Pastures New (23 page)

‘I had no idea she was coming. I know that sounds lame, but I honestly didn’t have a clue. She sent me emails apparently, but I never got them. She pitched up last Saturday when you were helping out at Saffron’s.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I’m sorry, I meant to. Really I did. But it was so hectic, and there didn’t seem to be a right time, somehow. And then, having not told you, it seemed to be harder to say.’

‘Not that,’ said Amy. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you used to go out with her?’

Ben looked shamefaced.

‘It never seemed relevant, to be honest,’ he said. ‘I did see Caroline for a while last year. It was a short and very intense relationship. Then she decided to go travelling and wanted me to go with her, and when I said no, we parted company. We’ve stayed in touch, but that’s it. At least it is on my side. To be honest, she’s a drama queen and very high maintenance. And it’s a real pain in the arse having her as a house guest.’

‘If you say so,’ said Amy, but her tone was wary.

‘Amy, you have to believe me,’ said Ben earnestly. ‘The last person I’m interested in right now is Caroline.’

‘Okay, I believe you,’ said Amy, desperately wanting to, but not entirely sure she could.

‘Good,’ Ben replied. ‘And you’re not cross?’

‘Nothing to be cross about,’ said Amy with determined lightness. ‘Although I can’t say I’m impressed with your taste in women.’

Ben grimaced. ‘Well, put it like this, it took me a while to realise what Caroline was really like. To be honest, I’d much rather not have her to stay. But she has nowhere to go at the moment, and we do have history. I’d feel a bit crap if I chucked her out. She’s getting over a broken heart apparently. It seems a bit heartless to make her leave.’

‘How long is she staying?’

‘She hasn’t actually said,’ Ben admitted. ‘But I’m hoping not too long. It doesn’t have to make a difference to us, does it?’

‘No, no, of course not,’ said Amy with an enthusiasm she didn’t feel. She would feel so much better if she knew Caroline wasn’t going to stay for long. Somehow she had a feeling that Caroline wouldn’t happily accept that Ben wasn’t interested. Amy had a horrible feeling that she might have a fight on her hands.

‘That’s great,’ said Ben. ‘So we’re back to where we were then?’

‘Yes,’ said Amy, wondering where exactly that might be.

‘Hi, Harry, how are you doing?’ Amy passed him sitting on the bench outside his hut, as she pushed her wheelbarrow, laden with tools, onto the allotments. It was a fine Saturday spring morning, and the allotments were already busy. There was a constant hum of lawnmowers and she had stopped to chat to several people before reaching Harry. There had been a time when she could come out here and barely know anyone, and now it felt as if she had a huge extended family. Even Scary Slug Man didn’t spook her any more.

The sun shone clear and bright, and there was barely a cloud in the crisp, fresh blue sky. Amy felt a deep and contented sense of renewal. Ben had said he would pop over and help her start digging over her vegetable beds, ready for planting. She smiled in happy anticipation. This was just why she had moved out here. So far Amy had managed to get a few spuds and carrots in, but, despite the warm days, the evenings were still cold so she had deferred planting anything else. Harry had kindly lent her a couple of shelves in his greenhouse, and was
assiduously looking after her fledgling tomatoes, kale and cauliflowers, so Amy was hoping for great things come the summer. She felt a little thrill of delight at the thought.

A shadow passed over her, as she felt the customary tug of sadness that Jamie wasn’t here to share this with her. But she shook it off. The summer sun would be here soon, and she was settling happily into her new way of life. Ben would never be Jamie, but he was Ben. And she was beginning to allow herself the feelings she had resisted for so long. It felt like emerging from a dark cave into bright sunlight.

‘I’m fine, my dear,’ said Harry, breaking into her thoughts. ‘No Josh today?’

‘He’s had a sleepover with Matt,’ said Amy. ‘Saffron kindly said she’d have him for me, to pay me back for the help I gave her when Elizabeth was ill. So I thought I’d take advantage and get over here.’

‘Do you fancy a cuppa?’

‘That would be lovely,’ said Amy, following Harry into his hut. Harry’s hut wasn’t like the ramshackle huts of most of the allotmenteers, which were mainly cobbled together with old bits of wood, but a rather more solid affair, with a brick base and proper windows. Amy had been amazed at how cosy it was the first time she had visited it. Harry had a comfy old sofa, a small work surface where he kept his kettle, and several shelves that were stacked with bottles or his brewing kit, the main purpose of the shed being winemaking.

