‘Janie!’
‘It’s true. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. She dumps those girls on other people whenever she can. Never reciprocates and…’ Janie’s face was quite purple but whatever she was going to say, she thought better of it.
‘Don’t worry. I’ve known her for twenty-six years. I know what she’s like.’
‘Sorry. That was rude of me. She is your sister.’ Janie drank a large slug of wine and although I wasn’t supposed to see it, I could tell Penny was patting her hand under the table.
With a placatory smile she asked, ‘So where is she?’
I stuck to the version I had told the children. ‘She’s on a yoga retreat but it’s very remote and there have been landslides that have washed the road away so she’s stranded for the time being. But it’s all fine.’ I gave her a cheery grin.
‘Oh, poor you. That’s tough. How are you managing? Alice says you have a… big job. What is it you do?’
Her careful choice of words and gentle sympathy made me like her all the more.
‘Oh, I work for an accountancy firm.’ I gave a quick shrug as if it were no big deal. Not so long ago I’d have said I was Head of Retail Construction Accounting and reeled off the name of the company which most people in the area had heard of. They were the big boys in the north of England. Now though, my title didn’t seem that important. ‘But I’ve been on… sabbatical’—okay, so I couldn’t quite own the stigma of stress yet—‘for a while, which is why Alice left me with the girls, but it was only supposed to be a week.’
‘A week? Oh, I thought Alice said she’d be away for two. I must have got that wrong.’
Janie shot me a knowing glance.
‘Well, it’s been fine up to now. I’ve rather enjoyed having them but in another week and a half I’m due back at work.’ I felt so much better that there was no reason for Dr Boulter to sign me off again and I’d worked out my strategy for going back to work. I was going to manage my time better and if I couldn’t do something I was going to say so. Hilda’s forthright attitude had taught me the value of that. I would delegate more to the team, especially that lazy git Geoff who I knew had time because he’d boasted, when he didn’t realise I could hear, that he deliberately strung things out so he couldn’t be given anything else. Well, that was about to change. And I would learn the art of saying no and stop thinking of myself as invincible. I’d accepted that partnership was probably out of reach which took the pressure off. I didn’t need to be the best all the time and I was going to be strict with my working hours – which I was going to have to be anyway now that I’d have the girls, although that was something that was worrying me. What was I going to do about childcare?
‘If Alice isn’t back by then, I’m not sure what I’ll do.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. There’s a great After-school Club at the school and if you get really stuck I can always help out. Poppy and my Sarah are quite good friends. Poppy’s a lovely girl and Ava will fit right in with Thomas.’
I stared at her, amazed at her generosity. Why would she offer to do that? As if she read my mind, she beamed at me.
‘And I should have offered before. I feel terrible because now I realise I’ve seen you a couple of times at school and meant to come over and say hello. Why don’t the girls come for tea one night after school, say Thursday, and then you come pick them up at wine o’clock?’
‘That’s really kind of you.’ I blinked, a little overwhelmed at how easily these offers came from her. ‘I’ll get right on to the After-school Club tomorrow.’
‘Rubbish. I should have made a bit more effort. You know what it’s like; we all just get so wrapped up in our own little worlds. I mean, Charles and I have talked about how great a parkrun would be here but we’ve not done anything about it. Good for you for actually trying to make things happen. It’s going to be fantastic for the community. What can I do to help?’
She flicked her hair back over her shoulders as if preparing for action. ‘I know! Douglas Outhwaite, he’s a Harrier. I’m sure he’s in the printing trade. If Janie’s husband does a design, we could get him to print some leaflets.’
Janie slapped her forehead. ‘Doh! Why didn’t I think of that? Course he will; Matt quite often uses him. I’ll get on to him in the morning.’
‘That would be brilliant. I can get the kids to help me distribute the leaflets.’
‘We’ll help. We could all do a different street each night on the way home from school.’
‘If there’s a chance we could lose one of mine, I’m definitely game,’ said Janie with a broad grin.
‘Great. The plan is to hold an open meeting to drum up support for the event and to find volunteers at The Friendly Bean. I can’t believe how everything’s coming together.’
‘Wow, how did you persuade Sascha to do that?’ Penny gave me an admiring glance. ‘Or are you paying her?’
‘No, she offered and it was her idea to supply some cakes.’
‘I bet it was.’ Janie grinned. ‘She’s not daft. Much bigger profit margin on the coffee, if everyone pays for those. You feel obliged if you’re getting free cake. Smart business woman that.’
‘She’s been very helpful.’ I was quick to defend the other woman; she’d done me no harm and had been quite helpful in her own brusque, businesslike way.
‘Sorry, we’re not being horrible,’ chipped in Penny. ‘She has done an amazing job on The Friendly Bean. She’s just not that approachable.’
I could see that Sascha’s cool reserve might not go down so well with Penny’s puppy-like friendliness but I could relate to both women.
By the end of the evening, I’d made a couple of new friends, and somehow Ash and I had been co-opted onto Charles and Penny’s quiz team in aid of the Parish Council fund.
Funny how, in such a short space of time, my life in Churchstone had started to blossom.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Meet me on the corner of Park Road and Abernathy Road at 9.15am. Tell no one. Hx
The text, typical Hilda in Mata Hari mode, made me smile as I dropped the girls off at school on Thursday morning.
‘Can I have a quick word, Miss Harrison?’
My heart sank at Miss Parr’s quietly spoken words as Ava skipped past her into the classroom. What had I forgotten now? I thought I’d caught up on all the paperwork and paid for school dinners and the outstanding trip money.
‘I just wanted to say thank you. It’s really noticeable that Ava is finally getting support at home. I can see an improvement in her reading already. I just wanted to let you know.’
‘Oh. Right. Thanks.’
And with that she retreated into the classroom, leaving me with a bemused smile on my face.
‘Not in trouble then,’ teased Penny.
‘No,’ I grinned at her. ‘Not this time.’
‘I thought I’d let you know that the leaflets are ready and we can start delivering them this week.’