Page 16 of Winter at the Cornish Garden Café
‘I think that’s very wise, Lucas. I’m exhausted.’
‘Shall we put something on the TV and chill out?’
‘Yes, and shall we order some food in?’ His father’s eyes lit up and Lucas nodded.
‘That is a fantastic plan. I’m really hungry actually.’
‘What shall we have?’
‘Up to you, Dad.’ Lucas took another swig of brandy and held it in his mouth before swallowing it and sitting back and relaxing.
‘No, Lucas, you choose. It’s your time now.’ His father sat back too and they both gazed at the fire while the logs crackled and popped and the brandy warmed them from within.
Lucas ordered food from the local fish and chip shop on his phone then poured more brandy. They could sort the decorations tomorrow and get the tree in from the garden where Lucas had left it standing in its pot while he went into the attic.
As the brandy soothed him, he wondered what Thora would make of this. She’d known his father quite well when they were dating and had known how harsh he could be, how critical and sometimes cruel. He’d thought he’d seen a flash of that at the café when his father had told Lucas that Thora was married. But now he looked back, perhaps his father wasn’t actually being cruel there, perhaps he’d been trying to remember. With some good food inside him and some company, his father’smemory seemed to be improving and Lucas wondered if it had been neglect that had led to the confusion his father sometimes seemed to face. Only time would tell and now he was here he intended to keep an eye on his father and see how things went. Lucas had perhaps misread the situation at the café thinking his father was the same as ever. People could change though, with time and reflection, and his father had changed so much that Lucas barely recognised him. He was incredibly grateful that this change had come about, and happy that he’d come home because if he hadn’t then they would never have had this time to put things right between them. They were building bridges and it felt good. And, Lucas thought, if he could build bridges with his father then surely that meant nothing was impossible? If he could repair this relationship, could he repair the one with Thora too? Just imagine if that was possible!
‘Anything is possible, Lucas,’ his father said as if reading his mind. ‘If you still have feelings for Thora then tell her. Don’t leave it too late.’
‘But Dad… it’s been so long, and she’s been through a lot in that time. She’s been married and had children and we’ve both changed.’
‘In some ways you have yes, but in here?’ His father tapped his chest with his fist. ‘Have you changed in there? Have your feelings for Thora changed so much that you no longer see her the way you did?’
Lucas chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought about it. He still cared for her, thought she was beautiful, had been unable to put thoughts of her far from his mind since he’d come back to the village. She had even haunted his dreams where she’d been friendly and flirtatious then running away from him, teasing himwith being hot and cold while he longed to hold her, kiss her and tell her he loved her still.
‘Oh god!’ He sat upright. ‘I still love her. I do. I wasn’t sure but I love her. What am I going to do, Dad?’ He turned to his father and saw that he was smiling.
‘You are going to put things right with her, Lucas. You are going to speak to her and explain whatever it is that you need to explain and you’re going to ask her if there’s a way forwards for you both. If not, then at least you’ll have tried but you’ll never know if you don’t. And I would hate to see you regret that for the rest of your life.’
‘I would hate to regret it for the rest of my life,’ Lucas said with a nod. ‘It would haunt me forever, mess with my head, destroy any peace I could otherwise find.’
‘Well then, son, it looks like you’ve a busy Christmas ahead of you.’
‘It certainly does.’
‘Now top up our glasses and then we can enjoy our food when it arrives.’
‘I’m ravenous now.’
‘Me too.’ His father grinned. ‘And a little bit tipsy!’
They laughed as Lucas poured more golden-brown liquid into the glasses and they drank a toast to the past, to the future and to putting things right. It wasn’t easy to speak openly about mistakes and things they’d done wrong, but he felt better for doing so. Next, Lucas needed to address what he’d done wrong towards Thora too.
Tomorrow would be a new day… A new day when anything was possible.
9
THORA
The next day, Thora and the twins went to her parents’ home for Sunday lunch. She was in the kitchen helping her dad, Myron Tremayne, peel vegetables while her mum, Nellie, was at the kitchen table with Rosie and Reggie helping with their homework.
‘That’s right, Reggie. Now how can you develop that section of your speech, do you think?’
Reggie scratched his curly head then rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘Uhm…’ He glanced over at Rosie, but she was scribbling away on her exercise book. ‘Look at Rosie go! She’s going to set fire to the page in a minute.’
‘Don’t try to distract me,’ Thora’s mum said. ‘You need to think about this carefully because you may have to do this in an exam and you need these skills for your speaking and listening assessment.’
Reggie sighed then puffed out his cheeks. ‘I could add some… persuasive techniques.’
