Just for the Summer

by Fay Keenan

  ‘Are you suggesting Willowbury is becoming, horrors, mainstream?’ Jack asked, eyes wide in mock astonishment. ‘Don’t let Alan Somerville or the druids hear you saying that! Our local rock-star-in-chief still credits Willowbury for his, er, spiritual inspiration in the latter years of his career, and the druids will claim they’ve as many members as the local Jedi Order these days.’

  ‘Jedi? Seriously?’ Harry nearly spat out his coffee. ‘I’d better get some copies of the film novelisations in, then, if that’s definitely a thing around here.’

  ‘You’d better believe it,’ Jack said, although Harry wasn’t sure if Jack was just pulling his leg. He’d fallen victim to Jack’s offbeat sense of humour before. I mean, being a Star Wars fan was one thing, but did people around here really strut down the High Street wielding lightsabres and muttering about the Dark Side? Willowbury wasn’t known as the New Age capital of England for nothing.

  ‘So, who was that woman, anyway?’ Harry asked as he reached the bottom of his coffee. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen her around here before?’ It was tourist season, which meant there were a lot of temporary visitors to the town, but she hadn’t had the laid-back bearing of a tourist, from the limited time he’d had to interact with her.

  ‘She’s staying in the village for the summer, redecorating some house or other,’ Jack said. ‘Seemed a bit…’ he paused tantalisingly, as only Jack could. The Cosy Coffee Shop was known to be a hive of gossip, and Jack himself was a major contributor to that reputation.

  ‘A bit what?’ Harry’s eyebrows perked up, although he was aware he was being led.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Jack topped up Harry’s black coffee with some foamy milk to make the cappuccino. ‘A bit lonely, I suppose. She is clearly missing her children, who are spending the summer away from her.’

  ‘Stands to reason,’ Harry said.

  ‘Who knows, she might even pop into your gaff if the telly gets boring and she fancies something to read,’ Jack said, a teasing glint in his eye. ‘Then you can introduce yourself to her properly, rather than having coffee chucked all over you.’

  ‘At least it’ll give us an icebreaker,’ Harry grinned, although he didn’t provide Jack with any more ammunition. Jack had been teasing him about his single status pretty much daily since they’d become friends, even though Jack himself was also unmarried, having been divorced some years ago. Jack and his ex-wife shared custody of their twelve-year-old daughter, who came to stay in Willowbury with him at weekends and in the school holidays. She was due, in fact, any day now, by Harry’s reckoning.

  ‘Oh, I meant to say,’ he continued, after taking another sip of his latte. ‘That Jacqueline Wilson collection you wanted me to order for Gracie has arrived. Thinking about it, I probably should have brought it along with me.’

  ‘Great,’ Jack said. ‘She’s coming down tomorrow evening. She moans enough about being away from her real house and her friends when she comes down here. At least the books’ll give her something to focus on.’ For a moment Jack looked desolate, and Harry tried to think of a few words of comfort, but, unfortunately, his experience of tweenagers was even less than his experience of small children, so he was at a bit of a loss. ‘Well, why don’t you pop down when she’s arrived and I’ll put them behind the counter for you?’ he said, eventually, feeling frustrated that he didn’t know what else to say.

  ‘Thanks,’ Jack said, and then, obviously making an effort to brighten his own mood, he grinned. ‘How are the preparations for that other great author’s visit going?’

  It was Harry’s turn to look downcast. ‘How do you think? I mean, most authors I’ve dealt with are easy-going to a fault and seem genuinely pleased to be given time and space to speak. This guy, however…’

  ‘I’ve heard he can be a bit of a diva,’ Jack replied. ‘If you can even call a bloke a diva, that is. His Twitter feed reads like the Burn Book from that Lindsey Lohan film that Gracie loves so much. What was it? Mean Girls? I don’t think he’s keen to make friends.’

  ‘His agent only told him to do a bookshop gig in his hometown because of the positive, rather than the negative publicity, I reckon.’ Harry drank the dregs from his coffee cup. ‘So you can tell from that just how excited he is to be back here.’

