‘This could change everything for Rita,’ he said, pouring tea into her mug.
‘Scary, isn’t it, how one misstep can do that, and you don’t even have to be on a ladder?’
Lance cast a glance towards the hall where Beulah’s singing of ‘Oh! What a Beautiful Morning’ was now filtering down the stairs.
‘She does tend to churn up the atmosphere,’ Jules said.
‘I’d noticed. If you feel the need to get away you can always come to The Pottery for some creativity and calm.’
‘Creativity and calm, that sounds wonderful,’ Beulah said from the doorway, making both Lance and Jules jump. ‘You haven’t unwrapped the bowl. I would like to see Lance’s creative genius.’
‘I’m afraid you’re about to be disappointed,’ he said modestly as Beulah took the parcel from the island unit, placed it on the pine table, untied the string and peeled back the brown paper. The bowl was oval and glazed in a pale sage green, decorated with illustrations of cow parsley and red campion.
‘I’m not disappointed at all,’ Beulah said. ‘That is very beautiful and made with such love. You are obviously extremelytalented as well as handsome. I do like a man who’s good with his hands.’
‘Mum! You’re embarrassing Lance.’
‘Nonsense! I’m sure he’s used to adulation.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to…’ he protested.
‘If I was twenty years younger,’ Beulah continued, sending him a wink.
Jules closed her eyes.
‘But I’m not,’ she continued, ‘so I’ll just have to settle for a cup of tea poured by those manly hands of yours.’
There was one thing about Beulah, Jules thought. She certainly took your mind off any other problems you might be having. She became the problem.
‘Remember what I said,’ Lance said, as Jules showed him out. ‘You can visit The Pottery any time. Just come around to the back and let yourself into the studio.’
She looked behind her where Beulah was standing in the middle of the front lawn and saluting the sun.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured. ‘I might just do that.’
He smiled and she wondered for a moment if he was going to touch her. Strangely she really wanted him to.
‘Never a dull moment, hey?’
‘No,’ she said as he turned to go. ‘Never a dull moment.’
‘He’s lush, isn’t he?’ Beulah said, when Lance was barely out of earshot. ‘You could do worse, you know.’
‘Mum!’
She glanced over to where Lance was getting into his car, but if he’d heard he didn’t let on. Instead, he raised his hand and waved. Jules waved back tentatively while Beulah movedher arm backwards and forwards so energetically that her whole body swayed.
‘This whole place is just adorable,’ she said as Jules followed her back into the house, ‘like a picture postcard. It feels such a happy place and definitely a sanctuary.’
She stopped suddenly in the hall and lifted her face slightly, her eyes moving from one side to the other.
‘But there’s something else…’
Here we go, Jules thought. Beulah turned her eyes, locking on to Jules’s face.
‘There’s a sadness here.’
‘The cottage is over two hundred years old, Mum. I expect there have been sadnesses.’
