Escape to the Country

by Sherlock, Alison

  ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m being silly,’ said Annie, with a shrug.

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Eleanor.

  Annie blew out a long sigh. ‘This whole pressure to be a good countess is so hard. You’re the one that thought up the charity walk. But I’m not sure the fete will be any good when you’re not around to help.’

  ‘Gee, thanks a bunch,’ muttered Megan.

  Annie looked at her friend. ‘You know what I mean. You’re so busy with the kids. I’ve got the wedding to organise and the family to take care of. And Eleanor will go back to London. And then it’s all on me to make this fete be the best it can be.’

  Suddenly Eleanor was sharply reminded how low Annie’s self-esteem was. Her teenage years had been particularly bad and had wrecked what little confidence she had ever had.

  ‘But I can help,’ she said, stepping forward to give Annie a hug of reassurance when she realised that Megan was shaking her head at her.

  ‘Sometimes you don’t answer our texts until the next day,’ Annie said gently.

  ‘Well, that’s going to change from now on,’ Eleanor replied, in a firm tone.

  And she realised that she meant it.

  Now that she had decided that she couldn’t possibly write the story on Tom, she had some changes to make in her life. She was so sick of lying. So tired of her make-believe world. It was time to be honest. It was time for the truth. She owed that to her friends, regardless of how it would affect her burgeoning friendship with Tom.

  She took a deep breath. This was it. The moment she had been dreading. ‘Actually, I’m not sure I will be going back to London after all,’ she began.

  Annie frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’

  Eleanor took a beat. ‘I lost my job.’

  ‘Oh no!’ They both rushed forward to give her a hug. She let herself be smothered by their support before forcing herself to step backwards. She looked at her friends.

  ‘It’s okay. They’re downsizing and all that. It’s rubbish, but I’ll live. But there’s something else I need to tell you. The job that I just lost. I lied about what I really did for a living. And to Mum too. Nobody knew the truth.’

  Megan and Annie looked at each other before staring back at her.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ said Megan. ‘You weren’t a call girl or something like that, were you?’

  ‘What? No!’ said Eleanor. ‘I still worked in the media but instead of working at the Money Chronicle, I was a journalist on a celebrity magazine.’ She picked up a piece of bubble wrap that they had been using and played with it, avoiding eye contact with them both.

  The silence stretched out between them all. Eleanor automatically scratched her neck as she waited for them to respond.

  ‘But you were always going on about all that financial stuff,’ said Megan, looking confused.

  ‘It started off as some silly lie and then I just didn’t know how to stop it,’ said Eleanor. ‘I should have told you before now.’

  ‘How many years have you been lying to us?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Eight,’ muttered Eleanor.

  ‘Eight!’ Annie was boggle-eyed. ‘The whole time you were in London? Why didn’t you say something?’

  Finally, Eleanor looked up at them. ‘Because I didn’t want to let you down. You thought I had this amazing career, but I didn’t. You two are the ones that have made it. Not me. I’m a failure.’ She bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears.

  ‘You’re not a failure if you managed to keep a job in London for that long,’ said Annie, shaking her head.

  ‘So which magazine was it?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Hot Gossip!’ Eleanor told her with a heavy sigh.

  Megan’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Blimey. I thought you were going to say Elle or something fancy like that, especially with your designer outfits. And you used to do what for them?’

  Eleanor took a deep breath. ‘I used to get the latest scoop on whichever celebrity was behaving badly. Not very nice work, I admit, snooping around. You see…’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Annie, suddenly springing back into life. ‘Is this why you’ve been coming up to the hall all the time? To get a, what was it, a scoop on Tom?’

  Megan turned to look at Eleanor, equally aghast. ‘Oh my god! Is it?’

  Eleanor shook her head. ‘No! I didn’t even know he was staying here, did I?’

  Annie’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I thought you came back here to see us!’

  ‘I did!’

  But Annie was too upset and carried on. ‘I thought it was so nice that you wanted to make up for all that time you’ve missed with us. But we were just a story, weren’t we?’

