Page 30 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Not when you factor in him leaving us bankrupt and homeless when I was eighteen,’ Katy blurted out before she could stop herself.

There was a short silence and Katy realised that everyone else was exchanging looks around the table. She suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable, desperate to take back the words, but it was too late.

‘Is that true?’ asked Harriet, staring wide-eyed at her.

Katy hesitated before finally nodding. She tried to distract herself by taking a sip of coffee, wondering just how tired she must be to blurt out something so personal to a group of women who were virtual strangers.

‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that,’ said Grams, placing a warm hand over Katy’s and giving it a squeeze. Katy took comfort from the warmth but stayed silent, knowing that her voice would tremble with emotion if she spoke now. ‘But look at you now,’ carried on Grams. ‘I understand you’ve got a high-flying career. That’s a tremendous achievement.’

Katy felt tears spring to her eyes and was horrified. She never cried and had now been close to tears twice in the same hour. Just how tired was she?

Of course, she had done well in her career. And yet, something Grams had said a few minutes earlier had struck her hard. Everyone deserved to be happy. And Katy wasn’t sure she truly was, deep inside.

She never thought about it, trying to keep busy as often as she could and concentrating purely on work. But, for some reason, something in the village folk of Cranfield brought out the softer, more emotional side of her. And she had no idea how to deal with it, having suppressed her emotions for so long.

So she sat there, staring down into her mug, not knowing what else to do.

‘You know, if we’re talking bad parents award, I’m the actual winner,’ she heard Libby finally say after a short silence. ‘I’d tell you my story, but it’s too nice a morning to ruin it with doom and gloom.’

Katy looked up from the table. She had heard the hurt in Libby’s voice despite her nonchalant tone.

‘Actually, I think my parents win the award, don’t you?’ said Harriet, raising her eyebrows at her friends.

‘Oh yeah, because mine aresowonderful,’ said Flora, with a groan and roll of her eyes.

As they all exchanged soft knowing smiles, Katy found that she was smiling back at them in grateful thanks at their sensitive handling of such a difficult subject for her.

‘Anyway, I’m sure your career must mean you have an amazing life,’ said Harriet, with an encouraging smile. ‘Wining and dining those A-list celebrities who stay at the fancy hotels.’

‘Actually most of my work goes on in the background,’ Katy told her. ‘All the boring business stuff like administration and marketing. The hours are pretty long too.’

They all seemed to imagine that her job had been glamorous whereas it had been the exact opposite. But she still felt a little ashamed that she had been made redundant as she obviously hadn’t been up to the job after all.

Libby made a face. ‘That doesn’t sound much like a life to me. Where are the friends, the holidays, the hot men?’

‘Hot men?’ Startled, Katy tried to think of any of her work colleagues that could be referred to like that.

‘Yeah, like Chef McDreamy!’ said Harriet with a wicked grin.

Katy blushed when she realised that they were talking about Ryan. Of course, he was good-looking, but they were way off the mark if they thought there was anything between them.

‘Please!’ Libby held up her hand. ‘Me and Flora went to school with him. He’s like my big brother. I can’t think of him like that at all.’

‘Maybe Katy already has a boyfriend,’ said Grams with a gentle smile.

They all looked at Katy expectantly.

‘Oh, well,’ she began. ‘I was living with a guy up until recently…’

‘What happened?’ asked Harriet.

‘And was he hot?’ asked Libby.

‘Er, hot?’ Katy gulped. ‘Well, Gerard was pleasing to the eye, I guess. But he went off with someone else.’

She waited for the dull ache in her heart at the thought of him walking out on her but felt nothing.

Libby shook her head. ‘You’re better off without him, I reckon. Do you know why it’s so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking? Because those men already have boyfriends.’