When the classroom door closed and they heard the teacher introducing herself to everyone, they turned and walked out together.
‘It’s a bit weird, leaving them like that, isn’t it?’ Lou said. ‘Obviously, I’ve left Jack before, at crèche or with sitters. But this feels different. Like he’ll have a whole separate life from me now.’
‘Yeah. It’s the slippery slope. Next thing we know they’ll be moving out and getting married.’
Lou laughed.
‘Aidan, hi!’ A tall blonde woman greeted him as they stepped into the schoolyard. ‘I didn’t see you and Bo earlier.’
Aidan introduced her to Lou as Victoria and they chatted briefly, comparing notes about their children’s first-day nerves and excitement. Her son Ben had started today too and would be in the same class as Bo and Jack.
‘Is he your first?’ Victoria asked her.
‘First and only. You?’
Victoria shook her head. ‘Ben is my eldest but I’ve got another one at home – Freya. She’s two.’
As the crowd in the schoolyard thinned out, another couple of mothers came to join them and Victoria introduced them to Lou as Trina and Erin.
‘We’re going to get a coffee,’ she said to Lou, ‘if you’d like to join us?’
‘Thanks, but I need to get home. I have a lot of stuff to do.’ It was true she had plenty to occupy her for the few hours beforeit was time to pick up Jack, but nothing that couldn’t wait. It was a knee-jerk response and she was annoyed with herself. She should have grabbed the opportunity to get to know more people, but she was daunted at the prospect of going for coffee with this group of women who already knew each other.
‘Oh well, some other time,’ Victoria said, smiling.
‘Yeah, definitely.’
‘I know there’s no point in asking you,’ Victoria said teasingly to Aidan. ‘You’ve got other fish to fry – literally.’
‘Always.’
‘Well, I know the restaurant isn’t open for lunch until twelve thirty. So what’s your excuse this time?’
‘We’ll start to think you just don’t like us,’ Trina said.
‘Ah, you know that’s not true.’ Aidan glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve got a Zoom interview with a front of house manager at ten.’
‘Oh, is Annie leaving?’ Victoria asked, surprised.
‘Not until the end of October, but yeah.’
‘I must call in and see her before she goes. Well, we should get going. It was lovely to meet you, Lou.’
‘You too.’
Victoria and her friends left, and Lou and Aidan walked back towards town together.
‘They’re a pretty friendly lot, you know,’ he said, nodding to the group of women walking ahead of them. ‘Not like those school-gate mums you read about in books.’
‘Now I’m really scared. I didn’t know they wrote books about scary school mums.’
‘Really? I think it’s a pretty popular genre.’
Lou shrugged. ‘Not my kind of thing, I guess.’
‘What kind of books do you like to read?’
‘Jack Reacher.’ Lou grinned. She loved Lee Child’s take-no-prisoners justice warrior.
‘A woman after my own heart.’ He smiled back at her. ‘Well, Victoria’s really nice. They all are.’
‘I’m sure they are. But I really do have a lot to do. I’m still sorting out the house and stuff.’ She didn’t want to admit that she’d let nerves get the better of her.
They went their separate ways at the turn-off to Lou’s road. She kicked herself for chickening out of going for coffee as she walked back to the cottage. Like Jack, she wasn’t usually the shy type, and it would have been a chance to make some friends here. She smiled, thinking how brave he’d been and how quickly he’d shed his fears. If he could overcome his trepidation, she should have been able to. She was supposed to be the grown-up.
Anyway, next time, she thought, shaking off her frustration. She could cut herself some slack. She’d just moved house, to a place where she knew no one, and she was starting a new job in a few days. That was enough for one week.
