Page 84 of The Summer Escape

“Of course I don’t mind you calling.” Beth was touched that Mirren was thinking of them. “I think school was fine, but Ellie’s in a terrible mood. It was tiring for her.”

“It’ll take her a while to settle back into the routine. Can I say hello to her?”

“Yes. She’d love that. Hang on a second.” Upstairs she found Ellie sitting on her bedroom floor with her dolls spread around her. She scowled at Beth when she glanced up but brightened when she realised Mirren was on the phone.

“How was school?” Mirren asked her.

Ellie held the phone in her lap and stared down at it. “Okay. But Sophie had pink nails with pictures of butterflies on them. I want some too but Mummy took me to the shop after school and they didn’t have them.”

“Oh!” Mirren sounded taken aback and mildly amused.

“Daisy said she has nail stickers at home too and she’s going to wear them tomorrow. It’s not fair that I don’t have any.”

“I said you could have the ones in the shop,” Beth put in.

Ellie glanced up at her. “They weren’t the right ones, Mummy!”

“Was everything okay apart from the nail situation?” Mirren asked lightly. “I’ll bet your teacher was glad to see you again.”

“My teacher is very nice,” Ellie said, then wittered away for a few more minutes until Beth took the phone back from her.

“Kids are funny,” Mirren remarked as Beth wandered across the landing and into her bedroom to perch on the edge of the bed. “What was all that about the nails?”

“Apparently nail art is a hot new trend with five-year-olds. Evidently I’m not cool enough to figure this out before the first day of term. I looked online but whatever I suggest is wrong. Everything was wrong this afternoon.”

“She’ll be fine in a few days.”

“I know. We’re both missing our lazy beach days. We had it too good over the summer, that’s our problem.”

“Have you and Trystan been in touch?” she asked tentatively.

“No.” Beth tried to sound nonchalant but suspected she missed the mark somewhat. “We agreed we’d need time to settle back into normal life.” She smoothed the duvet beside her. “He flew back to London today, didn’t he? I bet you’ll miss having him around.”

“He ended up going back on Friday.”

“Really? I thought his flight was today …”

Mirren looked suddenly unsure of herself. “He had to change his plans. He took the ferry back on Friday.”

“Oh.” Beth fought the urge to ask questions. It hit her hard that she no longer knew what was going on with him. It was her own fault though. She could get in touch with him if she wanted. “I guess it makes it a long trip. Getting from Penzance to London must be a bit of a trek.”

“Yes.” Mirren cleared her throat. “Anyway, he’s made it back to London. I’ll give him a call later and see how he got on being back in the office today. Speaking of which, have you given any more thought to what you’re going to do jobwise?”

“Not really. I still have two weddings lined up, so I’m putting off doing anything about it until after that. I suppose I should really think about it and make some decisions.”

“Don’t rush into anything. If you can afford to take your time, it makes sense to do that.”

“I suppose it’s a bit lazy of me to not be working now that Ellie’s back in school.”

Mirren’s features drew serious. “You’ve had a difficult year. You’re not being lazy. Give yourself time.”

“Thank you.” Beth smiled into the phone. “And thank you for calling. It’s so lovely to talk to you.”

“My house seems incredibly quiet since you two left. And not in a good way! Though Kit and Seren came over for dinner last night, so that was nice.”

They chatted away for another ten minutes. Beth loved hearing about the rest of the family, and felt a knot in her stomach when she heard about the guests who had arrived that day to stay in Peswera Cottage.

“I should let you get back to Ellie,” Mirren finally said. “She’ll probably need an early night after the excitement of the first day of school.”