‘Darling! You said off-grid, but I was about to send a search party. I’ve called three times and sent countless messages, I even tried Raf to see if he knew you were okay. What about Harriet, how is she? Are you both surviving? Is it hell? When are you coming home?’
Pippa laughed, her shoulders loosening some more at the sound of Cassie’s familiar voice. They’d grown up on the same leafy street in north London and had notorious dads in common, their friendship thriving and adapting down the intervening years. Pippa had Jonny to contend with and Cassie’s father was an ex-MP following a scandal some years ago. With her mother now firmly ensconced on the Amalfi Coast and living with a gorgeous Italian DJ half her age, Cassie understood perfectly what life was like for the offspring of infamous men.
‘We’re fine, really. I had planned to call you earlier but the signal’s not great. I’ve just seen the missed calls.’
‘Wi-Fi?’
‘As expected. Non-existent.’
‘And Harriet’s still there?’ Cassie’s quick laugh was astonished.
‘For now. And if your goddaughter asks or even begs you to rescue her, please don’t.’ Pippa moved aside to let an elderly man enter the shop, a bell jangling as the door opened. ‘We really need this time together while I sort out the house.’
‘I won’t, I promise. Guide’s honour.’
‘We were never in the Girl Guides.’ Pippa tried to imagine her bubbly and brilliant friend collecting badges and wearing the uniform, and couldn’t.
‘That’s because there were no boys, darling.’ Cassie’s voice faded from Pippa’s ear as she spoke to someone else. ‘Sorry, back now.’
‘Work?’ Pippa knew how much her career meant, especially now.
‘Of course.’ Cassie sighed. ‘Manic as ever. But I didn’t call you to whine about that, I wanted to make sure you’re not stranded in a bog or facing down some gloomy Mr Rochester type.’
Pippa laughed again and Gil flashed into her mind. For all his grumpiness, she wouldn’t refer to him as gloomy. His eyes were too bright, too blue, for that. She resolved to mention nothing of him to Cassie, at least not yet. Her friend might be head of public relations for a small group of luxury and intimate London hotels and busy with her two children, the eldest of which was also Harriet’s best friend, but even the whiff of a new and attractive man in Pippa’s vicinity might have Cassie hitting the pause button on her own life and hurrying north to intervene.
‘No, we’re good,’ Pippa said firmly. ‘No bogs or women in the attic, at least not yet. It’s actually very pretty. Not quite what I remembered Yorkshire looking like.’
‘So have you crossed your dad off the naughty list then? All is forgiven?’
‘Absolutely not.’ Pippa wondered if Jonny had even read her message yet. ‘He’s not getting away with it that easily. I’ll still be having words when I see him.’
‘And when will that be? Christmas?’
‘Probably.’ Pippa pressed a hand to her temple. Hosting Christmas was something she’d taken upon herself years ago, and no matter where in the world her family was, they always came home, laden with presents and tales of far-off places. By New Year, her dad would be itching to escape back to work, and Raf and Tilly would be chafing too. Pippa would watch them all leave and gather up their own lives whilst she retreated back into hers.
‘So, netball camp. Are you driving Harriet to Warwick on the Sunday?’
‘I am. She wanted to get the train but it’s not that far and heaven knows how many times she’d have to change.’ Pippa still found it hard to get used to Harriet’s newfound freedom since becoming a teenager and her ability to travel around London with her friends. London transport Pippa understood; the rest of the country not so much, and driving Harriet to netball camp had been a fight she’d refused to concede. ‘But as it’s three weeks away, we’ll be travelling from home, not here.’
‘Sure about being back in town by then?’
‘I certainly hope so.’ Pippa frowned. Three weeks in Hartfell sounded like an unimaginable eternity, and she wondered what people actually did here. ‘It’s ages off. Why?’
‘I just thought that, seeing as we’re heading to Galloway after camp, I could pick the girls up and we could have a night with you in Hartfell en route.’
‘That does sound lovely.’ Pippa was cheered by the thought of seeing Cassie. Their summers did sometimes overlap, usually when Harriet’s dad Nick had let them down when he was meant to be having his daughter. That was the problem with falling in love with unpredictable people, Pippa reminded herself, shuddering at the thought. They tended to like doing things that were totally unplanned, or took themselves off to places where planning should be of the utmost importance.
‘I really hope we’ll be long gone by then, but just supposing we aren’t, are you sure it wouldn’t interfere with your plans?’
‘Not in the least. Everyone comes and goes, my in-laws are the best. You know them, open house, they won’t mind if we’re a day or two late. Room for another if you fancy it when Harriet goes away with Nick.’
As a wildlife cameraman, Nick was constantly on the move and Pippa had attributed their break-up when Harriet was six to a case of opposites attracting and eventually failing to get along. She still loved him in a way, but she’d never been able to live life quite as casually as he did, and her inability to say no to her own family hadn’t helped their relationship.
He’d want to take off at a moment’s notice, while Pippa had planted her feet and stayed in London in case her family needed her. She still felt guilty every time she thought of it, for putting them and not her marriage first. They’d let each other down. And, as a father, Nick had never grasped why he couldn’t take Harriet out of school for weeks on end. In that, Jonny had supported him, and Pippa was sometimes at odds with both men, who lived as they chose whilst the women around them saw to it that life in all its ordinariness carried on.
Thankfully, Harriet loved London as much as Pippa did and Nick had eventually learned that his daughter no longer appreciated tents, paddling in streams, or being stranded in a hide on some windswept cliff. This summer, they were spending their time together on a Greek island and Harriet had already informed him she would book her own return ticket if he so much as looked at a pair of binoculars.
‘Thank you, that’s so kind but I’ll be glad to get back to London and have some time on my own after this place.’ Pippa realised that her casual dismissal of the village didn’t match her current view. Two people on horseback were chatting as they rode towards her, and she smiled back when they caught her eye. The horses, one grey, one bay, looked gorgeous ambling past in the morning sun, and she nearly laughed at the name of the road painted on a sign. There was nothing main about this street; it was delightful.
