That was a bit of a surprise. Mum had never shown any great desire for me to live close by, before. I think she was pleased when I moved to London at the age of twenty-one. I had returned to Fairlight Bay for a few weekend visits throughout the year and Mum, as well as Dad and Gran, had always said they had missed me while I was away. Yet as Sunday evening drew near, Mum frequently checked her watch and said she didn’t want me to get stuck in traffic, and that I shouldn’t leave my departure until late, as most road accidents occurred after dark. I wasn’t sure if that was true. I kept meaning to look it up, but I’m not really sure I wanted to know.
On the whole, I’m glad I decided to come home to Fairlight Bay. Gran was getting on in years, and now lived in a home on the outskirts of town, but she went to my parents for Sunday lunch every weekend, so time spent with her was precious.
And I loved living near the sea again. The sea was the main thing I missed when I lived in Bromley. Apart from my family, of course.
I had been able to purchase Middle Cottage on Midwinter Lane outright and still had money to spare. I wasn’t sure then what I wanted to do once I had moved but I knew I would want to work, and would need to do so, because at the age of thirty-five, as I was then, retirement – even early retirement – was a long way off.
I also knew I would have to do something I loved. The idea of starting my own business was inspired by Tristan and his cider.
‘I want to spend the rest of my working life doing something I love,’ he had told me when I’d asked him why he’d chosen that. ‘I love apples. I love cider. I love making things and working with my hands. I love the outdoors. And I’ve loved Somerset since I was a kid. I saw the farm and apple orchards close to where I’d holidayed every year with my parents as a kid, were up for sale and I just knew that was it,’ he had explained.
I had hoped I would have a similar epiphany but when I had moved to Middle Cottage, I still had no idea of what I wanted to do with my life.
Since Madi and I had moved out of the flat we had shared for years and gone our separate ways, so many things had changed. Having been neighbours long before that, we still hadn’t adjusted to living so far away from one another. Yet one thing that hadn’t changed, was our friendship. We may now be hundreds of miles apart but we texted, phoned or video called each other constantly. Sometimes even when neither of us had anything particular to say. Just like today.
I sipped the coffee I had made and luxuriated in its warmth, my fingers entwined around the mug.
‘I’m nipping into town once I’ve showered and dressed,’ I said. ‘And I’m having lunch with the family. But I need to wait for the water to heat up first. After that, it’s back here to finish putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations outside, which will cheer me up, and the official lighting switch on will behappening as soon as that’s done, later today. The two grinches are fine. But they did both give me odd looks when I started putting up my outdoor decorations on Friday. Last year, I couldn’t even get a smile out of either of them, let alone a ‘Merry Christmas’, or any other holiday greeting they might prefer. This Christmas, I’m determined they’ll not only exchange cheery festive greetings, they’ll put up some decorations and they’ll join in the fun.’
‘Good luck with that,’ Madi said. ‘We’re putting our decorations up today. If I can summon up the energy to get off the sofa, that is. I’ll send you some photos when we’re done and you send me some of yours. I wish we could get together this Christmas, but you’re still coming down here for New Year, aren’t you?’
‘Definitely. I’m looking forward to it.’
‘But not as much as you’re looking forward to Christmas, right?’
I sniggered. ‘I can’t help it if I love Christmas. And it’s just as well I do. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have started my own business selling Christmas decorations.’
That idea had come to me last Christmas after mulling over what Tristan had told me about his own business venture. Luckily for me, not only was he good with his hands, Tristan was a whizz with technology, and he had set up a website for me when I had gone to stay at Apple Orchard Farm for a few days in January.
With Madi’s help, the three of us had decided on a name, and Midwinter Cottage Decorations was born. That sounded better than Middle Cottage and I considered changing the name of my own home to Midwinter Cottage, but that would entail making a request to the local authority and paying a fee, and if they approved my request, notifying the Royal Mail and then my bank, doctor, dentist, etc., so I put that notion to one side.
Tristan, Madi and I had organised some advertising on social media, for my new business, and within a matter of days, orders began to trickle in, picking up pace when I added Valentine decorations at the end of January, and Easter decorations in March.
In April, I had also rented a stall at the Fairlight Bay Market which was held every Thursday throughout the year. People visited from far and wide and word soon spread of my Midwinter Cottage range of gorgeous and often quirky decorations, most of which were handmade either by me, or by people I had met while shopping at various other craft markets and fairs.
I added more seasonal decorations, like summer bunting, autumn wreaths, and spooky items for Halloween, and by the end of November, my business was booming. So much so that I was now thinking of taking on some extra help.
‘That’s true,’ said Madi, as I finished my coffee and walked back to the sink. ‘Who would’ve believed when we first met that both of us would one day leave London for good and be running our own businesses? Well, in my case, jointly running a business with my fiancé.’
‘Not me. I thought I’d be head of HR one day. But I’m so glad I’m not. We’re both much happier now than we ever were working for others, aren’t we?’
‘Definitely. But I do wish we lived closer to one another. I miss you so much.’
‘Same here,’ I said, turning on the tap to rinse out my mug before I put it in the dishwasher. ‘Arggh! Oh hell! Now I’ve soaked myself. This stupid tap thinks it’s a shower. One minute it’s working fine, the next it’s spraying water everywhere.’
Madi laughed. ‘Haven’t you got that fixed? I thought you had a plumber booked for last week.’
We usually chatted most days but the past week had been hectic for both of us and we’d only spoken briefly once or twice.
‘Yeah. So did I. It seemed he thought otherwise. I tried calling him several times after he missed the appointment but all I got was his voicemail. I left polite messages at first, but after the fifth call I sort of lost it and I left him a slightly snarky message. Now I think he’s blocked my calls. All I get is a message saying, “The person you’re trying to reach is unavailable”. I’ll have to find another one, but plumbers, it seems, are rarer than Santa’s magic dust.’
‘Santa’s magic dust?’
‘The stuff that makes the reindeer fly.’
‘Of course. Silly me. Couldn’t the heating engineer you need to fix your boiler, sort out the plumbing too? I know not all plumbers can deal with central heating but I think all central heating engineers can deal with plumbing. Although I may be wrong. Tristan deals with all that.’
‘I suppose so. I’ll have to do another search online and see what I can find.’
