by Fay Keenan
In fact, things were ticking along so nicely that she was toying with the idea of adding a book reviews section to the Facebook page she’d set up for the tea shop. In all the years Ursula had owned the place, she’d resolutely ignored the march of new technology, but in her last email to Anna she’d complimented her new manager on The Little Orchard Tea Shop’s social media presence. Anna, glowing with pleasure that Ursula seemed so approving, had printed out a couple of the photos that Ursula had sent of her new Umbrian home, and pinned them to the noticeboard behind the counter. She knew many of her regulars would be pleased to see Ursula and Brian looking so well and so settled. She was just pondering whether she’d have time to get around to this before the weekend when Jonathan Carter had walked in.
‘Afternoon, lovely lady. How’s life in my favourite tea shop this fine day?’ He took a seat at what Anna had begun to call his usual table, the one that allowed him to observe all the comings and goings of the village High Street, and dug around in his leather messenger bag for his laptop.
‘Not bad, thanks. I’ll be with you in a tick.’
Walking over to the elderly couple who sat at one of the tables by the wall, underneath one of Ursula’s more prominent Italian themed water colours, she took their order for a pot of Earl Grey and two rounds of Somerset cider prosciutto and pickle sandwiches before heading over to where Jonathan sat.
‘What can I get you?’ she said, noting with interest the appearance on Jonathan’s laptop screen of a presentation to FastStream.
‘What would you recommend for brainpower?’ Jonathan asked. ‘Matthew’s given me this blasted PowerPoint presentation to spruce up, and while my brother’s knowledge about the cider business is extensive, his ability to paint attractive pictures with prose that would appeal to our friends across the water is somewhat lacking.’
Anna grinned. ‘Well, I don’t know how good it would be for your brain, but this week’s toastie has some glorious Wookey Hole cheddar and a few early spring onions from one of the local allotment holders. Meredith and a couple of friends have been coming in most days after school to have one.’
‘Oh, darling, you had me at Wookey Hole!’ Jonathan’s smile could melt the stalactites that clung to the cheese’s namesake caves as he reached a lazy hand out to Anna’s forearm for emphasis. ‘That’ll do for starters, with a glass of sparking water on the side, please.’
Anna smiled back, but, ever mindful of the village’s proven gossip machine, took a step back to break the contact he’d made. Jonathan’s tactility was in stark contrast to his brother’s rather more reserved nature, and while it didn’t feel invasive to her, Anna was suddenly aware of the power of such a presumed intimate gesture. ‘Coming right up,’ she said, walking back to the kitchen.
31
The next evening, Matthew stood on the patio in Anna’s small back garden, looking over the lawn and into the distance. He could see lines and lines of apple trees, his trees, wrapping themselves around the cottage as if in an embrace. Anna’s house was at the centre of land that belonged to him, but Pippin Cottage was like the heart within the body of the landscape, and he could feel his own heart beating as she approached him. Hearing the clunk of the glasses as she set them down on the wooden patio table, he drew a slightly shaky breath as she slid her arms around him from the back, resting her cheek against his broad shoulders. Cursing the reflex, he stiffened.
‘I missed you last night,’ Anna said. ‘Were you late at the office?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Are you OK?’
Anna’s voice was gentle, concerned, and it made Matthew want to weep. Turning, after a moment’s hesitation, he took her in his arms and kissed her.
‘Crikey!’ Anna breathed, when he’d released her. ‘What did I do to deserve that?’
‘Be you,’ Matthew said gruffly. ‘Isn’t that enough?’
‘I’d like to think so,’ Anna replied, raising a hand to brush a stray lock of hair out of Matthew’s eyes, ‘but something tells me there’s more to it than that.’
Matthew pulled her close again. ‘Only that I am a prat, and I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you.’
‘That sounds serious,’ Anna gave a nervous laugh.
‘Not really.’ Matthew released her, and they both reached for their glasses. ‘I just forget how out of practice I am sometimes, at this relationship stuff.’
‘Want to talk about it?’
‘Let’s just say that every so often, and I’m only admitting to this once, I need a little reminder that just because I see the woman I—’ he coughed.
