Random Acts of Kindness--Part 2

by Victoria Walters

  She elbowed him firmly in the ribs, making him laugh, and she was relieved the tension between them had broken.

  Chapter Four

  When Abbie returned to the cottage that night, Louise was in the kitchen making dinner for the two of them. ‘What a day!’ Abbie said, dumping her bag on the floor and climbing up onto the kitchen stool.

  ‘Wine?’ Louise slid a glass over to her.

  ‘Lovely.’ Abbie took a sip, then her eyes fell on the vase of yellow roses next to Louise as she made a salad. ‘Who are they from?’

  ‘Oh,’ Louise said, her eyes flitting to the flowers then back to the salad. She looked a little flushed. ‘They’re from Alex.’

  ‘Alex? The Alex who found your earring? The dishy vet?’

  Louise rolled her eyes. ‘Yes. He came by the hospital to thank me for looking after his niece.’

  ‘And?’ Abbie could always tell when Louise was holding something back.

  Louise sighed. ‘He asked me to go for coffee,’ she said in a rush, but before Abbie could get excited, she told her she had turned him down.

  ‘You said no?! Why?’ Abbie was confused. She was sure she had seen a spark in her sister’s eyes when she looked at Alex. And who could blame her? He was good-looking and seemed really nice, plus he looked after animals, and Louise was all about caring for others. To Abbie, they seemed like a perfect match.

  ‘Abs, I hardly know him!’

  ‘That’s the point of having coffee with him. I knew he liked you – it was written all over his face when we saw him in Brew.’ She watched her sister add chicken to the salad. She hated that Louise had become so closed off to the opposite sex. ‘Is this about Peter?’

  Louise shook her head. ‘No . . . well, not exactly.’

  ‘What is it then, exactly?’

  Louise ducked her head a little. ‘I don’t want my heart broken again,’ she replied in a small voice.

  Abbie wished she could take her sister’s pain away. ‘Lou, it’s been two years. You can’t let Peter destroy any chance you have of being happy. Everyone is nervous at the start of a new relationship, no one wants their heart broken, but it’s about taking that leap. It’s a chance we all have to take, isn’t it?’

  ‘I’m not ready,’ Louise said stubbornly.

  ‘I don’t think anyone is ever ready.’ Abbie decided to tell her that Thomas had asked her over for dinner. ‘I don’t want to get hurt again either,’ she told her. ‘I was really hurt when Jack distanced himself from me; it had felt like the start of something special. And then he told me I’d lost my job. It’s not easy for me to trust a man again either.’

  ‘But seeing you get hurt just makes me more scared,’ Louise confessed. ‘I’m happy on my own.’

  ‘Are you?’ Abbie asked her pointedly. She knew that Louise had a big heart, she had so much love to give, and she deserved to be loved in return. ‘Don’t forget our Kindness Pact,’ she reminded her. They had promised each other at the start of the summer to add some kindness into their lives. Abbie had done her part by helping Thomas Huntley, and Louise was meant to be acting more kindly to herself. ‘You should give Alex a chance.’

  ‘Are you going to give Thomas a chance? What about Jack?’

  Abbie was confused as to how she felt about Jack coming for the weekend. She had been enjoying staying in Littlewood, and it felt worlds apart from her life with Jack in the big city, but she was curious to find out why he wanted to see her. She was enjoying working with Thomas and had definitely felt a spark between them in the car, though.

  She shook her head at her sister. ‘Fine, it’s going to be complicated, but I’m going to see what happens. I’d rather be open than close myself off to the both of them.’

  ‘Even if one of them isn’t good for you.’

  ‘Well, I hope I’d realise that before I got too hurt.’

  ‘I didn’t, and that’s what worries me.’

  ‘Peter wasn’t the right man for you.’ Abbie really hoped that Louise would one day realise that Peter actually did her a favour by leaving her before they got married. ‘Will you think about Alex for me, please?’

  ‘Dinner’s ready so let’s change the subject,’ Louise said, grabbing two plates for them.

  ‘Lou,’ Abbie said sternly. She didn’t want her sister to miss out on a chance with Alex but was at a loss as to how to show her that love didn’t have to be something to be scared of.

