by Katy Lilley
Maisie peeked around the door.
Faye Soole stood in the middle of the shop and sniffed. ‘That’s a vile thing to say.’
‘Faye, enough already.’
Faye obviously didn’t agree. ‘And, she got a house. If the Monks didn’t want it why let her have it?’
‘Their house to do what they want with it.’ Maisie could now hear impatience and a hint of temper in Maddie’s voice. She hoped she didn’t lose it. That really would give Faye something to complain about, and certainly wouldn’t help Maisie in her aim to run a happy school.
‘I seem to remember a lot of locals saying it was a hovel, not big enough to swing a cat, needed too much doing to it, etcetera when it went on the market,’ Maddie added, in a somewhat less sharp tone. ‘Bryony and Dario saw some potential others didn’t.’
‘They paid over the odds to get it.’
‘Their choice, and Dario is local, remember. Before you say anything else, Faye, I’d advise you to either put up or shut up. The interviews were done by an unbiased team and Liz wasn’t the best candidate. If you’re not careful, you’ll sound all sour grape like. I’ve heard a lot of good reports from parents and kids. For goodness sake, you don’t even have children there.’
‘Yes, I do. My Krystal is in reception. Things given to outsiders when it could have been local.’
‘Things given to outsiders as in?’ Maddie said with the snap back in her voice. ‘Could you do it? Dave? No, you couldn’t. I couldn’t, nor could anyone else we know around here. No local was suitable. Just like no local wants to be our policeman, or vicar, or refuse collector. So, what other things?
‘Well… things.’
‘Grief, you’d best be applying for the post of vicar next then. Get over yourself Faye.’
Faye scowled. ‘Do not blaspheme.’ She turned and left.
Maddie waited until the door slammed and the bell jangled robustly. ‘You can come out now.’ She turned the sign from open to closed. ‘That’s us for the day.’
Maisie stepped into the main shop. ‘She doesn’t get any better, does she?’
‘Nope.’ Maddie shook her head. ‘She’s not a happy woman. You know before she met Dave, she was really nice. Always cheerful, never a bad word about anyone. But seven years married to that waste of space and she’s like this. Embittered. And you have their Krystal with a K in reception. Good luck.’ She paused. ‘No, that’s not fair. Krystal is a sweet kid, it’s hard to believe she’s Faye and Dave’s. Shy and won’t say boo to a goose, but always eager to please. Bless her, she came in with her gran, that’s her dad’s mum, to buy her own mum something for Mother’s Day. She was so proud she’d earned the money by helping her gran to wash up and vacuum.’
‘She’s a lovely child, so serious, bless her. Told me she’d going to make her gran a cake for her birthday. Gran’s not Krystal’s. What did she buy?’
Maddie grinned. ‘It so happened I had a new batch of scarves Bry had made and I said I was about to do a first day sale. She picked one and still had change out of her £3.27. It was worth the loss to see how her little face lit up. Her gran came back a day or so later to see how much more was owed, and I told her nothing. So, she bought a load of wool and gave me a hug. Now if only her son had the same attitude life would be fine, but as he hasn’t…’
‘Well,’ Maisie said. ‘Not that I know the bloke, but from what I’ve heard from you, Bry, and Lottie, I can understand why Faye is as she is. What was it, Lottie called him? Sleazy, ‘call me Dave’ Soole?’
‘Yeah and well named. He really is a sleaze ball.’ Maddie did a very theatrical shudder. ‘Gives me the willies. I wouldn’t want to be in a lift with him and no one else, unless there was CCTV and I had a very heavy handbag with me.’
And that, Maisie thought, as she paid her bill, summed up what she had heard about the man. Lottie had crossed swords with him when she’d bought a chalet at the park where he worked as a salesman. She had nothing positive to say about the man at all. However, with luck, Maisie wouldn’t have to have anything to do with him, except perhaps if he attended parents evening, and then she’d be in charge. Or so she hoped. That was the one time she was used to dealing with arsy parents, who wouldn’t believe anything bad about their darling child. The child who was often a delinquent in the making.
She was trying her clothes on the next morning when Bryony called in. Bryony whistled when Maisie did a twirl in one of her new dresses.
‘Like it?’
