. I push myself up to see over the hedge, where he’s now attempting to tow the broken-down campervan out with his own truck. Someone who would literally chain themselves to a tree in an attempt to save it. Someone who hasn’t been home all summer, who hasn’t slept in a bed for weeks, and judging by the activity over on the campsite, was more than likely needed there but made saving the tree a priority instead, because making the world a better place was a priority to him. Nothing changes that, no matter what he thinks of me now.
‘What you do is wrong. Whatwedo is wrong. We have never, ever made any place better.’ I realise that’s true as I say it, and I’m as guilty as he is. ‘I don’t want to work for a company who would even consider cutting down a three-hundred-year-old tree that’s touched countless lives, and that’s without even taking into account the residents who live here.’ I think of what Ryan said about his father’s time living here. ‘For some of these people, the brightest thing they have in their lives is waking up every morning and seeing this incredible view. Property companies should care about that. Money is not the most important thing in the world.’
‘Well, I’m glad you think that becausethisproperty company no longer requires your services. We’re business-people, Felicity. We have no room for sentimentality. I hope you know how much you’ve thrown away.’
‘I don’t care.’ The branches of the sycamore rustle above me, and when I glance up, I’m almost positive they’re bending down towards me, the arboreal version of encouragement.
‘Well, then.’ He sounds taken aback. To be fair, it is the most forthright thing I’ve said to Harrison since I joined Landoperty Developments. ‘I’ll be sure to inform all my friends in the industry of your insolence, should you try to get a job with any of them.’