  ‘No! It’s not like that!’ said Eleanor. ‘Look, I messed up. I know that.’

  ‘Are you going to write a story about Tom?’ asked Annie, glaring at her. ‘Because let me tell you something, he’s a good guy. He doesn’t need any more of those paparazzi lies.’

  Eleanor was shaking her head so hard she thought it might fall off her shoulders. ‘No. There’s no story. I wouldn’t do that now.’

  ‘What do you mean now?’ said Megan, frowning. ‘Does that mean you had thought about writing a story about him?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ said Eleanor, gulping.

  ‘I don’t know if I can believe you any more,’ said Annie.

  They both looked so horrified at her that, with a sob, Eleanor grabbed her handbag and ran out of the back door. She saw the bicycle but ignored it. She couldn’t take it now. Not after the way her friends had looked at her. So she walked down the long driveway, the tears streaming down her face.

  She had been struggling by herself for so long that she had forgotten to look after her friends as well. Her lies had become more and more tangled and now the truth was just one big mess. There had been the possibility that she could still write a story about Tom. But she knew now that she could never do that. Regardless of the fact that it would get her back to London, she knew it was wrong. And her friends would hate her even more.

  In that moment she knew that losing her job was nothing compared to the pain she felt that she had lost her dearest friends forever.

  Chapter 20

  Eleanor finally staggered through the front door of The Forge an hour later after the long walk home.

  ‘Hi.’ Her mum turned around from the kitchen table and was aghast to see her daughter’s upset face. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’

  ‘Oh Mum! I’ve made a mess of everything!’ Eleanor burst into tears again. Would she ever be able to stop crying?

  ‘Come and sit down,’ said her mum, leading her over to the table. ‘What’s the matter? Is this to do with your ex-boyfriend?’

  ‘It’s all of it, Mum.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I lost my job. Restructuring or something.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her mum looked concerned. ‘Well, I’m sure there are plenty of other positions out there for a wonderful journalist like yourself. You’ll see, they’ll be chomping at the bit to have you work for their newspapers.’

  Eleanor shook her head. ‘But I’m not a wonderful journalist, Mum. I never told you the truth.’

  Now her mum was looking shocked. ‘So what is the truth?’ she asked slowly.

  Eleanor took a deep breath. ‘I work, I mean I used to work, for this awful gossip magazine. You know, one of those cheap, tacky ones that are just filled with rubbish about celebrities. I took the job to further my career but that was eight years ago and now I’ve ended up with nothing.’

  Her mum took a deep breath. ‘Eight years?’

  Eleanor nodded. ‘I know. I was too embarrassed to tell you. You were so proud of me and I knew you wouldn’t be if you knew the truth. And then time went on and on and it just became too big a lie.’

  Her Mum frowned. ‘So it was a gossip magazine? Like the ones…’ Her voice trailed off.

  Eleanor gulped away more tears ‘The ones that wrote about dad all those yea
rs ago. I’m so sorry. It was the only job I could get at the time. But the last thing I ever wanted to do was upset you. So I kept on lying.’

  Her mum reached out to stroke her face. ‘Darling, I love you. I’ll always be proud of you, regardless of what job you have.’ She took a beat. ‘I suppose the gardening leave was all a lie as well?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Her mum gave her a soft smile. ‘I did wonder, what with you having the last month off and all.’

  Eleanor was shocked. It turned out she hadn’t really fooled her mum after all. And that her mother’s reaction to her job hadn’t been as bad as she had feared all those years.

  She shook her head. ‘It wasn’t wonderful at all though. My fabulous, glamorous life in London? I didn’t really know anyone. I just bought lots of clothes to make me feel better, but even they didn’t really make a difference. I actually felt alone quite a bit of the time. Do you know what I mean?’

  Her mum nodded. ‘I think I do. Of course, I’ve been lucky enough to have friends like Ben here in the village and I’ve got the animals.’