‘Oh yes. Nice. Expanding waistline?’
‘Oh my, yes.’
‘Have you told Rik?’ Maisie went hot cold and hot again. What did she know? ‘No, why?’ She hoped she sounded mildly interested, not massively panicking.
‘A little bird told me you and one certain man of the cloth were sharing a pizza last night, I thought it might be polite to let him know you were,’ she sketched a bump. ‘You know.’
‘Up the duff? Bun in the oven? Mum in the making? Don’t see why, when we’re only colleagues. We were discussing harvest festival next week, that’s all. He’s not really my type. A nice man, but not for me. Especially now.’
‘Pity, I think you’d be good together.’ Bryony sounded disappointed.
‘Nope. We’re friendly though necessity, no more.’ And that may well change after her hospital appointment she’d arranged for the Tuesday. Which meant she would have dates confirmed. Was she going to tell him there was a chance he could be about to be a father? She had no idea. ‘Now be gone woman and let me see what makes me appear almost normal.’
Bryony laughed. ‘Define normal.’ She sketched a wave. ‘Right, Lottie’s working today, and my ma-in-law’s been needling her. I’m going next door to get the goss. You coming?’
‘Not this time. I’m hunting for three pillowcases and a box of towels.’ She’d got a good idea where they were, but it was an acceptable excuse. ‘I need them for Halloween costumes at school. Ghosts and all that.’
‘Okay. Er…have you told the one night stand yet?’
Maisie shook her head. ‘No, if I manage to contact him and tell him I would imagine you will be the first to know.’ If I ever get my courage up do it. Who knew she was such a wuss?
‘Fair enough, but Mais you have to tell him some time, and it’s better to be sooner or later. If you don’t know where he lives, ask your publican mate.’
Maisie nodded. ‘Good idea.’ Which it would have been not that long before. Now of course, she knew, and it was tad too close for comfort.
She watched Bryony walk down the path and began to rummage through her boxes again.
‘Er…hello.’ Bryony poked her head through the doorway half an hour later. ‘I’m back. Any tea going?’
‘Yup, waiting for kettle to boil.’
‘Ah.’ Bryony walked to into the kitchen. ‘Helps to turn it on at the wall.’ She suited her actions to her words. ‘Dario does that all the time, he’s a bugger for turning switches off. The number of times I’ve wondered why the rice hasn’t cooked and it’s because he’d pulled the plug on the rice cooker and I hadn’t noticed.’
‘Bet he always goes round switching lights off as well.’
Bryony laughed. ‘Nope, that’s me.’
‘Men eh? At least you’ve got one.’
‘Don’t give me that, Maisie MacLean. So could you if you put your mind to it.’
‘Please, Bry,’ Maisie pleaded. ‘Not again. Let me get used to what is what. Now I want to ask you a favour.’
‘Ask away, I can always say no.’
‘Will you come to my first ante natal appointment with me? It’s on Tuesday of half term.’ She’d been going to go alone and chickened out.
Bryony flung her arms around Maisie and hugged her hard. It was like wearing a corset. Maisie drew in her breath and Bryony gasped.
‘Ooops, sorry, I forgot how tight everything feels. Of course, I will. And if anyone asks why we’re there, we can say it’s for me.’
‘Brilliant. Why didn
’t I think of that?’
Bryony smirked. ‘Too many pumpkins and marrows on your mind. And buns.’
‘Buns?’ Maisie asked bewildered. What had buns got to do with it?
‘Of the hot vicar kind,’ Bryony said and giggled as she rolled her eyes and did the heavy breathing and heart pat.
Maisie threw a cushion at her. She should have known Bryony wouldn’t give up extoling Cam’s virtues. Bryony caught it and put it down on the settee.
‘Now, be nice. Dario’s cooking spaghetti and you’re welcome.’
‘You’re on.’ Maisie’s whenever sicky feeling had vanished as fast as it came, and her appetite was voracious.
