After lunch, Mary dozed in the sunshine wearing one of her many old straw hats. Hattie, in another hat, and Mary’s wellingtons, got on with the gardening. And as she dug up clumps of grass that had got among the pretty raised beds, and cut back overgrown shrubs and trimmed the lavender, she thought about moving in.
Currently, she and Mary truly loved each other, but would living together change that? She knew that too much proximity could change a relationship and turn friendship into irritation and dislike.
And would Clive agree? He already disliked Hattie and could easily bully Mary into withdrawing her support for the idea. But, as Mary said, with Hattie on the spot, he needn’t keep an eye on her.
And she’d make sure she paid rent. That should please him.
Mary woke up, and Hattie agreed to make tea. ‘And we’ll finish the leftovers. But I’m going to think carefully about this idea for me and Xander to move in. I don’t want to upset Clive too much.’
‘But you don’t mind upsetting him a little bit?’
Hattie smiled. ‘Only a little bit. But you must think carefully too, Mary.’
‘We don’t want to risk our friendship.’
‘That’s exactly what I was thinking!’ said Hattie.
‘I thought you might be. It’s why you won’t make a play for Luke,’ said Mary. ‘Because you don’t want to risk your friendship.’
That stopped Hattie in her tracks. ‘But not risking it is the right thing, isn’t it? Do you think I’m being silly about that?’
Mary sighed. ‘Darling, it’s your relationship, but I think he’s a very special person and you’d be mad to let him slip through your fingers.’
Hattie pursed her lips. ‘I’ll go and put the kettle on. Are you happy there? Or would you rather move inside?’
‘I’m happy here,’ said Mary.
At Mary’s suggestion, after tea, Hattie explored the house with her professional head on. She’d obviously done this before but not in the light of their potential new arrangement. She hadn’t previously taken an interest in soil pipes and supporting walls.
At one time there had been four rooms downstairs with a passage and staircase in the middle but the dividing wall between the rooms had long since been taken out so there were two sitting rooms that ran from front to back, so she and Mary could be independent. Both rooms were light and of a good size; both rooms had patches of damp. They both had wooden shutters and fireplaces, but in one room, the one Mary didn’t use, the paint on the shutters was peeling and the mechanism was stiff.
Upstairs were three generous bedrooms and a family bathroom. There was plenty of room in the largest bedroom, Mary’s, to put in an en suite. As getting to the bathroom involved walking along a passage and a small trip could involve falling down the stairs, Hattie felt angry that this job hadn’t been done for her friend.
Nobody could deny the potential of the house. If money were spent and a bit of thought put into it, it could be anyone’s dream home. But even without the money and the work, it already was Hattie’s dream home. She simply longed to live here and now she had the chance. She went back into one of the spare bedrooms, admiring its proportions – large enough to be comfortable; small enough to be cosy – and the view from the window. She could imagine some of her own things installed here: it would be perfect.
She went downstairs and into the garden.
‘Well?’ said Mary, who appeared to have been waiting for her, possibly a bit anxious. ‘What do you think?’
‘I’d absolutely love to come and live with you here, if you could put up with me and Xander.’
‘Of course I don’t know Xander, but any nephew of yours can be a sort of great-nephew of mine.’ She smiled, and instantly looked younger. ‘I think I’m too old to be living on my own. I worry.’
‘And I worry too,’ said Hattie. ‘But we have to consult with Clive: there are a few things we could do to make you more comfortable here but they’d require a bit of money.’
‘I’ll ring him,’ said Mary. ‘But I should think he’d be delighted.’
Hattie wasn’t so sure. Clive didn’t like her and he didn’t like spending money. He wouldn’t like her muscling in, as he would see it. But it was still Mary’s house and so her decision.
‘I’ll just have a look in the shed. I’ll see if we could make a den for Xander in there,’ she said. ‘Do you want to ring Clive now?’
‘Oh, no. Not on a Sunday. He’d rather I rang during working hours.’
Hattie left shortly after inspecting the shed, which would need clearing out, hoping that Clive would let her move in soon. She hated the thought of Mary feeling anxious about being on her own, especially when there was an easy solution. And she’d enjoy living with Xander again.
She got back to Luke’s to find her sister there, preparing to leave. ‘I’ve collected all my things from the lodge,’ she said to Hattie the moment she appeared. ‘And I’ve got to go. I really hope to be back soon though.’ She glanced at her son. ‘Xander and I have had a lovely afternoon. It’s been so good to spend some time together.’
These words sounded strange coming from Leonie, who was usually so brisk and despised anything that might be construed as ‘touchy-feely’.
