Monica was buoyed by the fact that she had started to lose weight, and not the one or two pounds that usually marked her previous half-hearted attempts. She had lost over half a stone. Tammy was thrilled with the news and encouraged Monica to walk faster to knock off a few more pounds. Liz didn’t need to lose any weight but the exercise was welcome as she rarely walked anywhere nowadays.
‘How’s the hunt for a decorator going?’ she asked as they strolled along.
‘Not that great,’ said Monica. ‘I’ve rung a few numbers but I hate it when there is just a mobile and no landline or address. I have to leave them in the house by themselves so a business address is vital.’
‘I know what you mean,’ Liz sympathised. ‘I’m having some people round to give quotes for the garden. I have finally decided to change it. Sasha and Tammy can help with the planting but the landscaping needs a professional.’
‘Sounds expensive,’ said Monica.
‘I suspect it will be,’ agreed Liz, ‘but it needs doing. I have my heart set on a water feature. I’ve already had Living Landscapes in,’ Liz continued, ‘and I’ve got Fantasy Gardens coming to take a look on Thursday. Let’s hope the prices are realistic.’
Sasha interrupted to ask Liz and Monica if Tammy could sleepover. Monica was more than happy not to be woken up at six o’clock in the morning. A lie-in would be fantastic. When they got back from walking Tammy grabbed a toothbrush, pyjamas and clean clothes so she could stay with Liz.
Monica went home to catch up on some work and the girls sat to watch a DVD.
Liz had the urge to paint. She had hardly picked up a pencil since Jim had died. The drawing with Tammy had made her laugh and made her think. She missed it, so while the girls watched TV Liz went to the garage to sort out her paints.
The next morning Liz woke early but the girls were still fast asleep.
‘I bet they were chatting all night,’ she thought, as she put the kettle on. She wasn’t wrong. Tammy told Sasha about her mother and Sasha was really sad to hear it. Sasha searched her memory for a similar story of loss. She did have a hamster once. Her mother had told her that it had escaped but Leo had found it in the bin.
‘Not that you can compare a hamster to your mother,’ said Sasha trying to empathise.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Tammy. ‘Mum was the best but Monica is great too.’
The girls got up around nine o’clock and while Liz was upstairs making the beds the girls sat in the kitchen eating breakfast. Sasha’s mobile rang.
‘Hi darling, it’s mummy,’ Georgina cooed. Sasha’s face changed immediately.
‘Hi mum,’ she said sadly.
‘Are you having a lovely time?’ Georgina continued hopefully.
‘It’s fine,’ said Sasha in a monotone voice.
‘Are you all right sweetie?’ Georgina was concerned.
‘I’m fine,’ said Sasha, trying to convince her mother otherwise. ‘Don’t worry about me. You just have a nice holiday and I’ll see you when you get back.’
‘OK,’ said Georgina, really worried now. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’
‘What was that all about?’ said Tammy, when Sasha had put the phone down.
‘It’s all to do with guilt,’ said Sasha wisely. ‘The guiltier they feel the bigger the holiday present will be when they get back.’
‘What is it that you want?’ said Tammy, to the girl who appeared to have everything.
‘I’m working on a weekend in Disneyland for my birthday,’ said Sasha, before becoming more animated again.
‘You’re scary,’ said Tammy, laughing.
Liz was heartened to hear the girls laughing. She knew she could relax.
‘No gardening today,’ she said, as she walked into the kitchen. ‘We are going bowling instead.’ They both jumped up excitedly and ran to get dressed. Liz phoned Monica to ask if she would like to come for dinner to save her cooking for herself as Liz was cooking anyway. She promised to make diet food for Monica, who was happy to be fed.
They had a great day out and when Monica came over in the evening Tammy was really pleased to see her and gave her a hug as she came through the door.
‘What was that for?’ she asked.
‘Nothing,’ said Tammy smiling, before rushing off to watch TV with Sasha. They went for a walk in the park after dinner, the girls running on ahead.
‘Liz, I want to ask your advice,’ said Monica seriously. ‘I bumped into an old friend at the coffee bar near work.’
