‘She’s mad about them.’
‘Would she like to come up and feed some orphans we have on the farm?’
Nancy smiled. ‘She’d love that.’
‘Great. Let’s do it this weekend, if that suits. I’ll message you. Better get back.’ Hannah waved goodbye to Jakob then headed off.
As the bell rang, Nancy gave Lara a hug, quickly telling her about the invitation. As she had anticipated, Lara was ecstatic.
Nancy decided to take the long route home, down towards the reservoir and along the water’s edge path. No one else was around and she felt adrift as she walked along the water. She thought about her trip to the hospital, later that day. Why wasn’t Beth coming out of her coma?Please,she pleaded silently to whoever might be listening,please don’t let Beth die.Nancy felt herself well up, had to stopand compose herself. Then, as she was blowing her nose and trying to hold back the tears, she saw her first daffodils of the year. Bright yellow nodding bursts of cheer.
She decided to take it as a good omen.
EIGHTY-FIVE
Saturday 6 March
Imogen zipped up her run vest and kissed Dylan goodbye. ‘It’s going to be a shorter one today,’ she said. ‘Probably only an hour.’
‘Don’t rush back on our account,’ said Dylan as he whipped up batter mix for Rosie.
As soon as Imogen stepped out of the door, she felt a sensation of relief knowing the next hour was hers and hers alone. A time where the only thing she had to think about was putting one foot in front of the other. She headed towards the high street then took the usual lane out of the village. She hadn’t texted James this time – in fact, not for the last couple of Saturdays. It had been too cold and today she’d been so pleased the snow had gone so she could get out, she’d simply forgotten. He’d been in touch with her though, persistently. Wanting to know when they were meeting again.
Imogen was feeling frustrated as she ran today. All that irritating stuff about the Canine Killer. She wondered if things would have been different if Nancyhadbeen behindArthur’s illness. If she had been the one accidentally going out with contaminated dog treats. Would she have stayed? Would she be able to? Hazel, as a long-standing resident, would be forgiven her awful mistake. Especially as it was so obvious she was completely cut up about it. But Nancy? As a newcomer, it would have been miserable for her for months. Possibly years. Who could endure living in that sort of climate? She would surely have had to move.
That wasn’t the way events had panned out. But there would be another way. There always was.
Spring was in the air. The catkins were hanging from the trees, their buds as soft as kitten’s ears. The green shoots of the bluebells were coming up in force. In a few weeks the ground would be awash with blue. As Imogen ran on, her problems seemed to take on some perspective. She felt as if there would be solutions for them all. The problem of Nancy. The problem of Nancy’s daughter, Lara. What those solutions were, she didn’t know yet, but she felt alive, energized and full of a sense she could achieve anything. She felt as if her body and mind were god-like, a higher being, so when she saw James running towards her, she realized she was pleased.
‘You didn’t say you were going out this morning,’ he said, piqued, as he stopped, panting slightly in front of her.
‘Last-minute decision,’ she said. She looked behind him where his large, detached house stood on the hill. ‘Carol at the gym?’
He smiled.
She lay on the sheets in the bed in the spare room and her mind turned back to the problem that was always there, festering away in the background. She had a suspicion she wanted to run past James.
‘What do you think of the Spring Queen vote?’
‘What?’
‘Lara winning.’
‘I’ve no idea. Does it matter?’
‘Of course it matters!’
He smiled and kissed her. ‘It’s just a silly little village thing.’
‘Not silly if you’re eleven years old.’ She looked at him. ‘I think Miss Young rigged the vote.’
He laughed out loud.
‘Seriously. She dislikes Rosie. Deny it.’
He hesitated a millisecond and she knew she was right.
‘She doesn’t,’ he said unconvincingly.
