Escape to the Country

by Sherlock, Alison

  ‘Yes, but I’m over thirty,’ said Tom with a sigh. ‘I can’t get away with acting like a stroppy teenager anymore.’

  Sam shrugged his shoulders. ‘We all have pressure valves that need releasing once in a while. Even someone as closed off and private as you.’

  ‘Is that what you think I am?’ Tom frowned. ‘Closed off?’

  Sam was quiet for a moment before he replied. ‘I think you had no one to teach you or show you how to behave when you were growing up. Most people let you down so you had to figure out everything on your own. And you’ve continued to battle everything on your own throughout your adult life as well. You never ask for help. And it’s tough to cope with everything alone. Especially now you haven’t got your gran.’

  Tom bowed his head and stared down at the crooked paving slabs beneath his feet. ‘It was the mention of cancer,’ he said. ‘It just brought it all back.’

  ‘I’m not sure the grief ever leaves us,’ said Sam, staring out across the garden. ‘It just hurts a little less with each passing year.’

  ‘I keep trying to hide mine,’ said Tom. ‘And look where that’s got me.’

  All alone, he added to himself.

  Sam shook his head. ‘I think Will’s definitely still running from his, if it makes you feel better. Even after all these years. There’s no manual for this kind of thing.’

  ‘It doesn’t, but thanks.’ Tom took a deep breath. ‘There’s something else. Something I have to tell you.’

  Sam frowned. ‘Okay. Go on.’

  Tom forced himself to speak. ‘I’ve got writers’ block and it’s bad, I’m afraid. I haven’t even started on the new album yet. I can’t think up a single lyric at the moment.’

  To his amazement, Sam sagged back on the bench in what appeared to be relief. ‘Is that all?’

  Tom was shocked by the lack of reaction. ‘What do you mean?’

  Sam laughed. ‘I thought you were going to tell me that Aunt Rose had made a pass at you or something.’ He looked at his friend. ‘For the record, I had realised about the album. That’s why I thought you might like coming out here to stay with us. Obviously I was wrong.’

  ‘No, you weren’t,’ said Tom, surprising both of them with his words.

  It was time to admit to himself that he had been enjoyed the majority of his stay at Willow Tree Hall. That despite the minor irritations he had begun to find a certain amount of peace there. ‘I’d like to stay for a while longer actually, if that’s okay with everyone. It is helping, the quiet here.’

  ‘Good. That’s what I thought,’ said Sam, before standing up. ‘I’ll talk to the family.’

  But Tom shook his head. ‘Nope. I’m old enough to apologise for myself.’

  He found Rose and Arthur in the drawing room.

  ‘I’m sorry for my rudeness just now,’ he said, standing in front of them both.

  ‘Dear boy, there’s really no need to apologise,’ said Arthur, waving away any concern with his hand. ‘We would hate to see you leave, of course, but nobody from this family will judge you if you do. You’ll always be welcome back here.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Tom. ‘And I was very much hoping it would be okay for me to stay on a while longer. If you’ll have me.’

  ‘Darling, of course we will!’ said Rose, leaping up to give him a hug. ‘And never apologise for having passion running through those veins.’ She leaned forward to whisper, ‘It makes the sex much more exciting!’

  As he gave her a smile to mask his blushes, he saw Arthur roll his eyes and realised that Rose hadn’t whispered quietly enough. Or perhaps that was deliberate.

  Next, he went to find Annie, who was washing up in the kitchen.

  ‘I’m sorry for my outburst,’ he told her. ‘I shouldn’t have been so rude.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she replied with a soft smile. ‘But there’s really no need for an apology.’ Then she hesitated before carrying on. ‘You know, if any family can help you with whatever it is that you’re struggling with, then this is the one. They’re a warm, loving bunch, who open their hearts and home up to anyone they think needs it. Including me.’

  Tom wondered what had happened to Annie to cause her such pain.

  ‘I had no one when I came here,’ she carried on softly. ‘Apart from Megan and Eleanor, of course, but even Eleanor was in London. I’ll bore you with my story another time, but trust them, these are good people.’