  ‘I don’t think I really had any real friends in London,’ said Eleanor, with a sigh. ‘I did go out all the time but it was always for work. I was lonely, even with Lucas. I don’t even know how I ended up with him. He liked the exclusive tickets I had access to. But there were no feelings there.’ She stared across the kitchen as if realising the truth for the very first time. ‘We never laughed.’

  ‘Well, that is sad,’ said her mum, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

  ‘But the worst of it is that I told Annie and Megan the truth,’ said Eleanor.

  ‘Well, that’s a good thing,’ said her mum, looking pleased. ‘They’re your true friends so it’s important to be honest with them.’

  The tears began to fall once more. ‘No, it’s not. They think I’m here to do a story on Tommy King and that I’ve betrayed them.’

  ‘Tommy who?’

  ‘You know Tom who brought the stray dog? Well, he’s actually a famous singer. Really famous.’

  ‘Is he really?’ Her mum looked surprised. ‘Well, I’d have never known. He was ever so nice.’

  ‘Yes, I think he truly is,’ groaned Eleanor. ‘And that makes it all the worse.’

  ‘Look, they’re your best friends. They’ll understand once they’ve calmed down.’

  But Eleanor wasn’t sure. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered. ‘You should have seen their faces, Mum. They were really cross.’

  ‘They’ll come round,’ said her mum gently. ‘You might just need to give them a little time.’

  Eleanor nodded, thinking privately that it might take a very long time indeed for her friends to forgive her.

  *

  Tom found himself looking forward to walking Dylan around Willow Tree Hall each day. It was beginning to feel like home to him.

  Except he didn’t have a village to call home. Or anywhere really. He’d run away more times than he could count from every foster home.

  Now he felt free and rudderless, drifting towards who knew what. It was both unsettling and exciting at the same time.

  Determined to just focus on the present for now, he needed to finalise his set for Glastonbury. So he went in search of Sam and found him in his study.

  On the desk was an iPad, blaring out music.

  ‘What do you think?’ asked Sam, nodding at the speakers. ‘It’s Hazy Memory’s latest album.’

  ‘It sounds great,’ lied Tom. It was a symphony of loud guitar riffs and general wailing, none of which were any good.

  Sam’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘Honestly?’

  Tom cleared his throat. ‘It’s not really my style.’

  ‘I’m not sure it’s anyone’s style of music these days,’ said Sam with a sigh. ‘I don’t know where the band goes from here, to be honest.’

  Dylan, who had followed Tom into the study, began to howl in time to the music. Tom and Sam both burst into laughter.

  ‘Nice to see Dylan agreeing with us,’ said Tom, sitting down on a box nearby. ‘Are the band coming to Glastonbury with us?’

  Sam shook his head. ‘No. Been there, done that many decades ago. I’m not sure they’re cool enough these days. But they’re talking about coming here next month for a while. God help us all. I must remember to warn Annie.’ He looked up at Tom. ‘Will you still be here?’

  ‘I’m not sure yet,’ he replied.

  The truth was that he really wanted to stay but how peaceful would it be once a rock band descended on them all? Maybe then he would move back to his flat. After all, Cranley wasn’t his home any more than Willow Tree Hall was.

  ‘Well, the more the merrier,’ said Sam with a shrug. ‘You know the room is yours as long as you want.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Tom hadn’t had a room in anyone’s home since he stayed with his gran many years ago. ‘Have you got a spare minute to go over my set?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Sam. ‘Let’s head on over to the studio and run through everything. I’ll grab a Diet Coke for us both on the way.’

  Tom wandered outside on his own and found Annie curled up on the wooden seat. The sun was beating down, despite the horizon being dotted with heavy rain clouds. To his surprise, she was reading Hot Gossip! Magazine.

  ‘What are you reading that trash for?’ he asked, somewhat bemused.

  But he blanched as Annie looked up at him. Her eyes were red and she had obviously been crying.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ he asked her.

  She nodded. ‘It’s fine,’ she told him. ‘Just having a bad day. This really is a load of rubbish, isn’t it?’

