Enzo welcomed Anthony, Carmel and Posy warmly as they walked in at seven on the dot.
‘You are looking well, my friend!’ he exclaimed.
‘That’s a big lie,’ Anthony said, ‘I’m looking old. But thanks anyway. You’re not looking too bad yourself.’
‘I’m looking fat,’ Enzo said with a rich chuckle. ‘Too fond of tasting my own food.’
‘It’s harder to keep the waistline trim at our age, isn’t it?’ Anthony said.
‘Sadly, yes,’ Enzo replied. ‘Your table is this way…’ he added, gesturing for them to follow him. ‘Average season,’ he added as they walked through the restaurant. ‘Not too bad, not too good.’
‘At least they won’t get relegated,’ Anthony replied.
Enzo laughed. ‘We hope. The season is almost over but there’s time and, with that team, any dismal outcome is possible.’
‘Even they couldn’t get relegated from the middle of the table with two games to go,’ Anthony said with a laugh.
Posy caught her mum’s eye and grinned. Enzo would be too busy to spend much time at their table talking about football so they could indulge a few minutes now. Any longer than that and Carmel’s eyes would start to glaze over anyway, and Anthony recognised the signs of that well enough after all these years.
‘I’ll bring some olives and bread,’ Enzo said. ‘On the house while you look at the menu.’ He pulled out a chair to seat Carmel, and then did the same for Posy. ‘What can I get you to drink?’
‘We’ll take a bottle of whatever wine you have that’s good – I trust your judgement,’ Carmel said. ‘And perhaps some water for the table so that my husband can pace himself.’
Anthony laughed lightly as he sat down. ‘Make that two bottles – I’m almost certain we’ll get through the first before we’ve finished the starter. What?’ he added as Carmel frowned at him. ‘There are three of us drinking it!’
‘I think Dad has a point,’ Posy said.
‘On your head,’ Carmel said to Anthony. ‘You’ll be fit for nothing later.’
‘And we don’t need to hear any more about that,’ Posy cut in, laughing.
Enzo went to get their olives, bread and wine and Posy got comfortable, letting the ambience of the restaurant – the warm smells of herby Mediterranean cuisine, the gentle hum of conversation, the clinking of glasses and cutlery on china, the soft lighting – chase away the stresses of the week. She’d done the first quarter of her notice period at work, and knowing that she was leaving hadn’t made her job any easier. There were still deadlines to meet and clients to please, and on top of all that she had to make sure nothing was left hanging. All ends had to be tied up and all instructions had to be fulfilled or passed on to a colleague so they could do the work in her stead.
Along with all that, she’d spent the evenings working on Asa’s designs, job-hunting and trying to fend off Marella’s repeated nagging that she ought to go with her to another themed party because it was going to be the party of the year – this time it was a Star Wars fancy dress party. Posy couldn’t think of a single thing she’d rather do less than go to a Star Wars fancy dress party, which sounded even worse than the nineties-themed party that Marella had tried to get her to before, although Marella was very excited about dressing up as Princess Leia. Even Posy pointing out that almost all the women would dress as Princess Leia didn’t dampen her enthusiasm.
There were other friends Marella could take who would love it, and Marella agreed that was true, but it wouldn’t be the same without her very best friend. At least this weekend Posy’s dad had given her a perfect excuse to avoid any kind of unwanted social event.
‘I’m glad to see Enzo’s keeping busy,’ Anthony said, looking around. Every table was occupied – though it was only a small restaurant by most standards. It had a reputation locally, though, which was why it had remained popular throughout the years it had been open.
‘I’m sure Enzo is too,’ Carmel said.
‘I’ve missed you both so much,’ he said.
‘We’ve missed you. One day, we might even persuade you to take a job that lets you stay at home for more than three weeks a year.’
‘I’m sure you’d be begging them to take me back again if I spent that much time at home.’
‘We’re used to you being away,’ Carmel said, smiling. ‘But it doesn’t mean we have to like it.’
