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Back at their newly rented home, the two-up, two-down with the postage stamp garden out front and courtyard out back, Gus unlocked the door and let Abigail go in first, hollering after her, ‘Shoes off!’ before she took any dirt upstairs to her bedroom. ‘Are you hungry? How about some crumpets?’
‘Yes, please,’ she grunted, her shoelace having formed a big knot where she’d tried to pull it one end and done something to upset it. She ended up prising the shoe off at the heel and leaving the lace as it was, and today he wouldn’t complain about her treading down the backs of her shoes.
In the kitchen, which was beginning to look reasonably organised, he popped a couple of crumpets into the toaster and took out a tub of strawberry yogurt, her favourite. He left it with a spoon at the table and once he’d buttered the crumpets, he called to her from the bottom of the stairs.
A knock at the front door came as he was calling a second reminder up the stairs that had Abigail at last coming down. She’d be in horse heaven up there with all her things around her.
Gus answered the door and smiled at the grey-haired man on the other side. ‘Hello.’
‘I hope it’s all right for me to call on you,’ the man said. ‘I wanted to welcome you to the Cove. Locals call the village “the Cove” rather than Heritage Cove – lazy buggers we all are.’ The man, who Gus estimated was in his seventies, chuckled. ‘Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Barney.’ He held out the hand that wasn’t holding a basket and Gus met the greeting with a handshake.
‘I’m Gus. Good to meet you. You live nearby?’
He waved a hand in the approximate direction of The Street and the pub. ‘Around the bend, as you head away from The Street, I have a home with a big barn on the land.’
‘I’ve seen it,’ Gus smiled. ‘Lovely property, all that space.’
‘Thank you.’ He held up the basket in his hand. ‘Now, some say it with flowers or chocolates but my welcome to the village comes in the form of eggs – the yolk type, not chocolate,’ he added, passing the basket with at least a dozen eggs inside to Gus. ‘They’re freshly laid by the chickens I keep.’
‘Come inside,’ Gus encouraged. ‘Although you’ll have to forgive the mess, we only arrived in the Cove last night.’ He grinned at his local colloquialism as Barney came into the house and followed him along the hallway and straight into the kitchen. It was polite to ask the man in but also, Gus wanted to make sure Abigail didn’t run off to her bedroom with her food, he wanted her to talk to him some more. Shutting herself away had been a habit after the accident and one he and Joan had worked hard to break. He knew it was habitual for tweens and then teens, but he knew Abigail would benefit from not falling into that mould too soon.
Abigail looked up at the stranger and managed a hello.
‘This is my daughter, Abigail,’ said Gus.
Barney didn’t hesitate, he went over to the table and held out his hand to formally introduce himself. ‘Delighted to meet you.’ When Abigail returned the gesture, even though a big focus was on her crumpets, Barney asked, ‘Do you like eggs?’
Abigail peered into the basket her dad showed her. ‘Are they a housewarming present?’
Barney chuckled. ‘It’s a little odd, isn’t it?’ He put a hand to his forehead. ‘Oh no, don’t tell me you have an egg allergy.’
‘No allergies here.’ Gus put his mind at ease. ‘And we love eggs, don’t we, Abigail? Poached eggs are Abigail’s favourite.’
‘Are they now? Well, I happen to know these make very good poached eggs. Freshly laid this morning, too.’
‘You have chickens?’ Abigail asked. ‘At your house?’
‘I most certainly do. They have a coop that’s more of a palace, to be honest, they’re well looked after, and this is the reward.’
Abigail’s eyes widened. ‘We could make pancakes.’
‘They’ll make perfect pancakes too,’ Barney declared. ‘And if you need lemons, you’ll get those at the convenience store down the road.’
‘Pancakes it is, then,’ said Gus. ‘We’ll have them after dinner tonight.’
‘Did you start school today?’ Barney spotted Abigail was still wearing her dark grey skirt with a white blouse and a striped tie.
‘Dad didn’t want me to have too long off for summer.’ She said it with a frown. ‘We get six weeks off school anyway, he said.’
Gus leapt in to defend himself. ‘It wasn’t that I didn’t want you to have a really long holiday. It’s more that I thought it would be nice for you to know some other kids before the school holidays, that was the reason behind it.’
‘Very wise,’ Barney agreed. ‘But you’ll soon get to know people, everyone is friendly here and there are lots of kids from the school who live fairly close, you’ll make friends in no time, I’m sure.’ He looked to Gus. ‘Now, do vets look at chickens?’
‘We most certainly do. Do you have any concerns?’
‘Not right now, but it’s good to know you’re local.’
