“Sounds like you’ve got it all planned,” Emily said, and Alice hastened to reassure her.
“Oh no, not at all. We haven’t asked anyone officially, and we’ll have to draw up contracts and the literature explaining it all, and I’m sure there are other things you can think of.” She gave Emily an encouraging look.
“I’m not sure how,” Emily said slowly. “I mean…I’ll do all the admin, of course, but as you know I’m not from around here. I don’t know the people or the businesses or even where Burford is, never mind a garden centre near it. Surely someone more local would be better at organising something like this?” She was starting to wonder why on earth Henry had put her in charge, or even why he’d wanted her here at all. He could have easily hired someone from Wychwood, a mum from the school looking for a job, or someone who at least was connected to the community. She wasn’t, and she hadn’t been planning on becoming so. Not at all.
“Oh, but you’ll learn,” Alice assured her, and Emily’s heart couldn’t help but sink a bit. “People really are so friendly. One night at the pub, or at a ceilidh at the village hall, and you’ll know everyone.”
A ceilidh? “Yes, but even so…” Emily found she couldn’t finish that sentence because Alice was already shaking her head.
“Don’t worry, Emily. You’ll see. You’ll be part of Wychwood-on-Lea in no time.”
Emily knew Alice meant the words to be a comfort, but they were far from it. She didn’t want to be part of a close-knit community filled with people who would get all up in her business, not that she even had that much, keeping her life private was an instinct she’d had too long to shed now. She couldn’t let people in. She didn’t know how. And that was a reminder that she really had to ring her mum. She gave Andromeda a good shove and with a disgruntled look the cat leapt off her lap, leaving a snag in her skirt.
“Thank you for the coffee,” Emily said as she rose from her chair. “But I really should be getting back to work.”
“Oh yes, of course. But you’re welcome anytime. Maybe we could make it part of your schedule?”
Alice looked so hopeful, and in any case Emily realised she wouldn’t really mind a coffee break every morning. “That would be nice,” she said. “Thank you.”
Back in the office, Emily breathed in the smell of cleaning spray as she stared down at her cat-hair-dusted skirt in dismay. She’d nip back to the cottage to change, she decided, and ring her mum from there. It wasn’t as if anyone was keeping tabs on her, and she didn’t think she could bear spending the afternoon covered in cat hair. She’d ventured enough out of her comfort zone for one day.
She walked quickly back to Willoughby Close; the air had developed a chill and woolly grey clouds were obscuring the fragile blue of this morning, reminding the world that it wasn’t quite spring yet.
Back in her bedroom, Emily changed into another navy skirt and silk blouse, putting her cat-hair-covered clothes into a basin to soak. What had she been thinking, having that animal on her lap? So unlike her, even if it had felt a little nice at the time, a living comfort that she’d been lacking for…oh, she didn’t even want to think about how long for.
Standing by the kitchen sink, she gazed out at the gathering clouds and rang Fiona, who thankfully answered.
“Fiona, Emily here. May I speak to Naomi, please?”
“You do like to keep tabs on your mum, don’t you?” Fiona said with a rather sour laugh. Emily closed her eyes.
“Is she there, please?”
“Oh, fine, hold on.” The phone clattered onto a table, making Emily wince and hold her mobile away from her ear. At least her mother was in the flat. That was something. It seemed an age but was probably around five minutes before Emily heard her mother’s rather breathless voice.
“Em? Darling? You know you don’t need to worry about me. I really wish you wouldn’t.”
“I just wanted to check in, Mum. You remember I moved out to the Cotswolds this past weekend?”
“Did you?” Her mother sounded indifferently vague, which wasn’t really a surprise. “It’s meant to be very pretty out there.”
“It is. You know you’re welcome to stay anytime—”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“Seriously, Mum.” Life was both easier and harder with her mother in residence, but regardless Emily would always make the offer. She loved her mother, even if that love was tangled and complicated and sometimes didn’t feel like love at all. “I’ve got a spare bedroom, and all the things you left from last time,” she persisted, because some part of her had to. “It’s so pretty. You can see a river from the bedroom window.”
“Mmmm.”
Emily couldn’t tell if her mother was really listening. “I’m on the edge of a little village. There are loads of walks you could take.” At least she supposed there were.
“I don’t know if I’m really a village kind of person. But I’m glad you like it, darling.”
Emily took a careful breath. “Fiona had said something about you not taking your pills.”
“Oh, Emily.” There was no disguising her mother’s disappointment. “Really, you are not my doctor.”
“I know, but—”
“I’m fine. You need to be able to trust me, that I know when I need them and when I don’t. I’m not going to be irresponsible.”
That was up for debate. “But you know the point of them is that you take them consistently—”
“Really, Emily, I
