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‘Yes you can!’ His niece released him and came to stand at his side. ‘You’re teasing me.’
‘I wasn’t teasing, Millie. You’re very strong. You could take a grown man down with those biceps.’
Millie giggled. ‘I’m only ten.’
‘And strong for your age.’ He nudged her gently with his arm, unable to give her a hug because he had onion on his hands.
‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ she asked.
‘That would be great.’
‘And a cookie to go with it?’ Cole asked.
‘You two spoil your old uncle.’ He laughed.
‘You’re not old.’ Millie shook her head as she filled the kettle. ‘You must stop saying that.’
‘OK, princess.’ He nodded. ‘I will.’
He finished chopping the onion and added it to the bowl, washed his hands and placed the chopping board and knife in the dishwasher then followed his niece and nephew through to the lounge where they’d turned the TV on.
‘What shall we watch?’ Millie asked.
‘Whatever you like,’ he replied.
While she scrolled through the channels, he sat back and sipped his tea. He often came to his sister’s house after work to spend time with his nephew and niece. His sister, Darcie Harman-Jones, and her husband, Ross, worked long hours and Finn liked to be there to help whenever he could. It also meant that he got to eat Cole’s delicious meals and to help Cole and Millie with homework, and he knew Darcie appreciated having an adult home with her children after school. Of course, Finn couldn’t be there every day but whenever he had an early finish, he headed straight there.
That was one of the advantages of living in the same village as his sister and her family; they got to spend plenty of quality time together and he didn’t have far to travel home afterwards.
He might have been through some challenging times in recent years, but he had plenty to be grateful for and spending time with his family was right up there with his good health.
Chapter3
Ellie
The next day, Ellie woke from the best sleep she’d had in years. It helped that she had her new double bed in the cottage with its brand-new memory foam mattress and Egyptian cotton sheets that she’d washed and dried on the line in the garden. There was nothing quite like freshly laundered sheets to slide between, especially when you got to have the bed all to yourself as Ellie did these days.
After she’d made herself a mug of tea, she took it back to bed and sat against the headboard, gazing out of the window at the trees in the back garden. The breeze shook them gently and some of the leaves drifted to the ground or spiralled through the air like mini helicopter blades. Her aunt used to sleep in the front bedroom, but Ellie had always liked this back room with its view of the garden and the sloping ceiling that gave the room a cosy cottage feel. The front room and the other smaller bedroom, she’d prepare for when her children came to stay, which wouldn’t be as often as she’d like, she suspected, but they were grown up now and had their own lives to lead. Part of parenting was knowing when to let go and as hard as it could be, Ellie had done her best to let her children find their wings and fly when they were ready. She hoped she’d done a good enough job so that they had the confidence to follow their dreams while knowing that she’d always be there when they needed her.
She sipped her tea and stretched her legs out, savouring the feel of the cool sheets and the sheer decadence of space. Not that she didn’t occasionally miss having a body to snuggle up to in bed but then it had been a long time since she’d really done that. Her ex-husband, Cooper, had been away a lot towards the end of their marriage, citing work commitments and golfing trips with his friends. Ellie knew now that he’dchosento go away whenever he could and that the golfing trips had, in fact, been with a female colleague. A female colleague he’d become rather close to. Even now, after a year of coming to terms with the knowledge that he’d been having an affair, she still felt a flicker of nausea. By that point in their marriage, they rarely slept together in the same bed and their sex life was basically non-existent, but even so, his betrayal had stung. She suspected she’d always thought they might find their way back to each other at some point, perhaps when the children had left home, but it turned out that when they had left, Cooper had asked her for a divorce. At least then, he’d been honest with her, and she’d been able to face up to what had gone wrong between them. Some marriages just fizzled out. Theirs had never been a great love affair in the first place, more aright time, right personscenario in that the right person had been theone who’d do for now. Andnowhad become months and years and before she knew it, they’d been together for twenty-six years and they had a home, two children and a history. A history of acceptance and companionship but no grand passion. Yet she’d been happy to accept that as it was because who got to fall head over heels in love, anyway? Wasn’t that just for the movies and the romance books? Although, always in the back of her mind, she’d known that when she’d been younger, much younger, and lived in Wisteria Hollow, there had been a young man who’d made her tummy flutter, who’d made her heart beat faster and a blush rise into her cheeks. But one night had changed everything between them and before she’d known it, her dad had moved them away again and she’d left the village behind. Along with her first love. A love that never was despite her wishing it had been otherwise.
