‘Yes, if she’ll let me. I always wanted Yorkshire’s Best to be a celebration of local talent. The crafts were the starting point and the plan was to find a couple of artists with different styles to me but whose work would complement mine. Anastasia’swatercolours would be perfect – locally set, different medium, different style but still with that warm and cosy feeling.’
Anastasia’s cottage overlooked the village church and, even in the darkness, I could tell how pretty it was. Jed retrieved the bag of food while I reached for a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates from Charlee’s Chocolates, a large card and a ‘forty’ helium balloon.
‘Happy birthday!’ I declared when Anastasia opened the door.
She led us into her lounge and her eyes glistened as I handed over her gifts. When she opened the card and spotted the signatures and messages from a stack of the Castle Street traders which one of my full-timers, Sue, had gathered for me across the afternoon, she burst into tears.
‘Nobody’s ever done anything like this for me,’ she said. ‘I can’t thank you both enough.’
While Jed headed into the kitchen to warm up the food in the oven, Anastasia displayed the card on a shelving unit in her lounge. There were only two others, conveying a sense of loneliness which I recognised all too well.
‘They’re from my mum in Cyprus and my best friend in Inverness,’ she said.
‘How long has your mum lived in Cyprus?’ I asked.
‘About a decade now. My parents loved going there on holiday and it was their dream to retire there. Dad passed away three years ago but they’d made so many friends there that Mum decided to stay.’
‘You never fancied joining her?’
‘I fly out a couple of times a year and I can see why she loves it but somewhere sunny all year round isn’t for me. I love the changing seasons.’
‘And your best friend?’
‘Fiona and I were at school together in London but she didn’t get on well with her parents so, when it came to choosing a university, she went for Aberdeen – as far away from them as possible. She met her husband there and they run a hotel together in Inverness. We haven’t seen each other for years but we have a video chat occasionally, which is nice, although…’ A couple of tears spilled down her cheeks. ‘What have you done to me tonight? I’m a blubbering wreck.’
‘You’re among friends so feel free to cry as much as you like.’ I gave her a gentle smile. ‘What was the end of that sentence?’
She wiped her tears and blew her nose. ‘I was about to say that it’s been about three years since the last time we talked. There’s always so much for Fiona to do with the hotel and she has four kids so they take a lot of her time and I don’t have kids or a demanding career…’
‘And you feel like you don’t have so much in common with her anymore?’ I suggested after she tailed off.
‘Exactly. Our lives went in different directions. Neither of us ever wanted kids but then she met Angus and he came from this big loving family and she realised that was what she wanted. She kept saying I’d change my mind when I met the right person but I didn’t want kids because I don’t like children. They’re loud and sticky and needy and… I’m going to stop talking because you must think I’m a terrible person.’
‘Not at all. Children aren’t for everyone.’
‘Do you have kids?’ she asked.
‘The opportunity never arose. Should we see how Jed’s getting on and put those flowers in some water?’ It was a deflection but it would be disrespectful to have that conversation with Anastasia when I hadn’t yetdiscussed it with Jed.
I’d never seen Jed eat so quickly, but I knew why. He was desperate to get into Anastasia’s studio.
‘I’m stupidly nervous about showing you my watercolours,’ she said as she cleared the plates away. ‘But I guess we’d better get it over with. Follow me.’
She put an outside light on, unlocked the kitchen door and led us along some flagstones to a large outbuilding.
‘I came down earlier and spread some of them around so it looks pretty haphazard,’ she warned as she opened the door and switched on the lights.
I wasn’t an expert like Jed but I could recognise talent when I saw it. Jed and I both moved around Anastasia’s studio, studying the canvases she’d displayed on easels, hung from the walls and dispersed around the room. Many of her settings were instantly recognisable and she explained that others were intended to give a sense of the area. All featured beautiful wildflowers and grasses.
‘I love gardening,’ she explained, ‘so I can’t resist including flowers in my paintings, even if they’re not there in the real settings.’
Jed peered more closely at one of the larger watercolours on an easel, shaking his head. ‘These are superb,’ he said as he straightened up and looked at Anastasia. ‘I’m so frustrated for you that you’ve spent years believing you couldn’t paint when you have so much talent.’
‘You really think they’re good?’ she asked, her eyes filling with tears once more.
‘Way more than good.’
‘You liked the photos but I thought you’d be disappointed when you saw the real thing.’
