by Helen Rolfe
‘Where’s all your wine?’
‘I don’t drink,’ she said, earning herself a look of absolute horror from Sam, so much so that she began to laugh and even Sam may have smirked somewhere beneath her shocked exterior.
‘What about for dinner tonight? Does Charlie drink?’
‘I’ve no idea.’
‘Might be nice to offer him something.’
It had never been an issue before. ‘There’s an off-licence on the high street – grab something if you like.’
‘I might do and if Charlie doesn’t drink, I won’t open it.’
‘And you’re sure you don’t mind people coming?’ Veronica swung between wanting to be the boss in her own house and bending over backwards not to upset anyone.
‘Of course not.’
Maybe Sam was hoping it would be more enjoyable than the staid dinner times so far, with a lack of conversation, each of them eating as quickly as they could to avoid prolonging the agony.
Sam took out a mug and found the tea bags. She paused. ‘Tea?’
‘Yes, please,’ Veronica stammered. ‘That would be lovely.’ It was the first time the gesture had been extended; she wasn’t going to push it away now.
Who knew, maybe over time they’d be able to sit at the table and chat over a cup of tea, like any normal family?
Chapter Two
Audrey
Why did her mum have to turn up and ruin everything?
Audrey lay on her back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, earphones pushed in and Ariana Grande smashing out her music to drown everything else out. She’d already called Sid, her best friend and partner-in-crime when it came to their suspension from school, to moan to him about the unfairness of it all and despite him being in the hairdresser’s at the time, he’d let her whinge away. He was good like that; they were each other’s sounding board when it came to hassles with their parents, something they had in common.
Since coming here, not only was she beginning to enjoy Gran’s company, but, with distance between them, all the arguments with her mum had fizzled into the odd phone call rather than the millions of questions her mum fired her way, all day, every day: What are you doing? Where are you going? What time will you be back? Now her mum was here at Gran’s house too, Sam had ramped up the questioning again and was constantly nagging Audrey about being prepared for the new school year and quizzing her about whether she’d apply herself better than she did last time. Well, she hadn’t come out and said exactly that, but it was sort of implied.
Audrey had almost lost it when Sam first announced being in Mapleberry was permanent. But her fury hadn’t lasted. After all, she’d be moving a lot further away than a car trip one day, and as she wouldn’t have to go back to school with those horrible bitchy girls, she soon saw the change as a blessing in disguise. Now she was enrolled in a local school here for her second year of GCSEs and already she was feeling positive about having a fresh start. Sid was originally gutted she was staying in Mapleberry, but he was the kind of person who always looked on the bright side, and had told her she might surprise herself and enjoy it so much she never wanted to leave. She’d laughed at that.
Over the last week Audrey had channelled her frustrations into investigating make-up artist courses near here, and she’d found one at a college a short bus ride away. It meant that if her mum finally let up and didn’t make her do A levels, she could make a start on the career path she dreamed of. Then, if her application to move overseas took time, which she’d found from several online queries that it might well do, at least she could train in what she wanted to do, ready for when she moved to New Zealand to be with her dad. Audrey missed her dad incredibly; she hated that it went so long between visits. She’d begged her mother to take her over there on holiday but she’d always insisted it was too expensive and so Audrey had had to wait for her dad to visit, and because he had a job to do and a family, it wasn’t easy for him.
Audrey couldn’t wait to move on with her life. Mapleberry was a necessary and now, thanks to Sam, a painful stop-gap, but she’d get to be with her dad in the end.
Audrey stayed in her bedroom for as long as possible after her mum came home from wherever she’d been, and didn’t emerge until she really had to, when Layla turned up and they were in charge of Gran’s one-pot chicken. Thankfully Sam was hiding away in her own room by then and it would give Audrey a chance to calm herself down and make this a pleasant experience. Since she’d realised Gran was going through something nobody seemed to understand, least of all her own mother, Audrey had tried not to be such a pain. Gran didn’t deserve the drama, especially when she was stuck inside. Audrey wasn’t sure how she did it, she didn’t fully understand why either, but the thought of never going outside was unimaginable.
