Page 34 of My Summer of Magic Moments

It was a little dance in polite words, masking the pain and hurt they had been through in the past months. The truth of what had happened between them was better laid to rest, but they would both always know.

He was still on the step. ‘Come on through.’

He followed her to the kitchen. She wasn’t quite sure why he’d come. She smiled. He looked like he’d put on a bit of weight – as he smiled back, his cheeks looked pudgier. And yes, there was a definite paunch round his belly. He must be living comfortably with his new partner, she mused. She felt the rawness of hurt still there, but weirdly no envy. All she noticed was that his hairline had receded a touch more at the temples.

‘Tea or anything?’

‘Ah, thanks, but no, can’t stay long. I just wondered if you’d got the message?’

‘Message? About …?’

‘The house.’

‘No, but I was out food shopping earlier on.’

‘I tried both your mobile and the house. Left a message on both.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry. My mobile needed charging so I left it here. I haven’t looked at either since I got back.’

‘Right. Well, I’ve had a call from the estate agent. We’ve had an offer.’

‘Oh … right.’ She’d known this was coming, but it still felt odd. She really would be leaving this place soon.

‘The couple from the other week. It’s an offer, but it’s ten thousand less than our asking price. I was trying to contact you to see what you thought. Anyway, as I couldn’t get in touch, I’ve gone back trying to negotiate an extra five grand. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t want to miss out on their interest.’

‘That sounds fine, and if we can get a bit more for it, all the better.’

‘I’m just waiting to hear back now. I thought I’d pop in and get some more of my stuff. If things are likely to be moving ahead soon.’

‘Okay, well, go ahead. I’ve actually put some things in a couple of bags. Your music collection and your favourite DVDs.’

‘Okay. Thanks.’ He seemed relieved that she was being so reasonable.

‘Go and pick up what you need. We’ll have to talk about the bigger stuff like furniture later, I suppose. Have a think if there’s anything in particular you’d like. I’ll be somewhere smaller for sure … in my next place.’

She tried to be polite – staying bitter and angry with him wouldn’t get either of them anywhere. She found the box of DVDs, handed them over and then went back to the kitchen to get out of the way while he went upstairs to find the other things he needed. Soon the house would become a part of someone else’s lives. She stared out at the garden from the kitchen window and felt a quiet sense of loss.

Splitting up a house, a marriage, a life – no, two lives – was inevitably painful. Even when you knew in your heart it was over.

It was the nights that were the hardest. The days seemed to fill themselves. There wasn’t so much time to think. But in the dark hours, in a double bed, on her own, her mind would roam not back to Paul, but to the two cottages by the sea, and Ed. She just couldn’t help herself. She wondered what he was doing. Did he ever think of her? Was she just an annoying neighbour for a couple of weeks that he nearly made a fool of himself with? The sad truth was that he probably didn’t think about her at all.

Just let it all go, Claire, push him out of your head, she urged herself. Get on with your life here, get the house sold, find a cosy place of your own, get a kitten – hell yes, she’d love a kitten, something to curl up with when she watched telly in the evenings. A girl kitten. She’d have nothing to do with the male species any more. Hah, she might end up a mad cat lady, but at least she’d be content.

And then no one would ever have to see her scarred left breast ever again. Only her, but that didn’t count as she’d already seen it. Problem solved.

But night after night with it all tossing around in her head, and five weeks since leaving her cottage on the coast, the problem didn’t feel very solved at all. It felt like there was a big, muddy puddle in her heart. It was time to jump into it.

16

The view of the Cheviot Hills, the valley below, and the feeling of coming home

Harry, Leeds & Northumberland

She came off the phone with a silly grin on her face. The weekend of the 20th of August was free. Surprisingly, the Bank Holiday the following weekend in August was booked up. The poor devils – some unsuspecting family trying to hire a cottage in Bamburgh, no doubt, with no accommodation left bar the neglected Farne View cottage. She’d booked herself in for a long weekend, Friday to Monday; she’d taken a lot of this year’s holidays already so it was all the time she could get for now. And the cheque was ready to go in the post; old Mr Hedley didn’t ‘do’ bank cards. He also didn’t do regular hot water, central heating, clean mattresses and a lot of other home comforts. Maybe she ought to warn that poor family. She was heading back to that wreck of a cottage, and yet, crazily, her heart was doing a little leap.

There were a couple of weeks to go yet, time to get the sale of the house sorted and get down to work, give her ‘Magic Moments’ column plenty of attention besides all the other articles she needed to work on. Her ‘Magic Moments’ idea seemed to have struck a chord already. Her story was getting so many hits on the newspaper website. Her email inbox was bulging at the seams and Facebook had gone ballistic after she’d posted an online video about the background to the feature. It was hard to keep up with all the interactions – though she tried to read every single comment. Some stood out in her mind: ‘Fishing on a secluded Scottish loch on beautiful serene water surrounded by tall scented pines and curious wildlife, my lovely husband retrieves from his fishing bag a cake and champagne to celebrate my birthday’ – how lovely. And one from a child via their parent: ‘My mum’s smile which warms me more than any radiator.’ Lucy, aged 9.

In the past few days she’d received over two hundred replies, a combination of lovely comments and new magic moments, some funny, some that brought a tear to her eye, which was just wonderful. Her professional Twitter feed had gone nuts, with so many likes, retweets and comments, and a fab new hashtag, #MagicMoments, created by her followers, which made her feel extremely proud.