‘Don’t say that. You did the best you could.’
‘I lost the farm.’
‘He’s got it back. I wonder if we’ll hear the sound of wedding bells soon?’
‘I hope so. I think the world of Dulcie.’ Walter paused to take a sip of his drink. He had moved on to Guinness, and it left a foam moustache on his upper lip.
Beth leant across the table and wiped it away.
Walter caught her hand mid-wipe and brought it to his lips. When he kissed her fingers, a thrill tingled right through her.
He said, ‘Thank you for all your help. I couldn’t have managed without you. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve enjoyed your stay in the cottage and I’ll miss you when you leave.’
Beth’s eyes filled up. She would miss him too.
Who’d have thought it!
CHAPTER NINE
Beth raised her face to the sun and closed her eyes, feeling the welcome warmth on her skin. It was peaceful in Walter’s garden, just the drone of insects and the occasional bleat from Flossie, who was missing her little goaty friends. Petra had taken them to the stables to have their hooves trimmed, leaving the sheep on her own for the morning. Flossie wasn’t happy and was letting everyone know.
Walter was in the garden with Beth, reading his newspaper and huffing now and again when he came across an article he didn’t like. Since the weather had become warmer, they’d taken to coming into the garden for an hour after breakfast if they didn’t have anywhere to be.
Today was a quiet day. Beth had chores to do in the house, and later she would take Peg for a walk. She quite fancied going further afield and calling in on Maisie. She would drop her a text later and ask whether she would be in this afternoon.
A few more minutes, then she’d get a move on. It was a perfect day for drying washing and she had a mind to put freshsheets on both their beds. Beth was quite content sitting here, though. She was quite content, full stop.
Without opening her eyes, she said, ‘Do you realise it’s exactly a month today since I moved in with you?’ Not moved in, as such, because her living here was a temporary arrangement, but Walter would know what she meant.
‘A month? It feels like longer.’
Beth’s eyes flew open.
‘In a good way,’ he added hastily.
She closed them again. ‘It does,’ she agreed.
Yet at the same time, the month had flown by. Soon Walter’s cast would be coming off and although he would continue to use crutches for a while, he would become increasingly more mobile and increasingly less dependent on her.
Beth suspected that he could manage most things well enough on his own now anyway, but she hadn’t mentioned it and neither had he. Both of them were far too comfortable with their current arrangement to want it to change. Sharing Walter’s house was preferable to living with Dulcie – although Beth never thought she’d hear herself say that.
She was about to begin her chores, when her phone rang. She had left it in the kitchen and hurried inside to answer it.
The number on the screen made her pause, and for one ridiculous second she was tempted to ignore it. However, it couldn’t be ignored forever. They would call back and eventually she would have to answer.
‘Hello?’
‘Mrs Fairfax? It’s Zander. I thought you’d like to know that all the repairs on the house in Hazelnut Road have been completed. I’ve just been out to check, and I’m happy to say that you can move in whenever you’re ready.’
‘Oh, great. Thanks. I’ll, um, pop in for the keys.’
Although she had been expecting a phone call at some point, now that she had received it Beth wasn’t sure how she felt. She should be delighted. But she wasn’t. She felt flat. Sad, almost.
As she thought about the little terraced house, she could no longer imagine herself living there. It wouldn’t feel like home. Walter’s cottage felt like home. And despite the new friends she had made and the active social life she now had, she feared she would be lonely living on her own.
With a heavy heart she returned to the garden to tell Walter the news.
‘Beth doesn’t mind taking me,’ Walter said to Otto for the third time that morning.
