The Spring of Second Chances : An absolutely perfect and uplifting romantic comedy

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘We’ll hardly know what to do with ourselves when all this is over,’ Phoebe said over breakfast the following morning.

  ‘Your maternity leave is almost up,’ Jack reminded her, ‘I think you’ll have plenty to keep you busy… That’s if you decide to go back to work…’ he added hopefully.

  ‘I haven’t changed my mind. I love you and I love the girls, and being here with them has been brilliant. But I also love Hendry’s and my job. You understand that, don’t you? I’ve put such a lot of time and energy into building that into something I can be proud of that I can’t just let it go.’

  ‘I know. And I respect you for making that decision.’ Jack smiled, but Phoebe could still read the disappointment in his expression. He would be the one at home with Charlotte, as he had been with Maria, and he would be doing the school runs too, and playgroups and school award assemblies, as he had done with Maria, and he would be trying to work as well, just like he’d done with Maria. They’d talked about it, and he’d agreed that she should go back to work, and she wanted to. That still didn’t mean there wouldn’t sometimes be guilt on her part, or that there wouldn’t sometimes be resentment on his. But she needed something more than their little family to define her; Jack already had that in the form of his own business, but if Phoebe lost Hendry’s, she might well lose herself too. She leaned over to kiss him.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Harrison called me yesterday, by the way.’ Jack crammed the last corner of a slice of toast into his mouth.

  ‘The gardener?’

  ‘Yes, he wanted to know how we were getting on, so I told him we were doing great. He says he’ll pop over today. I thought, as we’re ahead of schedule, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get him started, you know, some of the groundwork while the house still isn’t decorated. It will save making a mess when it is. I don’t think the budget will allow all the work to be done right now and much will have to wait until next summer, but the worst of it will be out of the way.’

  Phoebe took a thoughtful sip of her tea. ‘I suppose that makes sense. I wish you’d warned me though.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because Midnight is coming over. I did tell you… we’re looking at paint and fabric today. I was hoping you’d watch the kids.’

  ‘He’s not going to do any actual work today, just measuring up. I can still have the kids.’

  ‘Right…’

  ‘You don’t look very happy.’

  ‘I’m fine… of course I’m fine.’

  ‘He’s coming over at ten so is that okay?’

  ‘Yes. I doubt Midnight will be here that early anyway. Let’s face it, that would mean her rising from her coffin before nightfall and she might turn to dust.’

  ‘You’re so cruel,’ Jack laughed.

  ‘She’d agree if she was here. In fact, I think she’d be flattered. I think she secretly wishes she was a vampire.’

  At ten on the dot the sound of a van on the drive brought Phoebe to the caravan steps. She greeted Harrison as he strode towards her. He looked even more attractive than he had done the first time they’d met, in battered jeans and a fitted t-shirt under a black leather jacket. Not Phoebe’s type (although it would be hard for anyone to deny he was good looking) but every inch the rock god. Phoebe would not be surprised to learn that he spent his evenings in sweaty clubs playing guitar onstage with a band.

  ‘Nice day for it…’ He gestured towards leaden skies that had promised rain all morning.

  ‘Lovely,’ Phoebe agreed. ‘Do you have a lot to do?’

  ‘Not today. Has Jack told you the plan?’

  ‘He has…’ Jack appeared behind Phoebe with Charlotte in his arms.

  ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ Harrison smiled. ‘This is the little one, is it? She wasn’t here last time I came over.’

  ‘Yes, this is Charlotte, my youngest. Maria is still in her pyjamas glued to some awful TV show.’

  ‘She’s a cute one,’ Harrison said amiably.

  ‘She looks angelic now, but you wouldn’t want to be around her come bedtime. She could be used as an air raid siren when you try to get her to do something she doesn’t want to. It’s a good job we’ve got no neighbours nearby.’

  ‘I’ll make sure I’m not here then,’ Harrison said. ‘I’ve got another appointment to get to in an hour so I’ll get cracking if that’s okay.’ He pulled a tape measure and notebook from a rucksack slung over one broad shoulder.

  ‘Do you need one of us to come with you?’ Phoebe asked.

  ‘I’ll go,’ Jack said, handing Charlotte to her. ‘Midnight might arrive so you should be around for her.’

