Amos gave him a keen look. ‘She’s not the only one, I warrant.’
Walter let out a snort. ‘As if.’
‘Have it your way, but you were a happier bloke when she was around.’
‘Never!’
Amos shooed him inside. ‘Put the kettle on. The least you can do is make me a cuppa after I’ve minded your dog this morning.’
Walter scowled at his old friend but didn’t argue.
‘Have you heard from Eliza?’ Amos asked, and Walter was glad to change the subject.
‘I have. She’s doing great! Five months pregnant now.’ He sobered. ‘I wish Emrys was here to see it. He would have been chuffed.’ Walter’s brother had emigrated to New Zealand thirty-odd years ago, and had died there a couple of years back. Eliza was his daughter. She had visited Picklewick at Christmas, searching for her father’s roots, and had found love in the form of Jay, Beth’s son.
It was strange to think of the ties that bound Walter and Beth together: Otto and Dulcie, Eliza and Jay… When Dulcie had won Lilac Tree Farm in the lottery, Walter could never have imagined how rich his life would become. He now had a whole new family, Beth included.
But he didn’t actually think of Beth as family, though. He thought of her as… The word eluded him.
‘It’ll be Otto and Dulcie’s turn next,’ Amos was saying. ‘There will be the patter of tiny feet at the farm.’
Walter chuckled. ‘The only tiny feet Dulcie is interested in at the moment belong to the goats.’
‘Pity. I think you could do with a grandchild to keep you occupied, and to keep you company.’
‘I’m fine as I am.’ Hewouldlike a grandchild, though.
‘You can’t fool me, Walter York; I’ve known you too long. It’s not too late, you know.’
‘Too late for what?’
‘Love.’
‘You’re talking out of your backside.’
Amos ignored him. ‘Look at me and Lena. Who would have thought we’d ever get together. Yet here we are.’
‘I don’t think of Beth like that.’
Amos got to his feet. ‘You do; you just can’t admit it.’
Thankfully Stanley was fully clothed for the art class today, and neither was he posing. He was sitting at an easel, staring at the basket of fruit arrangement that was on a table in the middle of the room.
Beth thought the subject of today’s composition was considerably more boring.
She hadn’t been back to the art class since that first time with Walter, but boredom and loneliness had driven her out of the house. There was only so much cleaning and baking one could do, and her girls were all at work so she couldn’t pop in to see them either. She had considered driving up Muddypuddle Lane to visit Walter, but she didn’t know whether she would be welcome.
It was daft to miss him so much, but she couldn’t help how she felt. The question she didn’t have an answer to though, was did she miss him for himself, or did she miss looking after someone – anyone?
It surprised and dismayed her to realise that she felt lonelier in Picklewick than she had felt in Birmingham. How was thatpossible? There was an ache in her chest that she couldn’t explain, a kind of longing, but she didn’t know for what.
‘Walter not with you today?’ Stanley asked, his eyes lighting up when he saw her.
‘Not today.’
‘Did I put him off?’
‘Pardon?’