  ‘Fine, I’ll think about it,’ Louise muttered.

  ***

  Abbie stopped by Brew on the way to Huntley Manor in the morning. There were two people in bright pink T-shirts at the counter talking to Joy and handing her a bunch of leaflets.

  ‘This is Abbie,’ Joy said when she saw her. ‘Abbie, this is Jenny and Martin. They work for Littlewood Animal Rescue.’

  ‘We’re having our annual fete this weekend,’ Jenny explained, handing Abbie a leaflet. ‘We always need volunteers, in case you’d be interested.’ She turned back to Joy. ‘I don’t know where we’re going to find another vet at such short notice.’

  ‘Their vet is having to go to London to help with a surgery,’ Joy explained to Abbie, who was looking at the leaflet with interest. The fete was to raise funds for the charity and encourage people to adopt their animals.

  ‘What about Alex?’ Abbie said, looking up. ‘Have you asked him?’

  Joy beamed at her. ‘What a great idea, I’m sure he’d be willing to help out.’

  ‘Is that the vet in the high street? We haven’t had much to do with him, but I’ve heard good things,’ Jenny said.

  Abbie’s mind started whirring. ‘I could ask him for you,’ she offered, wondering if she could use the opportunity to put in a good word for Louise. She didn’t want her sister to have completely discouraged him.

  ‘Really?’ Martin said. ‘That would be great.’

  ‘And you need more volunteers, did you say? Leave it to me.’ Abbie got a coffee and left, practically skipping along the pavement towards the vet surgery. She was sure she could persuade Alex to help out at the fete and hoped she could also do some matchmaking while she was at it.

  Abbie felt like a wannabe spy as she checked over her shoulder before opening the door to Littlewood Vet Surgery to make sure Louise was nowhere to be seen.

  Abbie approached the reception desk. ‘Is Alex in, please?’

  ‘Do you have an appointment?’

  ‘No but . . .’

  ‘That’s okay,’ Alex himself said, appearing behind them. ‘How can I help, um . . .’

  ‘Abbie,’ she said quickly. ‘Louise’s sister. We met briefly in Brew?’

  He nodded. ‘Of course. Come on through,’ he said, looking curious as to why she was there. He led her into the consulting room. ‘Do you have a pet you need help with?’ he asked her after she shut the door.

  ‘No, actually I came to ask you a favour.’ She showed him the Littlewood Animal Rescue Fete leaflet. ‘It’s going to be an important day for the charity, but their vet has had to go to London, and they really need someone there to answer any questions people might have about adopting one of their animals.’

  He took the leaflet and nodded. ‘That sounds sensible.’

  She smiled. ‘And we wondered if you could be that vet?’

  Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, right. Do you work with them, then?’

  Abbie thought quickly. ‘Well, actually, I will be volunteering there too, and Louise told me what a good vet you are, so when they said they needed one, I thought of you,’ she said in a rush, hoping flattery would help and that he’d like the fact Louise thought highly of him.

  Alex did in fact smile at that. ‘Oh, well then, how can I say no?’

  ‘Really? Oh wow, thank you! I’ll get Jenny, the organiser, to call you with all the details then.’

  ‘Great. And I’ll see you there then. What about Louise? Is she volunteering too?’

  ‘She is,’ Abbie replied, firmly. She was certain that she could persuade Louise to
help out, then she and Alex could bond over animals in need. It was right up Louise’s street. She wouldn’t be able to say no if she thought the charity needed her; Abbie knew her too well. And if she spent the day with Alex, then surely she would see that there was nothing to be scared of, that she should take a chance on him.

  Alex grinned. ‘Oh, well, that’s great. We’ll all be there, then.’

  ‘Yes, yes we will.’ They stared at one another, smiling. Abbie was thrilled he seemed excited to see Louise there; she knew that if her sister just gave him a bit of encouragement, he would forget about her rejection at the hospital. She clapped her hands together. ‘Excellent. I’ll let you get on then, and thanks again for giving your time. I know they’ll really appreciate it.’

  ‘It’s no problem; it’s for a great cause.’

  ‘Plus, if you get people to adopt animals, you’ll get more customers here.’

  Alex laughed. ‘That’s a good point.’

