Page 23 of Escape to the Country

Eleanor glanced up the stairs as she followed them. So Tommy King was actually staying there at the house with them? This was unbelievably good luck on her part! She had assumed he was in rehab after he passed out in public a few days ago. Instead he was here in Willow Tree Hall!

Would he be as wild and crazy as everyone suggested? Was he out of control? The idea of a story on one of the world’s biggest superstars was beginning to become a reality. If she ever got to meet him, of course.

Eleanor was still mulling over her yet-to-be told story as they went past a couple of rooms in the west wing, one of which appeared to be the dining room as it had a large table but it was still in a mess. Then they went down a couple of steps into the kitchen.

She suddenly had a vast appreciation as to how derelict the whole place had been before the house had begun to be renovated. The kitchen cupboards were shabby and rotten, the hinges barely holding onto the doors. The sink was cracked. The tiled floor very uneven. The pine table in the middle was scratched and stained.

‘Isn’t it awful?’ said Annie, looking cheerful as she picked up her handbag. ‘But Sam promises me it’s next on the list.’

‘I would have thought the kitchen would have been the first thing to get done,’ said Eleanor, looking around in dismay.

‘You’re kidding,’ said Megan. ‘The whole place had no windows or heating for a long time.’

‘Come on,’ said Annie, heading for the door. ‘Time to celebrate!’

Eleanor almost wanted to hang back, desperate to meet Tommy King and begin work on the story that would propel her back to London.

But for the first time in a long while, she actually felt as if she had something to celebrate. Okay so she didn’t have a job, didn’t have her exclusive story and perhaps she didn’t even have a boyfriend or a home to call her own, but she had her friends, the very best friends in the world.

And that, for now, was worth raising a drink to.

*

It was such a nice afternoon that they decided to sit outside in the beer garden of the Rose and Crown pub. Besides, there was really nowhere else to go out in Cranley for a drink. The pub was full of people stopping off after work, rolling up their shirtsleeves and shrugging off their jackets in the warmth of the sun.

Eleanor poured out the drinks and then placed the bottle of Prosecco back in the ice bucket.

‘Congratulations,’ she said, holding up her drink.

‘Cheers,’ said Megan, as they chinked their glasses together.

‘Here’s to being together again,’ said Annie, with a wide smile.

‘And to your wedding,’ added Eleanor before taking a sip of the icy cold drink. ‘It’s been so long since I came here,’ she said, glancing around the other wooden benches and realising that she didn’t really recognise anyone.

‘We don’t really come here much these days either,’ said Megan. ‘There’s never any time – or money – to go out.’

‘Well, I don’t care where we are just as long as we’re together,’ said Annie, reaching out to squeeze Eleanor’s hand across the table. ‘You’re finally home. I can’t believe it.’

‘Yeah,’ drawled Megan. ‘What gives?’

‘What are you talking about?’ asked Eleanor.

‘I mean you coming home. Now. In June,’ said Megan. ‘It’s not Christmas, Mother’s Day or anyone’s birthday. What’s happened? Is everything okay?’

Eleanor was mortified. Was that how they saw her? And was it true?

‘I was just desperate to see you both after so long,’ she replied. ‘And with Mum breaking her ankle, I need to give her a hand for a while.’

Her pulse drummed with the stress of leaving out the rest of the reason for her unexpected visit. She hated keeping secrets from them both.

Megan took another sip of her Prosecco. ‘She is getting a bit accident-prone, bless her. First her wrist and now her foot.’

Eleanor was nonplussed. ‘Her wrist? What are you talking about?’

‘She slipped on some ice during the winter and hurt her wrist,’ said Annie, frowning. ‘Didn’t she tell you?’

Eleanor shook her head.