‘Right, Layla, apron on.’ Gran was already bossing the little girl around the kitchen. She fixed on an apron for her, doubling it over at the waist a couple of times so it didn’t drag on the floor. ‘There’s another in the drawer,’ she instructed Audrey.
‘Remember I’m the assistant,’ Audrey told Layla. ‘I only do what you tell me.’
Layla did a little click of her fingers. ‘Get me a knife!’
Audrey laughed but looked at Veronica as though to ask whether she was allowed to hand over a weapon to an overexcited eight-year-old. When she nodded, Audrey did a salute and got the knife from the block at the end of the bench.
Between them, with Layla bossing Audrey around as much as she could, they soon had the one-pot chicken slotted into the oven and Layla insisted they set the table. She folded serviettes into triangles, positioned cutlery the way they did in restaurants, upturned wine glasses in each position even if the person at that place setting would only be having water, lemonade or juice. And by the time Charlie knocked on the front door, the smell of the dinner and the accompanying bubble from the pan of potatoes showed that everything was in hand.
‘I brought dessert,’ he announced, taking something in a foil tray from the carrier bag he had with him. ‘I’m afraid it’s shop-bought, not homemade, but I’m assured by a work colleague that it’s the finest shop-bought apple crumble you can find.’
Veronica smiled. ‘It sounds good to me and I’ve got plenty of ice-cream to go with it.’
Layla’s dad wasn’t bad to look at for a man who had to be at least forty, and he seemed all right as far as parents went. He’d come around a few times since Audrey had started living there and he seemed good company for Gran.
‘I’ve had a hard week,’ he told Veronica when asked how work had been. ‘We were all set for takeaway tonight but this is far nicer.’
‘I’ll bet it’s more nutritious too.’
‘Don’t tell her we had takeaway three times last week,’ he whispered to Audrey as he came to investigate the antics in the kitchen and ruffled Layla’s hair.
Already he was earning himself brownie points from Audrey. She couldn’t stand it when adults talked down to her because they were separated by a generation; she much preferred being treated as an equal, a friend. She’d always imagined that’s what it would be like with her mum when she was older, they’d go on spa days together or out for lunch, but the way things were going it would be a miracle if they even managed to talk on the phone when she finally left home.
Layla took her dad through the entire process of what they’d made for dinner, how she’d wished she had her swimming goggles when she chopped the onion because it hurt her eyes so much, how the garlic had left a smell on her fingers, the variety of vegetables they’d added and how she would be in charge of mashing the potatoes because ‘it’s something Audrey struggles with’.
Audrey had laughed at the comment, but watching dad and daughter together made her miss her own father even more. Charlie and Layla seemed so close. Charlie had dark hair that looked on the verge of fading, but he was a cool dad, just like hers, wearing jeans that fit him well and a T-shirt that showed he wasn’t a layabout like some dads she knew. Charlie was a
paramedic, which must keep him active. Her own dad was a businessman but he was into sports too – running, kayaking and hiking. She’d seen all the photographs to prove it. He got to see the most amazing places; his life was a big adventure. That was what she wanted hers to be like, too.
As she watched her gran laughing away with Charlie about Layla, Audrey thought of all the things she took for granted and that her gran was missing out on by never setting foot beyond this house. Gran never got to view the sky from a different vantage point, she never saw flowers other than those in her own garden. Gran never got to say hello to people in the street or exchange a simple thank you with a stranger if they held a door open for her or she for them. And most of all, she didn’t get to help anyone, and if there was one thing Audrey was slowly learning, it was that helping was second nature to her gran. Last week Audrey had overheard Charlie talking about a patient he’d assisted that day, and Gran had been full of talk about her experiences as a nurse. The way her eyes had lit up when she spoke of it was the same way her face changed when she talked to Layla about the Kindness Calendar. She had a passion, a yearning, and it wasn’t being fulfilled. It was a shame too that Gran didn’t see how important it was for her to help herself as well as striving to help others.