  Abbie waved and left the vet’s, thrilled Alex had agreed to volunteer. Now all she had to do was persuade Louise to go along as well. Abbie realised as she walked away that she couldn’t be there, as that was when Jack would be arriving. But maybe that was a good thing. She could tell Louise she had volunteered before Jack had told her he was coming and beg Louise to take her spot instead.

  If only it was as easy to sort out her own love life.

  Chapter Five

  ‘I’d say a week at least.’ The builder sent by the insurance company gave his verdict to Eszter and her mother-in-law as the three of them stood in her hall looking up at the collapsed ceiling. ‘You’d better stay elsewhere while we do the work; the bathroom will be out of use, as will down here, and there will be a lot of dust.’

  ‘It’s no problem, you can carry on staying with us. Do you want to pack a bag?’ Eszter asked Mrs Harris, who was looking at the mess in her house with a stricken expression on her face. Eszter touched her arm for a moment, then withdrew it, sure that her mother-in-law wouldn’t appreciate it. ‘I know it looks a real mess, but they will get it looking as good as new, won’t you?’

  The builder nodded. ‘Don’t worry, it will be fine.’

  ‘Do you want me to help you?’ Eszter asked.

  Mrs Harris started climbing the stairs carefully and didn’t object, so Eszter followed her up into the older woman’s bedroom. It was strange for Eszter to think of her late husband Nick climbing these very same stairs. She tried to picture him growing up here, but she had only known him in her own country, their city apartment, walking the streets of Budapest hand in hand, and Littlewood was very far removed from that world. The Harris house was large and clean, but it lacked warmth somehow. Perhaps because the family it had once nurtured was gone; only Anne now remained.

  ‘Do you have a bag?’

  ‘At the top of the wardrobe.’ Mrs Harris began opening drawers and pulling out clothes as Eszter pulled down the large holdall for her.

  Eszter noticed two photographs in frames on the bedside table and bent down to look at them. One was of Anne on her wedding day and the other was of her holding a boy’s hand – he was in his school uniform and they both beamed at the camera.

  ‘Zoe has his exact smile,’ Eszter said, looking at it and thinking of her daughter, who was with Joy and Harry at Brew.

  ‘I noticed that as soon as I saw her,’ Mrs Harris said.

  ‘Nick would be so pleased that you got to meet her,’ Eszter said carefully. She didn’t want to start another argument, but she needed to know about the past if they had any chance of building a future relationship with one another.

  ‘He didn’t even tell me about her.’ She kept her back to Eszter as she packed her bag.

  ‘After you didn’t come to the wedding, he thought that was it as far as any contact between you went. I suppose he didn’t think you’d want to know,’ she replied, gently.

  Mrs Harris’s shoulders sagged. ‘I keep telling you that he didn’t invite us to your wedding. I would have come. I would have.’ She stopped and turned around. ‘Are you really sure he sent us an invitation?’

  ‘I promise you. I saw him write it and posted it myself.’

  ‘Oh.’ She turned away again.

  Eszter walked over to her. ‘Mrs Harris . . .’

  ‘I suppose you can call me Anne.’

  Eszter nodded. ‘Anne – is it at all possible that your husband saw the invitation but didn’t tell you about it?’ She knew that their estrangement had had a lot to do with Nick’s father, and she could see the truth on Anne’s face – she would have come to the wedding if she had known about it. Maybe her husband had known that and made the decision for them both.

  There was a long silence as Anne kept folding clothes, and Eszter wasn’t sure she was going to answer her, but finally she did. ‘Nick’s father was not always an easy man, and Nick disappointed him. I tried to make peace between them, but Frank, Nick’s father, disowned him when he left us. Perhaps I should have been stronger, but it was different in my day. You respected your husband, you took vows to obey. I had nothing of my own, do you understand? It’s not like I could leave him.’ Sadness welled in her eyes until she looked away. ‘So, yes, if we received the invitation, he could have decided not to show me because he knew I’d want to go. No wonder Nick was so cold when he spoke to me after Frank died. He thought that I hadn’t wanted to see him get married.’

  ‘When I told Joy, at Brew, who I was when I first got here, she told me that Nick had trained to be a doctor. Is that true?’

