The Garden on Sparrow Street: A heartwarming, uplifting Christmas romance

by Tilly Tennant

  Before they began he delegated tasks as Nasser would but, unlike Nasser, he couldn’t help getting involved with all the tasks that he’d given to everyone else. He was like some kind of superman – no sooner had he started the thing he himself was meant to be doing than he’d finished it and was assisting someone else with their task. He whizzed round the garden like a cheerful dynamo, sometimes whistling, sometimes singing to himself, always charming.

  ‘Here… let me help,’ he said, coming to take the handles of the wheelbarrow Nina was pushing to the rubbish dump.

  ‘I can manage,’ she said, laughing and trying to take them back. ‘You’re making us all look bad doing everything!’

  ‘I’m not, I’m just more used to this work than you. You’re all doing a grand job.’

  Nina relinquished her grip and let him take the wheelbarrow. He gave her a smile and she couldn’t decide whether the now familiar flutter at the sight of it was welcome or not. Why couldn’t she stop doing that every time he looked at her? It wasn’t right – she wasn’t ready for this, not yet. That’s what she’d been telling herself for the last two years, so why was she so desperately attracted to him?

  Then she heard Nasser’s voice – a welcome distraction. He’d promised to come when he could to see how they were getting on. He stood now at the entrance to the garden in his work suit. Nina made her way over to save him getting his leather brogues muddy. She was working there today with Ada, Martha and Kelly under Colm’s capable direction. Not exactly an army but the only people willing or able to take the time out of their usual daily routine to help. They’d all started the day with profuse apologies to Colm that he’d got a bunch of weedy women as labourers, and he’d replied cheerily that they’d probably be a lot more reliable than many of the labourers and apprentices he’d had in the past – male or female.

  ‘How’s it going?’ Nasser asked.

  ‘Good,’ Nina said. ‘Colm’s absolutely brilliant – honestly, I think it’s going to look better than ever.’

  ‘It’s just a shame about the extra costs,’ Nasser said.

  ‘Yes, that bit we could have done without. But Colm’s services come free of charge, remember. That’s something at least – and so far he’s been very generous with spare bits and pieces from his own shed.’

  ‘That’s kind of him – I must have a word with him.’

  ‘I could call him over—’

  Nasser shook his head. ‘Sadly, it will have to wait – I have to get back to work. I only popped out to see if you were OK but my lunch break is nearly over.’

  ‘Oh, well that’s OK. It’s a shame you can’t stay longer, though.’

  ‘I’m as frustrated as anyone about it. Thank you for taking charge, Nina.’

  Nina dismissed the thanks with a soft laugh. ‘I’m hardly doing that; if anyone’s in charge right now it’s Colm.’ She glanced back to where he was returning from a skip with the now empty wheelbarrow. He put his hand up in a cheery wave to acknowledge Nasser, instinctively seeming to understand that they’d been talking about him and not seeming to mind too much. Instead, he turned and said something to Ada and Martha, who both squealed with delight and began to giggle like dizzy schoolgirls.

  ‘I’d better go,’ Nasser said. ‘I’m really sorry I can’t help out today.’

  ‘Seriously, you don’t need to worry. I know you’d be here if you could.’

  ‘I’ll talk to you later if that’s OK?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘In fact… I wonder whether it might be a good idea to call another meeting in the next few days.’

  ‘I think it would be. We can at least gauge where we’re at and find out who still wants to be involved in the project. It’s pointless and really just annoying to be pestering people who’ve had enough.’

  ‘My thoughts too,’ Nasser said, though his tone told her that he didn’t approve of the notion that any of their previous supporters might want to desert the project now. Not when they were needed more than ever – for morale if nothing else – and not when they’d probably benefit from the finished garden as much as everyone else would.

  ‘OK, well, I’ll see you later perhaps?’

  ‘I’m sure you will,’ Nasser said. ‘Actually, Yasmin is cooking lamb tagine – perhaps you’d like to come and eat with us?’

