Not if she’d just discovered she was pregnant and his selection for England had just been announced, I thought but couldn’t bring myself to say anything. With Kate’s previous indifference, would the timing have looked suspect?
‘Stupid thing is. I bloody love her. I really do. First time I met her, I knew.’ Bill sank his head into his hands again.
I felt for him. He and I had more in common than he knew.
‘Bill...’ I stopped, pausing to wonder whether I was doing the right thing. ‘She’s not happy out there. Australia’s just running away. She’ll be back. Don’t give up on her.’
‘Really?’ He looked up.
‘Well, I don’t know for sure. She’s not said anything but.. .’
Being the middleman is so hard. I wanted to give Bill hope but I didn’t want to let Kate down. After all, what if my last conversation with her was just the hormones talking?
* * *
I woke up in a shaft of sunlight, the golden beam slanting through the dormer window. A cloudless, blue sky heralded perfect cricketing weather.
Despite all my good intentions, a little voice in my head reminded me that today I’d see Daniel. Last night’s banter on the phone had given me hope that I could maintain a friendship with him.
I’d also see Bill again. Had I done the right thing last night, giving him hope? Maybe I should have told him that Kate was pregnant.
My thoughts were disturbed by a horrible screech from outside. Something was being dragged across the patio below. It must be Dad getting organised.
He and Mum were both horrifically early risers but with very different routines. He liked breakfast with the radio in the kitchen while Mum preferred to stagger down to her studio at the bottom of the garden, coffee in hand and not talk to anyone for an hour. This arrangement suited everyone. Dad was far too perky at that time — and Mum was vile before her first cup of coffee.
Drifting downstairs in my favourite, faded pink dressing gown, I spotted Dad in the garden wrestling with trestle tables. After making a mug of tea, I went out to join him.
Perched on the patio wall, I watched as he washed down the tables and brought me up to speed on who was due to play.He was feeling hugely optimistic, although God knows why. His team was verging on the geriatric.
‘Experience, love,’ he said, when I pointed this out. ‘Wisdom over youth.’ I gave him a sceptical look.
‘And... a couple of ringers.’ He gave me a gleeful grin.
I bit back a smile. His glee might be short-lived. Ben had been hinting last night that Daniel had recruited a few ringers of his own, but I wasn’t going to spoil Dad’s fantasies.
By mid-morning, the tables, picnic chairs, cool boxes, and several large Tesco carrier bags filled with sandwich-making provisions, were loaded into the cars. As a past master of teas, I knew what I was doing. The only thing I had to worry about was doing battle with the prehistoric urn, which had a mind all of its own.
* * *
After a week left to its own devices the clubhouse had a unique smell that hit you the minute you stepped inside: slightly damp and musty with an overtone of sweaty socks. Ted, the trusty groundsman, whose shoulders were so stooped they were almost level with his knees, was striding around the field planting the boundary flags with enthusiasm.
I gave him a wave and in response he pointed to the sky and gave me an enthusiastic thumbs-up. The well-trimmed grass looked perfect and a testament to his devotion to the club.
Armed with her bottle of Dettol, Mum insisted on washing down every reachable surface in the kitchen before I could take anything in.
‘No food in here before I finish,’ she insisted, frantically scrubbing away as I stood in the doorway my arms lengthening by the second with the weight of the carrier bags.
‘Mum, Dad and Ben eat here most weekends. Neither of them has died of food poisoning yet.’
‘There’s always a first time,’ she replied, attacking the Formica surface with renewed relish.
‘Morning, Mrs Middleton. Olivia,’
I turned to see Bill looking surprisingly fresh.
‘Hi, Bill. No hangover?’ I wondered if this morning he might regret his love-struck ramblings about Kate.
He grinned sheepishly. ‘Bit slow this morning. Must get changed. See you later.’ He ambled off to the changing rooms.
