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19
The Secret Garden, Frances Burnett
The next morning, Maisie calls me.
‘Hi…!’ I breathe, jamming the phone between my jaw and my shoulder.
‘Hey, girl!’ she chimes. ‘OK, either you did something you shouldn’t have done or it’s fate.’
‘Whatareyou talking about?’
‘Well, you’ll never guess who called me, so I’ll just tell you: Pablo!’
‘Old El Paso? That’s fantastic, Maisie.’
‘Is it? I dunno. I think about him all the time and that’s not good.’
‘Why isn’t it good?’
‘Because you know what happens when I start caring for someone,’ she wails.
‘You dump them.’
‘Exactly. And I never see them again. But Pablo… he says he misses me. I met him for coffee and he had the saddest spaniel eyes when he said he doesn’t want to lose me.’
‘I’m sure he doesn’t. Why don’t you give the poor sod a chance?’
‘Because… if things go well—’
‘You might be happy…?’
‘No, not that.Au contraire. If I fall in love and he falls out of love – then what do I do?’
‘Oh, Maisie, you can’t live your life in fear of what might or might not happen. You have to go for it andque será, será.’
She chuckles. ‘It’s amazing how you always have such good advice on relationships and never follow it yourself. Now why doesn’t that apply to you and Jago?’
‘Me and…? You’ve got it all wrong, Maisie. I can’t stand the bloke.’
‘You mean youthinkyou can’t stand him. Ah, Emmie, you and I are much more similar than you think.’
‘No, you don’t know what he’s done. He’s after my inheritance.’
‘What? The shitbag!’
‘I know!’
‘How can he even do that?’
‘He claims that Nano left it all to him, except for half the shop that’s mine.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. But I have to act soon. There’s no telling what he’s capable of.’
*
I have to thank Rosie and the new friends I’ve made who have actually made me feel welcome in Starry Cove. Because between a grandmother who still doesn’t want me here and a business partner who’s trying to get me disinherited, I can’t really say I’ve done very well so far. What was supposed to have been a new start in life is looking pretty grim at the moment. I’m sincerely wondering whether I should have stayed in London, after all. At least there, I have a job, a flat and a friend. Here, it seems that I have to fight just to keep what should rightfully be mine. And I don’t mean the inheritance but my grandmother’s affection. How can she not feel the instinctive blood bond? Why is she always pushing me away? Whatever happened in my family, why is she so bent on making me pay for it?