  Nina smiled. ‘That would be lovely but I have my friend visiting tonight – you know, Robyn?’

  ‘Ah, yes! You’d both be welcome to come if I just let Yasmin know to make more.’

  ‘Oh no, don’t make more work for Yasmin on our account.’ Nina smiled. ‘We’ve got plans to cook and I already have the ingredients in. Another time when we can give her a bit more warning would be lovely.’

  Nasser inclined his head in a little bow. ‘Of course; I’ll look forward to it.’

  Nina watched him walk back to his car for a moment before turning back to her own work.

  ‘Everything alright?’ Colm asked as she took up a rake and began to clear some thinned-out branches from the path.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Nina said. ‘Nasser was just saying that he wished he could help but he has to be at work today.’

  ‘Ah, we’ll be just fine without him. It’s only a wee place and I’m sure me and my girls can handle it.’

  Nina raised her eyebrows and he grinned.

  ‘You say that…’

  ‘You’re doing a grand job so far—’ he began but was cut short by a squeal from nearby. They both turned to see Martha flat on her back in a patch of mud. Colm raced over, Nina close at his heels.

  ‘Martha!’ Nina cried.

  But when they got close, they could see that she was laughing so hard she was almost crying and that was partly the reason she was struggling to get up. Ada put out a hand to drag her up and a second later she was in the mud too, laughing almost as hard as Martha. This made Colm laugh, and then Nina started.

  After a minute or so they managed to control themselves and Colm gave both ladies a hand to get up.

  ‘You’re not injured, are you?’ Nina asked. She didn’t think it was likely given their good humour but it didn’t hurt to check.

  ‘Oh no,’ Ada said.

  ‘Not a bit,’ Martha put in.

  ‘But we are covered in mud.’ Ada looked down at herself.

  ‘Quite covered,’ Martha agreed. ‘We look like farm pigs.’

  ‘Oh, we do,’ Ada said and started to laugh again.

  ‘I think you look grand,’ Colm said, ‘like proper labourers now. No foreman trusts a worker who’s too clean.’

  ‘What about you?’ Ada said with a wicked grin. ‘You look quite clean to me.’

  ‘Oh, not dirty at all,’ Martha snorted, picking up on the banter.

  ‘Oh… I’m as dirty as the next one,’ Colm said with a mischievous glint, sending both Ada and Martha into new fits of giggles.

  ‘Oh you!’ Ada cried, slapping him playfully on the arm.

  ‘Naughty!’ Martha joined in.

  Nina smiled as they continued in this way, Colm winding them up more and more with every witty riposte. He looked her way and she felt her legs almost give way as he threw her an impish grin. Though she tried to deny it, she was more attracted to Colm than ever. What on earth was she going to do?

  The light was failing when Colm finally called time on their day’s work. Nina found it frustrating to have to stop when they were making such good progress but she understood why. She said goodbye to Kelly, Ada and Martha and then went to Colm’s van to thank him as he packed his things.

  ‘Are you free tomorrow?’ he asked as he fastened the tapes around some digging equipment to secure it in the back of his van.

  ‘To work on the garden?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But… well, haven’t we already taken up enough of your valuable time?’

  ‘I was just thinking I’ve got a couple of hours free first thing if you want me.’

  ‘Won’t you have clients to get to?’ Nina asked, cer
tain that Diana had told her Colm only worked for her and Sammy once a week.

  ‘It’s the morning I’d normally take off,’ he said with a warm smile that set her pulse racing again. ‘I won’t be doing much else with it.’

  ‘Oh… well, in that case I expect I could be here. I’m job hunting right now but I don’t have anything as yet so I’m free quite a lot.’

  ‘That must be tough.’

  Nina shrugged. ‘It’s OK; there’s a few irons in the fire, as they say – my dad’s got a friend who owns a pub and they can’t say yes yet but they promised as soon as they have an opening they’ll let me know. And I’ve got a little money to keep me going so I’m not too worried yet; I’m sure something will come up.’

  ‘I’m sure it will,’ he agreed. ‘So if I come at nine you can be here?’

