‘Whereas you,’ Rick said with a smile, ‘are more like your mother, I hope.’
Willow smiled back at him. ‘I am.’
‘So, like I say, why go to your sister’s and be harangued for the afternoon. What good will it do anyway?’
‘Well, it is quite important, isn’t it? It’s not every day your mother announces that an old friend has moved into the house next door and they’ve fallen in love. And Dad’s only been dead two years; it’s all a bit sudden. How would you feel if it was your mother?’
The smile gone from his face, Rick flinched.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Willow said, ‘that was insensitive of me.’ Rick never spoke about his parents, other than to say they were both dead. She often tried to get him to open up about them, but he never did.
‘It’s okay,’ he said.
‘No it’s not. I have to learn to be more careful with what I say. Look how I trampled all over Martha’s feelings last Sunday when I jumped to the conclusion that she was pregnant. Honestly, I could kick myself sometimes.’
He leant across the table, put a hand to her hair and wound a lock of it around his fingers. She loved the way he did that, so gently and so uninhibitedly. ‘I thought it was cute the way you showed how pleased you were that you thought you were going to be an aunt,’ he said. ‘I assume having children is something you’re keen to do.’
For once she tried not to blunder in with her answer; this was awkward deal-breaker territory. Until now the subject had never come up between them, but now it had, and there was no way of ignoring it, much as she’d like to. ‘I suppose so,’ she said with a small shrug, ‘when the time is right. What about you?’
‘I’d love to be a father. I can’t think of anything better. And you know, sometimes it’s wrong to over-plan these things.’ The smile returned to his face. ‘Sometimes you just have to let nature have its way.’
Willow thought of her sister. ‘Sometimes nature isn’t very kind. I’m pretty sure Martha and Tom have been trying for a baby for a while now, but it doesn’t seem to be happening for them.’
‘They’re probably trying too hard. I suspect your sister is used to things happening at the click of her fingers.’
He was right. That’s exactly how it was for Martha. Everything had always come so easily to her. Even so, Willow did feel genuinely sorry for her sister. It must be horrible being like Martha and wanting something so very badly but being denied it. Maybe that was why she had been so full-on last Sunday. Wanting to organise Mum’s life was perhaps some sort of displacement activity for her. Willow could see the sense in having Mum closer to them both, but it was much too soon.
And now there was a man called Ellis Ashton in Mum’s life. Very likely he was the reason she’d had her hair cut and had bought that pretty new dress, and, it had to be said, had looked so radiant. Willow had thought it was the colour of the dress that had made her mother look so well, but now she thought it was because she was in love. Or imagined herself to be in love. That was something Willow knew all about, thinking she loved someone.
She really didn’t know what to make of it all. Mum had never done anything particularly wild or out of character, she had always just been Mum – caring Mum, gentle Mum, considerate and patient Mum, and always there for them as a family. That’s what a mother did, was what Willow believed. It was one of the reasons why she had answered Rick’s question as carefully as she had. She didn’t think she could ever be as good a mother as Mum had been.
Breaking into her thoughts, Rick said, ‘Why don’t you message Martha and say you can’t make it this afternoon, that you’ve decided to spend it with me? The subtext being she needs to let your mother get on with enjoying herself.’
‘Oh, I don’t think I could do that. Besides, I want to discuss the situation with Martha. We need to know more about this man who’s popped up from nowhere and we also need to decide when and how we’re going to meet him.’
‘You could ring her and do that. Don’t you want to spend the afternoon with me? I thought we could try out that new gym together. They have a good offer on at the moment.’
The last thing Willow wanted to do was join a gym; it just wasn’t her thing. ‘Why don’t you try it while I go and see Martha?’ she said. ‘If I don’t go, she’ll only keep pestering me.’
Letting go of her hair, Rich pursed his lips and suddenly he seemed so desperately disappointed, as though he’d really been looking forward to being with her.
She was about to change her mind and say she’d ring Martha, just as he’d suggested, when he shrugged. ‘No,’ he said, ‘you go and enjoy yourself. But don’t let your sister bully you into doing anything you don’t agree with. Promise?’
Relieved that he didn’t look so disappointed now, she said, ‘You’re always looking out for me, aren’t you?’
‘Somebody has to.’
‘Have you spoken to Mum in the last few days?’
The way Martha phrased the question it sounded like an accusation, as if Willow had broken some unwritten rule.
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘Well, understandably she wanted to know what I thought about her news, having had time to think about it.’
Martha tutted. ‘As though a few days and some sleepless nights would resolve anything.’