‘The woman you…’ Anna prompted.
‘Oh, all right, the woman I love talking to another man, it doesn’t mean she’s going to run off and leave me.’ He shook his head.
Anna smiled softly. ‘And would this other man have been Sid Porter, by any chance, or are we talking about someone a little closer to home?’
Matthew groaned. ‘I told you I was a prat.’
Putting her glass back down again, and taking Matthew’s out of his hand, Anna reached up on tiptoe and very gently kissed Matthew’s lips. ‘You’re not,’ she whispered. ‘You are the most wonderful, desirable, slightly overly possessive, gorgeous man I’ve met for a very, very long time.’ She kissed him again. ‘And even if I wasn’t in love with you, I’d still never, ever, fancy your brother!’
‘Is it selfish of me to feel complete relief you said that?’ Matthew said gruffly as they broke apart.
‘Given your – er – past, not at all. I think you said to me once that we all come with a little history. Yours just happens to be a bit more… local… these days, than it was.’ Anna put her arms around Matthew again. ‘But that doesn’t mean it’s going to encroach on our present. Or our future.’
‘You are wise beyond your years, my love,’ Matthew finally smiled. ‘I guess Jonathan’s getting to me again.’
‘Well, let me show you how much you needn’t worry,’ Anna pressed a little closer to Matthew.
‘What about Ellie?’ Matthew asked.
‘Asleep. Hours ago.’
‘Out here? Pat would have a coronary.’
‘Not to mention Charlotte,’ Anna replied. ‘Evan’s got a telescope he’s quite keen on using at the moment.’
‘So by the unlit fireside it is, then?’
‘Or we could risk it and sneak upstairs,’ Anna grinned. ‘And perhaps you’d fall asleep by my side.’ She brushed his lips playfully with her own. ‘I’ve missed you since you spent those few nights here when Merry was away.’
Regretfully breaking away, Matthew spoke. ‘When you kiss me like that, there is nothing that would please me more than sneaking upstairs with you, and, almost as wonderful, waking up beside you in the morning. But not tonight. Meredith’s got an early start in the morning, some art trip or something, and I’m being the taxi service.’
‘Fair enough.’ Anna conceded. ‘But consider it a standing invitation.’
‘Oh, believe me, I will.’ Breaking away from her to take a last mouthful of his wine, he smiled. ‘I love you. And nothing’s going to change that. And I’m sorry for… the other thing. Don’t hold it against me?’
‘I understand,’ Anna replied. ‘I love you too. Don’t give it another thought.’
As Anna walked Matthew to the gate, she thought about all that had happened over the past few days. When she went to bed that night, alone, she spent a long time trying to work out the tangled branches of the dysfunctional Carter relationships. Something told her it was going to take more than one night of lost sleep to get her head around it all.
32
‘So are you near to agreement on the FastStream thing, then?’ Anna asked on Friday evening as she poured them both a glass of wine.
‘Pretty much,’ Matthew sighed in appreciation of the wine and also the view of Anna’s legs beneath the hem of her short summer dress. ‘Just a few more things to iron out and then it’ll be official.’
‘I’m glad it’s going to be sorted soon,’ Anna said. She paused in her preparation of their dinner and wandered round to where Matthew was sitting at the kitchen table. Sliding her hands underneath the collar of his polo shirt, she kneaded his taut shoulders and neck, feeling the tension he’d been carrying with him for weeks. ‘You deserve a break from it all.’
Matthew exhaled and leaned back into her touch. It would be a while before he felt completely relaxed again, but she had a good way of getting him to forget about things. Grabbing hold of her hands, he pulled her onto his lap, capturing her mouth in a hard kiss and sliding his hands down her body and over her hips.
‘You are the best break from it all,’ he murmured. ‘You always feel so good.’ He ran one hand up her bare thigh and underneath the skirt of her dress, feeling the softness of her skin against his palm. ‘Every single warm, sexy inch of you…’
‘I thought you were starving,’ Anna teased, pressing closer to Matthew as she straddled his thighs.
‘Oh, but I am,’ he replied, his other hand slipping down the straps of her dress to find a breast and a tautening nipple. Leaning forward, he kissed her neck and progressed downwards, until Anna was arching her back in enjoyment.
