SIXTEEN YEARS LATER
Bex put the plant pot with the campervan painted on the side into the cardboard box and sighed. That was the last of her personal possessions packed up to take away from the office where she’d spent every working day for the past five years. She felt a bit like one of those characters in a movie, who’d been fired in a spectacularly dramatic way, asked to clear their desk and get out of the building. Except that leaving her job as Admin Manager and Headteacher’s Secretary at Port Agnes Primary had been her decision. It wasn’t because she didn’t love the job; she did. But this was the next step towards realising a long-held dream; one she hadn’t dared imagine might actually come true.
‘I can’t believe you’re leaving me.’ Rowan Bellamy, the school’s headteacher, frowned so deeply her chin dimpled. She might have been Bex’s boss, but she was also her closest friend. They’d first met at primary school and had hung around with the same group of friends right through secondary school, only drifting apart when Rowan had moved to London with her family at the age of sixteen. When Rowan had returned to Port Agnes after the breakdown of her marriage, eighteen months ago, they’d pickedup where they’d left off and the hardest part for Bex about leaving the school would be not getting to see Rowan every day.
‘I know and I’m sorry.’ She leant across the desk and squeezed her friend’s shoulder. ‘But you were going to be leaving me before much longer anyway.’
‘Only for a year, at most.’ Rowan lowered her voice. ‘And I’m not going to be telling anyone about that for a while just yet. A pregnancy at my age might not be plain sailing.’
‘You’re forty-one, it’s hardly going to make the Guinness Book of Records.’ Bex grinned. ‘And of course it’s going to be okay. It was meant to be, you and Nathan getting back together after all these years – and now a baby.’
‘If you’d have told me any of that three years ago, even two, I’d have laughed so much I might have been in danger of having an accident. Now with my pelvic floor taking another hammering from a baby, I won’t need any help on that front.’ Rowan shook her head, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. ‘I just need to keep Nathan away from the school, because he’s so protective of me and the baby, he’s going to give the game away long before I want the news to get out.’
‘Everyone’s going to be thrilled for you.’ Bex couldn’t resist moving around the desk and giving her friend a proper hug.
‘Even the chair of governors?’ Rowan sounded doubtful.
‘Keith Hounslow might be worried that no one can fill your shoes, but not even an old know-it-all like him could resent you being happy. You might not have been here long, but you’ve transformed the school and everyone loves you for it.’
‘That’s just it though, isn’t it? I only started eighteen months ago and in another few months I’ll be going on maternity leave. Keith’s sigh is going to suck all the air out of Cornwall, never mind the room, when I break that particular bit of news to him.’
‘He’ll get over it, I promise.’
‘I know he will.’ Rowan nodded. ‘I’m only talking about all of that so I can distract myself from the fact that when you walk out of here today, it’ll be for the last time. I just don’t want to imagine this place without you.’
‘I’m struggling to imagine what it’ll be like to wake up on Monday and not have to get myself and the three boys ready and out of the door, and still be at my desk by eight thirty. But for the rest of the year, I’ll still be doing the school run with Ollie and Tom. Even when Ollie joins Henry at Three Ports High in September, I’ll still have another two years of school runs, so you’re still going to see me most days, I’m sure. And then there are the PTA and Governors’ meetings.’ Bex had agreed to stay on as the secretary to both the Governors and the PTA, and she’d also agreed to undertake some HR tasks on a consultancy basis, as her replacement didn’t have the same qualifications in Human Resources that Bex held, so it wasn’t like she was saying goodbye to school life completely.
‘I know and I’m really glad we won’t be losing you altogether, it just won’t be the same without you.’ Rowan looked pensive for a moment, before continuing. ‘Although I have been worrying that it might be too much for you to keep hold of all of those roles, what with helping Matt on the farm and starting the new business.’
‘I can cope with it.’ Bex smiled again. ‘I’m raising three boys, so there’s nothing life can throw at me that I can’t cope with.’
‘You’re amazing and the fact that you’re following your dream is incredible. I’m really thrilled for you. So thrilled that I’ve even decided to forgive you for leaving me.’ Rowan laughed as Bex gave her a gentle nudge. ‘In all seriousness, I just wanted to say that I know without a shadow of a doubt you’ll make a wonderful success of the new campsite at the farm.’
