Marcy laughed, causing her to break out in a coughing fit after taking a sip of the wine. “Nothing is going on with Zoe.”
“I dropped by your place the other day, but you weren’t there and so I chatted to your neighbour, Maevis, for a while. She told me she’d seen a female visitor in your garden. At nine in the morning,” she added.
“God, that woman is such a gossip. Yes, that was Zoe, but she didn’t stay over. She’s just a friend.”
“Well, that’s debatable; you seem a little flushed when you talk about her,” her mother teased.
“I am not. It’s just warm today,” Marcy protested, noting the night was cooler than it had been since spring. Yes, her mind was preoccupied with Zoe but that was none of her mother’s business. If she told her, the whole village would know within a matter of hours. She wasn’t a gossip on purpose; she just couldn’t help herself.‘Aww bless’, she’d say to random by passers. ‘You two look so in love. I think my daughter’s in love too; she’s got this look about her.’“Anyway, let’s talk about that charity jumble sale for the dog shelter you’re organising,” Marcy continued, changing the topic. “I’ve talked to the park committee and if you want, you’re welcome to do it in the clubhouse. Free of charge, of course. You might get extra donations and there will be plenty of people who can help out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they’re a nice bunch. And there’s plenty of parking too. That will encourage more people to come.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell Abby we’re sorted. I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided to do it here. People started donating so much stuff, even furniture, and we have nowhere to display it; the gallery is much too small. And with only two weeks to go, we were getting a little desperate.”
“Excellent. That’s sorted, then.” Marcy held up her glass in a toast. “You know, there’s this enclosed area next to the clubhouse. It’s used for games and such. You could tell the shelter to bring a bunch of dogs over; it might lead to adoptions.”
At this, Delia’s face lit up. Her mother loved dogs but since her parents travelled to the UK on a regular basis to visit friends and family, they hadn’t had a dog for decades. And so she volunteered at the local shelter on Mondays, walking the dogs and cleaning the pens. Unafraid to get her hands dirty, she often came back smelling like a zoo but with a huge smile on her face, and when dogs got adopted, it made her day. “That would be absolutely perfect. I’ll call them first thing tomorrow; I think they’ll be delighted.” Delia topped up their wine and greeted some passers-by who went inside. “Just give me a shout if you have any questions about the paintings!” she called after them, then turned back to Marcy. “Now, tell me more about Zoe.”
Marcy groaned and rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about Zoe. But I do have something else to tell you.”
“Oh? You sound serious.”
“It’s all good, Mum. I’m moving.”
Delia stared at her for a moment, then smiled, raising her arms and eyes skyward. “Thank God. Finally. Have you bought somewhere? Why didn’t you take me and your father with you house hunting?”
“I actually bought it years ago; I’ve been working on it in my spare time,” Marcy said. It felt weird to finally tell her mother; it made it real. All this time she’d been working towards completion and after living in a caravan for so long, it almost felt like the cave house was too swanky for someone like her to live in.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her mother asked.
“Because being part of a family business, it just feels like we do everything together. I wanted to do something just for myself. I wanted to prove that I could do this on my own, without Dad’s input.” She shrugged. “If you’d seen it initially, you would have tried everything in your power to stop me from buying it. It’s not exactly a conventional house. I won’t lie; it’s been a challenge, I’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this project but every ounce of effort has been worth it. I’ve finally got my dream home.”
Delia nodded but she still seemed disappointed that Marcy hadn’t included her in such a big part of her life. “Well, that’s wonderful, dear. What do you mean by ‘not exactly conventional’? Is it worse than your grotty caravan?”
Marcy laughed. “Let’s just say it’s very different; you’ll see.” She put a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. It’s warm, safe and comfortable, and it’s not far from here either.”
“Okay.” Delia let out a sigh of relief. “That puts me at ease, at least. We must tell your father; this is big news. When can we see it?”
“I’ll have you over for dinner soon, but I’m taking care of a malnourished and wounded lynx at the moment, and I don’t want it to be scared away before the rangers have a chance to tag it,” Marcy said, hoping she didn’t sound like a lunatic.
“A lynx?” The random news of her daughter moving somewhere even more unconventional than an old aged pensioner’s caravan park, and the fact that she was living with a lynx, was clearly too much for Delia to grasp. She downed her wine, then poured herself another. “Please help me out here, love. I’m really confused.”
34
“Sorry about the late hour; I bet not many people move house after midnight.” Zoe closed the gate behind her and glanced at the boxes piled up on Marcy’s terrace in front of the caravan.
“Hey, I don’t mindwhenwe do it; I’m just grateful for your help.” Marcy handed Zoe a coffee in a takeaway cup. “Are you sure it’s not too late for you after working the whole day? I feel bad now.”
“Positive. I’m fine,” Zoe said honestly. “I’m a night owl; I never go to bed early.” She’d been looking forward to tonight. The amount of stuff wasn’t even enough to justify help, but deep down, she’d expected that. She wasn’t here because Marcy was short of physical labour; she could have easily moved a dozen boxes herself. No, she was here because they wanted to spend time together and neither of them was brave enough to admit that. From her perspective, she was cautious; Marcy wasn’t the dating type and she’d already been burned by her once, badly. From Marcy’s point of view, she suspected, it was a terrifying thing to feel a connection to someone after being single for so long. Marcy would be cautious with her too, because she couldn’t make the same mistake twice. Their chemistry was undeniable, though, and with anyone else, it was likely they’d have acted on their desires by now. This would never end well, but still, Zoe couldn’t resist, and so she’d suggested coming over after work to help Marcy move the rest of the things that she wanted to take with her to her new life of luxury.
“Okay. Then I’ll stop feeling guilty.” To Zoe’s surprise, Marcy closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.” She held her for long moments and the full-on body contact felt so intense that Zoe had to step back to catch her breath. Not sure what to do with herself, she took a sip of her coffee and almost burned her tongue. “No problem. Thanks for the coffee,” she said, wincing. It was going to keep her awake later, but it wasn’t like she’d had much sleep lately anyway. Her nights had been filled with tossing and turning and the occasional sex dream about Marcy when she finally dozed off. “Shall we get this stuff loaded up?” she asked, placing her coffee on the top of the bin behind the gate.
“Yes.” Marcy pointed to the pile on the left. “I’ll take these, they’re heavier.”
* * *
Nothing was heavy; that much Zoe was sure of by now. After randomly bringing boxes into the cave house, she hadn’t had to rest once, and after five minutes they were done. “You didn’t really need my help, did you?” she asked, finally voicing her suspicions.
