‘Not just canine, human too. Highly skilled.’ He smiled and she thanked God that he was kidding.
‘You’re a fool. Come on.’ Still holding Scramble, she walked around to the front of the children, still all sitting in order, remarkably patiently, and talking amongst themselves. Rosy lifted her arms in a teacher signal, as best she could while holding the wriggly dog, and smiled as she looked around at her charges.
‘Good afternoon, Penmenna.’
‘Good afternoon, Miss Winter.’
‘As you can see I have a friend with me.’
‘Two friends, Miss!’
‘Quite, Billy, and I know you all recognize them so let’s give them a Penmenna welcome too.’
‘Good afternoon, Matt.’
‘And Scramble,’ a few shouted out.
Instead of chastising them Rosy waved Scramble’s paw and most of them waved back.
‘Any minute now we’re going to get to watch the very first episode ofGreen-fingered, not all of it, but the bits we’re in.’ She indicated the large screen behind her. ‘How exciting is that? Matt’s watching it with us, and so are these nice people here. Let me introduce them because I know they’ve got some questions for you after we’ve seen the segment.’
Introductions made, Hugo explained how he would like some volunteers afterwards and then addressed Matt directly for the camera. The children, now au fait with filming, sat as quiet as quiet could be whilst Hugo did his stuff. Rosy stood by Matt’s side, smiling politely, relieved that so far all was going smoothly. She twirled her skirt a little.
‘And now for a surprise. Before we head to the revival we have another party celebrating this great community collaboration…’ Hugo pointed to the screen and up popped a picture of Angelina and Chase. Rosy turned to look at the screen behind her. Why did she not know about this? The children’s we’re-so-used-to-telly attitude lost a little bit of cool as several ten- and eleven-year-old girls started swooning over the combined presence of Angelina and what looked like her new boyfriend. Rosy might not like her very much but her megastar support to their project, and her having a new man, could well break the Internet. She turned back to Matt and Hugo and tried to concentrate on what was being said.
‘…so the public might not perceive Angelina to be a particularly big fan of gardening, but we understand she is a big fan of you, Matt…’
Scramble had suddenly started wriggling again in her arms; perhaps a larger than life picture of Angelina was not disconcerting for Rosy alone. She had always liked this dog.
‘And over to you, Angelina… how come you’re supporting the Penmenna Hall restoration project?’
‘Hello, Hugo, hello, Penmenna!’ Angelina gave her star-quality beam as she raised her glass to camera and waited for the cheer from the children. What did she think this was, bloody Eurovision? Scramble growled lightly, making Rosy banish her uncharitable thoughts and concentrate instead on not dissolving into giggles like an eight-year-old. Matt shot her a look; he clearly wasn’t fooled by her sudden interest in Scramble’s collar.
‘Of course, it’s important to support community projects all across the… the… ahem… community but we’re here today not just to lend our support to this brilliant little school but to my brother, the ever talented, ever kind Matt Masters. He had this idea for the restoration and then decided to change everything so he could include the school… um, school thing. Everything he does is amazing and I know this will be too. Matt, I can’t wait and I bet everyone else feels the same. Trust me, all of you should watch it!’
‘Well, well, fancy that. That is a surprise. Who would have thought we would have Angelina tell us to watch a gardening programme? I had heard whispers she was in Cornwall, and this confirms it. And we all know with her, you’d better do as you’re told! So over to you, Miss Winter, for the honours…’
‘Thank you, Hugo, oh and of course Angelina. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the first ever screening ofGreen-fingered and Gorgeous: The Cornish Edition!’ Rosy stood to one side, unable to resist a triumphant look straight to camera. Take that, Edward Grant!
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rosy watched the screen, aware of how cute the children were looking and how cute Matt was looking, and accepting that she may look a little snarly, but only in one or two shots. The rest she was coming over quite well in, and she would only be in this segment; the rest of the time she had kept well away from Penmenna Hall in her ridiculous attempt to avoid Matt.
The children were captivated, almost silent, with the exception of a little nudge or a giggle as they recognized themselves and their friends onscreen. She had never seen Chloe sit as still for so long before. This was bordering on a miracle. The parents at the back, largely mothers, all made loudaww-ing noises as they reached the bit where Matt was handing out the tools, and then got down in the dirt a second later to help the little ones use them. All eyes swivelled lovingly towards him, whereas Rosy, whose anxiety about telling him the truth of her past was beginning to bubble to the surface, felt neither loving or swoony, just a little bit sick.
The rest of the screening passed by in a blur for Rosy. It wasn’t until it had finished and Marion stood up to lead a standing ovation for Matt, and then the children, that she fully came back to life. Maybe she should wait, maybe accosting him in a professional setting to bare personal woes wasn’t appropriate, green swishy dress or not.
She stood up, having handed Scramble back to Matt, and thanked everyone in the hall for their continuing support and a job well done before the children were allowed to mingle with the adults, and attack the party food the PTA had put out at the back.
Then she wandered back to Matt and tugged gently on his arm for attention. Regardless of her decision to blurt or not to blurt, she still needed to say thank you. Flawlessly he detached himself from the parents and turned to face her, creating a space for just the two of them.
‘That went so well, don’t you think, Rosy? I should imagine your Edward Grant fellow is going to have a hard job closing you down now. Well done.’
‘It did, and I just want to thank you once again for all you’ve done. You’ve been amazing. And also, although not here, there are a couple of things I should explain. I know I never rang when I said I would and I think I may have been a bit of an idiot.’
‘Oh yeah,’ he replied, nodding far more vigorously than he needed to. ‘I think that may be true. Is this idiot thing an explanation for that night at Chase’s as well? Whatever the reason was, and… look, I know we’ve said this before but I think you and me…’ He paused as he moved closer and picked up her hand with one of his, then used the other to brush a lock of hair from her face to behind her ear. The room stopped for a minute and Rosy looked into his eyes, so close, so intimate, and felt the air whoosh out of her lungs. Was this relief? Was this embarrassment? Was this lo— No, no it wasn’t that! ‘Yes, we really do need to have that talk.’
Boldly she continued staring into his eyes. Green and flecked with amber, she could see their smile. He was laughing at her, ever so quietly, but he was laughing and suddenly she didn’t really mind. He was welcome to; she had been a fool and they had missed out, all because of things that had happened years ago.
