by Lilac Mills
Henry was beaming proudly, as though Natalie had praised her, when Lottie knew the comment had been nothing but pure bitchiness.
‘Lottie is so clever, isn’t she?’ Henry said, and Natalie gave him an incredulous look.
‘I’d better be off,’ she said. ‘I want to see if the butcher has any foie gras, though I suspect not; it’s a bit too exotic for our little village, but Callum loves it so.’
‘Foie gras?’ Henry pulled a face as soon as Natalie was out of earshot. ‘Can’t stand the stuff myself. Her husband is welcome to it.’
‘Callum is her son.’
Henry’s eyes widened and he jerked his head at Robin. ‘There’s hope for him yet, then. Maybe Robin will grow out of the chicken-nugget stage one day.’ He frowned. ‘I must say your friend doesn’t look old enough to have a grown-up son.’
‘She’s not my friend; she’s Callum’s mum. He’s in Robin’s class.’
‘No!’ His head turned to look at Natalie, who was hotfooting it to the butcher’s. ‘Who feeds their six-year-old foie gras?’
Lottie refused to let the woman’s sourness spoil her day. ‘Have you seen a tree you like, kids?’ she asked in a bright voice, ruffling her fingers through the branches of the tree she’d hoped to hide behind and releasing the heady scent of pine into the air. She breathed in deeply, and not merely to enjoy the smell. Natalie Sharp had got to her, and Lottie had only just managed to keep hold of her temper. The woman was insufferable.
‘I like this, Mummy,’ Morgan said, picking one which was far too tall for their living room.
‘I don’t think that will fit, buddy,’ Henry said, bending down. ‘How about this one? It’s got more branches on the front than the back so it will sit in the alcove next to the chimney perfectly.’
The tree was eventually chosen after much debate, and they made their way home, Henry with the intention of returning to Pins to Elephants in the car to pick it up, leaving Lottie to nip up the attic to dig out the boxes of decorations.
Lottie decided that she’d put some Christmas songs on while they trimmed the tree, and make some mulled wine for later – more for the delicious aroma which would infuse the house rather than the alcoholic content, although that would be welcome, too. Once that was done, they’d light the wood burner, and settle down after tea to watch a festive film.
Debating what to cook, Lottie dug through the items in the fridge and freezer, before settling on a hearty lamb stew. She could prepare it in less than ten minutes with the help of a packet of frozen root vegetables, and it would carry on simmering while they got on with the important task of deciding which bauble should go where.
She’d only just popped the ladder back up and closed the hatch to the attic when Henry appeared in the hall, shuffling his way inside as he wrangled a rather tall tree through a rather cramped space. Despite choosing one of the smaller trees, it looked huge when it was upright, as Lottie held it steady while Henry filled the tub with soil and sand.
The children meanwhile were having a great time taking things out of the box and exclaiming over them, Lottie keeping a wary eye on Morgan to make sure he wasn’t being too heavy handed.
‘Sabrina, can you find the Christmas playlist on my phone?’ she asked, letting go of the tree and praying it wouldn’t keel over, and soon the cheery sounds of ‘Jingle Bells’ filled the air and everyone sang along. Except for Morgan, who simply shouted ‘jingle bells’ repeatedly because he didn’t know the rest of the words.
‘Something smells nice,’ Henry said after a while, as he sniffed the air.
‘I’m making lamb stew for tea,’ she said.
‘Perfect.’
Henry had hit the nail on the head. Today had been perfect. His idea of going to the beach and choosing a tree on the way back had been inspired, and with the whole family gathered around to decorate it, and festive tunes playing in the background, Lottie felt that Christmas had finally arrived.
Henry was no longer behaving oddly. Maybe she had been imagining it, or overreacting? Although she continued to have a suspicion that something had gone on with him, she began to relax and enjoy herself. Today had been magical, and the evening was shaping up to be just as lovely.
As Henry lifted Morgan so he could place the angel on the top of the tree, Lottie’s heart filled with love and joy. With the room illuminated solely by the fairy lights on the tree and the romantic glow from the log burner, the haunting melody of ‘Silent Night’ filled the air.