‘Will dinner keep for a little while?’ Matthew murmured.
‘From where I’m sitting, it feels like it’ll have to,’ Anna replied. She reached down and unbuckled Matthew’s chunky leather belt, and then fumbled with the button on his jeans, until he stepped in to help her.
‘Isn’t this the most deliciously decadent thing?’ Matthew released Anna so she could wriggle out of her knickers.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever straddled a man on a kitchen chair before!’ Anna gave a slightly nervous giggle. ‘I hope my furniture can take it.’ She gasped as she lowered herself back down onto Matthew’s lap, feeling him rock-hard and rampant. ‘I hope I can take it…’ Then, as she began to move, and their breathing became synchronised, she temporarily lost the power of speech. Matthew’s expert fingers pressed, caressed and stroked Anna into panting, helpless ecstasy before he abandoned himself to her, thrusting deeply until, head thrown back, he came.
Sweaty and sated, they stayed joined for a few minutes afterwards, relishing their closeness despite the summer evening heat.
Matthew rested his head on Anna’s shoulder. ‘I think you should just move in with me and be done with it,’ he said gruffly. ‘Then we can do this a whole lot more often.’
‘I think the girls might have something to say about it if we made this a regular occurrence at the dinner table.’ Touched as Anna was, she knew all too well the ramblings of a post-coital male were not to be taken seriously.
Matthew grinned back. ‘Perhaps it would be entirely too tantalising to have you in the same house all the time with me. I’d never get anything done!’
‘One step at a time, my Romeo,’ Anna replied. ‘And for now, that step had better be dinner.’ She climbed gingerly off Matthew’s lap. ‘And perhaps another glass of wine?’
‘I’d better not,’ Matthew replied. ‘Flynn picked up his new car this afternoon, and it would be sod’s law if it broke down and they needed a lift back from the ski slope.’
‘Fair enough.’ Anna cast an eye around her kitchen; at least the lasagne she’d cooked wouldn’t have been harmed by a little extra time in the oven. Slotting the garlic bread in beside it, she poured them both large glasses of water and put the cork back into the bottle of red. A few minutes later they were tucking into dinner.
‘So Meredith’s flying out with you when school ends, and then you’re going on to Florida the day after the contracts are signed?’ Anna asked.
‘Yup. She’s going to spend six weeks with Tara and her bloke, Todd, I think his name is, and then come back in time for the start of the new term.’
‘You’re going to miss her, aren’t you?’ Anna said gently.
‘Apart from the odd week or two when she was younger, she’s been with me pretty much permanently since Tara and I split, so yes, I will miss her.’ Matthew shook his head. ‘But it’s good for her and Tara to spend some time together. There’s been precious little of that, and hopefully it’ll allow them to build some bridges.’
‘And what about you?’ Anna asked. ‘How are you at bridge building?’
Matthew shook his head ruefully. ‘I guess I walked into that one, didn’t I?’ He took a sip of his water. ‘Let’s just say I’ve got some way to go before I’m ready to start laying foundations, let along building any bridge that has Jonathan on the other side of it.’
‘But he is going to be back on board permanently, and on the board, isn’t he?’
‘According to Dad, yes.’ Matthew raised his eyes from where they had been fixed on his plate. ‘But there’s a huge part of me that is wishing Jonathan will completely fuck this deal up, and then get back to where he came from, leaving us all alone again. That’s completely stupid, isn’t it?’
Anna said nothing, sensing it was better to let Matthew talk.
‘Even though the FastStream deal is the absolute best thing to happen to the business in years, I’d chuck it all away in a heartbeat if it meant I didn’t ever have to see my brother again.’ He could feel the tension seeping back into him, as quickly as it had begun to dissipate, and battled against it. ‘But that’s not a discussion for tonight. I swore I was going to leave it all at work this evening. There’s plenty of time tomorrow to start fretting again.’
‘You know I’m here if you need me, don’t you?’ Anna smiled gently at him. ‘I like to think we know each other well enough now to offload occasionally.’