‘When you say old friend, do you mean old boyfriend?’ asked Liz.
‘That would have been great,’ said Monica, ‘but I do mean old friend. We started work the same week for a magazine group. We were inducted together.’
‘Sounds painful,’ said Liz.
‘It was,’ said Monica. ‘It could have been the most boring week of my life but Kevin made it fun. He has a great sense of humour. He only stayed for a year. We were just friends. Besides he had a girlfriend.’
‘Sounds like you were sorry,’ said Liz.
‘I was,’ said Monica, ‘but I doubt I’d be in with a chance anyway.’
‘Why ever not?’ said Liz.
‘Well, for a start he is a six foot tall, slim, white guy and I am a short, fat black woman. We’re hardly a match made in heaven. Don’t you think we’d look odd together?’
‘Now who’s being daft?’ said Liz. ‘He must like you or he wouldn’t have asked you out. Besides, you’re beautiful and getting slimmer all the time. What does he do?’
‘Not sure what he does now but he used to work for the IT department, so something techy I suppose. I think he said that he’s a web designer.’
‘What did you say?’ asked Liz. ‘Are you going to go?’
‘I wasn’t sure so I told him that I only had time for coffee. I haven’t been on a date in such a long time I’ve forgotten the dating etiquette. Do I offer to pay half or let him pay? I wouldn’t feel so bad about coffee but lunch would be different. Plus, I don’t want Tammy to worry.’
‘It’s only coffee at the moment,’ said Liz. ‘Aren’t you jumping ahead a long way? Why don’t you meet for coffee and think about the rest when you have to.’
* * *
The doorbell rang at nine o’clock on Thursday morning. Liz looked through the curtains before opening the door, a habit she acquired after Jim had died. Up until then she would always open the door without checking first. Mormons, Jehovah’s witnesses, political candidates and door to door salesman could rely on the fact that if they were in they would answer the door.
Liz could see two men on the front step. There was a very thin man with dyed blonde hair, shaved at the sides, with the remaining hair standing up two inches from his head like the stripe down a badger’s back. He wore purple skin-tight jeans and a pale blue denim jacket. He had studs in both ears and a hoop piercing his left eyebrow. A multi coloured stripy scarf was wrapped around his neck and there was a large black portfolio case tucked under his arm.
The other man was demure in comparison. He was equally thin but with short brown hair and brown eyes. He had a smooth face with even, handsome features. He wore chino trousers that were slightly creased and brown leather boots and his tweed jacket would not have been out of place on a country estate with its leather patches on the elbows. The sports holdall he carried looked incongruous compared to the rest of him. ‘It could only be Fantasy Gardens,’ thought Liz, as she went to open the front door.
The blonde man introduced himself as Finn, the brown haired man was Devlin, and they were here to talk to Liz about her Fantasy Garden.
Liz offered them tea or coffee which they both declined. Tammy and Sasha were fascinated with Finn who was as camp as Christmas but gushingly warm and friendly. Devlin on the other hand was much quieter. However, it was apparent that they were partners both in and out of work as they bickered like an old married couple while discussing ideas for the garden.
Finn in particular was very theatrical. Liz too
k them out to the garden. Finn stood on the patio and held his arms out wide with his chin slightly raised while he got a ‘feel’ for the space. The girls thought this was highly amusing. Devlin, on the other hand, sat at the table with a sketch pad making a plan of the garden and asking Liz what she would like to keep.
Finn walked up and down the garden, taking photographs with a digital camera and saying things like, ‘That’ll have to go,’ and, ‘That’ll never do.’ Every now and then he threw in a, ‘Will you look at that!’
Out of sight the girls were imitating him. After half an hour Liz joined them both at the table. Finn sat directly in front of Liz and then, adopting the style of a supportive friend, leant forward before asking earnestly what she wanted from the garden. She told them what she had told Bob regarding the late afternoon sun and the sound of water, and definitely no grass.
