‘She’s really sleep deprived and a bit lonely while Declan’s… away—’ she couldn’t be the one to tell anyone else what had happened ‘—so I wondered whether you’d be able to pop in just to keep her company for a bit? Ankita’s aiming to come to stay soon and I’m sure she’ll be fine once she’s arrived.’
‘Yep, no problem. I’ll go and see her in a couple of hours’ time and Noah can hobble over too.’
‘Thank yousomuch.’
‘Not a problem,’ Raf said, unsmilingly.
‘I also wondered if… if I could buy you a drink sometime?’ Georgie asked hesitantly.
Raf looked at her for an uncomfortably long time during which she had to fight with herself not to wriggle under his gaze, and then he said, ‘That’s really kind, thank you, but I’m quite busy.’
‘Okay, yes, of course. Bye, then.’ As Georgie walked out of the front door of Noah’s barn and wondered whether she’d ever see Raf properly again, she had to blink a lot to stop tears coming.
22
POPPY
Quite bizarrely, for a woman who had a very busy life in London, Ankita turned up unannounced at Poppy’s that evening and said, ‘Hello! Can I come in?’
Coming on top of the fact that Raf had come over late afternoon within half an hour of Georgie leaving and had dragged Poppy and Daniel out for a walk, and had stayed and chatted to her all the way through Daniel’s tea and then insisted on helping with the washing up, it was obvious that Georgie had gone all-out to make sure that Poppy had company.
Poppy couldn’t decide whether she was pleased that people cared or embarrassed that people thought she was a charity case.
‘Did Georgie suggest you come?’
‘Yes.’ Ankita walked straight in, pretty much through her, and into the kitchen. ‘Coffee?’
‘Oh.’ Poppy wasn’t one hundred per cent sure whether she’d rather have Ankita to stay or be left alone to think. Or just wallow. It didn’t look like she was going to have the choice, though; it was difficult to say no to Ankita when she was in a determined mood.
‘You know what?’ Ankita took the lid off the kettle and put it under the tap. ‘I’ve always wanted babies. That’s part of the reason I asked Noah out. But I’ve always thought it would be piss-boring looking after them. No adults to talk to. Constant crap household chores to do. I’d have to carry on working, at least part-time. I don’t think I could cope otherwise. I’m not sure how anyone does.’
‘It can be difficult,’ Poppy acknowledged. ‘But also amazing. At times.’ Soooo lonely, though, if she was honest. ‘Butyou, you’d cope with anything.’ There was no way Ankita would end up in the kind of situation Poppy was in now.
‘Are you joking? I can cope with beingme. That’s completely different. I think it would be very hard to cope with being a stay-at-mum not seeing a lot of adults. And if I’m honest, I’m not sure you’re coping brilliantly. You’ve got to do something about this, Pops. You need to go back to being the old Poppy. Yourself. Yourself plus Daniel. Not the miserable-as-fuck woman that you sometimes are.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Poppy frowned.
‘Miserable as fuck. Like you were on New Year’s Eve. And you aren’t lookingtoohappy now. It can’t be good for Daniel. I think you should go back to work a couple of days a week, get yourself a non-Declan-related social life, and just get yourself back, basically.’ Ankita turned round and looked at her, her hands spread. ‘I know that I might sound mean butareyou happy right now?’
Poppy just stood and stared at her.
‘I love you, Pops,’ Ankita said eventually. ‘And I feel you aren’t happy. I know that something big happened with you, Georgie and Declan at Noah’s drinks, and I don’t know what that was, and maybe that’s contributing, but I feel as though you haven’t been totally yourself for a while.’
And suddenly Poppy found herself howling, really, really howling, and Ankita pulled her down onto the sofa with her and curled her up into a gigantic hug.
As she sniffled and hiccupped in her friend’s arms, Poppy wasn’t even sure what she was crying about. Well, probably just everything. The sleep deprivation and loneliness-induced low-level misery she’d had going on for months now, and the fact that it felt like her marriage was over. Or that maybe it didn’t have to be over but the way she felt at the moment she was powerless to make herself overcome her sadness at Declan’s behaviour.
After a few minutes, she managed to speak. ‘Your lovely jumper.’
She pointed at where she’d been sobbing all over Ankita’s cashmere-clad shoulder.
‘It’s fine. Tears are just water and salt. They’ll totally dry-clean out.’ Ankita gave her another big squeeze. ‘Good job you aren’t wearing mascara.’
Soon, Daniel started crying along with Poppy. Ankita picked him up and they all had a big hug together. Hopefully his snot would dry-clean out, too.
‘You know what?’ Ankita tickled Daniel under the chin and he roared with laughter. ‘Perfect solution. My flat’s just gone under offer. I need to be based in the Cotswolds most of the time as of pretty much now because we’re doing more and more planning for the new business.’ She’d agreed to join her ex-colleague Alex in setting up a new venture. ‘I love my parents but I can’tstandliving with them. I’m moving in.’
‘What? Here? Now?’ Poppy wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