  Anne nodded. ‘It was all Frank ever wanted for him. He was strict, I won’t deny that, and he wanted Nick to be the best. Nick didn’t really want to be a doctor, but he went to medical school to please us. I was proud of him. I wanted him to be as successful as his father.’ She shook her head. ‘Did I make mistakes? Yes. We both did. But I never thought that Nick would leave and never come back.’

  ‘He was a teacher in Hungary; he really loved it,’ Eszter explained.

  ‘I’m glad of it.’

  ‘So, Nick decided he didn’t want to be a doctor and that’s what the last argument was about? He told me that there was a great divide between you all and he couldn’t see how to cross it.’

  Anne nodded, and carried on folding clothes as if it was too painful to look at Eszter.

  ‘He didn’t plan to stay away, he told me. He wanted to travel, and then he met me, and couldn’t imagine coming back home. But as the years passed, he thought about you both a lot; he wanted to build a relationship again. That’s why he invited you to the wedding.’ Eszter could see how painful talking of the past was for Anne, but she knew they had to do it. ‘Do you have everything you need?’

  She sighed. ‘Yes, I think so.’ She zipped up her bag. ‘Eszter, I know that I was very unwelcoming when you first arrived.’

  ‘I understood.’

  Anne nodded. ‘I am glad Nick had a family. That he was happy. I am glad of that.’

  The two of them left the house and walked slowly to Brew to collect Zoe. As they strolled through Littlewood, Anne was looking around the high street in interest.

  ‘I have lived here all my life, but I haven’t been out and about in the town as much as I used to. When Frank died, it was hard being on my own and then perhaps I got too used to it.’

  ‘I felt really lonely after Nick died, being in the apartment without him, but thankfully I had Zoe. Coming here has been good for us, I think. Seeing where he lived, I feel close to Nick but also not trapped by memories of our old life. Does time really heal, do you think?’

  ‘Some things you never get over, but you learn to live with them.’

  Eszter was sure that Anne was thinking of her own life as they went into Brew. She couldn’t imagine what kind of man her husband had been; it sounded like he had been strict and controlling with his wife and son, pushing Nick away with his demands. She could tell that her mother-in-law bitterly regretted the past and she was full of sadness that she and Nick never got
the chance to reconcile. Eszter just hoped she was helping them both in some way by being there in his place.

  ‘Mum!’ Zoe called when they walked into Brew. Eszter smiled to see her at the table with Abbie and Joy, tea and cake served for the three of them.

  ‘Look what’s happening on Saturday. Can we go, please?’ Zoe pointed at a leaflet that Abbie had.

  ‘An animal charity is having a fete on Littlewood Green,’ Abbie explained, showing her the leaflet. ‘Louise is volunteering,’ she added with a smile.

  ‘Let’s all go,’ Eszter agreed readily, pleased to see Zoe so excited to go and happy to get involved in more of Littlewood’s activities.

  ‘You’ll have to tell me all about it,’ Abbie said. ‘A friend from London is coming to stay for the weekend, so I can’t make it.’

  ‘Will there be a lot of animals there?’

  ‘I’m sure there will be,’ Eszter said to her daughter, hoping to avoid the ‘can I have a puppy?’ conversation if at all possible.

  ‘It’s good to see you in here again, Anne,’ Joy said, getting up. ‘I’ll get you both some tea, you look like you could do with it.’

  Eszter wondered if there was anything that happened in Littlewood that couldn’t be helped by having tea at Brew, and very much doubted it.

  Chapter Six

  Abbie slid the Littlewood Animal Rescue Fete leaflet across the kitchen counter to her sister. ‘I have a massive favour to ask you. Now that Jack is coming to stay this weekend – I can’t volunteer for this any more. I don’t want to let them down, though, and since you’re off work that day, I thought you could go instead.’

  ‘Oh, you did, did you?’

  ‘Please, Lou, the animals need you!’

  ‘I thought you said I needed to be kinder to myself? I was planning to veg all day in my pyjamas and watch Netflix.’

  ‘You can do that when you get home. Please, I feel really bad about letting them down. And, if you think about it, it’s really your fault for encouraging me to do these acts of kindness. I just couldn’t say no when they asked me to volunteer, but now Jack will be here.’