‘I can donate my services as a prize,’ said Beth, having filled two glasses. ‘Lots of old people get given old laptops by their families and then have no clue how to use them.’
‘Good idea,’ said Sukey.
Lindy picked up her glass. ‘Cheers for this. I could offer a bit of mending. Mum asked me to think of something. She wants good prizes. That tea set, donated by Raff’s mother, was great.’
‘Oh, you mean the timeshare tea set?’ said Beth. ‘That led to great things, I think.’
‘Definitely!’ agreed Lindy. ‘So what’s this news you wanted to tell us?’
‘Let’s wait for Rachel,’ said Beth. ‘She should be here in a minute. So your dad’s OK with babysitting?’
‘Oh yes. He has some DVDs at my house that Mum doesn’t like. War films, mostly.’
The door opened with a blast of cold air and Rachel hurried in. ‘Sorry I’m a bit late. I had things to do at home.’
Beth thought she looked a little bit guilty as she said this but didn’t comment. ‘What can I get you? White wine? Red?’
Rachel considered. ‘I think red. As it’s cold out.’
‘You could have a ginger wine?’ suggested Beth. ‘That’s nice if you need warming up.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘No, no, red wine is fine. I’m desperate to know what this news is, Beth!’
‘Well!’ said Beth, relieved to be able to impart her news at last, and anxious to do it before Charlie arrived. ‘We’ve been offered a van.’
‘A van?’ Rachel’s nose wrinkled.
Seeing the wrinkle, Beth bit her lip. ‘Yes. And I have to say, it is a bit pongy. But it goes well! And Charlie – April’s brother – said he’d have it valeted.’
‘That sounds brilliant!’ said Lindy.
‘I do have a car,’ said Rachel, obviously not so keen on an ex-agricultural vehicle.
‘Yes, but you need it for work. And the business should have its own transport,’ said Beth.
‘How much does he want for it?’ asked Lindy.
‘Three hundred pounds,’ said Beth.
There was a brief silence. ‘I have got it in savings,’ began Rachel.
‘No, we’re not going into your savings unless we absolutely have to,’ said Beth. ‘I’ve got savings too, but I’m currently living on them. That, and a bit of money from my dad.’
‘We’ve got the eBay dress to sell,’ said Lindy. ‘That might get us three hundred?’
‘Yes,’ said Beth. ‘It might easily get that. A bit more, even.’
‘But Lindy did all the work to make it worth that,’ said Rachel. ‘She should have the money. Apart from the bit Helena put in, buying the dress in the first place.’
‘Helena can contribute that,’ said Beth firmly. ‘She owes us.’
‘And I really don’t mind about the money going towards a van,’ said Lindy. ‘If I could use it too, it would be brilliant.’
‘Well, of course you could use it,’ said Beth. ‘And I could too. It would make getting any sort of paid work so much easier. But are you sure?’
‘Absolutely!’ said Lindy.
‘From a business point of view that would work,’ said Rachel. ‘Eventually we should be able to pay ourselves salaries. But not just yet, obviously.’
‘That’s very good,’ said Beth. ‘I’ll tell Charlie. He’s coming in a bit later.’
Rachel narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you going a bit pink, Beth?’
‘No! I probably put too much blusher on.’
‘So why are you wearing make-up?’ asked Lindy. ‘You don’t usually.’
‘Because I’m being a barmaid. Duh!’ Beth blushed even more. She’d had several jobs as a barmaid and she’d never worn make-up for any of them. But Lindy and Rachel weren’t to know that. ‘Do you want to know how I got on with April?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Lindy. ‘You said her mother’s dress is amazing?’
‘Well, it doesn’t fit but there’s extra material and I’m sure you can do something with it,’ said Beth. ‘With your magic fingers and all.’
‘If we could adapt brides’ mothers’ wedding dresses as part of the vintage package, that would be really good,’ said Rachel.
Lindy and Beth regarded her. ‘Because, mostly, you have a life,’ Beth commented, ‘you won’t have seen the programme where they do that: bring out the dress and try to convince these lovely girls to wear these bits of outdated tat you wouldn’t put your dog in.’
Rachel nodded. ‘OK. But April’s mother’s dress is different?’
‘Yup,’ said Beth. ‘It’s gorgeous, potentially. But although I think it would be great if Lindy could work her magic on the mothers’ dresses, not all of them would end up lovely.’
‘I can’t wait to see April’s mother’s,’ said Lindy. ‘And if brides and their mothers were willing to donate the dress so I could pimp it up a bit and sell it, we could take it off the cost.’
‘Mm, we’d have to be careful,’ said Beth. ‘We don’t want a whole lot of dresses we can’t do anything with.’