‘I suppose I ought to be glad you don’t like it; means you like me.’
Posy laughed. ‘Steady on, Dad. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!’
Anthony grinned. Enzo returned with their nibbles and wine.
‘Enjoy!’ he said, leaving them with a flourish.
‘Oh, we will,’ Anthony said, reaching for an olive. ‘I’ve been waiting months for my Enzo fix – I’m going to enjoy every moment of it!’
* * *
They were well into their second bottle of wine when the conversation turned back to Posy’s future. They’d briefly touched on the subject earlier at home and Anthony knew most of the particulars from phone and Skype calls with Posy and her mum, but they still hadn’t really got to the crux of the matter – or at least Anthony didn’t seem to think they had. Which was what, exactly, Posy was going to do next. Her father seemed to be of a similar opinion to Carmel in that he thought it was a good time to change direction, but Posy was finding it harder to agree.
‘I’ve got to work, Dad,’ Posy said.
‘We’d have your back for a while if you didn’t,’ he replied.
‘That’s what I said,’ Carmel put in.
Posy reached for her glass and shook her head slowly. ‘I’m not living off you. I’m far too old to be doing that and it doesn’t seem fair to place that burden on you.’
‘You wouldn’t have to live off us. We’d just be giving you some support while you get things off the ground – it’s not the same at all.’ Anthony looked to Carmel for agreement and she nodded.
‘I said that too, but you know what Miss Independent is like. I said she could even work in the pottery with me.’
‘I can’t see that lasting long,’ he replied doubtfully.
‘Thank you!’ Posy exclaimed. ‘That’s what I’ve been saying! I love that you’ve offered, Mum, but I just don’t think making pottery is me. I’d perhaps do it for a few weeks or even months but I couldn’t do it forever.’
‘It’s too boring?’ Carmel raised her eyebrows as she sipped at her wine.
‘Of course not! I just don’t think I have the patience for it. And like I said, I don’t have the deftness of touch you have either.’
‘I can teach you—’
‘I know you can but I still wouldn’t be as good as you and I’d worry all the time that I was ruining your reputation by turning out sub-standard ware. It’s better if I stay away from it – at least, in the long term. Maybe I could haul buckets of slip around, fill the kiln, sweep up… but that would be about my limit really.’
‘And that’s no long-term solution for someone of your talent,’ Anthony said. He turned to Carmel. ‘I have to agree with Posy on this one. What about the people in Somerset? Didn’t you say Asa was going to give Posy some work?’
‘Largely unpaid,’ Posy replied for her. ‘He doesn’t have much money to spare – it’s more of a favour than anything else.’
‘Could it be a springboard to your own consultancy?’
Posy gave a slight shrug. ‘I’ve wondered that myself. Possibly… but I think I’d need more than just that to get going. The way I see it, the problem is it has to be all or nothing. I have to give up the job search and go for it, or I have to get a job and forfeit having the time to set up anything for myself.’
‘Does it have to be that way?’
‘I think to do it effectively it does.’
‘Hmm…’
Anthony was pensive for a moment. Carmel and Posy waited patiently; it was clear he was working something through.
‘What if we loaned you the money to set yourself up?’ he a
sked finally.
‘Absolutely not,’ Posy said.
‘Why not?’
‘I’m not taking anything from you. I do this myself or not at all.’
‘There’s no shame in accepting a little help,’ Carmel said. ‘I’ve told you that already.’
‘I know, and you already help me enough. I live with you for a lot less than I’d pay to live in a flat of my own. It’s the reason I have any savings to fall back on at all.’
‘Then use your savings,’ Anthony said.
‘I can’t – they’re for a deposit on my own place.’
‘Don’t you think it’s worth putting that off for a bit to do something that might put you exactly where you want to be for the rest of your life? Surely, to wait for a while to get your flat and set up in business instead makes more sense long term?’
‘But I can’t continue to live with you and Mum until I’m an old lady.’