  ‘Ah, well,’ Jack said. ‘On the bright side, it’ll bring in a few punters and you should sell a shedload of books. You might even be able to afford to get the place redecorated!’

  ‘Steady on.’ Harry grinned back. Jack gestured to Harry’s empty cup. ‘Another for the road?’

  ‘Thanks, but I’d best get back,’ Harry replied. ‘The lunchtime rush is about to start.’

  ‘For you or me?’ Jack asked. ‘Do you fancy a quick drink tomorrow evening before I meet Gracie off the train?’

  ‘Sounds good,’ Jack replied. As he hopped off the bar stool and walked out into the summer sunshine and bustle of Willowbury High Street, his mind went back to the woman he’d met. Despite the embarrassment and irritation about spilling her coffee, she was still very attractive. But did she have brown eyes or blue? And was her hair tied back or around her shoulders? Cursing his inattentive nature, he concluded that it didn’t really matter. Unless their paths crossed in the coffee shop or his bookshop, he was unlikely to see her again, anyway.

  11

  That evening, Kate received a text from Sam and Florence inviting her to dinner. Initially, when Sam and Aidan had come to Willowbury, they’d shared the house that Aidan had bought with his settlement from the army after he’d been discharged for physical and psychological injuries following a tour of duty in Afghanistan. The house share had largely been a success, but when Sam had fallen in love with Florence, the teacher who lived on the other side of the party wall, he’d moved next door once things had turned serious.

  The relationship, in its early stages, had not been without its issues, including having to act opposite each other in the town’s Christmas production and the well-meaning but misguided antics of a group of their friends in trying to get them together more quickly. But all had, eventually, ended well and they’d been very happily married for nearly a year, and now had a baby on the way, too. Even after what had happened with her own marriage, Kate was thrilled that Sam, the older of her two brothers, had found someone as lovely as Florence to spend his life with. Sam had always been cautious about falling in love, but Florence had gradually broken down his natural reserve and Kate knew from the conversations she’d had with both of them that they were blissfully happy together. The news of Florence’s pregnancy, coming so soon after they’d married, had been a surprise, but a wonderful one, and she knew that, while having a baby would present its own challenges, they would rise to them.

  As a helicopter pilot working for the Somerset Air Ambulance, Sam’s job was pretty intense, but no more so than his previous career, when he’d flown Lynx helicopters for the Royal Navy. Coming out of the Navy had been a wrench, but one Kate knew Sam had gradually accepted, and now, forging this new life in Willowbury with Florence, who was a secondary school teacher, she knew he’d finally felt able to put down some real roots.

  So it was that Kate found herself sitting at the wooden table in Florence and Sam’s cosy kitchen, eating a hearty supper, which was exactly what she needed after the hard work of stripping wallpaper all day.

  ‘This is fabulous, Florence, thank you so much,’ Kate said as she tucked into the most delectable home-made lasagne, garlic bread and salad. ‘I know I’ve said this before, but my brother fell on his feet when he married you!’

  ‘He’s not such a bad cook himself,’ Florence replied, glancing over at Sam and smiling. ‘He wooed me with his deep-fried breaded Camembert, many moons ago!’

  ‘Sadly, that’s off the menu for now,’ Sam said, reaching over and placing a hand on Florence’s burgeoning baby bump.

  ‘Although the doctor did say that a little bit of what I fancied would do me good from time to time in the last trimester,’ Florence countered gently
. She reached for Sam’s glass of red wine but he put his hand over it.

  ‘Not on my watch,’ he said.

  ‘Spoilsport,’ Florence grumbled good-naturedly.

  ‘How long have you got to go?’ Kate took a bite of her garlic bread and then a good slug from her own glass of red.

  ‘Eight weeks,’ Florence replied. ‘Although maternity leave starts in six, thank goodness.’

  ‘Cracking timing,’ Kate said. ‘Five more weeks of summer holiday, a week of the new term and then you get to leave for a year. You couldn’t have planned it better if you’d tried!’

  ‘I know.’ Florence rolled her eyes. ‘It wasn’t deliberate, believe me! Had I known we’d get pregnant so quickly, we could have taken our time.’