‘Thanks, Row.’ Bex hugged her again, touched that her friendwas so happy for her. She’d wanted to open her own campsite ever since her time working as duty manager at Seaspray Holiday Park, but she hadn’t really believed she’d ever get the chance. Now here she was, about to start her dream business and complete what felt like the final piece in the jigsaw of the life she’d always wanted. For years she’d had so much to be grateful for: loving parents, a wonderful husband, three funny, energetic boys, and a home on a farm just a mile from the sea. She couldn’t have asked for any more, and yet it had always felt as if there was some kind of unfinished business, one more thing that would make her life as close to perfect as anyone could expect, and she knew that it was starting this business.
‘And thanks again for the amazing send-off you gave me last weekend with all the staff, and then again this afternoon with the kids and the parents. I didn’t think I had any more tears left and then Tom’s class gave me that canvas and the floodgates opened all over again.’ It was a beautiful colourful picture of fingerprints that had been turned into little people, each one imprinted by one of the children at the school.
‘You deserve all the celebrations, and I just wish there was more I could do to thank you for welcoming me back home to Port Agnes when it felt like my whole world had been turned upside down.’
‘That’s what friends are for and who knows what favours I might be calling in once the business officially opens.’
‘Anything, at any time. You know that.’
‘I do.’ Bex hugged Rowan again, thinking how lucky she was to have a friend who felt like family; like a sister. But she didn’t say it out loud, and as soon as the wordsisterentered her head she pushed it out again. She didn’t want to think about Briony, not on a day like today, so filled with promise. She didn’t ever want to think about Briony.
Bex’s mum had picked up her youngest children, Tom and Ollie, from school, to allow Bex the time she needed to tie up loose ends at work. Henry, the eldest of the boys had got off at a different stop than he usually did, so that he could go round to his nan and grandad’s place too. Ken was brilliant with all of the kids, but he and Henry had a particularly strong bond, and it had been Bex’s stepdad who had helped her son through a rough patch when he’d first started secondary school and had been struggling to manage the balance between becoming more independent and not turning into the sort of boy who hung around looking for trouble. Matt was a brilliant dad, but at certain times of year the farm could be all-consuming, so having other positive male role models had been good for all of Bex’s boys. As well as Ken, they also had Tristan, Matt’s cousin. The two of them were as close as any brothers could be, and had been born just three weeks apart, so they’d hit all the major milestones together. They’d even got married six months apart, but within two years Tristan’s wife had decided that ‘life with the carrot crunchers’ as she had put it, wasn’t for her, and had left to move to Berlin to be with a man she’d met in an online forum. Bex had never been a fan of Anastasia and she’d always thought that lovely Tristan could do better. The only good thing his ex-wife had ever done was to walk away to her new life taking nothing from the marriage in financial terms, even if she’d treated him appallingly in every other way. Tristan had seemed happy to stay single since then, but Bex hoped it wouldn’t be forever – he deserved a family of his own.
‘Hello, you two.’ As Bex walked into the kitchen of her parents’ house, a lovely aroma filled the air. There were two racks of chocolate chip cookies cooling on the breakfast bar. Tom wassitting on a stool staring at them, with her parents’ black Labrador, Diesel, sitting by his feet looking equally hopeful.
Bex kissed her mum and then ruffled Tom’s hair, before kissing him on the forehead. There was no doubt he was fixated on the cookies, because he hadn’t even stopped staring at them for long enough to wipe the kiss off, the way he did more and more lately.
‘Me and Nan have been baking,’ he said unnecessarily. ‘And my stomach’s hurting from wanting a cookie so badly, but Nan says we’ve got wait.’
‘I just don’t want you to burn your mouth, sweetheart, that’s all.’ Donna exchanged a rueful smile with her daughter. ‘How are you, my love? How was your last day at the school?’
‘Emotional, again.’ Even talking about it meant Bex had to swallow against the tears. ‘But I’ll be back for a PTA meeting next month and a Governors’ meeting before the end of term. Plus, I’ll be super busy with the campsite, so I won’t have the chance to miss it too much.’
‘Are you trying to convince me or yourself?’ Donna raised her eyebrows. Her mother knew Bex far too well, and both of them laughed.
