‘The only bakery in the village,’ she laughed. ‘Now, can I get you anything?’ With her parents gone and her brother living elsewhere, Barney was the closest she had to family, and she intended to spend as much time with him as possible while she was here. ‘How about a cup of tea?’
‘I’d love one.’
The summer was warming up and it was almost at the stage where a cuppa first thing was fine but anything later on was too much, but for now she made them both a tea, his black, hers with a dash of milk, and when she sat down again she asked, ‘How are the exercises going?’
‘You really did talk to Harvey. Telling tales about me, was he?’
‘It’s because he cares. He said you slept well and told me you were still refusing to do the exercises. I hoped he might have been wrong.’
‘I’ve had an operation, I should be resting and letting things heal. I’m not daft. It’s my hip that was fractured, not my brain.’
‘The doctors say it’ll speed up recovery.’ She picked up the leaflet Harvey had told her about and put it on the arm of Barney’s chair, but he simply moved it to the table behind his mug where it wouldn’t fall onto the floor. ‘They’re right,’ she went on. ‘I did a bit of research myself –’
‘Doctor now, are you?’
‘No, but it’s not hard to find these things out, and increasing your activity gradually will help. I’m not suggesting you take up hiking or mountaineering, but little and often is a start.’ And stop slumping in the chair all day everyday like you’re doing now, she wanted to add but didn’t.
‘They’ll say anything these days.’
‘You know, if you do the work, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be on your feet and able to dance at the ball this year.’
‘You know how I feel about running it this year. Besides, I’m too old for all of that dancing nonsense, and you won’t even be here so what’s the point?’
The ball was almost a fortnight after she was due to leave and she’d be flying off somewhere no doubt so couldn’t even offer to come back for it when she didn’t know her schedule yet. ‘How about Tilly? I’m sure she’ll want a dance.’
‘I hardly think any amount of exercises will have me bopping around a dancefloor,’ he grumped.
‘Barney, I’m not suggesting you do street dance or even the tango, but standing up, a girl in your arms – you can do it, I know you can.’ She had his attention and didn’t miss the sheen in his eyes.
‘I’m not running the ball this year, Melissa, and my decision is final.’
‘I think it’s a big mistake not to.’
‘I said I’m not doing it,’ he snapped.
He was getting worked up and she didn’t want to upset him any further. Far more than the physical recovery he still had to face, she was concerned about the emotional changes she’d noticed already. It was as though all of a sudden he wanted to hide away from the world.
She drank her tea and talked about the bakery instead, a safe topic. ‘Tracy told me Celeste and Jade travelled and got a few ideas for the bakery. I heard about Etna’s reaction to their idea of installing a coffee machine.’
Here was something Barney could get on board with – gossip he could never resist, not in a bad way but he always took an interest and would leap in as a mediator if he needed to. ‘Etna was furious,’ he chuckled. ‘I don’t think Jade or Celeste realised how much it would bother her but, to their credit, they backed down and to be honest, I think they were sort of pleased, it was one less thing to focus on.’
‘I’ll have to go in and sample something delicious soon.’
‘Be brave. I know it must be hard facing people after all this time. We’re a small village, we look after each other, but most people are only annoyed at you because they care.’
‘I’m not sure Tilly sees it that way.’
‘Now, she might take a lot of persuading to let you start over. But she’s a nice girl underneath.’
‘I heard you’ve spent a bit of time with her.’
‘She was lost when that boyfriend of hers took off, don’t think she knew which way to turn. I just leant an ear to talk to, that’s all.’
‘You always did put everyone else first.’ He didn’t say anything to that so she picked up the hospital leaflet again. ‘The exercises are nothing to be afraid of, you know, and you’ve got so much outside space here, you’re in the perfect situation to start slowly and build up.’ She spotted the walking frame in the hallway. ‘I’d love to see the barn again, would you take me out there?’
‘You go ahead, you’ll get there faster without me.’
‘It wouldn’t be the same.’