  Kate tried not to cringe at the ‘we’, as well as the thought of her brother making babies – somehow, she still viewed him as a twelve-year-old, even though he was in his mid-thirties. ‘Well, make the most of the time before the baby comes; there won’t be a lot of sleep afterwards!’

  ‘I always kind of hoped that being a teacher would prepare me for having children of my own, but to be honest the only thing it’s prepared me for is choosing the names,’ Florence said. ‘There are so many names I’ve had to strike off the list because I’ve taught naughty or rude kids that have them! It’s a wonder we’ve agreed on any at all.’

  ‘I don’t think we have, have we?’ Sam said. ‘I mean, when all you can bring to the table are names that any kid in the playground would get beaten up for…’

  ‘Like what?’ Kate asked. ‘I mean, I got away with naming all three of my boys after actors from eighties films, and Phil was none the wiser, so I don’t think I can judge you on anything!’

  Just as Sam was about to enlighten her about some of Florence’s more suspect name choices, all three of their mobiles pinged with WhatsApp messages.

  ‘Jeez, do they have to take and send photographs of everything?’ Sam grumbled. ‘I mean, I really don’t need to see any more photos of their bloody food or hear about how amazing another frigging lake is.’

  ‘Let them enjoy it,’ Kate said mildly, forgetting that she, too, had been having exactly the same thoughts that afternoon. ‘After all, it’s great to see Aidan so happy. We can allow him a few hundred photographs.’

  ‘So long as he and Tom don’t make us sit through them all when they do get their arses back here, too,’ Sam said. ‘And, knowing Tom, I wouldn’t put it past him!’ Tom, as an actor, relished an audience, in whatever form it took.

  ‘Hopefully I’ll be back home by then,’ Kate said, although she felt a pang as she said that. Home was a moveable feast right now.

  As if he’d read her mind, Sam asked, ‘So, are you any closer to finding a place to live, Katie?’

  Kate shook her head. ‘I just don’t know what I want, that’s the problem.’

  ‘It must be hard, having to find somewhere for the four of you,’ Florence said, her face sympathetic. ‘Especially after everything that’s happened.’

  Kate nodded. ‘It really is, but to be honest, there are plenty of new builds near to where our old house is that I could afford, and with the money Phil’ll be paying for the kids, the mortgage won’t be a problem for a few years. The problem is that I’m not sure I want to move in somewhere so close to where he is, knowing that all of our old friends will still be around us, and feel like I’m constantly reliving the old times. There’s a bit of me that just wants to up sticks and get the hell out of there.’

  ‘That’s understandable,’ Florence said. ‘But what about the boys? Moving schools and areas can be tough.’

  ‘Corey’s about to start his A Levels and was making noises about going to the local college instead of staying on at school, Will is going into Year 10 and about to start his GCSEs and Tom is starting secondary school, so in a sense they’re all transitioning to the next phase of their education. It wouldn’t be easy, but I wonder how long it would take for them to adjust.’ Kate, half talking to herself, felt her mind starting to race. This strange life she was living for the summer certainly wasn’t typical of how the rest of her life had panned out up until now, but then she hadn’t expected to be divorced at thirty-nine and painting houses to earn money, either. Perhaps now was the time to take risks.

  ‘You’re not seriously thinking about moving away from Cambridge, are you?’ Sam asked, brow creasing.

  ‘I know what you’re thinking!’ Kate tossed her head. ‘I’ve been keeping an eye on Mum for years, and she’s not getting any younger. But I can’t keep living my life on everyone else’s terms. I’m still young enough to make a fresh start – I mean, let’s face it, Phil’s ensured that I don’t have much of a choice in one area of my life, so why not go the whole hog and move somewhere new, too?’

  ‘I just don’t want you to make hasty decisions that you might regret later off the back of the divorce,’ Sam said. ‘You’ve always been a bit all or nothing in your approach. Sometimes it’s better just to take stock.’

  ‘Sam,’ Kate said patiently, ‘my cheating ex-husband saw to it that I can’t stay in the family home, he’s set up house with his new squeeze and my boys are all getting older. If not now, then when?’