Audrey saw something in the corner of her eye. It was her mum beckoning to her from the doorway so nobody else saw.
‘What?’ she said at the foot of the stairs where they couldn’t be seen from the kitchen table.
‘For tonight, for your gran, can we please make an effort? I know you’re not happy I came down here but I had little choice. I did what I thought was best.’ The story of Audrey’s life, probably of her dad’s too, and it had driven him away in the end. ‘I want us to get along. It’s hard living in such close quarters, but you’ll try?’
‘Of course I will; I do know how to behave,’ she answered with an eyeroll.
Her mum had looked exhausted when she first arrived in Mapleberry: no make-up on, her glasses not her contacts, scruffy clothes she rarely wore given her regular attire was usually business suits with perfectly ironed shirts, or jeans and T-shirt on the weekend. But now, she’d made an effort. Freshly washed blonde hair fell in natural waves and settled around her shoulders, she’d done her make-up in a way Audrey approved of with subtle pink lipstick and mascara to widen pale blue eyes, and she had on dark jeans with a purple micro pleat top that fell just above her hips and showed off a slender waist.
‘Thank you, Audrey. Did you hear I found a job?’
‘That was quick.’ When her mum told her she’d be working in a café, Audrey couldn’t have been more surprised. It wasn’t very corporate, was it?
‘I know it’s not ideal,’ said Sam, picking up on what Audrey might be thinking. ‘It’ll do for now while I look for somewhere else for us to live and in the meantime if a different position turns up, I can always apply.’
‘Whatever – it’s your life.’ And she wouldn’t mind staying here with Gran if she was honest, although maybe now with dinner imminent, it wasn’t the time to discuss that little gem.
When they went into the kitchen, Veronica jumped up. ‘Charlie, I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Sam.’
Charlie extended his hand and met Sam’s. ‘It’s lovely to meet you at last. Veronica has told me all about you.’
Sam didn’t look too sure what to make of that. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you too,’ she beamed, doing that flick of her hair away from her face and shoulder.
Audrey might only be fifteen but she’d seen enough soaps and romantic movies to pick up on an undercurrent. And Charlie already looked more interested in her mum than in anyone else, as though her stepping in made him lose all focus. Typical. Divorcee and widower united. It was a match made in heaven, and unfortunately neither Veronica nor Layla seemed at all bothered by the obvious spark.
‘Can I interest you in a glass of wine, Charlie?’ Audrey didn’t miss Sam’s cheeks take on almost the same tinge as her pink lipstick. She wanted to stick her fingers down her throat so she looked away from her mum who was going to embarrass herself in a minute. Okay, so Charlie seemed like a nice guy, but still. There should be an age limit on romantic hook-ups, at least when other people were around.
‘Sure,’ he answered, handing her a couple of glasses from the table so she could do the honours.
Sam poured but as she handed him a glass she was still gawping at him, and not in a subtle way. ‘You look really familiar. I’m not sure why.’ Any minute now she was going to ask, Do you come here often? or something equally cheesy. ‘Have you always lived here in Mapleberry?’
Charlie leaned against the kitchen bench. ‘Not right here in the village, no. I lived about ten miles down the road when I was younger before we moved down to the south coast. I finally headed back this way. I always liked Mapleberry.’
Sam’s mind was ticking over in the way it did when Audrey tried to pull the wool over her eyes. Audrey rarely got away with it because Sam hardly ever gave up. ‘Where did you go to school?’
‘I was at Halverston Primary, then—’
Sam gasped. ‘That’s it!’
‘I’m missing something.’ His killer smile was firmly directed at Sam. Not even Layla could get his attention now. Maybe if Audrey got her to wave a big knife around they’d have a hope of getting in on the conversation.
‘I went to Halverston Primary too,’ Sam gushed.
Veronica managed to get a word in. ‘We couldn’t get her into Mapleberry Primary, oversubscribed, even back then, so we drove her to Halverston every day. Thankfully we got her a place at Mapleberry Middle after that.’