‘OK, designer dresses only,’ said Rachel. She frowned. ‘Not sure I’d want to have my mum’s wedding dress put on eBay.’
‘We’d have to check, of course. What else do we need to sort out for April’s wedding?’
‘Well, her auntie is making a cake but April’s not sure she’d be up to fancy icing. One of us should learn. Me, maybe. Currently I’m only good when I’ve got a computer to help me.’
‘Good plan,’ said Lindy. ‘There would be lots of people who’ve got an aunt or a mum who can make a nice cake but they’ve got to look good.’
Beth suddenly doubted being able to learn to ice cakes. ‘Lindy, this wouldn’t be more your thing than mine?’
‘No,’ said Lindy firmly. ‘I’m pretty good at Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Tank Engine cakes but I haven’t done anything more … delicate. I mostly mould it in my hands and stick on sweeties. I’ll tell what would be helpful though: the Lakeland catalogue.’
‘Oh, Lakeland!’ said Rachel dreamily. ‘One of my favourites.’
‘They have amazing gadgets. My mother and gran drool over them.’ Lindy sipped her wine knowingly.
Aware that she’d somehow missed out on something that obviously made others very happy, Beth accepted her mission. ‘OK, I’ll see what I can learn through YouTube and practice,’ she said. ‘Oh, here’s a customer.’ She turned to him. ‘What can I get you?’
After she had pulled a pint of ale from the local brewery, Rachel said, ‘I might be up for making sugar flowers. I love fiddly things.’
‘Wonderful. We’ll be fine. Oh, here’s Charlie.’ Beth put on an especially welcoming smile.
Rachel and Lindy looked at each other. ‘Shall we get out of Beth’s way?’ Rachel said. ‘We don’t want her to feel awkward.’
When they had taken their glasses to a table, Lindy said, ‘I think I remember Charlie from school but he was a few years above me. Beth seems to really like him. Mum will know him from the farm. We’ll get her to update us.’
‘Do you like living where your family all live?’ Rachel asked. ‘It’s something I can’t imagine doing, really. But you’ve got your parents, your gran – with your boys, there’s four generations of you.’
‘It’s all I know,’ said Lindy. ‘I do wish I’d had a chance to get away, but this is a brilliant place to bring up children. What about you? Where’s your family? Have you got any siblings?’
‘No, I’m an only child. My parents moved up north when Dad retired early, and my grandparents always lived in Ireland. I never knew my grandparents that well. Loved them, but we were always visitors.’
‘In lots of ways I stayed here because I got trapped. I meant to go to art college, be a student, all those things, but I got pregnant, so I had to stay. Now my top tip to people about to have babies is live near your mum. And if you’ve got your gran too, well, that’s even better.’
‘And it is a really beautiful part of the country. Anyone would be lucky to live here. That’s why I picked this area.’
Lindy thought about this. ‘I am lucky, I know, but I do still wonder what the rest of the world is like.’
Rachel laughed softly. ‘I’ve travelled quite a bit and I’ll tell you what it’s like: not as nice as here, mostly.’
Lindy joined in the laughter. ‘I’m sure but I’d kind of like to find that out for myself.’
‘You’re still very young. There’s plenty of time for travel when your boys are bigger. Or grown up even. That’s the joy of having your children young. I’ve left it a bit late.’ She didn’t want Lindy to know that the thought of children and all the mess and disruption they would bring terrified her.
‘Come on! You’re not exactly ancient,’ said Lindy. ‘You’ve got plenty of time to have children – but only if you want them.’
‘Don’t you think everyone should have children then?’
Lindy shook her head. ‘I adore mine but parenthood’s not for everyone.’
‘But you like it?’
‘Part of me wonders if I’d have preferred a stunning career in fashion, but I don’t really believe that anything I could have created would be as wonderful as my boys. Who’s to say?’
‘Oh,’ said Rachel, as a thought struck her. ‘I forgot to say thank you for the kindling. I found it when I got in from work. It was so kind of you. Especially when you’re so busy.’
Lindy shook her head. ‘I didn’t leave any kindling, Rachel, I never got round to it.’
Rachel sighed. There could be only one other person who might have done so. ‘You think Raff left it?’
Lindy nodded. ‘I do. It’s just the sort of thing he would do. And he likes you.’
Rachel flopped back into the chair. ‘I don’t like him.’
‘Good. He’s such a player. Just don’t go there. Oh, here’s Mum!’ She waved. ‘Over here!’
‘Hi, girls! What can I get you? Wine? Shall I get a bottle?’
‘Sit down for a bit, Mum,’ said Lindy.
