‘Where’s the stuff?’
‘Huh? Oh, right, the stuff.’ We had arrived back at the house and Theo dropped my hand to open the big front door. ‘It’s upstairs. You stay here and I’ll run and get it.’
I jogged up the stairs – well, up the first few stairs, until I got out of breath, then walked the rest of them, berating myself for not doing enough exercise – and to my room, where I collected the items I needed.
‘Here they are,’ I said, back in the hall again, and handed Theo a slim folder of papers, and a box of chalks and chalk pens. ‘You take these, I’ll carry the blackboard.’
We set off again back to the outbuildings, our hands now too full to entertain any more hand holding. There was Alexander, lugging a heavy box of bottles, which he put down when he saw us.
‘What have you got there?’
‘It’s a blackboard, which you can put on a stand outside with all the prices and choices written on it,’ I said, putting it down and starting to unpeel the cardboard that wrapped it. ‘I thought Theo could do the writing – I’ve printed out all the details – but look!’
I stripped off the packaging to reveal the board I had had printed with the same design that Alexander had on his labels as a border.
‘Fallon, it’s beautiful!’ he said. ‘This is going to look amazing, what a great idea!’
‘Thank you,’ I said modestly. ‘I’m glad you like it.’ I noticed that Theo was biting his lip, a worried habit I had noticed in him before. ‘Are you all right?’ I asked. ‘You don’t have to do the writing if you don’t want to, it’s fine.’
He shook his head but didn’t speak. I crouched down next to him and, after a split second’s hesitation, took his hand. ‘I cansee something’s worrying you. Please tell me what it is, and I can help. Look, Runcible wants to know too.’
My little dog had trotted over, and I picked her up. Theo’s lips raised a fraction at the corners, and I waited patiently. After a moment, he spoke.
‘It’s just that your board is very pretty, and I don’t think my handwriting is good. I don’t want to spoil it.’
‘Oh, gosh, what a relief!’ I said, and he looked at me suspiciously. ‘I thought you didn’t want to do it, when this is the job I had in mind for you all along. Because, you see, I’ve seen your handwriting, and it is just perfect for this sign – it’s very neat and clear.’
‘My teacher said I should join it up, but it’s too difficult. Everyone else can,’ he added miserably.
‘Well then, thank goodness everyone else hasn’t been asked to write this board,’ I said firmly. ‘Joined up handwriting wouldruinit. I want your best not joined up. Would you do that?’
The shadows fell from his face, and he nodded eagerly.
‘Yes, please. Can Runcible help?’
‘Of course she can, but her paw-writing is very messy, so she had better stick to advising you, if that’s okay.’
With that little hurdle jumped, I set the board up, got out the papers and showed him how to do his writing with chalk first, to make sure the spacing worked before going over it with chalk pen.
‘You’re a genius,’ muttered Alexander when I went over to help him with the box. ‘I thought we’d lost him for a moment there.’
‘I think it was probably more down to Runcible than me,’ I replied. ‘But I’m glad he’s happy.’
We busied ourselves for the next few hours filling the cabinets with gin and the fridge with tonic and a few other mixers in case people required them. After that I left Theo andAlexander attaching the now-finished blackboard to its stand and tackling a tangle of fairy lights while I went and collected some more pine and sweet chestnuts, Runcible pottering along with me. I then returned to the house to get big pots of syrup bubbling away and set the dishwasher going to sterilise glass bottles to pour it into. I toyed with the idea of making enough to sell alongside the gin and was looking up the logistics of doing this in the time we had available when they came in through the kitchen door. I looked up.
‘All finished?’ I asked.
‘All finished,’ said Alexander. ‘Those fairy lights were a pain, but you were right, they look great now they’re up.’
‘It smells delicious in here,’ said Theo, putting his nose in the air and sniffing.
‘I’m glad you like it,’ I replied. ‘I thought we could have some of the old batch just with tonic to see what it’s like. I’m thinking you could sell it as a cordial, then, as well as the gin, if it works well on its own. But I don’t think there’s time before the Christmas Fayre to get it organised.’
‘You could do it in time for the Burns Night thing in January that Dad’s doing,’ said Theo, peering into one of the large saucepans.
‘Ooh, don’t scald yourself,’ I said, turning the pot handle. ‘Burns Night? I’ll be back in London then, but I suppose I could work something up.’
Two pairs of dark blue eyes turned towards me.