  He nodded. ‘I will. And I’m hoping to stay on for a while longer, if that’s okay with you.’

  Annie broke into a smile. ‘That’s great. And Sam will be really pleased as well. You’re a good friend to him.’

  Tom went up to his room, thinking how easily they’d forgiven him. And wondering what on earth he could do for the family to repay their kindness.

  Chapter 15

  The following morning, Eleanor woke up feeling sore from the long walk. But also rattled and unsettled. She had accidentally blabbed about losing her job to Tom. What were the chances that he was going to tell everyone? Quite high considering she had lost her temper with him.

  On reflection, he had seemed quite dozy when she had marched into the recording studio. She also remembered Annie saying that he was on really strong painkillers.

  That was no excuse for not showing up though, she reminded herself. But even so, the seed of doubt remained that he might have been telling her the truth.

  To add to her guilt, she had received a short text back from Theresa saying that whenever she had a story, she would be listening.

  Eleanor automatically scratched at the patch of eczema on her neck. What was she going to tell her friends? How was she going to even begin to let them know she had lied to them?

  She was feeling so muddled about everything and just couldn’t think straight.

  Thankfully, the long list of chores dealing with the animals helped keep her occupied for the morning. They were running low on food, so Eleanor had offered to head to the local farm shop where animal feed was plentiful and cheap, thanks to her mum’s employee discount.

  Unfortunately her mum didn’t have a car, so Eleanor had no choice but to use the rickety old bicycle.

  ‘It’s a nice day to be outside,’ her mum had told her.

  But the weather had other ideas and the sky was growing very dark, very quickly as Eleanor made her way through the village. She was just struggling up the hill on the other side when the first raindrop splattered down onto the rusty handlebars. She glanced upwards and quickly upped her speed as it grew dark around her. Then it really began to rain. Hard.

  She huffed and puffed as she tried to go even faster. The farm was just around the corner when suddenly something pinged around her ankles. Almost immediately, the bike came to an abrupt halt and she was catapulted out of the seat and onto a nearby grass verge.

  She was struggling to a sitting position when a car drove past, splashing through a muddy puddle that had quickly formed in a nearby pothole.

  ‘Thank you very much!’ she shouted at the car, her anger spilling into the air.

  Great, she thought staring down at her torn jeans. Another pair of ruined trousers. But at least it didn’t feel as if she had broken any bones.

  To her horror, the brake lights of the car suddenly lit up and the vehicle was put into reverse. Her anger quickly disappeared and she feared the driver had heard her.

  Oh well, she thought. Take a ticket and join the back of the queue. She’d reached her limit this month as to the number of people she could upset.

  ‘Come on then,’ she shouted as the driver got out. ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!’

  To her horror, it was Tom limping around the vehicle instead of some road-rage thug. Through the heavy rain, she could see him looking surprised but amused at her words.

  ‘Well, I’m still a bit crocked, what with my foot and all,’ he drawled. ‘But I can put up a pretty good fight if you’re in the mood for a scrap. What happened?’ he asked, giving her the
once-over. ‘Are you okay?’

  Eleanor decided that she was too wet, shocked and cold to be embarrassed. ‘I think the chain fell off or something,’ she told him, with a shrug. ‘I’m fine. I’ll live.’

  She struggled to stand up and realised that she was coated in mud.

  ‘I’m not sure your bike will survive,’ said Tom, glancing over at the crumpled steel mess that was left. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I’ll give you a lift. Where are you going?’

  ‘I can manage,’ she muttered.

  ‘How do you figure on doing that?’ he asked.

  The silence stretched out between them.

  ‘You think I should just leave you here in the pouring rain?’ he added.

  She could feel her hair plastered against her head by the heavy rain. ‘Okay,’ she said before realising how ungracious that sounded. ‘I’m going to the farm shop just down the road. Thanks.’

  He glanced down at her filthy mud-coated jeans. ‘Maybe I’d better put down some kind of cloth over the seat,’ said Tom. ‘I’m not sure Sam wants his car completely wrecked inside.’