Finn was excited. ‘We could put a bold water feature there.’ He pointed to the centre of the garden. ‘Not too tall, we don’t want it to obscure the view of the summer house. I’m thinking different textures, rattan, sea grass, raffia. Soft lights and soft lines. Swirling patterns. Bamboo, pampas and palms.’
‘Maybe,’ said Devlin cautiously trying to reign in Finn. ‘Let’s draw up some designs and see what Liz thinks.’
Finn opened his portfolio on the garden table. Inside there were tracing paper plans of designs they had already done and pictures of the finished gardens. They were fantastic. Some were completely over the top with statues of fairies and butterflies and arches everywhere. There were huge gardens and small discrete hideaways, all beautifully balanced and coordinated.
Liz could imagine herself in all of them. She thought that her fantasy might be too modest in comparison to some of their other designs but Devlin had listened intently and told Liz that he was sure they could come up with something that she would love. Liz liked both of them very much and was equally sure that they would do exactly that. She couldn’t wait to see it.
The house was a lot quieter when Fantasy Gardens had vacated the premises.
‘You haven’t forgotten the bees?’ asked Tammy when they left.
‘Definitely not,’ said Liz. ‘We will make sure we plant a lot of bee friendly plants everywhere in the garden and you will make sure that our neighbours all have Lavender in theirs. In fact, why don’t you and Sasha design a flyer to go with the Lavender? You’ll need instructions on how to care for it and when to re-pot it. You could also add some advice about other bee-friendly plants.’ Liz went outside to carry on weeding while the girls made the flyer.
Tammy was surprised that Sasha thought it was a good idea. She suspected that Sasha would only think ideas were good if she’d come up with them herself. Of course, Sasha knew all about the fate of bees. There was not much that Sasha didn’t know something about. Back home, one of her friend’s parents had several hives in the grounds of their estate. Tammy noticed that Sasha’s friends had grounds and estates, not gardens.
Tammy looked up how to take cuttings and between them they designed an information sheet that they would eventually attach to each pot. They would then distribute them to any house or flat with a garden or window box in the immediate vicinity.
‘I have an idea. Why don’t we make it a pyramid scheme,’ suggested Sasha. Tammy had never heard of a pyramid scheme. Sasha explained. ‘The instruction sheet can include information on how to take cuttings and we could suggest that when the plant gets to a reasonable size each person takes at least two cuttings from it to give away. Not everyone will do it but even if only a few do it the plants will be spreading.’
‘That’s a fantastic idea,’ said Tammy.
‘I know,’ said Sasha, smiling smugly. It wasn’t entirely her idea. She had heard Georgina trying to explain the principle to her friends as she tried to sell them Aloe Vera products. They were a lot less impressed than Tammy had been.
‘What about pots?’ asked Tammy eventually.
‘They could use yoghurt pots,’ said Sasha. ‘Everyone eats yoghurt.’
Monica popped in after dinner as usual for the walk around the park. ‘Any news of Kevin?’ said Liz hopefully.
‘He emailed me,’ replied Monica. ‘He suggested meeting next Friday at one o’clock.’
‘Great,’ said Liz smiling.
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ said Monica. ‘It’s just coffee. Don’t go rushing out to buy a hat.’
* * *
It had taken a few days but Adam was finally relaxing into his holiday. Georgina always found people to hang with.
She was great at networking. Most of the time she managed to find a couple that were like clones of themselves, in that they consisted of professional men with stick thin wives. Either that or rich, old, bald men with their second or third trophy wife draped in designer goods and looking every inch like the advertisements in the duty free shops at the airport.
In many ways Adam and Georgina had bucked the trend. They were, after all, still on their first marriage. Adam loved Georgina and Georgina loved Adam in her own way. He was successful so she was happy. It did cross Adam’s mind in the early days that Georgina would be off in a flash if he didn’t have money but he had already amassed a small fortune so that wasn’t really a problem. And they did get on. Georgina understood him. After all, isn’t that the reason that most men stray? Their wives don’t understand them?