  ‘Yes. Do you want me to see if I can round up anyone else to come?’

  ‘That’d be grand if you could. So I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  Nina nodded and watched as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Then the van turned the corner of the street and was out of sight. She already missed him. What was more, she’d barely given Gray a thought all afternoon and she couldn’t quite decide how she felt about that.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Robyn turned up twenty minutes late for their tea date and dumped a carrier bag onto Nina’s dining table. Nina wasn’t worried about the lateness, but she felt certain that it had something to do with ongoing worries about Toby. She’d ask later when they’d eaten.

  ‘I got supplies,’ Robyn said.

  ‘I told you I had plenty in.’ Nina went to look while Robyn hung her coat over the back of a chair. ‘You didn’t have to get all this.’

  ‘I know, but I was passing the shop anyway and you know I hate to turn up empty-handed. What are we eating anyway?’

  ‘Curry.’

  ‘I thought so – the poppadoms were a lucky guess then, weren’t they?’

  ‘Weren’t they just?’ Nina emptied the bag and placed the extra bits out of the way on the worktop. Then she went to the fridge to get out the ingredients for their meal.

  ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this morning,’ Robyn said, taking the onion Nina had just handed to her and a knife from the block. ‘How did it go? Is Sammy’s gardener hot? I’ll bet he was; I’ll bet it was like Lady Chatterley’s Lover…’ Robyn laughed. ‘Did you put in a good word for me?’

  Nina was silent as she worked out how to respond. Could she tell Robyn about how attracted she was to Colm? She didn’t even know how she felt about it herself, torn between wanting something to happen and feeling guilty about the possibility. What would Robyn think of it? Her friend had been ready to date for some time now, and, indeed, she had dated a lot since Eric’s death. But her relationship with Eric had been very different to the one Nina had shared with Gray and Robyn would be the first to admit that.

  ‘He seems nice,’ she said eventually.

  Robyn turned to her with a vague frown. ‘That’s it? That’s all you’ve got for me? What’s he look like?’

  ‘I don’t know… kind of tall. Dark hair, blue eyes…’ Nina’s description tailed off as she thought about those eyes. She shook herself. ‘Quite good-looking, I suppose.’

  ‘Oooh! Sounds promising!’

  ‘He’s coming back tomorrow.’

  ‘Is he? I think I might have to get involved tomorrow then.’

  ‘You’d be welcome,’ Nina said, slicing up two chicken breasts. ‘You know that.’

  ‘Do you know if he’s spoken for?’

  ‘I’m not completely sure, but I don’t think so.’

  ‘In that case I’m definitely coming over tomorrow. I might even have to crack open that new mascara I got the other day – let’s face it, I need all the help I can get these days.’

  ‘Don’t be daft, you look lovely. Any man would be mad not to fancy you.’ Nina added the chicken to the onions and garlic Robyn was already cooking. ‘What’s happening with Peter, then? Is that definitely over?’

  Robyn’s whole body seemed to somehow deflate to half its usual size. She had arrived full of banter, as always, but Nina got the impression she was still sad about what might have been with Peter.

  ‘I don’t want to think about him,’ she said tersely.

  Nina nodded. She was dying to know more, but she had to respect Robyn’s request and so she dropped the subject. She went over to the cupboard for a jar of sauce. Sometimes she’d make her own, but tonight she was tired and it was easier to take the lazy option.

  ‘How’s Toby?’ she asked instead and immediately realised she’d leapt from the frying pan into the fire as Robyn’s expression darkened.

  ‘There was another “altercation” at college,’ she said, using her fingers to make speech marks to indicate that the word ‘altercation’ wasn’t her word at all. ‘I had to go in again and see the head of year. Then I got Toby home and we had a massive bust-up because I told him he wasn’t to spend any more time with that gang of boys. That’s what made me run late for you.’

  ‘I bet that went down well.’