Sabrina began to sing, her pure sweet voice trembling on the air, and one by one they all joined in.
This was what Christmas was all about – her family. She was so grateful for the love they shared that tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, and the gentle touch of Henry’s lips as he kissed them away made her heart soar.
There was no way Henry could have been unfaithful to her. No way.
Chapter 27
Lottie
During the school holidays, when Lottie didn’t have the routine of getting the children ready for school, weekends seemed to go much quicker than weekdays, and she’d barely blinked before it was Monday morning again and Henry had to leave for work. She waved him off, her emotions fluctuating between not wanting him to go, and needing some time away from him to think.
They’d had two lovely days together. His suggestion that they go to the beach had been so out of character lately, it had taken her by surprise, and she’d been left questioning herself. Had she been seeing things that simply weren’t there? Putting two and two together and coming up with a number that was considerably larger?
Or he had been having an affair, and maybe it was over? Had Henry seen the error of his ways and ended it, and was now trying to make amends?
Lottie kept mulling it over and over until her thoughts were a jumbled mess and she didn’t know what to believe any more.
All she could do from now on was to monitor how he behaved and see whether he carried on in the same manner. Since that furtive phone call there hadn’t been any others, and his moodiness seemed to have receded; he hadn’t been late home since Wednesday when she’d asked his mother to step in, and—
Wednesday! Was that when he’d ended the affair? Or maybe the other woman had ended it? Something had definitely happened on that day, because he’d looked dreadful when she’d got back from Eleri’s house: tired and with dark circles under his eyes, the rest of his face startlingly pale, and he’d looked upset. She’d been too angry to realise it at the time, but on reflection it was obvious. And then there were the things he’d brought her: the boat, the door, the chest of drawers. She’d read that some men, if they were being unfaithful, assuaged their guilt by giving their wives gifts. Perhaps he hadn’t been bringing her things to keep her busy but because he was feeling guilty and he knew she’d appreciate an old boat more than a gold pendant. Besides, after the way he’d acted about her spending money on anything that wasn’t essential, he could hardly splash out on a piece of jewellery for no apparent reason, could he, especially with Christmas less than two weeks away.
There she was again, making herself feel sick with all this second-guessing.
‘Mummy, want to go to the beach,’ Morgan told her, tugging on the hem of her jumper.
Robin looked hopeful, but Sabrina shouted ‘No!’ from the living room. It was a teacher-training day for all three children, and Lottie could seriously have done with them being in school because she wanted to try to find some time to work on the chest of drawers, which no longer looked like a chest of drawers but was in bits in the shed. She’d have to wear out her two youngest children somehow, so they’d be content to play quietly later. Or sleep.
‘Not today, sweetie,’ she replied. She couldn’t face carting three children and everything they’d need the two miles it would take them to get there. Besides, they’d only visited it two days ago, and it was freezing outside. She’d take them to the park later – it was closer to home if they got too cold. ‘I know! How about if we see if we
can find some holly and pine cones instead?’ she announced, the idea popping into her head. They could have a go at making a wreath for the front door and a decoration or two. They might even be able to pick some mistletoe if it wasn’t too high up.
After an early lunch, the four of them made their way through the village, heading for the woodland on the hillside behind Applewell.
‘Off somewhere nice?’ Eleri asked, seeing Lottie walk past the cafe and rushing outside to speak to her.
‘We’re going to find some pine cones and holly to make a wreath,’ Lottie said. She had her rucksack on her back which contained the usual tissues, first aid kit, spare hats and gloves (because no doubt one of them would lose something) and bags to carry their finds home in. The children were dressed in their oldest clothes as she knew they’d more than likely get covered in mud.
‘I haven’t done that for years,’ Eleri said. ‘Do you have to dash off or can you spare some time to pop in and have a look at my kiddies’ corner?’
‘You’ve finished it?’
‘Not quite, but it’s coming along.’
