Summer of Love (3 page)

Fiona seemed a little tentative. Sian didn’t want her to change her mind about the barn and so nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’d love it. Apart from it being fun I might be able to buy some things from you that I could paint. It seems a waste to buy new when there’s so much perfectly good furniture around that just happens to be hideous –before I get my hands on it, of course!’

‘Personally I don’t think if furniture is hideous it can be described as “perfectly good”,’ Fiona said dryly, handing back the album to Sian.

Sian laughed. ‘That’s just the sort of thing my mother would say.’

‘I hope you mean that in a good way!’

‘Oh yes, definitely. My mother and I have a lot of fun together.’

‘Well, that’s a relief.’ Fiona put her hand on Sian’s briefly and got up. ‘I should go. Now, were you serious about being willing to help with the flowers?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘Then I’ll pop by at about two tomorrow and we can pick the cow parsley and then arrange it. Will that fit in with nap times and things?’

‘I don’t have a nap now,’ said Rory. ‘I’m too old.’

‘I have naps all the time and I’m much older than you,’ declared Fiona. ‘But we won’t argue about it. Until tomorrow then?’

When Sian had seen her guest out and renewed her thanks for the house-warming presents, she rang her mother. She would be thrilled that Sian had a new friend already. Sian was thrilled herself.

*

‘It’s Fona,’ said Rory the following afternoon, looking through one of the small front windows at the person on the front doorstep.

‘Oh good.’ Sian went and opened the door. ‘Hello! Come on through to the garden, we’ll get picking.’

Fiona was carrying a bucket in which there were a pair of secateurs and what looked like an old curtain. ‘Good afternoon. Hello, Rory! Are you going to help us put flowers in the church? There are toys there if you get bored.’

The two women cut swathes of cow parsley, filling Fiona’s bucket and another one they found in a shed, and then set off for the church.

‘Can I carry the bucket?’ asked Rory, anxious to be involved. He’d been a little put out that he hadn’t been able to help with collecting the cow parsley but Fiona had said the secateurs were too dangerous and only to be used by adults and his mother hadn’t felt his pulling at the plants was achieving the desired effect. He’d had to watch them both and had got bored.

Sian thought about it. The bucket was heavy but she didn’t want to start a row in front of Fiona. Rory was an easy child on the whole but he could get terribly offended if anyone suggested he was too young or too small for a particular task, and he’d already sulked a bit when they wouldn’t allow him to help pick the flowers. ‘OK,’ she said casually, hoping he’d abandon the idea quite quickly.

‘Actually, I could do with a hand with mine,’ said Fiona. ‘Your mum could carry that one but I’m not sure I can manage this one on my own. If you’d be a kind chap and carry it with me, I’d be very grateful.’

Flattered by this request for help, Rory took hold of the handle.

‘It’s quite hard to carry with all this cow parsley, isn’t it?’ went on Fiona.

‘It’s not heavy,’ said Rory.

‘Not for you, perhaps!’ said Fiona. ‘But you’re a strong boy.’

Sian let herself lag behind her son and her new friend. It was nice that they got on so well. Fiona was very good with him. She thought Rory might miss her parents, being used to the company of adults. She locked the house and put the key in the pocket of her jeans. Fiona and Rory began to sing as the three of them lumbered up the lane towards the churchyard.

The church was cool and dark and Rory was a bit overawed until Fiona put on some lights, chatting away as if she was somewhere familiar and friendly. It took Sian a few moments to feel it was OK to talk above a whisper but by the time Rory had been shown the toys, which included a train set, she was soon helping Fiona pull out the faded flowers from the stand of oasis and fielding the dead leaves that missed the curtain Fiona had spread out to catch them.

A little later she was taking the lower leaves off the cow parsley and handing the sprays to Fiona as if she’d always done it. There was something satisfying about flower-arranging, especially in the calm interior of an ancient building. ‘It only has to look good from the back of the church. That’s where most people sit,’ said Fiona, stepping away and looking at the display with a critical eye.

‘It looks good from here!’

