Page 13 of Sunny Sundays at Primrose Hall

That’s when the emotion that she’d been suppressing ever since she’d run into Kyle came rushing out in a torrent of release so that she greeted Greta in a flood of tears.

‘Who on earth were you expecting it to be?’ said Greta, her face a picture of concern.

‘Oh, ignore me. I’m just being stupid,’ said Sophie, able to laugh now as she wrapped her friend in a hug. ‘You arriving has just made everything better. Let me make you a cuppa, I’ve just boiled the kettle.’

Over tea and biscuits, Sophie told Greta about her run-in with Kyle, the way it had made her feel and all the old emotions it had brought to the surface.

‘I honestly don’t know why I’m crying,’ she said, sniffing and mopping up her tears with a sheet of kitchen roll. ‘I suppose it was so unexpected, bumping into him like that. It took me completely by surprise and my instinct was to run, but of courseI couldn’t. And I had all these thoughts rushing through my head of things I could say, and I had to properly bite on my tongue to stop myself from doing so. That would have been a huge mistake. It was just so unsettling. It made me really jittery.’ She held out a quivering hand.

‘I can imagine,’ said Greta, her own hands cupped around her mug of coffee. ‘You haven’t seen him or spoken to him in all that time and then suddenly, it’s like coming face to face with your past.’

‘Exactly!’ Sophie nodded. ‘In a way, it’s probably a good thing. Living around here, I was bound to run into him at some point and now it’s done and over with.’ She held up her hands in a gesture of finality. She shook her head, a shudder running through her body. ‘He was so indignant that I’d left him, as though he couldn’t understand why I’d done it. As though I was somehow the person in the wrong. He had me thinkingwas it me? Was it not as bad as I thought it was? Should I have stayed and tried harder to work it out with him?’

‘Hey. Don’t go doubting yourself now. When I think back to how you were when I first met you, so unhappy and lost, and seeing you now, well, it’s like looking at a different person. You’re so much more confident, happier, settled with so many great plans.’ Greta leant across the sofa where they were sitting and squeezed Sophie’s wrist. ‘Don’t let this meeting with Kyle derail you.’

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ said Sophie, grateful for Greta’s reassurance. She took a sip from her mug of tea. ‘He told me he’s cut right down on the booze so that has to be a good thing, at least.’

‘And do you believe him?’

Greta was well aware of all the problems Sophie had faced in her relationship.

‘I’m not sure. He’d promised to give up on so many occasions before and it never came to anything, or else he would do it for a couple of days and then quickly go back to his old ways. I really hope, for his sake, and his family’s, that he has given up drinking. It changed the person he was and not for the better either.’

‘Do you think it would have made any difference to the way you felt about him if he had got sober?’

Sophie pondered on that before shaking her head.

‘No. I’ve thought about that a lot, but it got to the point where I couldn’t see a way back for us. I saw a side of Kyle that I really didn’t like and I would never want to put myself in that situation again. Bumping into him again made me realise that I’d made exactly the right decision in leaving. I have no regrets. This is my home now…’ she paused to look around her, ‘…and I can’t tell you how good it feels to have somewhere special of my own.’

‘That’s the thing, Sophie. You’ve come so far in the short space of time since I’ve met you. You’ve got a new job, found this gorgeous cottage and it’s obvious to anyone who knows you how much happier you are these days. I’m so proud of everything you’ve achieved.’

‘Thanks, Greta,’ Sophie said, grinning. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you.’

‘Seeing Kyle must have been upsetting, taking you back to a time that was difficult and unhappy for you, but he can’t hurt you in the same way any more. You’re a different person.’

Sophie exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Just talking it through with Greta had made her feel better. To get all that pent-up emotion out of her system had been cathartic. Her gaze travelled around the cosy living room of the cottage and her overriding feeling was one of gratitude and relief. Greta was right. She had come so far in such a short space of time and she could look tothe future with a sense of hope and excitement, something she’d never been able to do all the time she was with Kyle.

‘Did I tell you about the stables? It was the first one the other Sunday.’

‘Of course, yes, how did it go?’

‘It was great. Not as busy, obviously, as the first time I was there, but there was still a really good turnout and it’s expected only to get busier for the rest of the season. The people there, the other traders, are really friendly and helpful, and there’s just a lovely vibe about the whole place. I sold a few items and got to hand out some business cards so it was all good.’

‘Great, well, I will come along next time. When is it?’

‘This Sunday. Did you ever meet Pia?’ Greta shook her head. ‘She’s Jackson’s fiancée and is in charge of all the events at Primrose Hall. She ran the open days at the stables last year, but she’s handed them over to Tom. He’s Jackson’s brother, but I’ve met him a couple of times now and he seems really nice too.’

Sophie’s eyes lit up as she spoke and her earlier upset was quickly forgotten. All she needed to do was to consign Kyle very squarely to the past and concentrate firmly on the future.

12

‘Well, we couldn’t have picked a worse day for it.’

Katy had laid out all of her items on the table and display stand in her unit at the stables. There were personalised notepads, greetings cards, stationery sets and framed prints, all adorned with her quirky drawings of animals, including squirrels, foxes and hens. As she took a step backwards to give one final check of the display, she couldn’t help feeling proud at the sight of all her work gathered in one place. Sometimes she wondered if she was wasting her time, if her items didn’t have the artistic and commercial merit she hoped they had, but when she viewed them all together like that, it struck her just how much she had achieved.

‘Do you know, it might work in our favour,’ Tom said, peering out of the full-height glazed door to watch the rain in its relentlessness as it pounded the paths outside. ‘All those people who were going to visit the woods today but have been put off by the bad weather might hopefully come and see us instead. Fingers crossed.’

Katy didn’t really mind what the weather was doing out there. For her, coming to the stables was a much-needed escapefrom her domestic responsibilities at home. Obviously, selling her products was the main aim, but she enjoyed mixing with the other traders and meeting her customers, just as much. Here she could be herself, Katy Richardson, not mum to Rosie and Pip, or wife to Brad, but, as daft as it might sound, a person in her own right. As much as she adored her family, she sometimes felt as though she might drown from the drudgery that came with being stuck at home with the children for most of the week, with the main topic of conversation beingPeppa Pig. At the moment, the stables were her only outlet. She’d considered going back to work on a part-time basis but she quickly discovered, with the cost of childcare, it wouldn’t be worthwhile so she and Brad had made the decision for Katy to stay at home until the children went to school. Everyone reassured her that these demanding years would pass in a trice and she would look back on them fondly, and she was certain that she would. It didn’t stop her from relishing those opportunities when she could snatch a break from the family, though.

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