Maisie refused Bryony’s offer of a lift down the lane. After a day of school and harvest festival planning, the walk was just what she needed. The air was still warm—a real Indian summer—the sun still strong, and the sky almost impossibly blue. From this part of the village, just past the village green—still adorned with a very old and luckily not used set of stocks, a new and she supposed used maypole, plus a pond where three ducks and a drake ruled the roost—you could just about see the far side of the river, and the ferry docking. It looked like a tiny ant scurrying back and forth. The people on the prom were miniscule dots that moved, and the little ‘big’ wheel gave the impression it was a hamster’s toy. She was so busy admiring the view she almost wet herself when a shout and an ‘Oy eejit, move’ made her jump off the gravel path and onto the verge.
A kid, no more than nine or ten whizzed past on an electric scooter, and gave a rude gesture as he did so.
She dropped her tote bag, tripped over a tussock of grass, somehow managed to stay upright, and swore as she tried to imprint his features on her brain. If he was one of her pupils, she’d got a good line in lectures for the first few weeks of term. Actually, thinking about it, she’d give them anyway. Perfect fodder for the weekly assemblies. ‘How not to behave when out and about’, or ‘lives matter, even yours, you silly child’.
Thankful her tote bag was only a little dusty and not ripped and the contents still intact, Maisie wiped it down, checked she didn’t have her skirt rucked up and her underwear on show and headed for the lane which led over the railway bridge and to both the Monk home and a bit further on the old farmhouse where Maddie, Dex and their children now lived.
The London express roared under the bridge as she walked over it, and Maisie was certain the bridge shook. She leaned on the parapet and watched the blur of carriages sway on their way. That must be one of the trains that didn’t stop at the local station.
The station where she could get a train to the capital, but tended to hesitate. On one of her first journeys to visit Bryony, she’d chosen the train, only for it to break down half way on her journey back and she’d ended up on a bus, in traffic jams and not in a very good mood. Even when they got into London, she’d still had to make her way out to Wimbledon. Every trip since she’d driven.
The silence once the express has passed was a complete contrast to the noise it made. She might be a townie, but Maisie admitted the tranquillity was pleasant.
The jet that roared over made her laugh. It was now a fact. She preferred the silence. Whereas in town the noises all seemed part and parcel of life and acceptable, here they seemed out of place and unnecessary. How she’d changed in a few days. Would her mind-set change again when she went back?
Mop was in the garden and greeted her with a woof and a lot of weaving in and out of her legs.
‘Enough dog, if I fall over again, you’ll get the same lecture that kid will get if I ever find out who he is,’ she said as she pushed Mop away, and tried to walk without getting tripped up. ‘Behave or no doggy treats for you.’
‘I’m behaving,’ Bryony said as she grabbed Mop by the collar. ‘Do I get a girly treat?’
‘Maybe.’ Maisie followed Bryony and Mop indoors and waved to Dario who waved back with a tomato covered spoon.
‘Half an hour, ladies.’
‘Just enough time for a gin and tonic for Dario and a tonic for me then,’ Bryony said. ‘Mais?’
‘Ah soda please, I’ve got a lot to get through so I’m having an alcohol-free week.’ She winked and Bryony winked back. Maisie wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to keep her secret, but once she got the ante natal appointment over, she’d tell Dario.
And Cam? Oh God, how can I? How could I? And him who he is and hell… oh no not hell, will he believe me? Will he think I stuck a pin in the condom? Did we or did we not use protection in the shower? Would shower sex negate it? All the same questions that had been bothering her since she discovered her pregnancy came crowding back into her mind.
‘Now tell me who’s got you muttering,’ Bryony said, wrenching Maisie’s thoughts back to the here and now.
‘Some kid of about nine or ten on one of those motorised scooter thingys,’ she improvised rapidly. After all it had made her cuss earlier. ‘Almost knocked me over, I had to jump off the path onto the verge. Nearly went A over T and showed my undies. Isn’t there a legal lower age to ride those things?’
‘They’re are illegal on the public highway at the moment,’ Dario said as he reached for his glass. ‘But no one seems keen to reinforce the laws unless there’s a big complaint. And I think, though do not quote me, you’re supposed to be sixteen to ride one.’
‘Well, this kid wasn’t.’
‘Bet it’s Kev Herron then,’ Dario said, ‘Younger brother of Ronnie, the bloke who does a bit of handyman work around here. School in Newton. Got expelled, or to be pc was asked to leave, from here.’
