‘Her what?’ said Helena, distracted for a moment.
‘Bag o’ sand, grand.’
‘Love it!’
‘But you should go and check out your mum’s attic and see what’s survived.’
Helena sighed, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the whole thing. Amy had such faith in her; her wonderful mentor, Julia Coombs, had had such faith in her; this was her chance to show them she was up to it.
Helena hadn’t thought to ring her mother before she went up to visit the attic and tell her the news about the show, but her car was there so it was slightly surprising to find the back door locked. Helena used her key and let herself into the house.
‘Mum?’ she called but the kitchen had that empty feel that indicated no one was home. Ulysses the cat got up from the chair he was snoozing on and came over to say hello. ‘So where is she, Uly?’ Helena asked. ‘I’d better ring her.’
She dialled. ‘Mum? Where are you? I’m at the house and I want to go into the attic.’
‘Oh, hello, darling!’ said Gilly.
She sounded a bit awkward, Helena thought. ‘Are you OK, Mum?’
‘Of course, I’m perfectly all right. I’m with a friend.’
Helena got the impression she wasn’t with a close friend and wasn’t entirely happy about it either, so although she knew her mother hadn’t been kidnapped she felt obliged to ask: ‘You haven’t been taken anywhere against your will, have you? Say Ulysses if you have.’
Her mother’s laugh was rather brittle. ‘Don’t be silly and be careful going into the attic if you’re on your own. The ladder isn’t very secure. Promise?’
‘Is that you, darling?’ Gilly called.
‘Yup,’ said Jago, appearing in the hall with a large plastic box in his arms.
Gilly laughed. ‘Is my daughter with you? Or are you burgling me?’
Helena appeared with a slightly smaller box in her arms.
‘Is that the family silver in there?’ asked Gilly.
‘No. It’s all that silk yarn you’ve been keeping for me in the attic and that small loom,’ said Helena. ‘Did I tell you? I’m going to start weaving in silk!’
‘But I thought you were working flat out for World of Wool?’
‘I’m doing something quite different now!’ She looked at her watch. ‘We must go – Jago has to be somewhere – but I’ll ring you and tell you all about it. It’s all Amy’s fault!’ She followed Jago out of the back door. ‘And thank you so much for keeping everything in those boxes,’ she added. ‘It’s completely saved me!’
Although Helena was trying to remember the eccentricities of the loom that was travelling in pieces in the back of Jago’s pickup along with the plastic boxes, one part of her mind was on her mother. Did she look guilty? Unsettled? Just a bit odd? ‘I wish I’d remembered to ask my mother where she’d been when I called her.’ She paused. ‘Did she look shifty to you?’
Jago laughed heartily. ‘No! And I think your mum is entitled to a private life, Helly.’
He hadn’t called her that before and Helena took a moment to decide if she liked it or not. She concluded that she did. ‘I know, it’s just I’m in the habit of looking out for her. And she looks out for me.’
‘Is that what they call a “co-dependency”?’ Jago enquired.
Helena thought about this before acknowledging there was possibly some truth in his comment. ‘The trouble is, she was a bit of a wreck after the divorce. She was really strong all the way through it, but afterwards she sort of slumped for a bit.’
‘She’s lucky to have a daughter like you.’
‘And I’m lucky to have a mum like her! Totally keeping the moths away from my silk thread was amazing!’
‘So you’ll stop worrying about Gilly and just focus on your new project?’
‘I will.’
Jago stayed to help her assemble the small loom and then said, ‘I must dash. I’m looking for my next project. Always have to think ahead in this game.’
Helena was aware this gave her a slight feeling of loss. ‘Oh, OK! I’ll see you later. Maybe I’ll cook something?’
‘Or maybe you’ll get so involved in threading your new loom I’ll cook something?’
Helena beamed. ‘An even better idea.’
Threading the smaller loom did take forever, especially as the silk strands were so fine. She needed 125 threads per inch and she wondered if she was mad to start doing this when she had so little time. But the time flew by and when Jago put a monster sandwich by her she had no idea where she was in the day.
‘Is that lunch or breakfast?’ she asked, suddenly starving, her hunger triggered by the sight of food.
‘Early supper. Shouldn’t you stop now? Can you still see?’
Helena blinked. ‘Actually you’re right, I’m not functioning all that well at the moment.’
‘Why don’t you bring the sandwich into the kitchen and have a glass of wine with it while I cook us something else?’
‘That sounds like a very good plan!’ said Helena and picked up her plate.
As she followed him through the house she remembered he’d been on a mission too.
‘Did you get the property you were interested in? Were you buying or just checking out?’
‘Checking out. No point in buying something if it’s never going to get planning permission. So how did setting up a different loom go?’
‘Well! Although it took me a while to find my way around it, and I had forgotten quite how long it takes to thread a loom with thread so fine. I reckon I can get three good scarf lengths out of every time I thread the loom, but I am going to have to charge a lot to make it worth it.’ She took a large bite of her sandwich and sighed happily.
‘But there’s the honour of being in the show?’ He put down a full glass of red wine and she knew it was her favourite.
She took another bite before answering. He did have a way with a sandwich: the right bread, the right condiments, all perfectly balanced. ‘There is, but you can’t pay your bills with honour, can you? You have to have actual money as well. There’s no point in creating beautiful pieces if people won’t pay enough for them.’
‘But didn’t Amy feel fairly sure you’d make back your thousand pounds without difficulty?’
‘Amy is dreadfully optimistic!’
‘When I last looked, being optimistic wasn’t considered a bad thing,’ said Jago.
Helena looked at him, biting her lip to hide her smile. ‘There’s being optimistic and being foolhardy. And that was possibly the most delicious sandwich I’ve ever eaten.’
He nodded gravely. ‘You were hungry. That helps.’
Over the following days, Helena hardly stopped weaving. Jago brought her food during the day and dragged her to the table for the evening meal. She sent her mother a text to say she was fine but working very hard. She didn’t tell her how late and long her hours were. Mothers didn’t need to know everything.
Chapter Eighteen