‘Can we, Mum?’ Sabrina looked hopeful. She hadn’t been as keen as the other two when Lottie had announced they were pine-cone hunting, although Lottie knew her daughter would enjoy making the decorations later.
‘Just for five minutes,’ Lottie warned, ‘but we’re not staying for drinks or cake.’
Sabrina cocked her head to one side and studied her mother. ‘You can have my pocket money, if you don’t have enough money to pay.’
‘Pardon?’ Lottie’s brow knitted.
‘I heard you and Daddy talking. If you haven’t got any money, you can have mine. My piggy box is full.’
Lottie draped her arm around her daughter and pulled her close, sudden tears pricking the back of her eyes. ‘Thank you, sweetie, but we don’t need your money.’
Damn it, now look at what Henry’s done. His miserly ways had got Sabrina thinking they were destitute and couldn’t afford a glass of cordial and a cookie in the local cafe. This was becoming ridiculous. The extension wasn’t worth all this scrimping and saving. It wasn’t as though they desperately needed it; it would be nice, and it would give the family more space, but it wasn’t essential. They had a perfectly good house as it was.
Lottie was aware of Eleri staring at her oddly, so she straightened up, lifted her chin and said, ‘Do you know what, I think we will have something while we’re here.’
Bugger the cost. It was all well and good not having a holiday, and saving money by doing things that didn’t cost anything, but she also wanted to be able to treat the children now and again, without having to worry about it. She wasn’t buying them an expensive computer game – this was a drink and a cake. Surely Henry couldn’t begrudge her that? And if he did, sod him.
After complimenting Eleri on the kiddies’ corner, Lottie took a seat nearby so she could keep an eye on Robin and Morgan, who were busily making pretend food in it, and ordered all three children a drink and a cookie. She treated herself to a coffee and a slice of cake, and as she waited for Eleri to bring their order over, she admired the woman’s handiwork. Eleri had done a fabulous job of repurposing the TV cabinet.
‘So many people have commented on it,’ Eleri said, popping three glasses of strawberry cordial on the table and seeing the direction of Lottie’s gaze. ‘I’ve told everyone it used to be something else in a previous life. I’m thinking of putting up a picture of what it looked like before. You won’t believe the number of people who’ve asked me how I did it. I tell them it’s all down to you.’ She gave Lottie a thoughtful look. ‘Quite a lot of folk have said they’ve got stuff they want to give a new lease of life to but don’t know where to start.’
‘You’ve seen the number of hours that goes into it,’ Lottie began, but Eleri cut her off with a shake of her head and a grin.
‘That’s not what I meant. I was talking about showing people how to do it themselves, not doing it for them. You could run a workshop and people would pay you to attend.’
Lottie pulled a face. ‘I’m not sure about that…’
‘Have a think. There’s definitely a call for it. Upcycling is on the up.’ Eleri chuckled at her own joke.
It was a novel idea, and it was lovely of Eleri to have thought of it, but it simply wasn’t doable. Not only did Lottie not know the first thing about running a workshop (showing Eleri how to do something was entirely different to sharing her craft with a load of strangers), but she didn’t have anywhere to run a workshop. She could hardly do it in her shed.
She had to admit, though, that she’d enjoyed teaching Eleri the various techniques she used, and seeing the finished result had given her the same buzz she got from transforming something herself.
Oh, well, she’d just carry on doing what she was doing, and sell the odd piece or two for the fun of it. Which reminded her – she needed to upload the ‘before’ photo she’d taken of the chest of drawers on Instagram. And when she’d finished renovating it, she’d give Jo a call, and see if she was interested.
The door had been surprisingly profitable despite Natalie’s acerbic comments, and Lottie was thoroughly enjoying repurposing the old pieces. Which brought her full circle to Henry, and the reason he was finding things for her to work on. Would he bring her something else today? Or didn’t he need to any more…?
Chapter 28
Henry
In Henry’s opinion, Aberystwyth was the logical place to go when pretending to be at work and hoping your wife didn’t find out you were living a lie. It was far enough away so the likelihood of him being spotted by anyone from Applewell was slim, yet near enough so he didn’t have to waste any more money on petrol than was absolutely necessary.