‘I’m sure it won’t be that long,’ Carmel said patiently. ‘Anyway, I like having you there; you’re company when your dad is away, so it’s no hardship for me.’
‘I know…’ Posy gave her a small smile. She knew her mum loved having her there and, the truth was, she loved being there, but it wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. You didn’t spend your adult life living with your parents – you marched out into the world on your own. She was very aware she was already running late in that regard, and if she didn’t move out in the next couple of years it was going to start looking a bit ridiculous.
She was spared the necessity of a reply by the return of Enzo.
‘I think you need more wine,’ he said playfully as he removed the empty bottle and regarded the remaining one that was less than half full.
‘If you can roll us all into a taxi at the end of the night we’ll happily order another,’ Anthony said.
‘No problem!’ Enzo cried, laughing. ‘For you, anything!’
‘To sell me more wine you mean…’
‘That too!’ Enzo agreed, his laughter louder still. ‘I’ll get you one more and I bet you have no problem drinking it.’
‘That’s the problem right there,’ Anthony said wryly, ‘we’d have no issue drinking it whatsoever.’
Posy smiled politely, but maybe she’d leave the getting drunk to her parents. She had no problem with getting drunk, per se, but the renewed debate about her future had put her in a sober mood, and her sober mood needed a sober mind to work it through.
The more she thought about it, the more she realised her mum and dad might be right. Carmel had said it, and Posy had given it a little consideration, but her dad saying it too inclined her to make those thoughts more serious. Perhaps it was time to take that leap. She still didn’t know how to do it – or even where to start – but perhaps just acknowledging it was the first step.
Chapter Thirteen
Posy was giggling. She’d spent the last twenty minutes, on and off, giggling. She ought to have been offended at some of the judgements Asa had passed on her design suggestions, but it was hard not to find it all funny when those judgements were delivered with such wit.
‘So no to leather,’ she said once she’d managed to control herself again. She put down the mood board she’d been holding up to her webcam and rifled through her pile for something that she knew was completely different from the New York-businessman’s-penthouse sort of style she’d put together. From the look on Asa’s face, she’d obviously got that one very wrong.
‘Unless it’s gracing a bulging codpiece then no.’
‘I’ve got something softer,’ she said. ‘Still quite sleek and a bit manly but lighter woods – a bit more Scandinavian.’
Asa folded his arms. ‘Are you just going to show me the IKEA catalogue now?’
‘No!’ Posy giggled again. She held up another mood board, characterised by clean lines, light colours and lots of natural woods.
‘We’re going in the right direction,’ Asa said thoughtfully. ‘I could see that working in my little den. Why didn’t you show me this one first – it would have saved a lot of time and my eyeballs a lot of offence.’
‘It’s the complete opposite of what you have now, that’s why,’ Posy said. ‘It was more of a last-minute backup if I’m honest. And it didn’t seem to fit the brief as well as the other schemes.’
‘There you go – my brief was terrible then. The problem is, I know I want change; I’m just not very good at working out what that is and how to get it. I want things to be different, but I keep going back to the old things I know. It’s honestly quite infuriating.’
‘That sounds familiar,’ Posy said with a wry smile.
‘I’m stuck in my ways, that’s the problem. Too many years in the old routine has made me lazy and a bit scared.’
‘Scared of what?’
Asa paused, for the briefest second, and then shook his head. ‘I have absolutely no idea!’
He started to laugh, but Posy couldn’t banish the notion that he’d been about to open up to her, reveal something personal and painful, and now he was laughing just to fend it off. She almost wished he wouldn’t because she couldn’t help but feel it might do him good to share it.
‘Well, how about I work with this aesthetic and do something a bit more detailed for you. Is there anything on this board that’s an absolute no?’
‘Perhaps you can make it a little more manly?’
Posy frowned. ‘You mean manly like in all those other schemes that you hated?’
Asa smiled. ‘OK, fair point. You know what, do what you feel and present it to me and, when you do, make me go with it. Perhaps that’s just what I need – someone to give me change and make me like it.’