Over the years, Ellie had tried not to think about how she’d felt back then because it would only lead to unhappiness and what was the point in making herself unhappy? She’d been little more than a child and the man in question hadn’t been much older, so they were young and immature and what she’d felt was probably just hormones. Or that was what she told herself. And so she’d packed away the feelings and the dreams and focused on being a good mum and wife and making a home for her family. When the children had gone to school she’d got a job at her local library and she’d loved it, working surrounded by books all day every day and then spending the evenings with her family at home. They’d had holidays once and sometimes twice a year. She had attended school events and stood religiously at the side-lines of every sporting event her children had participated in as well as at every school play and concert. But, as they had a tendency to do, the years had flown and now here she was: forty-six, divorced, and living in her dream cottage in her dream village at last. If only her aunt was still around too then how much fun they might have had together. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as her aunt had passed away after a short illness and so, Ellie was alone. But, it didn’t mean that she had to feel lonely and she hoped to immerse herself in village life and to feel that she was a part of something again.
She finished her tea and flung back the duvet then slid her feet into her slippers. She’d have some breakfast then get dressed and go for a walk around the village to get her bearings. It would be nice to catch up with what had changed over the years and to see if she bumped into anyone she knew from the past.
* * *
Ellie left the cottage and walked along Sunflower Street, admiring the houses and cottages as well as the well-kept green. Some things were familiar and others seemed like they had changed and she wondered how many people from her past would still live here. Over the years, some would have moved away and some would have stayed, others would have married and had families and some would have decided to leave. Ellie thought that if she’d been given the option when she was younger, she would have stayed in the village. Her parents had been renting a property in Wisteria Hollow back then, not wanting to buy because of her dad’s military commitments but even so, it had felt like home.
Time brought so many changes and no-one was immune to its passing. It felt like just yesterday that her children were babies and she’d been desperate for some sleep and an hour to herself to sit and read or watch a movie. Now though, she had all the time in the world. Everything was temporary and that was something she tried to accept and to remember, especially when things were difficult. Nothing lasted forever. Well, perhaps only love.
She reached the end of the street where the big house that belonged to Roxie and Fletcher Walker stood and then followed the road around. Leaves crunched beneath her boots and a cold breeze slipped icy fingers beneath her collar, so she pulled her fleece jacket tighter around her and tucked her hands deep into her pockets.
She passed the pub, the garage and the primary school, crossed the road and reached the village shops. There was a bookshop she hadn’t noticed before, the library and a café, as well as a bakery, a fish and chip shop and a clothing boutique.
‘Dragonfly Dreams,’ she read, looking at the sign that hung from the front of the building, swaying in the breeze. It featured a vibrant blue dragonfly above the name of the shop and she realised it reminded her of something. ‘Darcie’s tattoo!’ she said with a laugh at the memory of the tattoo her friend had done on her thigh when she was just sixteen. Darcie Harman, her best friend when she’d lived here as a child, had the tattoo done secretly and in a place her parents wouldn’t see it. Ellie and Darcie had been close in the way that teenagers could be, going everywhere and doing everything together and she’d missed Darcie terribly when they’d moved. They’d stayed in touch for a while but then they’d both met men and got married and life had taken over. Ellie felt sure that if she’d stayed in the village then she would have still been friends with Darcie today but as it was, they’d lost touch. She thought they were friends on Facebook, but as with many Facebook friends, unless you interacted regularly, they didn’t show up in your feed and so it was only when you thought to look for them that you saw what they were doing.
Ellie went up to the window and admired the display. A lot of it looked vintage and that would make sense if this was Darcie’s shop because she’d always been mad about vintage clothing and furniture and about doing whatever she could to help the environment. Darcie had been a beautiful person inside and out and Ellie realised that she’d love to see her old friend again and to catch up, maybe take up where they left off. That last thought made her shake her head. Ridiculous to hope that Darcie might feel the same. People moved on with their lives and perhaps it was only her, with her surplus of time, who thought about the past and felt nostalgia for the life she’d once had, as well as for the life she’d once thought she might have.