  ‘I’m surprised to see you up and about so early,’ she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Just because he was being nice to her, didn’t mean that she wasn’t still cross about his no-show at the charity walk.

  ‘I’ve taken myself off the codeine,’ he told her, lifting the bicycle into the boot of the car before turning to face her. ‘It was making me sleep all day. Hence missing the walk yesterday, which I think I did apologise for.’

  Had he? She had been so cross, she couldn’t remember.

  Still feeling a little defensive, she asked, ‘Are you all right to drive with your foot?

  ‘I am now that I’ve stopped taking the heavy painkillers,’ he told her, slamming the boot shut. ‘Also it’s an automatic.’

  As the rain continued to pour down around them, there was a rumble of thunder overhead. A second later, a large grey blur dashed across the road and went straight underneath the car.

  They looked at each other in shock.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ asked Tom.

  They both bent down, peering underneath the car to discover a large, hairy, grey and white dog shivering, his big brown eyes wide with terror.

  ‘Poor thing,’ said Tom, reaching out his hand.

  The rain had plastered his T-shirt to his torso and Eleanor was disgruntled to find herself staring at his toned stomach.

  To distract herself, she looked around. ‘I wonder where it came from.’

  They tried to coax the dog out, but in the end Tom had to lie down on the wet road to reach hold of it by the scruff of its neck.

  ‘Come on, big fella,’ said Tom in a soft tone as the dog was slowly pulled out from under the car.

  ‘There’s no collar,’ said Eleanor. ‘I wonder if he slipped his lead whilst on a walk.’

  But on closer inspection, the dog looked filthy, unbrushed, and possibly underfed as well. Definitely unloved.

  ‘It looks more likely to be a stray,’ she said.

  ‘I agree,’ said Tom.

  He crouched down and held the trembling dog against him as the rain continued to splatter down.

  Eleanor thought that was quite brave considering he didn’t know if the dog would snap or bark at him. But the stray did neither, just dug in even deeper into Tom’s arms.

  Tom looked up at Eleanor. ‘What do you think we should do with it?’

  ‘We’d better take him to my mum,’ said Eleanor. ‘She deals with all the waifs and strays around here.’

  She was reluctant to add any more animals to the growing menagerie at home, but the dog was clearly in trouble and so there wasn’t really any other choice.

  ‘Okay. Well, let’s do that then,’ Tom agreed.

  It was only when he reopened the boot that they remembered the mangled bicycle.

  The dog was still shaking as it leaned up against him. ‘He’s obviously pretty freaked out,’ said Tom. ‘Do you think you should sit on the back seat next to him?’

  Eleanor grimaced. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘It’s not like my jeans can get any worse at this stage.’

  ‘And I’m sure Sam can always get the car valet cleaned tomorrow,’ said Tom.

  She got in the back seat of the car and the dog leapt in beside her. At another rumble of thunder, it snuggled in close to her. The dog smelt pretty bad and was soaking wet, but she still put her arm around it and gave it a reassuring stroke.

  ‘You poor thing,’ she told him softly. ‘You’re safe with us now, okay?’

  ‘So what’s the deal with your mum?’ asked Tom, after she had given him directions. ‘Is she a vet?’

  Eleanor shook her head. ‘No. Just an animal lover.’

  He looked at her in the mirror for a second before concentrating on the road.

  She wondered what he was thinking. And how she could possibly bring up the subject of her lack of job before he spilled her secret to her mum.

  Because once that secret was revealed, chances were all the others would come rushing out to follow it as well.

  Chapter 16

  Unfortunately for Eleanor, the journey went by too quickly and they arrived with the stray dog at The Forge before she had a chance to say anything to Tom about her job.

  ‘Look, you don’t have to come in,’ she said quickly. ‘I mean, we can handle the dog from here.’

  More than anything, she was desperate for him not to see what kind of house she lived in.

  But Tom was already shaking his head. ‘No, that’s fine,’ he told her. ‘I feel a kind of responsibility, seeing as he dashed under my car.’

