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Chapter 5
As Lili headed upstairs to put the flowers in water, she overheard Nate saying goodbye to William and telling his son that he’d see him at teatime. She was a little disappointed that, by the sound of things, they would not be having an evening meal together.
Lili sighed as she walked into the kitchen and found a vase. Perhaps it was just as well. She tried to put Alex out of her mind, but he kept turning up in her thoughts like a bad penny. She recalled their argument over the move to Washington he’d planned for them both, which she’d known nothing about. She didn’t think she’d been unreasonable when she’d told him that he should have discussed it with her first – even though he’d assured her that he hadn’t formally accepted the position he’d been offered there.
Part of the reason she had been upset was to do with his comment about how tough their move thousands of miles away would be on him and his mum and dad. It was as though, just because she didn’t have parents, her feelings didn’t matter. She had Maisie and Hannah – what about them? She’d asked him that question. He’d shrugged and told her that perhaps it was time her friends stopped ruling her life. But they were like family to her. Why didn’t he get that?
But it was more than that. Lili finished arranging the flowers in a vase. As she walked into her bedroom to find a jacket, scarf and gloves from the box of her possessions Alex had forwarded by FedEx, she couldn’t help but think about Hannah. Lili felt she owed her; always had. That was why, while Hannah was living it up in the Caribbean, she was with Maisie rather than on a flight to start a new life in Washington with Alex.
Lili was thinking about her school years. She had been lucky. At eight she’d left the care home where she lived in London to take up a government-funded place at an expensive fee-paying boarding school, located just up the road from Aldeburgh. Her social worker, Connie, was the person who had put her forward for the scheme that helped children from disadvantaged backgrounds reach their potential. Lili thought she must have scored top marks in the entrance exam to secure one of the coveted places.
However, her first few years had been miserable. She had been bullied. Everything changed, though, when she moved out of the prep at twelve and Hannah joined the school. Hannah had also been a boarder. Like Lili, she’d had abandonment issues, although she hadn’t been abandoned on a beach in Corfu at three years old like Lili had. Hannah’s parents hadn’t been able to cope with her behaviour and had been planning to put her into care – until Hannah’s maternal grandparents had stepped in and paid for her to go to private boarding school instead.
Loud and confrontational, Hannah was the opposite of quiet, thoughtful Lili. But they hit it off and became best friends. Lili tempered her friend’s challenging behaviour, and Hannah gave Lili the confidence to be more forthright and assertive. Hannah also provided Lili with something else.
Lili smiled as she walked back to the window where she’d placed the vase of flowers and rearranged them slightly. She recalled how her school holidays had changed from lonely days spent in a near-empty building to vacations at Hannah’s grandparents’ farmhouse in the Kent countryside with their dogs, cats and chickens. Their house had been chaotic, as had they, but Lili had loved that doting old couple to bits. She had always thought Hannah was so lucky – she couldn’t have asked for nicer grandparents. And Lili couldn’t have asked for a nicer couple with whom to spend the holidays.
Hannah and her grandparents had made Lili’s remaining years at their private school special. And her life since wouldn’t have been the same without little Maisie either.
Lili strode back down the stairs with her coat. She had put a woolly bobble hat and a pair of gloves into her bag, thinking how odd it was that at the height of summer she’d need to wrap up warm.
She walked over to Maisie. ‘Now, are you sure it’s okay that I go out with …’ Lili stopped short, catching Mabel and Marjorie staring at her. ‘That Nate and I …’ No matter how she tried to phrase it, there was no getting round the fact that it would sound like a date.
Maisie let out a huge don’t-ask-me-again sigh. ‘I’m fine. I can’t wait to see Ray’s houseboat. It sounds cool.’
Lili smiled at her and gave her a hug. ‘Okay. You be good.’
‘I will.’
Lili reached over and ruffled William’s hair. ‘Have a lovely time.’
He turned and wrapped his arms around Lili’s waist.
Lili hugged him. He was such a sweet boy. She was surprised how attached she’d become. It was so sad that he’d lost his mother.
‘Bye everyone.’
Lili reached the shop door and felt something brush against her leg. Lili looked down to find Bella by her side. ‘Oh, you can’t come, Bella,’ she said. She knew she really should have left her in The Summerhouse the day before when she’d finished watering the plants. The trouble was that the dog didn’t do as she was told when Lili wanted to go home. Bella had been quite content in the garden, having a snooze in the afternoon sunshine in between games of fetch with Maisie. But when their taxi had arrived, no amount of cajoling or doggy treats, or pushing her rump, had been enough to get her back into the house.
When the taxi driver had opened the car door, Bella had had no problem jumping inside, on to the rear seat next to Maisie.
‘Look, she wants to come home with us,’ Maisie had said, delighted.
Lili had been less enamoured at the thought of taking Bella back to the shop with them, but she’d had little choice. She couldn’t leave the dog alone in the garden. In any case, she’d got the impression that if Bella hadn’t been able to go with them, she would have followed the car all the way to Aldeburgh. Fortunately, the taxi driver didn’t have a no dogs policy.
And so, the previous night Bella had had her first sleepover in the flat. She had been as good as gold and had slept in the lounge. Lili had texted Nate and told him where Bella was. That morning, Lili had expected to wake up and find her asleep on the sofa. She had been wrong. Bella had been fast asleep on the end of Maisie’s bed.
‘I’m sure Nate won’t mind if you take the dog with you,’ Ray said. Lili looked over at him. She could tell that, like Nate, he was still wary of the German shepherd.
‘I don’t know about that, Ray,’ she replied, patting the dog’s head affectionately. She wondered if, when the others left, they could they leave Bella alone in the shop without her getting up to mischief or howling.
Maisie looked up. ‘Bella could come to the houseboat too.’
Ray was already shaking his head. So was Lili. She was worried about Bella falling overboard. Lili was as attached to the dog as Maisie was. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, sweetheart.’
Ray was quick to second that.
Sarah glanced over at Lili. ‘I’m afraid I can’t help.’