‘I couldn’t do that, and I wouldn’t because you might end up hating it down the line and then you’ve spent all that money on it. I’ll draw up some things and we’ll go through them together, and then you can go away and take some time to try and picture your house that way. Then, when you’re confident one way or another, we’ll go from there. Could that work for you?’
‘You really are good at this, aren’t you? I can’t imagine what your boss will do without you when you’re gone.’
‘I’m sure she’ll get on just fine,’ Posy said with a small smile. ‘She’s got a great team there, but I will miss them.’
‘I’m sure you will. I’m sorry.’
‘For what? It’s not your fault.’
‘I know, but I’m sorry anyway. It’s hard to lose something you thought would be your life.’
‘Oh, I never thought it would be my life, though I did think I’d be there for a lot longer. Perhaps until I’d found a bloke and had kids and they’d grown up or something.’
‘That is a long time,’ Asa said.
Posy raised her eyebrows and he laughed.
‘Not that I think for a minute it would take you a long time to find a man! I meant the other bit.’
‘Actually, the man bit is proving tricky too.’
‘You and me both,’ Asa said. ‘Why can’t you find one? You’re young and pretty and clever.’
‘I’m also too fussy for my own good.’
‘I’m not. I’d have anyone but I’m still single. What does that say about me?’
Posy laughed. ‘I’m sure that’s not true!’
‘It is – I’m desperate! I’m on Tinder every night swiping right like my finger’s in spasm, but nobody wants to come to deepest darkest Somerset to meet up with a country bumpkin like me.’
‘I’m sure that’s not true either,’ Posy said with a smile. ‘And you’re handsome and funny, so I’m sure someone would be willing to make the sacrifice – even if it was a sacrifice, which it’s not.’
‘Perhaps when we’ve finished our remodelling I can post photos of my lovely home to tempt someone to join me here,’ he said. ‘If I can’t sell myself, perhaps my house can sell me.’
‘You can sell yourself just fine, Asa. We both can – we just have to be patient, I suppose.’
‘You’re not exactly ancient.’
‘Oh, I feel it some mornings, my love. These days my arse takes a whole minute longer to get out of bed than the rest of me.’
‘Honestly!’ Posy smiled, but it made her sad that he felt that way. Her uncle was funny, stylish and good-looking. But something had knocked him sideways. Perhaps one of these days, as she got to know him better, she’d find out what it was and she’d be able to help him through it.
‘Going back to the design, I’m going to ask you for another favour,’ he said, ‘and I know you’ve done so many for me already that it’s probably an outrageous imposition, but would you project manage for me?’
Posy smoothed out a frown. ‘Oversee the work? It’d be quite hard to do from here.’
‘I realise that. Which is why I was going to suggest that you come and stay with us for a while. I mean, you said you were going to have time on your hands when you finish your notice period, and I realise that you have to find another job, but perhaps you could search from here rather than London and pop over on the train if you get an interview? Would that be too difficult and expensive? Perhaps if I helped with the travelling expenses? It’d help me, and it would be a wonderful excuse for us to spend more time together. Now that I’ve found I have a very lovely niece, I’d like to get to know her a bit better.’
Posy smiled, warmth spreading through her at his words. ‘I couldn’t take that from you, and I’m sure I could manage the odd train fare; I just don’t know how practical it would be regardless of cost. How long do you think I’d be staying for?’
‘Well, how long do you think you’d need to stay for?’
‘I’m not sure. I suppose it would depend on what designs you choose and how complicated they are to implement.’
‘In that case, I might be tempted to choose the one that takes a very long time,’ Asa said with a smile. ‘You’re the most fun I’ve had in ages and you’d certainly brighten the place up. In fact, you ought to be the design feature I install. Can you clone yourself and let me have the copy?’
The Little Orchard on the Lane: An absolutely perfect and uplifting romantic comedy Page 13