  ‘Midnight?’ Harrison asked, his expression suddenly alive with expectation. ‘The girl who’s doing your decorating?’

  ‘She’s not decorating. Helping to design. God forbid we ask her to decorate,’ Jack laughed.

  Harrison nodded. ‘It would be cool if we could get our heads together, though, before I put any ideas down as permanent plans.’

  I bet you’d like to get together with a part of the anatomy a little lower than your head, too, Phoebe thought to herself. She also wondered just how much a garden design could hinge on the interior design. It sounded very like an excuse to get some time alone with Midnight. She supposed she couldn’t blame him; after all, as far as he was concerned Midnight was a free agent. And it was nothing to do with Phoebe, either way. But she couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that got stuck in her throat at the idea of them getting it on. She wanted to say something, to drop some hint that Midnight was spoken for, but her friend would be furious if it came to light that she had.

  ‘We have plans to go out to some DIY stores today,’ Phoebe said. ‘I really doubt she’ll be free, so it’s a waste of time waiting for her. Besides, she won’t be over this early. And you have that appointment to get to; I’m sure you don’t want to get held up and make yourself late…’

  Harrison gave her a sunny smile. ‘I’m sure ten minutes either way won’t matter. My next clients said they’d be in all day anyway and it didn’t really matter what time I turned up.’

  Jack stepped forward, clearly sensing that Phoebe was not going to succeed in her quest to keep Harrison from pursuing Midnight. ‘Right… so I’ll show you around the back garden first, eh? I’ve got some requests to make about a play area for the kids…’

  Phoebe watched them go. Quite why she was so desperate to keep Harrison and Midnight apart, she couldn’t say. Perhaps it was residual guilt on her part that she hadn’t been the one to make Geraint happy, and because he so desperately deserved it she found herself frustrated beyond reason he hadn’t chosen a more reliable woman than Midnight to pin his hopes on. It wasn’t as if Midnight couldn’t get into trouble with other men all by herself, when Phoebe could do nothing to prevent it, and the end result would be the same. Whatever her reasons, although she did like Harrison, she really hoped that he would be gone by the time Midnight arrived. At least it would be one less rival to worry about.

  However, with impeccable timing, just as Harrison and Jack wandered back to the front of the house half an hour later, Midnight’s pimped up car skidded onto the gravelled driveway.

  ‘Morning!’ she called as she got out.

  ‘Bloody hell!’ Jack shouted with a broad grin. ‘Has someone set your bed on fire?’

  ‘I can do mornings if I have to,’ Midnight returned in a haughty voice that made Phoebe want to burst out laughing.

  ‘Especially when you haven’t even been to bed in the first place, eh?’ Jack added.

  Phoebe looked closer, and she could see what Jack meant. Midnight definitely had the look about her of someone who hadn’t slept. Was that last night’s make up, smudged around her eyes? Her clothes had that crumpled look of being sat around in for long periods of time and her hair was not quite as sleek as it would have been had it seen a brush that morning. ‘Have you been up all night?’ Phoebe asked.

  ‘Stargazing,’ Midnight returned nonchalantly.r />
  Phoebe was impressed. These days she rarely made it to 10pm before she was nodding off.

  Jack glanced up at the sky. ‘Doesn’t look as if you’d have seen much in this weather.’

  ‘It wasn’t cloudy in Scotland.’

  Phoebe’s mouth fell open. ‘Scotland! When did you manage that? I saw you yesterday morning in Millrise!’

  ‘Last night. Four hours there, four hours back, empty roads – sweet as.’

  ‘You went to Scotland to look at stars?’

  ‘Yeah, why not? It was the clearest sky.’

  ‘On your own?’

  Midnight tapped the side of her nose. ‘That would be telling.’

  Harrison watched the exchange with evident interest, slightly open mouthed. Midnight was just being her usual unpredictable self, but anyone not used to her spontaneous, hedonistic ways would either be in complete awe, or completely appalled. Occasionally the reaction was somewhere in between the two. ‘Sounds like a laugh to me,’ he said.

  Midnight turned to him. ‘It was.’

