Bridie’s mum put her hands on her hips, eyeing Barney in Bridie’s arms. ‘Who woke up the puppy?’
‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘So, are you taking him for a walk?’
‘For a play in the garden.’
Her mum turned to her dad, and said, ‘See? That’s why I didn’t buy them a puppy.’
She walked out.
At the door, Rufus turned around and whispered, ‘You won’t repeat what I said, will you?’
‘About Barney? My lips are sealed.’
‘Actually, I was rather meaning the other thing …’
‘The other thing?’
‘You know, about your mother and I doing something together.’
‘But you never said what that something was.’
Her dad cast a surreptitious glance at the door. ‘I think that’s for the best.’ He left, closing the door behind him.
Bridie looked at the pup in her arms. ‘How would you like to see my bedroom?’ She expected there was a house rule about Barney going upstairs. And sitting on beds, or under duvets with her while she read more of her teenage diaries.
Her dad hadn’t long retired. She imagined Barney had hardly ventured out of the conservatory.
‘Come on. I think it’s time you explored your new home.’ A few moments later, she whispered, ‘That was fun, wasn’t it, Barney?’
Bridie had managed to get past her mum and dad, who were in the lounge, without them spotting her as she crept up the stairs, Barney in her arms. Barney had nearly given the game away when he’d yapped excitedly. She had let him out first in the back garden to sniff around and do his business.
Afterwards, Bridie had found some treats to take on their adventure upstairs. Barney sat for his treat before snuggling under the duvet with her.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ she whispered to him. ‘I think I’m regressing to being a teenager.’ For the first time since arriving home, she didn’t mind one bit. On her way through the kitchen, she’d found some snacks to keep her going for a morning, or possibly longer. She planned to just hang around in her bedroom, disappearing from the world into her teenage diaries, which were full of hopes and dreams for the future.
She stroked the sleeping puppy as she stared wistfully at the open diary entry an hour later. ‘What am I doing?’ she saidaloud. ‘I can’t sit at home all day reading teenage diaries and dreaming of a life that’s gone.’
Chapter 9
Bridie carried the sleeping puppy downstairs and carefully put him back in his crate. She was feeling a little guilty for taking him upstairs and letting him on her bed. She expected he wouldn’t forget his little adventure. Although she might let her own pet have the run of the house, this wasn’t her house, and she had to respect that.
She whispered, ‘Barney, your trip upstairs was just a lovely puppyhood dream, all right?’ She smiled affectionately at the sleeping pup. She’d never thought of having a pet herself. Or a home with a garden. Her life had been an endless round of shows, rehearsals, and socialising; she couldn’t imagine a life away from London, or the possibility of living in anything other than a rented flat – not until she’d returned home.
She knew she hadn’t wanted her parents’ life, nor her sister’s.I still don’t, thought Bridie. She missed London. She couldn’t imagine anything changing her mind. Then she looked at Barney, his soft, velvety ears twitching, his little button nose sniffing something in his puppy dream. ‘Oh, don’t!’ she whispered. He was the sweetest puppy; she just wanted to pick him up and cradle him in her arms. He made her suddenly yearn for a life she’d thought she didn’t want.
Bridie willed herself to get up. Barney had been a welcome distraction, but she already had cabin fever. The house was too quiet, and her bedroom and diaries just reminded her of the mess she’d made of her life.
It was mid-morning, and she couldn’t stand being in the house any longer. She needed air, movement, anything but the cloying sympathy of her parents and their opinion that they’d known her chosen career wouldn’t work out. She didn’t want a lecture about it, or the talk again from her mother about all the potential jobs out there.
Bridie decided not to take Barney for a walk round the village. That, in her mind, was not getting out. Within ten minutes she’d be back at the house. She needed to get out of the village and go for a proper walk.
She crept out of the conservatory, leaving Barney to his puppy dreams, and closed the door. The beach in Aldeburgh was a fifteen-minute drive away.
Bridie returned from her bedroom with her handbag and picked out her car key from the row of little pegs on the wall beside the coat rack by the front door. Julian had told her to sell the car so many times. She was glad she hadn’t listened. Although he was right that she never used it in London, and she didn’t visit her parents in Suffolk as often as she should, she’d kept it more for nostalgic reasons than anything else. It was her first and only car.
Her parents had bought it for her when she passed her driving test during her A-Levels. It had been second-hand then, only five years old. Fifteen years later, the old Ford Fiesta was still going strong. It was serviced annually and passed its MOT every year with flying colours. Of course, that was in no small part due to her dad, who took it out for a spin once a week without fail, and kept it in their garage, much to her mum’s dismay; it meant there was room in the garage for only one of their cars.
