Page 29

It was raining. In fact, it had rained for three days in a row and Callie was already panicking.

She’d been into the teashop that morning and stared glumly out of the window, muttering things like, ‘I knew the weather would turn,’ and, ‘Why did I think September would be a good month for an event?’ and, ‘This is going to be a disaster, isn’t it? ’

‘Besides,’ Mia had said, ‘we’ve got the gazebo for the singers, the sound system will be fine whether it rains or not, so there’ll be music whatever the weather, the tea dance is in the Hall so it can pour down for all we’ll care, and there are plenty of shops for visitors to dash into to get out of the rain if necessary. ’

‘And they can grab a bite to eat here,’ I’d added. ‘If they don’t fancy standing outside with food from the stalls.’

‘We really should have another cafe or something,’ Callie said with a sigh. ‘If only the fish and chip shop had capacity for seating. I wonder if we can look at that for the future?’

‘Maybe,’ Mia agreed, ‘but for now, let’s just take one day at a time and get this event over and done with, eh?

Everything’s on track. The costumes for the staff at the station have arrived and Brodie’s got someone to fix up the sound system.

We’ve got the stuff for the shop windows, the stalls are booked, and the band’s been hired for the tea dance. Everyone knows what they’re doing.’

‘Never again, though,’ Callie said glumly. ‘One event is quite enough for me. I must have been mad.’

‘I’ll remind you of that when you announce your next bonkers idea,’ Mia said, laughing. ‘Come on, let’s go home. I need to go over the catering for the dance and you promised the girls that you’d watch Wallace and Gromit with them.’

‘So I did.’ Callie picked up her bag and prepared to leave.

‘Immi’s friend from her old school is staying with us for a couple of weeks, which is bad timing really, given the weekend planning, but I did promise,’ she explained to me.

‘Anyway, she’s a nice girl. Of course, Florrie’s tagging along with them and she’s really looking forward to Wallace and Gromit , bless her.

’ She grinned suddenly. ‘By the way, your Aunt Polly’s proving very popular with the children.

Walter says she’s made the lessons very lively, if you know what I mean. The kids adore her.’

‘Oh! I didn’t realise she was helping Walter,’ I said.

‘We discussed it a few weeks ago and Walter asked her if she’d be willing, and she said yes. We’re thinking of asking some of the other ghosts to take lessons covering different historical eras,’ she explained.

‘Makes sense,’ I agreed. ‘Aw, I’m glad it’s going well.

’ Although I couldn’t help feeling sad that she hadn’t told me about it.

Aunt Polly seemed to be very elusive these days, whereas at one point, she’d been there every time I turned around.

I supposed she had her own afterlife to lead, and I had to let her get on with it.

‘It is. She’s got them really looking forward to the 1940s weekend. Oh heck, I’ve got that back in my mind again now. Right, Wallace and Gromit it is. See you later.’

I’d waved them off and cleared away their teacups, noting that the teashop was now empty – something that rarely happened. I glanced out of the window at the angry, swollen sky, and heavy rain spattering on the glass, and thought there wasn’t much chance of it getting any busier today.

‘Why don’t you take your lunch break now?’ Paige suggested, as I carried the tray into the kitchen. ‘We’re hardly run off our feet, and you should have clocked off an hour ago.’

I looked over at the clock on the wall, noticing it was half-past one. I’d completely forgotten about my lunch! That was something else that very rarely happened.

‘What about you?’ I asked.

She shrugged. ‘Already had mine. There wasn’t much else to do in here.’

‘May as well then,’ I said. ‘If I sit near the window, any passing tourists might be encouraged to come in and eat. You never know.’

‘Passing tourists?’ she wrinkled her nose doubtfully. ‘Maybe a family of passing ducks.’

With that, our eyes widened as the bell above the door jangled.

‘Here come the ducks,’ Paige said, smiling, as I headed back into the teashop to greet my new customers.

Well, a customer – singular, as it turned out. Max. He was busily folding a sopping-wet umbrella and glanced up as I reached the counter.

I gulped as he smiled a greeting at me.

‘Shona! I was hoping you’d be here.’ He glanced round and shrugged. ‘I see there is plenty of space for me to sit down today.’

‘Well,’ I said, nodding at the window, ‘is it any wonder? There’s an umbrella stand over there by the coat rack.’ I indicated the small area near the door to the toilets. ‘Just shove your wet things there and take a seat. Are you eating, or is it just a drink you want?’

‘I definitely am eating,’ he said. ‘I was hoping for a pot of tea and a slice of that divine lemon cake. It was so good, I’ve been dreaming about it.’