  ‘I get it, really I do, Katie,’ Sam said. ‘And I hope that spending the summer here might give you a bit of relief from the shit that Phil’s put you through. I just don’t want to see you leaping from one thing to another without having properly thought through the implications of those decisions.’

  ‘I’m homeless and pretty much jobless, Sam,’ Kate said, and a shiver went through her. ‘Okay, so there’s money in the bank from the house sale and Phil’s settlement and ongoing payments for the kids are enough to keep me afloat for a bit, but for the first time in a very long time, I have the space to make some new choices.’

  ‘Well, if it helps, Willowbury Academy is a great school,’ Florence replied. ‘It’s still quite new, and we’ve had a lot of students moving into the area recently, because it’s got such a good reputation. And the head of Year 7, Josie Sellars, is a mate of mine. She’ll look after Tom, I’m sure.’

  ‘I know it would be a wrench to move to a new place, but the boys could catch up with their old mates during the weekends that they’re staying with their dad.’ Kate continued the thought that Florence had started, and felt a flicker of excitement. ‘For the first time in a long time, I’m free to make some independent decisions, and you know what? I think I’m going to like doing it.’ Triumphantly, she knocked back the rest of her glass of red, and in her haste she spilled half of it down her top.

  ‘Well, let’s hope you’re better at decision-making than drinking,’ Sam quipped. ‘You know where we are if you need us, though, Katie.’

  ‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘And I appreciate that, Sam, I really do.’ Stretching her arms above her head, she glanced at the clock on the wall of Florence and Sam’s cosy kitchen. ‘I’d better get back next door,’ she said. ‘I need an early night if I’m to get two coats of paint on the lounge walls tomorrow, and it looks like I have to get out of this top.’ She rose from the table and, giving Florence a hug, she walked to the front door with Sam.

  ‘You’re welcome to move in with us if you need to get away from the decorating,’ Sam said. ‘It can’t be much fun waking up to it all and going to bed with it, too.’

  ‘It’s fine, honestly,’ Kate replied. ‘Because I’m living on site, I can start and finish when I like, so it suits me. If I wanted to paint until midnight without disturbing anyone, I could.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ Sam paused. ‘But I meant what I said before,’ he added as they said their goodbyes. ‘You’re not alone in this. If you’d let me a year ago, I’d have punched Phil’s lights out for what he’s done to you and the boys. But I’m kind of glad you didn’t.’

  ‘A year has given me a lot more perspective too,’ Kate said quietly, mindful that she was talking to the relatively newly married. ‘By the end of our marriage, Phil and I really did
n’t have anything in common except the kids. Yes, he was a twat for carrying on before we’d gone our separate ways, but there wasn’t a lot to stay for, to be honest. It’s for the best, I promise.’

  Sam shook his head. ‘I hope you’re not just putting a brave face on it. You don’t have to with me, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ Kate smiled. ‘I’m telling the truth, honestly. Now get back in there and do the washing up so your wife can put her feet up.’ Hugging her brother, she pulled open the front door. As she stepped out into the warm dusk of a Somerset summer evening, she breathed the sweet scent of freshly cut grass and the honeysuckle in the nearby gardens and smiled. Things might be a bit uncertain right now, but she had been telling the truth to her brother. Even with the uncertainly over where she was going to live, she felt a real sense of optimism for the first time in a long time.

  12

  The next evening, Harry was meandering around the store, straightening shelves and noting where the gaps were, ready to order in new stock where he needed it. Harry liked to keep the bookshop open until six o’clock each evening, so as to catch any commuters coming back down the hill from the railway station on their way home. The platform at Willowbury was literally just a slab of concrete and a weather shelter, and he wanted to try to catch the passing trade of train users either before or after their commute, since not everyone liked to read on a phone, and a fair proportion of his trade did come from those who wanted a ‘proper’ book to tuck under their arm in the morning. It was always a nice time, that hour or so between five and six p.m., when people, tired from a day’s work in Bristol or Taunton, strolled back home and, if he was lucky, popped in for a natter and a new book.

  As he was straightening up the books in the Historical Fiction section, he was momentarily distracted by the sight of Gracie, Jack’s young daughter, running down the street towards the shop.