Page 123 of Escape to the Country

‘Are you coming up to the hall today?’ asked Tom.

‘Tomorrow,’ she told him, avoiding eye contact. ‘I’ve got the girls coming over later. But I’ve managed to arrange the vet’s appointment for tomorrow.’

‘Okay,’ she heard him say. ‘It’s a date. I’ll see you in the morning.’

She started at the word ‘date’ and looked back to find him giving her a smile before walking away.

This was bad. She was like some kind of awkward schoolgirl around him.

She was grateful for the distraction of her friends coming over that evening.

*

‘So what’s the big news?’ she asked Megan, who had teased them both with a text earlier that morning.

‘Yeah, what gives?’ asked Annie. ‘Is it another baby?’

‘No!’ said Megan, laughing. ‘I think three really is enough for the time being.’

‘Well, you are positively glowing,’ said Eleanor, noting her friend’s smiling, relaxed face.

Megan leaned back on the chair with a wide smile. ‘That’s because my gorgeous, wonderful husband announced last night the reason he’s been working so many extra hours. He’s booked us a surprise holiday to Majorca!’

‘Wow!’ said Annie, leaping up to give her a hug. ‘That’s amazing!’

‘Isn’t it?’ said Megan, laughing.

‘When?’ asked Eleanor.

‘We go in a ten days’ time. And we’re going for two weeks! To a hotel! With a kids’ club! Bliss!’ Megan’s face dropped a little. ‘Which makes me feel even more guilty for what happened the other night.’

‘Nothinghappened the other night,’ said Eleanor in a firm tone.

‘Exactly,’ said Annie, nodding fiercely.

‘Okay,’ said Megan, looking relieved. ‘The thing is, I don’t really have any clothes to take.’

‘Well, that’s not a problem,’ said Eleanor. ‘Come upstairs. I’ve got loads of stuff that you can borrow.’

‘Really?’ said Megan, looking amazed.

Eleanor smiled. ‘What else are friends for?’

So they spent a happy few hours bringing out all of Eleanor’s designer clothes and having a trying on session. Megan found quite a few tops and skirts that suited her colouring and fitted her.

‘What if the kids spill tomato ketchup on any of it?’ she asked, looking worried.

‘Then it’ll either wash off or we’ll throw it away,’ Eleanor told her. ‘It honestly doesn’t matter. Look at it all,’ she said, waving her arm around at the piles of clothes all over the bedroom. ‘I’ve wasted so much money and I hardly wear any of it. I’d rather you went out and enjoyed yourself, feeling good and confident about how you look. That’s better than having all of this stuck away in some suitcase.’

‘Don’t you want to keep some of it just in case Tom asks you out on a date?’ asked Annie in a sly tone, holding up a slithery piece of satin.

Eleanor blushed and shook her head, suddenly tongue-tied.

‘This is so lovely of you to lend me all of this,’ said Megan, stepping forward to give her a hug. ‘I’m so grateful. But I will make it up to you, I promise.’

‘Just have a fantastic holiday,’ said Eleanor. ‘That’s enough thanks for me.’

But the conversation obviously played on Megan’s mind because the following day she rang Eleanor.