  He stepped forward and lowered his voice, almost as if he was sharing a secret with her. ‘I thought we might have that get together soon. I’m planning Phoebe and Jack’s garden if you want to come over to my place and take a look over the next few days.’

  Take a look at what? Phoebe wondered. She doubted their garden plans would get much attention if Harrison had his way.

  ‘I might just do that,’ Midnight said, dropping her voice to a teasing lilt too. But the next sentence had Phoebe almost falling over in shock. ‘But first I have to check what my boyfriend has planned.’

  Phoebe turned to Jack, who looked almost as surprised as she was. Harrison, on the other hand, looked crestfallen and rather embarrassed.

  ‘Right… no problem…’ He closed his pad and shoved it into his bag. ‘I guess I’ll be off then.’

  ‘Didn’t you want to measure up the front garden first?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Sorry dude, have to be with my next appointment. Can I come back another time?’

  Jack gave a mute nod.

  With no further attempt at arranging times, comparing diaries or noting of numbers, Harrison slouched back to his van, only a further promise to call Jack later in the week trailing into the morning air as he left.

  Phoebe turned to Midnight. ‘Boyfriend? You don’t mean –’

  ‘Geraint. Who else would it be?’ Midnight replied in a bored voice.

  ‘But…’

  ‘But what? You know I’ve been seeing him.’

  ‘I thought you were just seeing him, as in physically clapping eyes on him from time to time, not seeing him in the boyfriend sense.’

  ‘You obviously weren’t paying attention then.’ Midnight pulled her hair from the collar of her jacket and smoothed a hand over it.

  ‘So you were with Geraint in Scotland last night?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Stargazing? I didn’t think that was your sort of thing.’

  ‘Why? Who says you have to be able to predict what is and isn’t my thing? Geraint suggested it and it sounded like a laugh.’

  ‘I suppose it must have been,’ Phoebe murmured. Life was full of little surprises. And then there was Midnight.

  Another year was almost at an end. Phoebe had wanted to thank all the people who had made their dream home possible, and what better way than a New Year’s housewarming? So, at eight o’clock, Phoebe and Jack were standing at their open front door waiting. The garden was strung with fairy lights and lanterns, Christmas music playing from a borrowed sound system, a huge trestle table standing beneath a canvas roof containing decorations, food and an enormous bowl of fragrant mulled wine. A few feet away a jazz band made up of former clients of Jack’s were setting up to provide music for dancing to later, while Daisy, Midnight’s friend from the eighties diner in Millrise, was busy telling her partner that he was putting too much charcoal on the barbeque. The smoke was a smell so entrenched in Phoebe’s memories of summer that it was odd to feel cold at the same time as it hit her nose, but it still smelt good and she was getting hungry. She was sure people would like it as a change from mountains of leftover turkey.

  ‘I think we invited too many people,’ Jack said quietly from the corner of his mouth as they watched another couple arrive. The driveway was a decent size compared to most, but it had already filled with cars, and new arrivals were now parking along the roadsides leading to the house.

  ‘At least our nearest neighbours aren’t too close so the noise won’t annoy them.’

  ‘I thought you were going to call and invite them?’

  ‘I did,’ Phoebe said. ‘But they had relatives coming over so they couldn’t make it.’

  ‘Still… it is a lot of people,’ Jack said.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Phoebe replied, though she was doing just that herself. They had invited too many in the assumption that some guests would have prior arrangements, or simply wouldn’t want to come. So far, however, pretty much everyone had turned up and the place was heaving.

  ‘Do you think we’ll have enough food?’

  ‘Daisy has over-catered, so I think there’ll be plenty. People will probably think we’re mental for having a barbeque in winter, though. Thank God we’ve got the heaters and the sky is clear.’

  ‘I think it’s a brilliant idea,’ Jack said. ‘My wife is very clever.’

  ‘Let’s see if you still think that when you’re clearing up tomorrow morning,’ Phoebe said with a wry smile as she left his side to greet the newcomers.

  Sue Bunce, HR manager of Hendry’s Toy Store, kissed Phoebe lightly on both cheeks. With a warm smile, she introduced her husband, Barry.

  ‘I’m so glad you could come,’ Phoebe said.