I decided tea and cake seemed like a good enough lunch for me, too.

‘I’m on a break,’ I said hesitantly. ‘I can join you, if you like?’

‘I’d like that very much,’ he said, and I was pretty sure he meant it, so I grabbed the lemon cake from the counter and rushed into the kitchen, where I prepared a pot of tea for two and cut two very generous slices of cake.

‘Ooh,’ Paige said, noticing the size of the portions as I loaded the tray, ‘VIP guests?’

‘One of them’s for me,’ I said sheepishly.

‘And the other one?’

I gave her a sweet smile and carried the tray into the teashop, where Max was sitting at the table he’d occupied last time he was here.

‘I don’t think Dad will be in today,’ I told him, setting the tray down and taking a seat. I’d decided it was best to make that clear to him from the off in case he’d been hoping to bump into him here.

‘I should think not in this weather,’ he said.

Having removed his coat, I saw that he was wearing a charcoal sweatshirt and jeans.

I’d never seen him dressed so informally before, and I liked it.

It made him look younger and more approachable somehow.

‘I thought I would visit him at Starling Cottage later, if you think that would be okay?’

‘Of course. I’m sure he’d love to see you again,’ I said. ‘He gets a bit fed up, especially on days like this, when he can’t go out in the garden and it’s too wet and miserable for a walk.’

‘Yes, on days like today, it’s hard to stay positive,’ he agreed softly, gazing out of the window.

Then he turned to me, shaking his head slightly.

‘But the weather will change again, I’m sure.

In the meantime, we have tea and cake and— oh my word!

’ His eyes widened. ‘Those are enormous slices of cake!’

‘I was a bit peckish,’ I admitted. ‘I haven’t had lunch today. You don’t have to eat it all.’

‘I don’t think that will be an option,’ he said, his eyes twinkling. ‘Once I begin, I won’t be able to stop until every last crumb is eaten.’

‘I’ll hold you to that,’ I told him, relieved that the chocolate Hobnobs hadn’t been a fluke, and he really wasn’t some calorie-counting fitness fanatic who would judge me too harshly on my propensity for ginormous slices of cake.

I poured tea and asked him politely if he’d heard from Rissa. He said they’d exchanged a few casual texts.

‘She doesn’t like talking on the phone,’ he said, looking puzzled. ‘It’s very strange.’

‘My girls are just the same,’ I told him.

‘It’s all texts and WhatsApp messages with them.

The worst things are the Sunday-morning video calls!

God, it’s all you need when you’re still in bed and your hair’s all over the place, and there’s your daughter’s face staring at you in disapproval because you should have been up hours ago, and you can’t end the call because she’s got your granddaughter on her knee who “really wants to talk to Grandma”. Nightmare!’

As he laughed, it occurred to me that I’d just basically told him I was a lazy sod who looked a mess in bed, which was hardly the picture I’d wanted to plant in his mind.

Then it occurred to me that it shouldn’t matter to me what picture I planted in his mind, and he probably couldn’t care less how I looked in bed.

Then I realised that was quite depressing, actually.

Then I thought, I wonder what he looks like in bed.

Then I decided I was shameless and shouldn’t be having thoughts like that at all given my age and my responsibilities as a dutiful grandparent.

All that going on while I somehow managed to gulp down some tea, then shovel a whopping big forkful of cake into my mouth. Who says women can’t multitask?

We chatted for a while about our children. He told me about Rissa’s love of history and how well she’d done at university. I told him about Christie, Scott, Autumn and Maddie, and about Pippa’s job at The Cotswolds Courier , and how she shared a flat in Much Melton with two other young women.

‘Rissa shares a cottage with two men,’ he said glumly. ‘I’m not sure I’m altogether happy about that.’

‘Oh, don’t worry about it,’ I reassured him. ‘Lars and Bram are lovely blokes, honestly. Anyway, don’t forget Erin’s there, too. They’re all just friends and colleagues, that’s all.’

He sighed. ‘I know, I know. Sometimes, I overthink things. And sometimes,’ he admitted honestly, ‘I forget that she’s in her mid-twenties and entitled to do whatever she pleases.

She certainly doesn’t need my permission any more.

Besides, Lars and Bram are leaving soon.

They are looking to the future, unlike my daughter. ’

‘She’s planning to stay then?’ I asked cautiously.

I’d hoped, for her sake, that now Brodie was all loved-up with Callie, Rissa might decide to move on with her life.

The land girls and PoWs didn’t tend to stay very long at Rowan Farm.

Those jobs were always viewed as temporary, and Rissa had been there longer than most.