The timer goes off and I pull the roast beef out of the oven; the scent is divine and takes me back to my childhood. I remember that day all those years ago when my mother was cooking the same meal and I had just seen my friends off on the train. How wretched and envious I felt that day.
Today is very different. I am making a new life for myself on my terms, and I feel rather proud of myself. Sometimes I had doubts, but I stuck to my decisions of last year. I have said yes to things a lot more, but when the need arises I have said no. It’s been an invigorating ride.
I set the roasting pan down on the worktop and lift the beef out, put it on a platter and cover it with foil and all the tea towels I can find.
The back door opens; there is a chilly gust of wind and a few dead leaves blow in.
‘It’s cold out there,’ Jack says, stamping his boots on the mat. ‘I’ve brought some logs in for the wood burner.’
He comes across to kiss me, his cheek cold against mine.
‘Something smells wonderful,’ he says.
‘It’s my new perfume, Eau de Topside,’ I say, and he laughs.
He takes the logs into the sitting room and I hear him chatting with Evelyn and Marjorie and then the pleasant sound of laughter. This house was quiet for so long; now it seems to have come back to life.
I follow Jack in to make sure the ladies are all right, and always at my heels is Buzz, hoping that there may be treats somewhere. The table lamps are casting pools of welcoming light; the room – newly decorated to my taste – is warm and comfortable. At last, it feels like home.
‘How are you both?’ I ask.
Marjorie raises her sherry glass towards me.
‘You know what the Norwegians say, Up and Not Crying, I think that’s a very good response to a lot of things.’
‘So it’s the Caribbean for us next,’ Evelyn says. ‘We will be sailing from Southampton on the seventeenth.’
Yes, she and Marjorie are as spirited as ever. They may travel less than they did, but the year has barely slowed them up at all.
‘And I wanted the Maldives,’ Marjorie said. ‘Perhaps we will go there next time. I quite fancy one of those little villas on poles over the sea.’
I have no doubt they will get there eventually.
I hear a car horn outside and go to open the front door.
Harriet and Anna are there, and Rupert is fetching some flowers and a bottle of champagne from the boot.
We catch up with each other’s news while Rupert goes in to say hello to Jack and chat to Evelyn and Marjorie about the terrible state of the roads and the government, and I finish off the lunch.
‘I’m starving,’ Harriet says. ‘Knowing your famous lunches, I made sure I missed breakfast.’
‘And how are things?’ Anna asks, unwinding her scarf and taking off her coat.
She inclines her head towards the sitting room, her eyes filled with mischief, and I know what she is asking.
‘Excellent, thank you,’ I say, ‘and Jack has found a holiday house on Rab to rent in October. We’ll be there for ten days. I’m so looking forward to going back there.’
Anna gave a beaming smile. ‘I knew it. We knew it, didn’t we, Harriet? From the moment he came to sit down next to you on the train, we knew.’
‘Oh yes, we knew,’ Harriet agrees.
‘Knew what?’ I ask, carefully pouring the batter into the Yorkshire pudding tins.
‘That he would be special.’
‘You can’t possibly have known that.’ I laugh, sliding the tins into the oven.
Anna tries to look wise. ‘Yes, I did. I sometimes think I’m psychic.’
