‘That sounds great. No cooking or tidying involved.’
He gave her a heart-stopping grin. ‘I think in American films in the fifties they called it “double-dating”.’
Helena giggled. ‘And me and Amy can go to the powder room to compare notes halfway through and say, “I don’t fancy yours much.”’
‘Perfect! I’ll ask James. But if he says yes, can I leave it to you to set up, find somewhere nice? I’ve got so much on.’
‘Of course! I’d like to do that.’
‘You are a wonderful woman. Do you know that?’ Then he gave her a toast-and-marmalade kiss and went to work.
A little later, Helena decided to go and see her mother. Gilly would want to hear about World of Wool anyway, and because she was Helena’s mother, she’d have to put up with hearing how wonderful Jago was. But she was going to call first and make sure it was convenient.
‘Mum? Only me. Can I come over?’
‘Of course you can, darling. But why are you asking first?’
‘You know why, Mum. I didn’t want to disturb you if you had a friend with you.’
‘I’m quite alone at the moment.’
It occurred to Helena that her mother sounded particularly upbeat and cheerful. Was it possible that she was in love too? Were she and her mother about to compare notes on their beloveds? The thought gave her mixed feelings. She was delighted, of course, but really, you didn’t want to think about your mother – any parent really – having a sex life. It was weird.
Helena had never thought she’d feel about anyone as she felt about Jago. She didn’t believe in that kind of love. But here she was, on cloud nine, mentally skipping about in the sky. For her mother to be in the same condition was just a bit mind-blowing.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Gilly put the kettle on when she’d disconnected from Helena. She felt the situation called for real coffee and freshly ground beans. Although it was still early days in her and William’s relationship she felt a bit guilty that they still hadn’t told Daphne or any of their friends about it. Helena knew, of course. And she should probably tell Martin although she felt certain that her son and Cressida would not be pleased.
She would talk to William the next time he called. Although mostly she let him do all the getting in touch (she was horribly old-fashioned), now she sent him a text to say that Helena was coming for coffee but that she probably wouldn’t stay past ten or eleven. Helena, she realised, now kept builders’ hours which meant she started early.
When Helena breezed through the back door a little later, Gilly’s mother’s heart soared with joy to see her daughter so happy. But a part of her was doubtful. She had had that madly-in-love glow herself when she had first been with her now ex-husband.
‘Oh, Mum!’ said Helena. ‘You’ve made real coffee. Are there B & B guests here?’
Gilly laughed. ‘Do I only make coffee when I’ve got paying guests?’
‘Well, you know. But I’m not complaining. And shortbread! I’ve just had breakfast but I’m still starving for some reason.’
‘I can’t imagine what that would be,’ muttered Gilly, smiling to herself. ‘So how did World of Wool go? As successful as ever?’
‘Pretty much,’ said Helena, blowing crumbs. ‘Everyone loved my wall hangings. Not enough to actually buy them of course – after all, at do’s like that people make their own wall art – but I’m going to run workshops showing how to make them so they will have been worthwhile.’
‘It was worth doing them then. After all, courses are the gift that goes on giving. You can only sell a wall hanging once.’ Gilly didn’t join her daughter in eating the shortbread, she was a bit sick of it.
‘Deffo. But, Mum, the best bit was when I came home!’
‘Really?’ Gilly was fairly confident that Helena wasn’t going to give her a kiss-by-kiss account of her nocturnal exploits but she was just slightly anxious.
‘You know I have to keep coming round here to have a proper bath?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Jago spent the whole weekend putting a proper tub into the bathroom that just had a shower in it. It was amazing! He’d cooked the most brilliant chicken tagine and then he made me wait downstairs until the pinger went. Then I had to go upstairs and he led me into the bathroom. He’d put candles everywhere and some gorgeous lavender bath oil and it was lovely.’
‘Oh, darling, how thoughtful! You’re absolutely sure he’s not gay?’
‘Yes! But it meant he’s now behind with his work and he was so brilliant when I was working so hard, doing all the cooking and stuff, I’m determined to do the same for him.’ She paused and made a face. ‘But the trouble is, he’s a brilliant cook and I’m not. I’m hoping you can give me some foolproof recipes.’
‘Of course I can. And you can cook perfectly well; you just lack confidence.’
‘I’ll need a recipe for crumble, your cheese scones, soup – all the lovely comforting things that you make.’
‘Those are the things that I don’t really have recipes for, but I’ll do my best. I’ve never seen you like this, Helly.’
‘I know. I’ve never been like this before. Being in love is just so blissful, isn’t it?’
Gilly sighed. ‘Yes, it is. The trouble is, you can’t just decide to feel like that. Some people seem able to fall in love all the time. I’m not like that.’ She realised she had never loved Leo, she had just been flattered by his attention and had enjoyed all her friends envying her.
‘I don’t think I am either,’ said Helena, ‘or it would have happened before now.’
Gilly nodded.
‘And are you in love now, Mum?’ asked Helena.
Gilly nodded again. ‘Yes, I think I am.’
Helena came round the table and hugged her mother. ‘Long may it last,’ she said.
‘Indeed!’ said Gilly, wondering if she would ever stop worrying about her children. She couldn’t bear to see Helena’s heart broken now.
‘Thank goodness you’re back!’ said Helena when Jago came into the house later that evening, ridiculously pleased to see him again.
‘Why? What’s wrong?’ He looked worried.
She laughed. ‘Nothing really. Supper’s ready when you are.’
She had come home from her mother’s laden with supplies including a stew from Gilly’s freezer (currently bubbling away), a box of broken shortbread, some frozen rhubarb (not turned into a crumble), recipes and a big bundle of herbs from the garden.
When she’d done most of her paperwork required to follow up after World of Wool, emailed several people about workshops, tidied the house and put some tools in a more sensible place, she set about finding somewhere nice for the ‘double date’ that was in prospect.
She had found a lovely wine bar, not too far away, with good reviews and parking, then ran it past Amy. This instigated a phone call that went on for some time but at least they had agreed a couple of possible dates and when they finally disconnected Helena felt she could text James with the dates and venue details. And all the time she worked she thought about Jago.