Sarah slumped into a chair. ‘I’ve had a really busy day but I bumped into April’s dad, Eamon, this afternoon at one of the farms I was at and he is so pleased with what you’ve done already.’
‘Beth was the one, you must tell her,’ said Rachel.
‘I’ll do that now. What are we drinking? Red wine? I’ll get it.’ And she headed for the bar.
‘Your mother is lovely,’ said Rachel. ‘She was so nice when I rang her before dawn to explain about not being able to go with Beth.’
‘She is fun. She gets involved in too many things though. Dad worries that she does too much.’
Rachel, who happened to be looking towards the door as it began to open, suddenly said, ‘It’s Raff!’ Her heart flipped in panic. She wanted to hide. ‘Can we join the others at the bar?’
‘Oh, OK,’ said Lindy, picking up her glass.
They were at the bar, deep in conversation, before Raff had fully entered the pub. Rachel had her head close to the others, hoping Raff wouldn’t notice her.
‘… so we’ve got to get as many teams as we can,’ Sarah was saying. ‘We’ll have a raffle, with lots of good prizes.’
‘I could offer to do someone’s books for them,’ said Rachel, her head turned as far away from Raff as it would go, given she wasn’t an owl. ‘That would be worth quite a lot for someone. And we’re painting the hall this weekend?’ she went on.
‘As many of us who can,’ said Lindy. ‘It would probably be better for me to send Dad to do my stint, than have him look after the boys.’
‘Do it in shifts,’ suggested Sarah. ‘When Dad gets tired, he can take over from you with the boys.’
Raff joined them at the bar. ‘Good evening, everyone.’
Rachel nodded in his direction and then hid behind her glass.
‘Evening, Rachel.’
It was hard to ignore the piercing blue eyes fringed with curly lashes that regarded her from a rugged, unshaven face.
‘Hello, Raff.’ She paused. ‘Did you leave some kindling by my back door?’
He raised an eyebrow in reply. ‘I knew you’d never light the wood-burner without any and I have plenty that’s really dry.’
‘That was very kind of you,’ she said. And as it seemed the moment for taking the bull by the horns, she went on, ‘Would you like to come for a drink sometime?’
‘Very much. But not here.’
Rachel was alarmed. ‘Not here? Where else is there to go?’ She felt safe in the pub – she didn’t want to be with someone who was so unsafe without feeling happy in her surroundings.
‘Strange as it might seem to you, coming from London, there’s a whole world of nice country pubs that aren’t full of people you can chat to instead of me.’
She was aware that Sarah and Lindy had moved a little away from her and she felt exposed. ‘We could sit in the corner, if you insist. But I never drink and drive so I wouldn’t want to go anywhere I couldn’t walk to.’ She felt she’d saved a point – not the same as winning one – but for now she was safe.
Sukey passed a glass to Raff without him having to ask. It was beer. He took a sip. ‘There is a lovely little pub just over the hill. We can walk.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘I’m not tramping over the fields in the pitch dark.’ Silently she added, ‘With a man I don’t know and certainly don’t trust’.
‘We’ll go at lunchtime. Do you work?’
‘Yes!’
‘But freelance,’ said Sarah, who couldn’t help herself. ‘You’re like me, surely, and work in bits and pieces?’
‘Mum!’ said Lindy, aghast, and grabbed her mother by the arm.
‘Just trying to be helpful!’ said Sarah.
Rachel could hear Lindy muttering darkly.
‘OK!’ said Rachel. ‘What about tomorrow?’ Taking Raff out for a drink was becoming more and more of a big deal and it hadn’t been a small deal when he’d first suggested it.
Raff smiled a little crookedly. ‘I’m terribly sorry, I’m having lunch with my mother tomorrow.’
Rachel beamed. She was so relieved. Although they’d have to reschedule, she’d done her duty for now. ‘Oh, what a shame! And I’m terribly tied up next week. But maybe the week after?’ She’d be able to come up with some reason not to go then.
‘Well, no great hurry,’ said Raff. ‘I can wait. Now I’m just going over there to chat to a friend.’
Although she should have felt reassured by this casual acceptance of her busyness, she actually felt a whole lot worse.
‘God, I’m so sorry about Mum saying that to Raff,’ said Lindy when Raff had gone across the room. ‘She doesn’t get what he’s like. She just says how kind he is. Yes, Mum, I am talking about you!’
‘He is a nice man,’ said Sarah firmly. ‘But if you girls want to slag him off, I’ll go and talk to the darts lot. Persuade them they want to bring a team to the quiz.’
Not wanting to slag him off, or even think about him, Rachel turned to Beth. ‘So, Beth, tell us about Charlie!’