It also had a decent library, where he could stay all day in the warm. He didn’t fancy wandering the streets when it was so cold outside.
He was early and the library hadn’t opened yet, so he’d taken himself off to the seafront and watched the world go by for an hour or so, shivering on a bench. He could have done with leaving home later, but he was nearly always on the road by seven thirty, eight at the latest, and it was important he didn’t deviate from routine, otherwise Lottie might smell a rat. He’d been sorely tempted to stay at home today, and tell Lottie he’d taken a day off. They’d had such a lovely weekend, and with the kids’ school being closed because of a teacher-training day they could have done something nice together – but he didn’t want to arouse Lottie’s suspicions now the pair of them were back on an even keel.
By lunchtime, he’d done a fair amount of trawling the internet – and not just the job sites, either. He’d spent the first hour applying for anything he thought he had even the slightest chance of being considered for, but it had been the remaining couple of hours that had excited him.
Firstly, he’d set up an account with something called Freecycle. He’d recalled Lottie mentioning it as a place where community-minded people gave away items for free. From what he could gather, some of it was stuff that could easily be taken to a charity shop, but others were things no shop would accept, and would probably end up in landfill otherwise.
Henry found one or two items on Freecycle which might be good contenders for what he had in mind, but the downside was that he had to put in a request to their owners and hope one or the other of them would choose him to be the recipient of their unwanted possessions.
It was no way to do business.
Business. That was an interesting word… Henry knew he hadn’t thought his idea through properly, but he wanted a few things in place before he shared it with Lottie. And even if they were able to get his idea off the ground, he’d still have to have a decent-paying job to fall back on.
There was also the issue of how long it took Lottie to turn something old and derelict into something new and useable. He wasn’t sure of the length of time exactly, but he knew it was a good few days when all the separate hours she spent on a piece were added together.
Which didn’t bode well for his idea.
Relying on Freecycle as a source of things to renovate was a bit hit and miss. Boot sales might be a better bet, but paying for something to work on would eat into any profits – and that was the same for charity shops. Delving into skips was even more of a challenge than Freecycle, because it would depend on him wandering the streets of various towns and villages and hoping he’d spot one which had something worthwhile in it – a long shot at best. He’d been lucky to find the chest of drawers in the one in Worcester.
As he mulled the problem over, it suddenly came to him that there was one place where lots of discarded items could be found – the household waste recycling centre.
Henry slapped a hand to his forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? It was genius! There’d be an endless supply of broken and damaged items no one wanted. He might have to hang around, waiting for suitable things to come in, but he could do that. OK, maybe not once he had a job, but he had plenty of time on his hands at the moment, and if he could build up a stock of things for him and Lottie to work on…
His wife had far greater skill and expertise than he, but Henry was sure she could teach him how to sand and paint – they’d make a great team. He could do most of the grunt work, leaving her free to work her magic – which would be a better use of her time. It would also hark back to the early days of their marriage when they wandered around boot sales together, picking up bargains to furnish their new home with. Those had been such enjoyable times.
Excitement surging through him, Henry decided to leave the library and head for the nearest civic amenity site, as it was called. First though, he’d have a celebratory sandwich and coffee on the seafront.
* * *
Sitting on a bench overlooking North Beach, Henry took out his flask and foil-wrapped lunch from his bag and as he ate, he mulled over his idea, wondering if Lottie would think he’d lost his marbles, or if she’d get on board with it. It wasn’t as though he was planning on doing this rather than working (although the thought had occurred to him), but all businesses started small and he and Lottie didn’t have to sink their life savings into the venture, or anything as drastic. The whole idea, as he saw it, was to renovate things at a minimum cost. No investment needed – apart from their time, which, he conceded, was a bit of a drawback. He hadn’t forgotten his insight about what was important in life – his family – and he intended to spend as much time with the children as he could while they still wanted their old dad around.