‘Thank you! I do hope you’ll come back to tea afterwards,’ said Fiona. ‘I’ve made a cake and Jody and Annabelle are coming. Annabelle’s about Rory’s age and you’ll like Jody.’

‘That’s so kind. We’d love to meet them and we love cake. Especially homemade.’

‘Me too. I’ve trained myself to believe that shop cake isn’t worth getting fat for, but I’m not sure I believe it.’

‘You really needn’t have made a cake just for us. We’re not proud about shop cake!’

Fiona laughed. ‘Actually, I’ve got a bit of a favour to ask you. I thought I’d soften you up first.’

Sian laughed too, hoping she wasn’t about to let herself in for something she wouldn’t be happy about. ‘Well, anything you think we can do.’

‘You don’t really have to do much but it’s not something I can ask Jody, for example.’ Fiona bit her lip, frowning a little as she adjusted her arrangement. ‘It is a bit mad and I don’t want to ask anyone I know well.’ Fiona stepped back from the pyramid of frothy white and green, which to Sian looked like a patch of starlight. ‘Do you think that looks all right? People always say my arrangements are “unusual” and I’m never sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. No one’s ever done anything like that as far as I know but I always remember my mother telling me about Constance Spry having a big jug of cow parsley in the window of her shop, in London, just after the war. I’ve always wanted to do it.’

‘I think it looks stunning. Really simple and pure. And if it is unusual, it’s lovely.’

‘As long as it looks OK from the back of the church,’ repeated Fiona, walking in that direction.

Once Fiona was happy with the arrangement and they’d cleared up and put the train set away, they headed back to Fiona’s house. As they approached, Sian said, ‘I don’t suppose you could tell me your mad thing now? I’m dying of curiosity.’

‘Well, we can’t have you dying, although really I’d prefer to tell you with a paper bag over my head. And not a word to Jody.’ Fiona plunged on. ‘It’s all your landlady’s fault. She put me up to it.’

‘But what is it?’

‘Internet dating,’ said Fiona. ‘There, I’ve said it. And look, there’s Jody.’

Chapter Two

An orange people carrier drew up and parked. The door opened and a young woman wearing shorts and a stripy top jumped out. She was tanned, freckled and looked very fit. She reminded Sian of a tennis player.

‘Hi, Fiona! So kind of you to ask us. I’ll just release Annabelle.’ She slid open the side door and began fiddling with straps. By the time Fiona, Sian and Rory had reached them there was a small girl on the ground, scowling at them from under dark black brows.

She had bare feet, long curly black hair that tumbled down her back, pink pedal-pushers and a matching T-shirt. Sian thought she looked like a gypsy queen and quite magnificent.

Jody held out her hand to Sian. ‘You must be Sian. Jody. And this little princess is Annabelle.’ Jody looked at Rory and said, ‘Don’t worry, she’s better with boys than girls. She’s got two older brothers and apart from liking pink, thinks girly things are silly.’

Rory looked up at Jody and smiled, responding to her warmth and relaxed attitude.

‘Fiona’s got a train,’ said Annabelle, proud of her greater knowledge.

‘Why don’t you two go and find it?’ suggested Fiona. ‘The gate’s open, you can go in.’

Bustling importantly, Annabelle led the way, with a willing Rory following.

‘She’s a heartbreaker in the making,’ said Fiona as the adults followed more slowly.

‘Don’t say that!’ said Jody. ‘She gives me enough trouble when the boys have sleepovers. She harasses their friends in a most embarrassing way.’ Jody looked at Sian apologetically. ‘You must tell me if she’s too much for Rory. And you must come over soon. We live in a mess but it’s a massive house so we seem to be sleepover central.’

Sian smiled, feeling immensely grateful to Fiona, first for knowing someone who seemed so much fun and secondly for introducing them. ‘It sounds like heaven. We live in a fairly small house but we’re still up for the odd sleepover.’

As she followed Fiona and Jody through the big gate into the yard, which gave on to an open-sided barn, now being invaded by Rory and the Gypsy Queen, Sian couldn’t help wondering about what Fiona had confided.

