Page 9 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

‘Olaf is a good name,’ Bear said and Star giggled.

‘Right, come on then you,’ River said to Tierra. ‘Let’s get you back to craft club.’

‘Yay!’ Tierra said, excitedly. ‘We’re making a puppet this afternoon, the ones that hang from the ceiling and you pull the string and they move. I said I wanted to make a pterodactyl.’

Meadow smiled. Tierra loved anything to do with dinosaurs. As it was the summer holidays there was no school for the girls. Tierra had begged to go to a daily craft club where she spent the days up to her eyeballs in glitter and came home with an armful of things she had made. Meadow had asked Star if she wanted to go, but she was such an outdoorsy girl, she was happiest spending her days in the woods or on the beach.

River gave Indigo a kiss on the cheek and she took her normal place behind the reception desk as they walked out the door, with Tierra chattering excitedly about the pterodactyl she was going to make.

‘And you missy, do you want to take me down to the beach to show me the starfish you found yesterday?’ Amelia said to Star.

Star quickly scrabbled off Bear’s lap. ‘They’re not really fish, you know. They are echinoderms. And marine biologists are trying to change their name to sea stars.’ She took Amelia’s hand and walked off. ‘Did you know if they lose an arm they can regrow it?’

Meadow smiled as she watched her go then she turned back to Indigo. ‘Thank you for taking her, she’s been so excited to go and see the baby.’

‘It was my pleasure. She’s such a smart girl, she had such fascinating questions. I’m sure she’ll have many more for you tonight so be prepared for the birds and the bees talk.’

Meadow smirked. ‘I’ll look forward to that.’

CHAPTERFIVE

Meadow watched Bear chase Star across the sand as she walked across Pear Tree Beach with Heath. He was so good for her and Meadow counted her blessings every day that Star had three such wonderful men in her life.

Meadow’s dad had wanted nothing to do with his granddaughter. He’d kicked Meadow out as soon as he found out she was pregnant and they’d never spoken since. And while Meadow was hurt by his attitude, she could only really find relief that such a vile man was not a part of Star’s life. He’d made her and her mum’s life a living hell with his huge drinking problem and his terrible temper. He’d never hit either of them but he was permanently angry, belittling and nasty. He had been part of the reason why Meadow had never felt inclined to date or have a relationship with anyone. The last thing she wanted was to follow in her mum’s footsteps and end up with a man like her dad.

Their relationship was such a bad example of what married life was like, it had done nothing to make her want that. They had possibly been in love at one point for them to have got married in the first place – she’d seen the wedding photos and they looked happy. But growing up, Meadow had never witnessed that and, while she could accept that you could fall out of love with someone, the way her father had treated her mum with so much contempt had made her wonder if he’d ever loved her at all.

Her mum had stayed with him, even after all these years. She had never stood up for herself, never defended Meadow when his temper turned on her, which it frequently did. Her mum had stood by and done nothing when her dad had kicked her out at seventeen for being pregnant and she too had made no attempt to see Meadow or Star in the nearly eight years since Star had been born. Meadow had gone round there once after Star had been born on a day she knew her dad would be at his bowls club. She hoped to introduce her mum to Star. Her mum had flat refused to answer the door. She felt let down by that too. If the two people who were supposed to love you more than anything or anybody in the world didn’t then it didn’t exactly give her a lot of faith that any man would love and respect her either.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Heath said.

‘My parents’ relationship and how I don’t really have any good role models for a proper loving relationship.’

‘I wouldn’t let their relationship put you off finding love for yourself. There are far more decent men out there than horrible ones.’

‘I’m going to give it a try. I have a date tomorrow night, a man called Josh. I’m cautiously optimistic. Mainly because he hasn’t sent me a dick pic yet. I’ve had five of those so far.’

‘Oh god, I take it all back, men are the worst,’ Heath said.

Meadow grinned. ‘Some of you are OK. So I’ve made a bet with Bear over which will be the most successful dating path. He thinks online dating is the way forward because the computer has matched our algorithms. I don’t think that is the way to meet my soul mate. I think I’ll have more luck at these dating events I’ve signed up for with Mix n Match where I get to meet people face to face.’

‘You meet people face to face with online dating too, eventually you’ll meet these people in person.’

‘I know, even if chatting online is far easier. I just meant with online dating we’re matched with silly questions like dog or cat, beach or city holidays. We’re meeting face to face because we know we’ve already been matched by some computer, only to find we may have a ton in common but we don’t have that spark. If I meet someone by chance where we’re both attracted to each other, the connection is there through a smile or eye contact or a touch, I think that connection is far more real and long-lasting than if we’d been connected because we both like cheese.’

‘Fair point.’

‘I’m quite excited about some of these dating events. There’s speed dating and dating in the dark and even a kissing event which sounds a bit gross as I have to kiss thirty men in one night but I guess it could be fun. I’m nervous, I’ve never really dated before and I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope at the end of it all I find someone to love, who loves me.’

‘I hope for that for you too. You’ve spent far too long hiding yourself away.’

‘I’m not sure if I’ve been hiding,’ Meadow said, awkwardly, knowing that she probably had been. ‘Star has just been my priority.’

‘And she is a brilliant, clever, happy little girl because of it. It’s time to make you a priority for a change.’

‘She will always be at the forefront of my mind when I date these men, will she like them, will they like her.’ Meadow watched Bear throw Star over his shoulder and Star squeal with delight, her laughter loud and infectious. ‘I want someone for her like Bear.’

‘And while I would love for someone like him to end up being Star’s stepdad, you have to look at the kind of manyouwant, too, not just go shopping for Star. Star has a wonderful fun uncle in Bear, you don’t need to provide that for her. You need someone who ticks your boxes.’

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