  ‘The place looks fantastic. Does this mean you’re not coming back to work after all? If I lived here I’d never want to leave in the mornings!’

  ‘Sorry to disappoint you but I’ll be reporting for duty next week.’ Phoebe laughed. ‘Why don’t you grab yourself a drink? There are nibbles too but don’t get too full because the barbeque is heating up as we speak.’

  ‘Sounds lovely.’ Sue and Barry made their way over to the refreshments, while Phoebe caught up with Jack, who was greeting Martin, the electrician, and his wife. Jack looked as if he was enjoying playing the host almost as much as Phoebe was, although he’d had reservations about the idea at first. Once Phoebe had reminded him that he’d be able to bake for a whole new audience, along with the promise of drunken New Year sex while the kids spent the night with May and Carol (who both hated parties and rather liked the idea of seeing the New Year in together with Jools Holland on the telly and a bottle of Bailey’s between them), he was sold.

  Next to arrive was Archie, with a girl in tow. Phoebe wondered if anyone had warned her that a large part of the night’s entertainment would take place outside, as she was wearing a dress that would have her arrested in some countries, and definitely lead to hypothermia in a British December. On the other hand, Phoebe reflected, while everyone else would be outside, Archie would probably be under a pile of coats in a bedroom with her inside the hour, so perhaps she’d be warm enough after all.

  ‘Alright bro…’ Archie said with a grin.

  ‘Glad you could make it to our little party. I had wondered if it wouldn’t be kickin’ enough for you,’ Jack said with a grin of his own.

  ‘Oh, man! Do not try to be street; it doesn’t suit you.’

  Phoebe giggled. ‘I keep telling him that.’ She turned to the girl. ‘I’m Phoebe.’

  The girl gave a shy and really rather sweet smile. ‘Jess…’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Jess. Help yourself to a drink and a snack.’

  ‘What have you got?’ Archie asked.

  ‘Mulled wine, crackers and cheese for everyone else,’ Jack said. ‘For you there’s a can of special brew and some pork scratchings in the kitchen.’

  ‘You know me so well.’ Archie grinned as he led his date away. �
�See you later.’

  ‘Do you think someone should warn her?’ Phoebe said to Jack in a low voice as they watched them go.

  ‘Would it make any difference if they did?’

  ‘Probably not. Poor girl.’

  Jack put an arm around her. ‘You love him really.’

  ‘Yeah, like I love nappy changing and teething.’

  On the heels of Archie’s arrival was his dad, who had tagged along with Phoebe’s mum and dad and it looked as if they were getting on famously, much to Phoebe’s relief. They had obviously met before, but never without careful refereeing by Phoebe or Jack. Some more of the historical battle re-enactment society followed them with partners or simply using the invite as an excuse to go somewhere without partners; and then came Melissa Brassington with a girl, whose hand she furtively clasped as she looked nervously around. She was so painfully shy that Phoebe had not expected her to come but she was glad to be proved wrong.

  Shortly afterwards Steve, the shop floor manager of Hendry’s, arrived with an actual wife, which would no doubt amuse Midnight no end when she finally decided to show up. Janitor Jeff arrived by taxi on his own and, true to form, already legless, a Santa hat that looked suspiciously like the one he wore at Hendry’s grotto perched on his head at a drunken angle. Lastly Dixon arrived with a very distinguished looking man in a perfectly tailored suit and immaculately coiffured grey hair – Phoebe thought he looked like newsreader or something equally glamorous – who introduced himself as Rupert. Dixon said he was a very good friend, and left it at that.

  It was almost ten by the time Midnight sauntered through the garden gates on Geraint’s arm, and the party was in full swing. Phoebe had been dancing – or rather, trying to dance – with Jack when she spotted her arrival.

  ‘Oooh! Midnight and Geraint have come together!’ she squealed.

  ‘I’ll bet they have,’ Jack said, ‘which’ll be why they’re late.’

  Phoebe slapped him on the arm. ‘Behave yourself. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re here. Anyway, I think it’s lovely.’ Without waiting for a reply, she rushed over to meet them and threw her arms around them both in turn. ‘I’m so glad you could come!’ she cried, her eyes bright and cheeks flushed with a combination of booze, dancing, cold and excitement.