Fiona was obviously a pillar of the local community. She was probably chairman of the WI and certainly did church flowers. The idea of her internet dating seemed bonkers! But fun. Sian acknowledged, going into the house of her mother’s dreams, that the thought was definitely fun.

The kitchen was huge, with some sort of range cooker up one end and a table up the other. An island unit and various cupboards, a dresser and a desk took up the rest of the space. A long shelf above the window that looked out on to a charming garden held huge majolica plates and jugs. It was either designed by an expert or was a wonderful accident, but the result was delightful.

‘This is lovely!’ said Sian. ‘What a perfect room!’

‘Oh, do you like it? I sometimes think it’s a bit of a shambles but the thought of sorting it out just makes me feel weak. Now, you two go and sit down and I’ll make tea.’

Jody and Sian were seated at the table when Annabelle and Rory came in. Annabelle was obviously about to ask for a drink when she caught her mother’s eye and didn’t.

Fiona, apparently fluent in small-child-speak, said, ‘Would you two like a drink? Apple juice? Annabelle, can you show Rory how to work the ice machine?’

‘What an amazing fridge,’ said Sian, watching Annabelle and Rory fill two glasses with ice.

‘It’s ridiculous really when it’s just me most of the time. My sons gave it to me one Christmas so I would always have enough ice for my gin and tonics. Not that I drink that many of them, but I do like a lot of ice.’

‘I think that’s a lovely present. Far better than a new iron or something,’ said Jody, when Fiona had added apple juice and straws to the ice.

‘Yes, they’re good boys. One of them has been away for ages and is coming back here to write a book. The other one lives in Canada.’ She opened a cupboard and took out a tin. ‘At least, that’s the plan for Angus. Not sure I can see him doing it, he’s always been a man of action, not to mention a bit dyslexic.’

‘So why the book?’ Jody asked.

Fiona shrugged as she took a plate from the drainer and opened the tin. ‘I don’t think he knows what else to do, really. Not that it’s easy writing a book, of course –think of all those tortured souls. And it’ll be very odd sharing the house with someone again, even though it’s huge. One of the reasons I want to clear out the barn is I’d like to be able to convert it for him to live in, if he finds he can’t live with his mother now he’s grown up. I’m not the most organised person.’

‘Nor me,’ said Jody.

‘I’m not all that organised but I love clearing other people’s clutter,’ said Sian. ‘It’s so much easier than doing your own.’

The cake now on a plate and on the table, Fiona turned to the children, who were making loud sucking noises with their straws. ‘Do you want cake now or later? More juice? Or the train?’

Annabelle looked at Rory. ‘Can we take cake to the train?’

‘Oh, I should think so. Mums? What do you think?’

‘Definitely less messy if they have it outside,’ said Jody.

‘And you don’t mind them having cake?’ Fiona looked at Sian, apparently knowing Jody’s feelings.

‘Cake is fine in moderation,’ said Sian, ‘and I think taking it outside is a brilliant idea.’

Annabelle and Rory ran off happily, clutching chocolate cake in bits of paper towel.

‘Oh the peace!’ said Jody, flopping back into a chair.

‘I’ll make the tea,’ said Fiona.

‘That cake is delicious!’ said Sian, picking at the crumbs the children had created in their excitement.

‘Oh, have a proper slice, do!’ Fiona handed Sian a knife and three plates. ‘I don’t want it in the house for long.’

‘We’ll do our best to help,’ said Jody with a smile.

Two cups of tea and a slice of cake later, Jody got up to go. ‘My boys’ swimming lesson will be over by now. I’d better pick them up, I suppose, if I can tear Annabelle away.’ She looked at Sian. ‘She and Rory obviously get on. No one’s come in crying or moaning about being bored. That’s brilliant!’

‘It is. Lovely for Rory to have found a friend so soon,’ said Sian with a real sense of relief.

‘You must come over …’

The party moved out into the yard where the children were playing with a wooden train set large enough to sit on. Eventually Jody extracted Annabelle with the promise of chips on the way home from picking up the boys. ‘They’re always so starving after swimming and if their blood-sugar level drops they become like animals – more like animals …’