  He clearly wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He picked up the dog and struggled to carry it down the path. She noticed that he was still hobbling despite the fact that he didn’t have his crutches with him.

  As they reached the front door, Eleanor tried once more to put him off. ‘It’s a bit of a mess in there,’ she warned him.

  That was an understatement, she thought, as she pushed against the front door and Tom followed.

  A couple of cats watched warily as they went inside, which caused the dog in Tom’s arms to shake even more.

  ‘Mum!’ she called out. ‘I’ve got another stray for you.’

  ‘In here!’ came the shout from the kitchen.

  As they went into the back of the house, Eleanor’s heart sank. The kitchen was a total muddle. Washing-up was piled in the sink. There was animal feed and water bowls everywhere. Papers and books scattered all around the place. And, to top it all, there was a donkey peering in through the window from the overgrown garden outside.

  What must he think of me? thought Eleanor in despair. Of us?

  She glanced at Tom, who, to her surprise, appeared to be taking the world’s messiest house in his stride. At least he had the decent manners not to look down his nose at the place. But he was probably used to a fancy penthouse and would be horrified by it all, she thought. To be honest, she was pretty horrified most days.

  Her mum smiled at Tom as he was introduced, completely oblivious that he was one of the most famous singers in the world. She was more focussed on the dog as she placed it on the kitchen table to check it over.

  Another goal for food hygiene, thought Eleanor in despair, as she looked at the dog’s muddy paws.

  But her mum was in her animal zone. ‘Hello,’ she said, stroking his fur gently. ‘So, who do you belong to?’

  The dog licked her hand in tentative response.

  ‘There was no collar,’ said Eleanor.

  Her mum nodded. ‘Right. Let’s give you a once-over and see what we find,’ she said, beginning to feel the dog over for any injuries.

  ‘What kind of dog is it, do you think?’ asked Tom.

  ‘It’s an English setter,’ said her mum. ‘And in a pretty bad way, I’m afraid. Matted fur. Underfed. I can feel his ribs. Poor thing.’

  Watching her mother’s soft face and adoring gaze as she looked on the poor
dog, Eleanor braced herself for yet another addition to the home. She glanced over at Tom, but thankfully he appeared to be relaxed about the state of the place.

  *

  In fact, Tom was actually pretty shocked at how Eleanor’s mother lived.

  He’d imagined that she’d been brought up in some kind of footballer’s wives mansion or something. What with her fancy clothes and slightly snooty air. But this rundown cottage filled with all sorts of animals was a surprise. A massive understatement of a surprise.

  Appearances could most definitely be deceiving, he reminded himself.

  Eleanor had disappeared to change out of her muddy trousers. When she came back downstairs, he noticed that she had fixed the mascara that had run underneath one eye and that her hair was smoothed back into a ponytail. He wondered why she felt the need to look so immaculate all the time.

  She was in stark contrast to her mother whose clothes had seen better days. She seemed slightly scatty but was kind and gentle as she felt around the dog’s body. ‘I can’t feel any breaks or ticks,’ she said. ‘You should take him to see Ben to find out if he’s got a microchip.’ She looked up and smiled at Tom and he realised she didn’t have a clue who he was. He was thankful for the anonymity, which was a rarity these days.

  ‘The vet’s only down the road,’ said Eleanor, looking at Tom. ‘I can deal with it, if you need to be somewhere. We can always call a taxi.’

  ‘No worries. I have the car,’ he told her. ‘I can take you.’

  He found himself reluctant to leave this scene quite yet.

  ‘That’s good,’ said her mum, nodding. ‘We still need that pet food from the farm shop, if you wouldn’t mind.’

  Her mum opted to stay behind so once more it was Eleanor and the dog sat in the back seat. She quickly purchased some pet food at the farm shop before they headed onto the vet’s.

  As he drove, he asked, ‘So your mum takes in strays?’

  ‘Yes.’ He heard the strain in her voice. There was a short silence before she added, ‘Ever since my dad left us.’