‘Ronnie the alternative green van man?’ Maisie remembered how the driver of Dario’s van had on several occasions before Bryony and Dario became a couple tried to intimidate Bryony—without much success. ‘He’s got a younger brother?’
‘That’s the one. Their parents farm over near Great Bristow and young Kev has always been a bit of a rebel. Had the choice to behave here or swap schools. He chose to swap. Not anything too bad, but he’d think nothing of using the scooter if he thought he could get away with it. Ron used to come to football practice on his tractor as soon as he was legally old enough to use it, and no doubt Kev will be the same.’
‘Probably he was safer on his tractor than Kev on that scooter,’ Maisie observed. ‘Kev was careening down the road miles too fast.’
‘He’ll fall off, his dad will ground him and next time it’ll be on a horse.’
Great, that was all she needed. A run in with a wanna be cowboy. ‘Shouting hi ho silver and yee haa-ing?’
Bryony sniggered. ‘More likely ‘move you bleeping animal’. The horse works at two speeds, slow and stop. It’s ancient and rejoices in the name of Speedy. His parents know what young Kev is like, which is why I bet he’s borrowed the scooter without Ronnie or them knowing.’
‘I’ll put the fear of me into him if I get the chance.’ She made a note to talk to his class—sadly Liz’s domain—about responsibility towards others.
‘I don’t envy him that.’
‘Good. I don’t envy me having to do it but needs must.’
‘That’s for then, now dinner awaits.’ Dario put the pans on the table. ‘Let’s eat.’
The food was gorgeous. Eventually, Bryony put her fork down and sighed. ‘Stuffed is me. I must say, husband dearest you cook a mean Italian meal.’
‘You really do.’ Maisie followed suit. ‘When you come to me it won’t be half as good, but I will try my best. Good old fish and chips? No batter, Bry. Or I could get a takeaway…if anyone delivers here?’
‘Nope, they did, now they don’t. Collect and reheat or cook yourself. But if I don’t have to cook you could even give me pie and mash.’ Bryony paused. ‘In fact, yes, do give me pie and mash.’
Maisie drew a figure in in the air. ‘Noted. So come on, I need gossip. I was in the shop and I got the gen on Faye Soole’s daughter, who I rather like. Quiet as a mouse but intelligent and hard working. Wonder who she gets it from?’
‘Her gran. What else?’
‘Very little. Not enough time and I want to be up to speed before Sunday lunch with everything that’s going on.’ Dario had decreed a harvest festival bits and bobs lunch, weather permitting. ‘Going to cram. Haven’t done that since finals. Going to get the gen somehow.’
‘After church?’ Dario asked. ‘You going so they can see as head teacher you’re setting a good example?’
Maisie shook her head. ‘It’s not a church school and I’m not a hypocrite.’ Plus, that would mean another face to face close up meeting with Cam, something she’d rather avoid. ‘We’ve got our school service on Friday. I’ll be at that.’
‘Fair enough.’ Dario never shoved his beliefs down anyone else throats. ‘Rather you be truthful than two faced.’
‘Hmm, gossip. Let’s see.’ Bryony sat back in her chair. ‘I’m convinced Lottie’s expecting. She’d not said so but went green when I opened a packet of liver the other day. Penny Disley seems to be distancing herself from the rest of the witches and putting herself out to be pleasant which is a bit disconcerting to say the least. Maddie’s Lisa fell off Luke’s bike and chipped a front tooth, but I guess you’d know that.’
Maisie nodded. Lisa had shown everyone proudly
‘What else? Ah, yes, The Red Pig has started quiz nights again every Wednesday. A fiver a team of four, a tenner for six or more, max eight. No idea what it’d cost to be a team of five. 50-50 share between the winning team and the village activities fund. Liz Kidder is still bemoaning she didn’t get your job, and evidently was told by the last head, to stop. That the best person for the job got it, and she’d be better discovering what were her weaknesses are and working on resolving them in case another opportunity arose in the area. I was told, strictly in confidence, that she was also told you’d be happy to help her to realise her potential as you were not the sort of person to hold a grudge.’ She laughed. ‘I didn’t burst their bubble.’
‘Gee thanks.’ The pictures that conjured up in her mind. ‘Anything else?’