Sam wasn’t really listening to her mum. Wine glass cupped in her palm, she asked Charlie, ‘Do you remember one summer sports day in the worst storms to hit the UK in decades?’
‘If you’re referring to the indoor sports day then I have to say, I remember it very well. Were you there?’ His mega-watt smile was sickening from where Audrey was standing. She’d liked him up until now, but she sensed she’d soon change her mind if he and her mum got any closer.
‘You don’t remember me,’ Sam chuckled.
‘She had white-blonde hair back then,’ Veronica put in, more talkative with Charlie around, ‘and big round glasses.’ But Charlie still shook his head.
‘I’ll mention one event,’ Sam tried, ‘and I bet you’ll remember.’ The flirting was cringeworthy, Audrey thought. ‘Indoor swimming in the hall,’ Sam grinned.
When Charlie roared with laughter, the lines at the edges of his eyes crinkled even more and he was still annoyingly handsome. ‘I remember!’
Sam was laughing hard now, and Layla was begging for everyone else to be let in on the joke. ‘How can you even do indoor swimming without a pool?’ she asked. ‘You can’t float.’
‘It was as bad as it sounds,’ Sam told her.
‘Terrible!’ Charlie agreed.
‘We had to lie on the floor on our tummies and move our arms and legs and get from one end of the hall to the other. I thought I’d won gold, your dad thought he had, and when we went to stand on the podiums on stage – upturned crates as I recall – we couldn’t agree who had come first.’
‘They told us it was a draw,’ said Charlie. ‘We didn’t think it was and carried on arguing until your mum pushed me off the stage.’
‘You didn’t,’ Audrey gasped. ‘Mum!’
‘She did,’ said Charlie. ‘It was a big shove too. How do you think I got this?’ He pointed to his top lip and went up closer to each of them so they could see the little scar Audrey had noticed the other day when he was laughing at something Gran said. ‘I fell face first onto one of the upturned crates, there was a bit of plastic jutting out, and my mouth caught it.’
Sam shook her head after Charlie showed her the lasting damage. ‘I really am very, very sorry. There was so much blood,’ she told the others. ‘You told the teacher you tripped.’ Eyes back on Charlie.
‘Of course I did; no wa
y was I admitting being beaten up by a girl.’ He pulled an awkward face stretching his scar in another direction.
‘You saved me from the wrath of Miss Dickenson.’
‘Now she was evil.’
‘I will be forever in your debt, Charlie. She would’ve made my final days at that school a living hell if she’d known what I did. I’m really sorry.’
Audrey rolled her eyes and did her best to focus on the dinner preparations rather than her mum making eyes at the neighbour and giggling in a way that suggested she wasn’t a fully grown adult.
The one-pot chicken was a success. Layla had pulled it off with Audrey’s help and Audrey even went back for seconds, congratulating Layla on the smooth potatoes. ‘You can tick off the item on the calendar now,’ she prompted. ‘After dinner I meant,’ she added when Layla got up. Funny how little kids took things quite literally.
After some animated discussion of the calendar, the veggie patch Layla had with her dad and Sam’s new job at the café, it was Audrey’s turn in the spotlight.
Charlie turned his attentions to her. ‘Your mum says you’re doing your second year of GCSEs soon.’
‘That’s right.’
‘What’s the plan after that?’
‘I don’t know yet.’ Although Sam had her own plans, Audrey had had them drummed into her often enough. A levels, university, then you’d have more doors open to you. Apparently. But Audrey didn’t buy it.
‘No career aspirations? Good to keep your options open I guess,’ he said.
‘I do have aspirations, but none my mum approves of.’
‘Audrey…’ Sam’s voice warned.
‘I’m not trying to start an argument. I’ve been asked a question and I’d like to answer it.’
Sam couldn’t argue with that and waved her assent in a way that suggested she might give up fighting it tonight and instead sit back and enjoy her food and wine.