The radio was blaring out as they entered the shed.

‘Isn’t Jonathan Ross a bit too newfangled for you?’ Amy laughed.

‘Ah,’ said Harry, ‘my mistake. I was listening to that allotment chappie and forgot to tune it back to Classic FM. My begonias usually like a bit of Mozart.’

A familiar song was playing; the singer was urging her lover to reconsider before he took her heart. Amy shook her head. It could have been written for her and Ben. She so wanted to entrust her heart to him, but she had to be sure that he wouldn’t break it. Caroline had shown no signs so far of moving on. And despite Ben’s obvious attempts to keep things normal between them (him offering to help her today being one of them), Amy still felt a lingering unease about the other woman’s presence.

‘What do you make of Caroline?’ she asked Harry.

‘Ah, the divine Caroline,’ said Harry. ‘Adored by men and hated by women.’

‘That seems a fair assessment,’ laughed Amy. ‘I can’t say she’s my cup of tea.’

‘Nor mine, if it comes to it,’ confided Harry.

‘Harry,’ Amy twisted her hair nervously, ‘do you think … no, I’m being stupid.’

‘I don’t think Ben’s in love with her, if that’s what you’re worried about,’ Harry replied.

Amy looked embarrassed. Was she so easy to read?

‘Not exactly – but good,’ she said. ‘I don’t think she’s right for him.’

Harry tried and failed to suppress a smile.

‘I couldn’t agree more. Caroline is a very determined and spoilt young lady, who is used to getting her own way. It may do her good if she doesn’t for once.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ said Amy, staring with sudden
gloom out of the window, ‘because she seems to have muscled in on the act today. Ben was coming to help me on my allotment, but it looks like he’s got company.’

She pointed through the window. Striding across the allotments, with Meg beside him, was Ben. And with him was Caroline.

Ben was fuming. Caroline was so good at wrong-footing him. He hadn’t planned to mention going over to the allotments today, let alone seeing Amy. He was just going to get up and go. With Caroline being of the take-your-time-in-the-morning variety, he had anticipated getting away quite easily. But for once this morning she was up early. She also seemed to be a bit out of sorts. Something to do with a long, whispered phone conversation last night, presumably to DBtB. It had ended with Caroline yelling ‘Don’t you bloody dare’, before hurling what sounded like her mobile phone across the room. Ben would have happily given anything not to listen, but the walls in his house were paper thin, and despite turning up Mark Radcliffe really loudly, he’d still caught more snippets than he cared to.

He’d pretended ignorance in the morning, but it was hard not to notice Caroline’s pale face and red-rimmed eyes. He’d wondered if she’d left her face makeupless on purpose. Normally she wouldn’t be seen dead without a bit of slap on. Was she making a play for sympathy? God, even Caroline wouldn’t be so devious – would she?

Wondering what he had ever seen in her, Ben set about having breakfast and getting out as fast as he could. But Caroline was having none of it.

‘What are you up to today?’ she wanted to know with a false gaiety.

‘I’m just going to the allotments to start preparing my seedbeds,’ said Ben.

‘Oh great,’ she said. ‘I’ll come too. I need some fresh air to clear my head. I slept so badly last night.’

Evidently, Ben was supposed to ask why she’d slept badly, but he was determined not to, so he concentrated on buttering his toast instead.

‘And I’m so dying to see what Amy’s done to my allotment. I hadn’t realised till Harry told me she was such a green-fingers. Aren’t I lucky she rented out my house?’ Again, the same tinkling little laugh. It made Ben want to throttle her, but instead he shoved his empty plate in the dishwasher and started to put his fleece on. He was damned if he was going to walk over there with her. But if she was determined to come he couldn’t stop her.

‘Hang on,’ said Caroline, ‘I’ll be ready in two ticks.’

Ben cursed his parents for bringing him up to be polite to women. He would dearly have loved to walk out then and there. Would that he had been born ten years later. Any of his twenty-something male patients could have probably taught him a thing or two about shaking off the unwelcome attentions of women you don’t like, but it wasn’t something he would ever be comfortable with.

