She nodded and let out a nervous laugh. ‘Pre-holiday nerves. Ignore me.’
‘What is going on with you and Frank?’
‘Nothing, we’re fine.’
I studied her face. ‘You can tell me, Maddie.’
She held my gaze. ‘I’m overthinking everything. A lot is going on. Listen, did I tell you that Olivia was the reason why Frank and I chose to live in Harp Brook?’
‘Olivia?’
Maddie nodded. ‘Remember Frank and I came back from the States after… everything over there had got to me.’ She took a breath. I sensed the memory of her being so unhappy out in California last year was still painful. ‘About that, Rachel, I wanted to say thanks for keeping what I was going through out there to yourself and not telling the family.’
‘You don’t have to keep thanking me, Maddie,’ I said, ‘I’m just glad Frank listened to you and was decent enough to set up home over here.’
‘Anyway, Frank and I were looking for houses over here to buy. He’d seen this house and was organising for us to have a viewing. You and Olivia had come to London to meet me for brunch. Remember?’
‘Yes, I do.’ A memory came rushing back to me. The previous day had been particularly tough as my cat, Flossy, had been put down after suffering a stroke. I’d woken up to find her unable to get out of her basket. My vet managed to see her at nine in the morning. It was severe and the best thing was to have her put to sleep. In the afternoon I’d been told my job was at risk due to a cost-cutting restructure and in the evening Connor and Kate messaged me to ask whether I knew that Sam had proposed to Chantelle live on Instagram with Rupert holding up the ring box. I mainly spent that brunch crying in the loos of the café.
‘Well, you were in the ladies, and I happened to mention we’d found a house in a place called Harp Brook. Olivia said she’d rented a house there once and it was beautiful.’
‘Oh, wow,’ I said, trying to think whether Olivia ever told me she knew Harp Brook. ‘She never mentioned anything to me.’
Maddie smiled. ‘You were going through a hard time back then.’
I nodded and she came over to pull me into a hug. ‘I hope you get a chance to have a break, Rachel. You need a rest.’
The urge to tell her about Grandpa wanting to live dangerously and have a Christmas adventure was strong, but it would worry her on holiday. I remained silent.
We walked towards the bedroom door. ‘I’ve always been jealous of you, Rachel.’
I laughed. ‘Maddie, how can you be jealous of me when you live in these surroundings and your husband is… Frank Baxter.’
She held my gaze. ‘You’ve always been free to do the things you wanted to do.’
Reaching out I touched her shoulder. She nibbled on her thumb nail. Her glassy blue eyes were trying to tell me something. I opened my mouth, and she swiftly left the bedroom. ‘The driver will be here any minute. Have fun, Rachel.’
Frank and Maddie’s sleek white chauffeur-driven Mercedes headed down the drive and away from the manor house. After Maddie had cried buckets over leaving Humphrey and Frank’s chauffeur had nearly put his back out while lifting out my suitcase, they’d finally left for the airport.
Grandpa was talking to Layla and keeping Humphrey distracted with a ball in the kitchen. I was standing by the front door. The Mercedes was getting smaller and smaller as it travelled down the driveway. The talk with Maddie in my bedroom upstairs had not put my mind at rest. It had left me with a thudding heart. The snowfall had eased and there was only a thin covering on the ground which was one good thing.
My phone began to vibrate. Taking it out of my pocket, I saw that it was Mum. She was facetiming me. I pressed the accept button and she appeared from her sun lounger looking bronzed in a bright pink bikini. ‘Have Maddie and Frank left yet?’ she asked, before sipping on a colourful cocktail.
I nodded and flashed the phone camera towards the driveway. ‘Just left.’
‘Oh, it has been snowing then,’ Mum said, peering closer at her phone screen.
‘Yes, but it has stopped now.’
‘Isn’t their manor house beautiful?’ cooed Mum. ‘I am so proud of Maddie living like royalty and now going off to Malibu. Some days I must pinch myself. She’s living a perfect life: she’s married Frank Baxter and she’s surrounded by luxury. She will never endure what I went through with your father.’ She took a mouthful of a cocktail, placed it on the table and took up her lit cigarette. She took a drag. ‘Guess what?’ she said, before coughing and erupting into a cackle of laughter.
‘What?’
She laughed and pointed her phone at the sunbed next to her. ‘Guess who has come out and joined us in Tenerife?’
I stared in horror as Aunty Karen and Uncle Robert grinned and waved back at me. They were both in swimsuits with a drink in one hand and a ciggie in the other. Aunty Karen was in a bold tangerine one-piece suit with frilly edges which didn’t match her orange hair and Uncle Robert was in navy shorts. His dark hairy chest resembled a sample from my local carpet shop.
‘What are they doing with you?’