Matthew nodded. ‘I know. But anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a stubborn old bastard, and it’s best to let me deal with these things in my own time. You do understand, don’t you?’
‘Of course.’ But Anna still felt a prickle of unease. She’d seen the exhaustion on Matthew’s face over the past few weeks, more prominent since Jonathan had returned to the village. And she was well aware that the common consensus on Matthew’s failed marriage, apart from the obvious, was his inability to share his burdens with those who loved him. Putting her knife and fork together, she looked at the clock on the wall behind Matthew. It was half past ten already.
‘Everything all right?’ Matthew asked.
‘Yes, just wondering if you could switch off worried-dad mode yet!’ It was a weak joke, but, thankfully, it seemed to do the trick.
‘I told him to get her back by eleven,’ Matthew replied. ‘Perhaps I should get on home soon. Much as it pains me to eat and run, especially away from you.’
‘I understand,’ Anna said. ‘I’ve got an early morning tomorrow, anyway – Lizzie usually does most Saturdays but she’s off to see her daughter at uni for the weekend so I said I’d cover. Thankfully we shut at two so Mum and Dad are keeping Ellie until I knock off.’
‘Picking apples for me would be less stressful, if you fancy a career change,’ Matthew grinned. ‘We could always do with a few extra pairs of hands in the autumn.’
‘Thanks, but I wouldn’t want you to be accused of favouritism,’ Anna replied. ‘And as you can’t lay claim to the tea shop, as far as I know, it might be a safer bet.’
‘Well, my mother did once make the scones for the cream teas there, but that was before Ursula’s time,’ Matthew said, picking up his plate and taking it to the dishwasher along with Anna’s, ‘and seeing as that was also long before I was born, I think you’ll be safe enough from claims of nepotism!’
‘And as for picking your apples, I wouldn’t want you to think you could claim droit de seigneur whenever you felt like it,’ Anna laughed. ‘Let’s keep things purely personal rather than business, shall we?’
Matthew gave his heartbreaking grin. ‘Agreed. Although I wish I’d thought of that years ago… we’ve had some comely wenches working in the orchards over the years…’
Anna didn’t grace that with a response, but picked up the last of the dishes and turned to p
ut them in the dishwasher. As she did so, she heard Matthew’s phone buzzing. It had been stationed on the table next to the salt and pepper mills during dinner, and he was just about to move it as he cleared the plates away. Glancing at the screen, he frowned.
‘Number unknown,’ he said. ‘Probably a nuisance call.’ He looked apologetically at Anna and pressed the end call button. Almost immediately it rang again. ‘Well, they’re persistent, I’ll give them that!’
Anna saw the bottle of red wine sitting on the kitchen worktop and wondered if she dared risk another glass. After all, her mum and dad had Ellie for the night. She turned back around to gesture to Matthew for the water glasses and saw that he was ashen, all colour draining from his face as he listened intently to the call.
‘Yes. I see. I’ll be there right away. Thank you.’ As Anna watched, she saw his hand start to shake so badly he had trouble pressing the button to end the call.
‘What’s wrong?’ Crossing the kitchen, she went immediately to his side. ‘Was it someone from work?’
Matthew shook his head, unable to speak for a moment. ‘I have to get to the hospital,’ he said hoarsely.
33
Anna clung onto the front seat as Matthew took the corners of the winding roads at increasing speed between Little Somerby and the hospital in Bristol where Meredith had been airlifted.
‘I knew I should never have let her go out with that idiot boy!’ Matthew smacked the steering wheel in frustration as yet another slow driver pulled out from a side road. ‘If she dies… Christ, Anna…’
‘Just try to stay calm,’ Anna said. ‘It won’t help anyone if you end up in an ambulance too.’
Ignoring her, he swerved out to pass the meandering Fiat in front of him and cut back in without bothering to indicate.
‘She’s all I’ve got. What if…’
‘She’s in the best hands.’ Seeing his desperation, she was transported back to the night when James had been taken to hospital. Only then, there was no need for her to rush; he was past helping. She prayed they’d be at the hospital soon. Not only was she terrified about Meredith, she couldn’t wait to get out of Matthew’s car.