Caroline’s two ticks developed into twenty minutes,
the slap now having to be applied for a visit to the allotments. And care had evidently been taken to wear just the right low-slung hipster jeans to accentuate her figure, and the tightest of tops to do the same to her cleavage.

‘We’re going over to the allotments, not to a fashion show,’ he said in exasperation as she finally joined him.

‘A girl should always look her best, whatever the circumstances,’ said Caroline firmly. ‘That’s what my grandmama used to say anyway.’

‘That’ll explain why you never get your hands dirty,’ muttered Ben as he followed her down the path. Caroline was getting to be a serious pain in the proverbial, and he didn’t have a clue how he was going to get rid of her.

Saffron snuggled up to Pete. It was lovely to have him home, and the homecoming had been celebrated in exactly the right fashion. They had fallen on each other in the manner of famine-starved people. She had had no need for any sexy accoutrements at all. It had felt great to have her libido back – she hoped it wasn’t going to be temporary. Maybe the pole-dancing lessons were having some effect. Linda had laughingly told her she was getting the hang of it the last time she’d been. Mind you, with the school holidays and Pete having been away, she’d not been for a couple of weeks. She cuddled up to Pete again. If things carried on like this, maybe she wouldn’t need to go any more.

There had been no further intrusions either, and Pete had also been of the opinion it was kids mucking around.

‘I’ll put an extra padlock on just to be on the safe side,’ he said. ‘But it was probably a one-off. I shouldn’t think we’ll see anything more of them.’

Saffron put the puzzling incident from her mind, and instead was concentrating on her detective search. Linda hadn’t turned anything up yet, and Pete was convinced she was being paranoid, until she triumphantly discovered that Mrs Webster had received a couple of phone calls from an unknown woman, claiming to be Saffron’s assistant, who’d rung to cancel Saffron’s visit. On both occasions Saffron had turned up later that day, so Mrs Webster thought the woman must have made a mistake.

‘But now you mention it, dear,’ she said, ‘it does seem a bit odd.’

‘Doesn’t it just,’ Saffron replied grimly. A woman ruled out Gerry then. But it didn’t rule out his bit of stuff. She determined that she would confront Gerry about it next time she saw him.

Confronting Gerry, however, turned out not to be that easy. He had returned from his business trip and taken the kids out just once since, pitching up on her doorstep looking very dishevelled and taking them to Pizza Hut for the afternoon before returning them home an hour earlier than stated. Both children had made noises about Daddy smelling funny and not wanting to see him again, which had led to Saffron not following up a suggested time for their next visit with
somewhat less guilt than she would have had normally. Mind you, when she had tried to ring, she only got his answer-phone, and his mobile seemed permanently switched off. It was all quite puzzling. However crap Gerry was generally, he usually managed to see the children once a fortnight.

‘Time I was up,’ she said. ‘I’ll get the kids sorted, and then I fancy doing a bit on the allotments. Are you up for a spot of babysitting?’

Pete gave her a lascivious look. ‘I’m up for something,’ he said, ‘but not necessarily that …’

‘Give over,’ said Saffron. ‘We have four children in the house, three of whom are probably about to knock our door down.’

As if on cue, Becky, Matt and Josh piled in demanding breakfast and TV simultaneously.

‘Okay, you win,’ said Pete. ‘If I can grab a bit more shuteye, I’ll let you have your moment of freedom.’

Saffron grinned as she got up and started to get dressed. Pete was a star.

‘Caroline, what a nice surprise.’ Amy was disgusted with herself for her insincerity, but she didn’t want Ben to think she was being ungracious.

‘I hope you don’t mind me pitching in,’ said Caroline, ‘but I thought I could help, and I wanted to see how my allotment was.’

‘That’s very kind of you,’ said Amy, thinking it was anything but. ‘Here, have a fork. We’re digging over
that patch there. It would be enormously helpful if you could fork the earth through, and pick out any weeds.’

Amy was pleased to see Caroline looking disgusted. From what Saffron had said, she was of the Diarmuid Gavin, ‘Let’s Design a Fancy but Impractical Green Space’ School of Gardening. Getting your hands dirty didn’t figure very highly at all.