* * *
Saturday morning was gloriously sunny. Liz woke up to find several letters on the mat. She picked them up and found a business like envelope which she guessed was a utility bill, a plain brown envelope which was handwritten and an A4 window envelope with Fantasy Gardens emblazoned on the left hand side and covered in glitter dust. She couldn’t wait to open it. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table.
She opened the other two envelopes first. She hoped that Fantasy Gardens would be the antidote to whatever bad news was in the other two. She was right to suspect as the first one was a utility bill. Three hundred and thirty six pounds for gas in the last quarter. ‘Scandalous,’ she thought as she pinned it to the notice board so she’d remember to pay it.
The brown hand-written envelope was very disappointing. It was the estimate from Living Landscapes and it was set out like a list.
Remove grass and topsoil from an area of (approximately 30 sq feet) £300.00.
Excavate an area of approximately 4 metres £240.00
Supply and install 15 square metres of Bredon Gravel etc
Take down and remove existing shed £400
Supply and fit 4 metre x 2 metres log cabin - £2,500
Paint log cabin etc….
She couldn’t be bothered with the rest.
She scanned down the list for the total. The job came to just over eleven thousand eight hundred pounds. ‘Where’s the pictures,’ thought Liz, ‘the vision. How can I make a decision based on a list?’
She turned her attention to Fantasy Gardens. She opened the envelope carefully to reveal several pieces of paper and a folded plan. She could hardly bear the excitement as she unfolded the plan to reveal her new garden. It was spectacular. The summer house was set to the left hand side at the back of the garden with folding glass doors to the entire front and a porch where a very modern rattan sofa looked out towards the back of the house with a view of the garden.
There were exotic looking plants and raised areas, pathways and focal points and not a blade of grass in site, bar the ornamental grasses in the new beds. They had not included a pond but instead a large water feature consisting of a lump of smooth stone with water cascading over it and falling into a pebbled tray that was set to one side and lit by small round lights set into the stones.
The plan showed views of the garden from different angles, all very hi-tech. ‘This is it,’ she thought to herself. She looked at the other pieces of paper. One was a contract which she was to sign and return if she agreed to the design. The other was the price. She took a deep breath before turning the pa
ge, fourteen and a half thousand pounds. Wow! This was more than she had intended to spend but she loved it so she found a pen and signed on the dotted line.
Liz couldn’t wait for everyone to see it. As soon as the girls came down for breakfast she showed them the design.
‘Oh, my God. It’s amazing grandma,’ said Sasha.
‘It is,’ said Tammy. ‘Are you keeping the Lavender?’
‘I am and I’m thinking of planting lots more. We’ll talk to Finn and Devlin about the details of the design when they start work. We need to look at all the plants on your list, Tammy, and move anything we want to keep to the beds that are staying.’
Monica was equally impressed. ‘It’s definitely different. Are you sure this is what you want?’
‘It is,’ said Liz. ‘It’s time for a change.’
They were all dressed and at the garden centre by ten thirty and decided to stop for a coffee at the café before they started shopping. As they approached Liz could see Nick getting up from his usual spot. He was about to leave.
‘Hi Nick.’ She was smiling as she introduced Sasha and then Monica and Tammy as ‘my lovely next door neighbour and her niece.’
‘How’s work?’ she enquired.
‘Still quiet,’ he replied. Liz explained to Monica that she and Nick used to teach at the same school but that now he was a self-employed painter.
‘Oh, that’s great,’ said Monica, who was still looking for someone to decorate Tammy’s room. ‘Do you live locally?’
‘I do,’ said Nick, ‘just up the road from here.’
Monica was optimistic so continued, ‘Do you have a land line and a mobile?’
‘I do,’ said Nick, bemused. ‘Even a website if you’d like to take a look.’
‘Fantastic,’ said Monica. ‘You wouldn’t be interested in a job would you? I need someone to paint Tammy’s bedroom.’ Tammy smiled hopefully at Nick.
Nick hesitated. He was considering making an excuse but both Liz and Monica were looking at him expectantly.
. ‘Why not? He said eventually, I have some time on my hands.’
Lavender Girl Page 12