Gran looked too shocked at her outburst to do or say anything else and Audrey ran upstairs, put her phone on charge and threw herself onto her bed. She shouldn’t have yelled, she knew it wasn’t fair, but today was one of those days when her temper flared.
When her phone woke up again, she texted Sid but if she thought she’d get a ton of sympathy she was mistaken. Most of his advice was to go and apologise or she’d feel much worse in the morning. Audrey put it off as long as she could before sheepishly venturing out onto the landing. She could hear the low murmuring of the television, the odd chuckle from her gran. It was as though this little house was her world and Audrey had come like a meteor to smash everything into pieces. She didn’t want that; she was sick of being the person nobody wanted around.
She crept downstairs and hovered at the lounge door until Gran noticed her.
‘Come in, don’t be shy.’ Gran pressed the mute button on the remote but left the picture dancing away in the background.
‘I’m sorry I yelled. Again.’ Sheepishly she added, ‘And I’m sorry about the toilet rolls.’
‘We have a couple left, just use it sparingly.’ Gran looked more nervous than she was. ‘Would you like to sit down, Audrey?’
She nodded and sank down onto the soft sofa. She spent so much time in her room at home and had already done so here but it was stifling and it wasn’t the way Audrey wanted this to go. As much as her mum probably thought she enjoyed being difficult or arguing, she didn’t – she hated it. It was exhausting.
Audrey had wondered if her sitting here meant a big heart-to-heart with her gran; she braced herself for it, but all they talked about was the vegetables Layla had been growing.
‘Layla says the cauliflowers are ready to be pulled from the ground,’ Gran added. ‘She’s done a mighty fine job.’
‘I’ve never had a veggie patch.’
‘I’m sure Layla would take you to see theirs if you asked,’ said Gran. Audrey shrugged. ‘Well anyway, she’ll drop the cauliflowers over tomorrow. I’ll make us a big cauliflower cheese if you like.’
Audrey wrinkled her nose. ‘I’ve never tried it.’
‘Well, it’s about time you did. It was your mum’s favourite.’
‘Yeah?’
‘She never told you?’ Her bright expression faded away as quickly as it had come. ‘I don’t suppose she would. Well, you’ll love it, as long as you like cheese.’
‘I love cheese.’ Audrey began to relax a little as Gran began to talk about how she made it. ‘I’ll serve it with half a jacket potato cooked in the oven – microwaves leave the skin soggy – fresh salad leaves and tomatoes, also from Layla’s garden.’
When Gran had exhausted the details of her speciality cauliflower cheese, Audrey asked, ‘Did you decide on a wool colour?’
Puzzled, Gran realised she’d shown her the line-up earlier when she was investigating on-line. ‘I’m going for plum. Or rich plum to be exact.’
‘Are you going to knit something?’
Gran laughed. ‘What else do you think I’m going to do with it? Yes, I want to knit a jumper and I thought Layla might like some gloves and even a bobble hat.’
As long as she didn’t knit Audrey anything like that, they’d be safe from another row.
‘Do you knit, Audrey?’
She couldn’t help but let out a laugh. ‘Me, no. I wouldn’t be able to sit still for long enough to concentrate.’
‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’ Veronica grinned.
Gran looked quite different when she smiled. Her eyes twinkled with amusement, it lifted her cheekbones and added a rosiness to the skin tone. Audrey wished she’d do something with her hair. It was always scraped back from her face and pulled into a harsh bun at the nape of her neck and she wore zero make-up. With a few little touches, Audrey bet Gran could take at least a decade off her age and she’d likely feel better for it too. She might even want to leave the house.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad in Mapleberry after all.
Chapter Five
Veronica
One minute Veronica thought her granddaughter was the most pleasant, approachable and beautiful creature on this earth, the next she could very well strangle her. She was beginning to understand exactly what Sam meant when she said Audrey could be two very different people.
Veronica pulled the door to the dining room shut behind her. It was only eight o’clock in the morning but Layla was having half an hour on the piano before Bea came to collect her and take her to school. Layla had told her dad that Veronica liked to talk about the kindness calendar so she was getting up half an hour earlier to spend with their neighbour before school. And so far, Charlie was buying it. Unfortunately, the same acceptance couldn’t be said for her granddaughter who stomped down the stairs demanding to know what the racket was and when, approximately, she’d be given a break from it. It was just another thing to upset Audrey, Veronica supposed. So far she’d annoyed her granddaughter by asking her not to eat food in her room, by setting out rules for her study and by trying to mend the jeans which were apparently supposed to have rips in them. Trying to make her granddaughter happy was like walking a tightrope with someone at the other end doing their best to topple her off. Veronica had no idea how she was supposed to get the balance between discipline and love, right, and when she panicked that she never would, her throat constricted and her palms got clammy and unfortunately she found herself snapping at Audrey unnecessarily.
‘Please tell me