  He took the magazine from her and flicked through the pages. ‘Yeah. But a lot of people like to read about this kind of stuff. I guess they want to know that anybody famous can live a more exciting life than they can. For some people it’s an escape from their own struggles.’

  Annie nodded thoughtfully. ‘What do you think of the people that write these articles?’

  Tom was a bit surprised at her question. ‘Well, I guess everyone’s gotta make a living somehow,’ he told her, with a shrug.

  ‘I guess,’ muttered Annie, her forehead creasing into a frown.

  Sam came outside, holding two cans of Diet Coke. ‘Hey,’ he said, also realising that Annie looked upset. ‘You okay?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Is this to do with that silly row with Eleanor which you won’t tell me about?’ He crouched down in front of her. ‘Go and see her. Thrash out whatever it is that you’ve argued about and move on. She’s one of your oldest friends. I’m sure you can work through it.’

  He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and Tom decided to wander away, leaving them in their embrace.

  As he walked, he was still trying to work out what Eleanor and her friends could have possibly disagreed about.

  Chapter 21

  Eleanor was trying very hard to keep busy to stop her from worrying about her friends. She had spent the previous afternoon tidying up the kitchen in The Forge. In the evening, she and her mum had watched television.

  She was still reeling from her mum’s lack of reaction regarding her job at Hot Gossip! Maybe she should have told her years ago. Maybe she should have told her friends as well then things wouldn’t have got so out of hand.

  She hadn’t slept well. Tossing and turning, she spent hours dwelling over the possibility of having lost her best friends through her own stupidity. In the end, she fell into such a heavy sleep after dawn that she woke up late. With no texts or calls on her mobile from either Annie or Megan, Eleanor was feeling so depressed that she couldn’t even be bothered to get dressed before going downstairs to start sorting out the animals.

  Then it had been so busy that she was still in her pyjamas collecting the chicken eggs at nearly midday.

  As she came out of the coop carrying the freshly laid eggs, the donkey gave her a gentle nudge with its nose.

  ‘Get off,’ she told her. ‘You’ll make me drop t
hem.’

  She gently put down the eggs by the back door and went to carry the large bundle of hay from the back of the garden to where the goat and donkey needed it.

  As she dropped it onto the ground, she scratched at her neck. What with the animals and the hay, the eczema was worse than ever. She felt such a mess.

  But for once she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she hadn’t bothered with her hair. That she had no make-up on. That she was in her old T-shirt and pyjama bottoms. Nothing mattered any more. She just felt numb.

  As she bent down to undo the string holding the bale together, the donkey gave her such a nudge with its nose that she went straight over, face first, into the hay.

  She swore under her breath and struggled to get up. It was only then that she felt she was being watched.

  She quickly spun around and saw Tom and Arthur standing at the back gate.

  ‘Good morning,’ said Arthur, undoing the latch on the gate. ‘I do hope we haven’t come at a bad time.’

  ‘Good morning,’ she managed to mumble, shocked that Arthur and, perhaps worse, Tom would find her in such a state.

  ‘It seems you forgot to take the bicycle with you,’ said Arthur, coming into the garden. ‘I thought perhaps you might need it if you wished to visit your friends. It’s been so nice to hear you all laughing and chatting away together each day.’

  She tried to take in what Arthur was saying as she watched Tom wheel the bicycle into the garden and close the gate behind him.

  ‘Anyway, we were just passing and thought it might be an opportune time to visit your mother,’ carried on Arthur. ‘Is she in?’

  Eleanor nodded, still feeling absolutely mortified that they had found her in such a mess.

  Arthur, on the other hand, appeared completely oblivious to her appearance. Class and good breeding probably did that, she thought.

  ‘Mum!’ she called out, her voice a little shaky. ‘Arthur’s here.’

  ‘Is he really?’ Her mum came hobbling out of the kitchen. ‘Hello, Arthur. What a lovely surprise. I’ll put the kettle on.’