Page 38 of The Bordeaux Book Club

‘No!’ Leah snapped. Then, ‘No, I think he needs to… well, a bit of time out of all of it,’ she said, hearing the words and feeling a little bit worse. ‘It’s just… I think he feels like a bit of a failure,’ she admitted.

‘Because of the carrots?’ Scarlett said, looking at her.

Leah couldn’t help but smile. ‘Not just the carrots. Maybe all of it. That’s why I want to do this for him. Because we’re a team. And I want him to remember that.’ Out of the corner of her eye, she eyed the chicken coop. Several of the birds were scratching around, pecking at the earth. Gollum stood close to the hexagonal wire, looking at her. She ought to collect the eggs, really. Maybe later, though.

Scarlett scuffed the earth with her trainer.

‘Careful!’ Leah said, noticing their bright whiteness for the first time. ‘You should be wearing your boots really, Scarlett. Those will get ruined.’

Her daughter ignored her. ‘Mum’ she said. ‘Do you ever think about the other week.’

‘The other week?’

‘Yeah, you know. Dad with that woman. Did you ask him about it?’

‘Scarlett!’ Leah said, trying to laugh. ‘That was ages ago! And it wasn’t even him… we don’t think. Besides, he is allowed to talk to women, you know.’

Her daughter was silent. ‘OK,’ she said. She bent down and put the plant slightly lopsidedly into the hole in the earth.

Leah decided not to criticise the half-hearted planting and instead slightly righted the little seeding as she packed the edges with compost. ‘Why?’ she pressed, unable to help herself. ‘Are you worried, love?’

Scarlett shrugged. ‘Not really.’

‘Because your Dad loves us.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘And he’d never do… anything like that,’ Leah said, wishing she felt more certain. Yet again, this morning, Nathan had disappeared. Yet again, he’d smelled of aftershave. Yet again, he’d said he’d rather be alone. Should she be pushing him more – asking exactly where he was going? But, no. He was entitled to a bit of privacy and she had no real reason to doubt him. Not really.

‘Yeah,’ said Scarlett, picking up another plant and watching Leah as she dug another hole.

‘Do you want to do some digging too?’ Leah said, holding out another trowel. ‘It’ll take us ages like this.’

Her daughter bristled at the criticism. ‘Alright!’ she said. ‘You don’t need to go on about it.’ And in that moment, the recognisable, original Scarlett who’d appeared inside the new teen version seemed to vanish. ‘Maybe that’s why Dad goes out all the time,’ she said, hacking at the earth with her trowel. ‘You’re always moaning at him too.’

‘Scarlett!’ Leah felt her face go red. ‘I am not always moaning at your dad.’

Scarlett shrugged. Leah wondered if there were websites out there that advised teenagers how to really hit the mark with their snarky comments. Was she always moaning at Nathan? She didn’t think so. She’d ask him about the garden, help him with things. Remind him about jobs. Practical stuff.

‘Whatever,’ her daughter said, driving the point home as she squashed another seeding into its freshly dug grave.

‘Scarlett! Careful with those!’

‘See!’ her daughter stood up, all self-righteous anger. ‘You ask me to come and help but it’s never good enough, is it.’

‘I just don’t want you to…’ Leah gestured at the poor, squashed seedling, its tiny leaves practically reduced to nothing.

‘Yeah, but it’s not all about what you want, Mum!’ Scarlett declared.

Leah wanted to say that she didn’t make the bloody rules when it came to gardening, she just googled them and followed the instructions. But she managed to keep the words in. ‘It’s not what I want,’ she said. ‘It’s just… well, you’ve squashed the poor thing, is all.’

‘Oh, sorry to squash your precious plant.’

‘You know that’s not what I mean. I just want them to grow.’

‘Yeah, well, maybe if you worried less about pathetic plants and more about your husband, he’d be here instead of going off all the time,’ Scarlett said.

‘Scarlett!’

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