Page 36 of Daydreams at the Farm on Muddypuddle Lane
Maisie was flabbergasted. She knew her mum could be opinionated and judgemental, but this was taking it to the extreme. ‘You’re a fine one to talk,’ shespat, anger sparking through her. ‘You worked in a shop, and you might live in a house but you don’t own it, do you?’
As soon as the words left her lips, Maisie felt awful. Their mum had raised four kids on her own and had done a damned good job of it.
She felt even worse when her mum’s chin wobbled as she said, ‘That’s why I want more for you. Your father was a waste of space – God rest his soul. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.’
‘I won’t, Mum.’ Maisie pulled out a chair, sat down, and took her mother’s hand. ‘Adam’s not like that.’
‘Nikki has done well for herself, despite that idiot she was married to, and so has Dulcie and Jay. I don’t want you to throw your life away on some ne’er-do-well.’
‘Adam’s not a… whatever you said. He’s hard-working and kind, and—’ Maisie stopped. ‘I think I love him.’
‘Huh! How long have you known him?’
‘That’s irrelevant. Look at Jay and Eliza – within two weeks of them meeting, Jay was jetting off to New Zealand to be with her.’
‘That’s different,’ Beth said, but when Maisie pushed her on it, her mother clammed up and refused to say anything more. ‘I’m going back to bed,’ she declared. ‘I’m too old to be waiting up all night for you to come home.’
‘I didn’t ask you to,’ Maisie muttered.
Beth had the parting shot. ‘You kids will be the death of me,’ she said, closing the kitchen door firmly behind her and leavingMaisie feeling as though she had been flattened by a ten-tonne truck.
She wasn’t sure whether to feel blessed that she had a mother who cared as much as she did, or annoyed that her mum felt it appropriate to interfere in her life, or guilty because she felt she wasn’t living up to her mother’s aspirations for her.
In the end, annoyance won by a hair when Dulcie came downstairs and told her that far from waiting up all night for Maisie to come home, their mother had slept soundly from ten p.m. until just before Maisie had returned. And the reason Dulcie knew this, was because she had heard Mum snoring when she’d woken to go to the loo. And then Mum had wokenherup at just gone five to complain that Fred, the cockerel thatbelonged to the stables, had disturbed her with its crowing.
If Maisie hadn’t already vowed to do her utmost not to return to Birmingham and her mum’s house, she would definitely have made up her mind after hearing that!
Adam was on cloud ten: cloud nine wasn’t high enough. He felt as though he was walking on a fluffy cloud of marsh mallows, and his heart felt just as gooey. Last night had blown his mind, and all he could think about was how soon he could see Maisie again.
However, he was working for the rest of the week, jobs coming in thick and fast (which he certainly wasn’t complaining about) and at those times when he wasfree, Maisie was working in the restaurant.
He was very tempted to wait for her shift to finish this evening and drag her back to the flat to make love to her all night, but both of them needed a good night’s sleep after their recent antics, and he was already feeling the effects of lack of sleep: his head was woolly and he kept dropping his tools.
And when his phone rang, making him jump, he dropped that too. Thankfully, it landed on an old rag, so it didn’t sustain any damage.
‘Hiya, Mum. How are you?’
‘I’ve got a favour to ask. Please hear me out before you say no.’
‘How do you know I’m going to say no?’
‘Because it involves Verity.’
‘Ah.’
‘See? That’s what I mean.’
He uttered a sigh. ‘What’s the favour?’
‘As you know, your father and Karl have been discussing a merger… Oh, I do wish you’d come on board. It would mean the world to him!’
‘Mum, we’ve been over this.’
‘I know, but—’ She stopped and he guessed she would have been quite happy to go over the same old ground if it wasn’t for this favour she wanted to ask. ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘We’ll come back to that another time. On Saturday your father and I are having Karl, Linda, his board members and their wives or partners over for dinner, and Karl believesthey will be far more amenable to the merger if they can see that your father is supported by his family.’
‘What’s that got to do with it? It’s not as though you or I have any say in how the business is run.’
‘You could, if you wanted.’
