Page 44 of The Forever Cottage

‘Not at all. In fact, I’m going to miss my daily cuddles with Barney, aren’t I, boy? He’s a regular visitor over to the annexe.’

Tess shook her head indulgently. She knew better than anyone Barney’s antics, but she had to admire his boldness at the way he’d charmed and made friends with Rob. Tess felt quite jealous seeing him snuggled up there so comfortably.

‘You know someone else who is going to miss you hugely?’ Tess asked, the question eliciting a raised eyebrow from Rob. ‘Dilly! You have a proper fan there. She never stops telling me how marvellous you are!’

‘Ah, lovely Dilly, she’s great, and never fails to bring a smile to my face. I’ll miss her too, and all of you.’ He ruffled Barney’s fur as he spoke, looking down at him. ‘The time I’ve spent at Hollyhocks will be a period I will look back on fondly, that’s for sure.’

Tess felt a mix of feelings as she sat with Rob: weariness, contentedness and a pang of sadness too. Rob was taking big steps towards his new future and she would miss the closeness and familiarity of having him living alongside her. There was so much she felt she wanted to tell him, but bizarrely, she couldn’t even articulate those thoughts to herself. She suspected it was the champagne that was making her wistful and sentimental.

After chatting long into the night, Rob made moves to leave and Tess followed him across to the back door.

‘Well thank you again for a great evening.’ He paused for a moment, the silence between them filled with tension and suppressed emotion. ‘Look, I’m all packed up so I will be leaving first thing in the morning; I’ll say goodbye now. You wouldn’t thank me for waking you up that early.’

Tess nodded, thinking she wouldn’t really mind, biting on the inside of her check to stop the tears that were threatening to fill her eyes.

‘Too true,’ she said, laughing. ‘Well, good luck. I hope the job goes well and you settle in quickly to the new house. Keep in touch. I want to hear all about it.’

She leaned forward to hug him and wondered if she imagined him stiffening against her embrace so that she ended up patting him awkwardly on the back, like you might towards an elderly acquaintance. Quickly, Rob turned to leave and despite having had the most wonderful evening in a long time, Tess was left alone, watching as she held up a hand to the window, nursing a sense of loss and regret.

31

‘I’ll be glad when I can see the back of this wretched thing!’ said Marjorie. ‘It makes me feel so bloody elderly! And the way people talk to you. They clearly think I’m simple in the head as well as having dodgy legs.’

‘Well, hopefully it won’t be for much longer, but until then, simply make the most of it and enjoy the scenery. You do know it’s knackering pushing this thing? We could always swap places if you really wanted to.’

‘You know I would if I could,’ she told her daughter.

Marjorie was continuing to improve with each passing day. Her mobility was slowly getting better too with the help of some physiotherapy and a walker and she was quite capable of navigating her way around the home, and Hollyhocks, but she was still a long way off attempting a Sunday afternoon stroll around Lower Leaping, so they’d borrowed a wheelchair for the afternoon. Knowing her mum’s strength of spirit and determination, Tess could certainly see her returning to that level of fitness one day.

Spotting an ice cream van parked up by the side of the river, Marjorie exclaimed, ‘Oh, let me treat you to a 99, darling! It’s been ages since I’ve had one of those.’

They joined the queue, each of them plumping for a cone of swirly delight, covered in raspberry sauce, sprinkles and adorned with a flake, finding a bench where they could sit and eat their ice creams, watching the world go by.

‘It’s the simple pleasures, isn’t it?’ said Marjorie, her face lighting up in a childish grin as she tucked into her cone.

‘Stop! Let me take a photo. We can send it to Hannah to show her what she’s missing.’

‘Good idea. I think that darling girl must have forgotten about her grandmother. I haven’t heard from her in days!’

‘Don’t worry. You’re not the only one. I think she’s far too smitten with Billy and having too much of a good time to think about us back home. Never mind, she’ll be home in a few weeks anyway.’

Tess’s reply seemed to relieve Marjorie’s concerns, but that wasn’t to say that she wasn’t unsettled herself about Hannah’s lack of contact. She’d always been so reliable about phoning at the pre-arranged time on a Sunday morning and keeping Tess updated with regular texts and WhatsApp messages, but recently, the messages had been few and far between and were far less chatty than usual. This morning, Tess hadn’t even heard from Hannah and Tess’s follow-up message asking where she was had gone unanswered.

Tess settled herself on the end of the bench, next to Marjorie in her wheelchair and lifted her phone to the air to capture the image of them holding up their ice-cream cones. With the honey-coloured stone cottages behind them, lifted by the golden warmth of the summer’s afternoon, it was a beautiful picture of mum and daughter that Tess felt sure Hannah would appreciate. Immediately, Tess sent it on its way with a cheery message, hoping it might elicit a response from Hannah.

Hey, greetings from Lower Leaping! We love you dearly and miss you madly. Call me when you can! Lots of love! xxx

Tess put her phone away. There would be a perfectly logical explanation as to why Hannah hadn’t been in touch, although Tess was annoyed that she couldn’t have dropped her a message to let her know she was okay. Perhaps she was in an area where she didn’t get reception, or maybe her battery had run out of charge or she could even have lost her phone. That would explain it. Tess turned her attention back to her ice cream before it melted in the sun. She didn’t need to be overly concerned just yet. She was sure she would hear from Hannah soon enough.

‘Hello, you two. Isn’t it a beautiful day? Do you mind if I join you?’

Tess squinted against the sun to see Dilly standing there looking as glamorous as usual in a long-flowing dress, straw sun hat and sunglasses.

‘Of course. You’ll remember my mum, won’t you? Marjorie.’

Tess wasn’t sure that Dilly would ever have met her mum because she’d always kept her neighbour at arm’s distance until recently, but fortunately, Dilly didn’t dwell on that and went straight into chatting to Marjorie as if they were old friends. Dilly had clearly remembered what Tess had told her about Marjorie’s recent health issues and showed a real and genuine interest in the older woman’s welfare, which endeared Dilly to Tess even more, especially when Dilly gestured for Tess to move along the bench so that she could position herself between mother and daughter. When Dilly had exhausted all of Marjorie’s ailments, the beautiful weather that day and how lucky they were to live in such a picturesque village, she turned to Tess.

‘Oh, I noticed that Rob left this morning with all his gear. Has he actually moved out now then?’

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