  ‘You’d be right. I don’t recall having a brain transplant, but it must have happened at some point because I should have remembered from being a teenager myself that if your parents tell you not to do something then it makes you want to do it all the more. And don’t even get me started on undesirable friends…’

  ‘Hmm.’ Nina wrenched the lid from the jar. It came away with a pop. ‘What’s so bad about them?’

  ‘Let’s just say if there’s a fight you can guarantee they’ve either started it or are happily wading in. Then there’s the antisocial behaviour, the hanging around on street corners and harassing people…’

  ‘Oh,’ Nina said. ‘I see why you might be a bit worried about him then. So he was straight out with them again?’

  Robyn nodded. ‘Little shit.’

  ‘Well… have you tried talking to their parents?’

  ‘I would if I knew who they were. Toby won’t give me any details and neither will the college so it’s a bit difficult. Though,’ she added, ‘if the parents are anything like the kids, I don’t suppose talking to them is going to get me very far. It’d probably get my windows smashed.’

  ‘They’re that bad?’

  Robyn shrugged. ‘What I’ve seen. I don’t know, maybe they’re not. I only know that Toby has changed since he started to spend time with them and I don’t like the road they’re taking him down at all. I suppose it could be a phase. Maybe in a year’s time I’ll look back on this and laugh at how I overreacted.’

  ‘Oh, Robyn… I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘I just have to hope he grows out of it. Part of me wonders if he’s scared of these other boys too and that’s why he daren’t walk away from them now – you know, he’s got in too deep with them and he’s worried about repercussions if he tries to distance himself. Plus, it would mean him having to find other friends and that’s not always easy part way through the college term when friendships are already forged. He’s not as tough as he pretends to be and this behaviour I’m seeing right now is just not him – I feel like something’s got to give; I just hope it doesn’t end in tears when it does.’

  Nina handed Robyn the opened jar of sauce; she tipped it into the pan with the onions and chicken while Nina went to rinse some rice.

  ‘Where is he tonight? Is he still out with his friends? I suppose it’s a silly thing to ask whether you might have brought him here for his tea?’

  Robyn gave a wan smile. ‘He’s supposed to stay with Eric’s parents tonight and they’ve promised to pick him up so he’s supposed to be back at the house waiting for them by now. Honestly, if he’d refused to go I’d have thought twice about coming for tea tonight and, yes, you’re right – he wouldn’t have come with me. He kicked up enough of a stink about going to his grandparents and yet he’s always loved spending time with them, especially after Eric died. It was only
after I threatened to take him out of college and send him back to his old school’s sixth form that he backed down.’

  ‘You’d do that? Didn’t he absolutely hate his school?’

  ‘I think he hates the memories. Don’t forget that he was a pupil there when we lost Eric so he associates it with that horrible time.’

  ‘I suppose he must. What about my dad? Do you still think Toby would want to spend time with him?’

  Robyn shook her head as she stirred the curry. ‘Even if he’d agree to go I don’t think I could send him there while he’s behaving so badly – it doesn’t seem fair.’

  ‘If anyone could distract him from all this bad stuff, I think my dad could.’

  Robyn was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Maybe,’ she said finally. ‘I’m not completely dismissing the idea but I think we ought to wait.’

  ‘What if waiting just leads to more trouble? Didn’t you say not so long ago you were going to drive him over yourself and make sure he went in?’

  Robyn shrugged. ‘I know I did, but now I’m not so sure. I suppose I’ll only have myself to blame for calling it wrong if this all backfires on me but honestly, I just don’t know what to do for the best. God – at times like these I really wish we still had Eric. He’d have known what to do and he’d have handled it better than me.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you’d have been in this situation if he hadn’t died.’

  Robyn looked at Nina. They didn’t keep secrets – never had and never would. ‘You know we would have been divorced by now if he hadn’t got ill, so who’s to say really?’

  Nina nodded. She’d always appreciated Robyn’s refreshing frankness. Robyn wasn’t ashamed for what she thought were human emotions beyond her control and she never hid anything she felt from Nina.

  ‘I suppose you might not have been together, but you would still have been able to share the parenting. The support would still have been there.’