It Was Always You Page 5

  ‘Free?’

  ‘Don’t have to work. It’s my lucky day. Would you do me a very great favour, Anna?’

  She waited, with no idea at all what to expect next.

  ‘I need to shop for some gifts to take home with me. Could you point me in the right direction? Some place I could go? Better yet, could you come with me, to stop me getting lost or ripped off?’

  She thought quickly. Why not? Anything at all to get out of the village for an afternoon. She had no problem with that.

  ‘In return, I would like to buy you lunch. How does that sound?’

  It didn’t take her long to think about that either. ‘Be here at one sharp,’ she said. ‘I’ll be very hungry by then.’

  ‘One, it is!’ Don grinned and turned to leave.

  Chapter Ten

  They started off with lunch. Don was insistent that that was the priority after a hard morning’s work for Anna.

  ‘Not so hard, actually,’ Anna chuckled. ‘Now I can’t re-order and re-stock, there’s not so much for people to buy. So they don’t come into the shop so much.’

  ‘What do they do instead – internet shopping?’

  ‘Oh, yes!’ Anna laughed. ‘I can just see old Mrs. Campbell poring over her new laptop. So where do you want to go?’

  ‘You name it.’

  She named The Fox and Pheasant, a pub not far away that she knew served food all day.

  They travelled in Don’s hired car, a rather luxurious saloon that Anna guessed had cost him a lot of money. On the way they talked about life in the village. He asked her what she did when she wasn’t working in the shop.

  ‘Not a lot,’ she said, feeling defensive. ‘I support our church. I help out with the Brownies. I visit the old folks in the cottage hospital. See friends. That sort of thing.’

  Don didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he glanced at her with amusement and said, ‘What do you do for fun?’

  ‘For fun?’ She gave a wry chuckle. ‘In Callerton?’

  ‘Clubs, discos, parties – that sort of thing?’

  ‘Oh, there’s not much of that here. Fun? Don’t be ridiculous!’

  ‘Well...’

  She relented and laughed. ‘Where do you think this is, Don? We live a quiet life here.

  ‘Oh, we have the occasional ceilidh, like the one last Friday. People do have parties from time to time. And sometimes I go into town with friends, to shop or go to the cinema. Sometimes we go to an Italian restaurant in town. There’s plenty to do, if you get organised, and if you want it.’

  Don was very quiet.

  ‘It’s not a very glamorous lifestyle, I’m afraid,’ she added.

  He chuckled and said, ‘I guess it doesn’t need to be. Nothing wrong with that. I bet you’re happy with things just the way they are.’

  Moments later they arrived at their destination, saving her the need to respond, sparing her the need to list the disadvantages of living in a village like Callerton.

  The Fox and Pheasant was a very old pub. Historic even. Once, it had been a coaching inn. Once, almost certainly, it had seen better days. But at least it served food. Anna just hoped she wouldn’t have to apologise for the quality.

  ‘As long as they can manage a decent burger,’ Don assured her, ‘I’ll be OK. Don’t you worry about me.’

  It was a quiet day for The Fox and Pheasant . So they chose to eat in the bar, where there were one or two people lingering over coffee and half-empty glasses, preferring that to the empty dining room. Don gazed around with interest at the brass ornaments on the walls, the stuffed birds and animal heads, and the huge salmon that once had lived in the nearby river.

  ‘It’s quite a place,’ he said, turning to her.

  Anna nodded. ‘Very old,’ she said.

  ‘I can see that.’ He nodded and turned back to her. ‘What will you have to drink?’

  She chose a fruit juice – "exotic" flavour. ‘I like surprises,’ she said.

  Don opted for a beer. Anna hoped it would be only one beer, with him driving, and said so. He laughed and told her she was bad as his mother.

  The menu was surprisingly varied. Burgers were not even mentioned. Don chose "Special Northumberland Sausage", of which Anna had her doubts, together with what the menu card called "mash and veg".

  ‘I like to try local specialities,’ Don said.

  She herself chose grilled salmon and a salad. ‘At least one of us should try healthy eating,’ she said.

  Don laughed. ‘On holiday?’

  ‘You might be!’

  ‘OK, working girl.’

  ‘Are you enjoying it, by the way – your holiday?’

  ‘Very much so. It’s real good to see so many members of the family, some for the very first time. And the slow pace of life here is a welcome change for me – at least for a little while.’

  ‘Do you have a very busy life in Calgary?’

  ‘Oh, sure. All the time. It never stops, never rests.’

  He went on to tell her of his work as a lawyer in the oil industry. He seemed to be very enthusiastic about it.

  ‘You should see the view from my office window,’ he enthused. ‘It’s on the 38th floor of the Grant Building, right in the downtown, and you can see for almost a hundred miles in any direction. The foothills and Rockies on one side, and the prairies on the other.’

  ‘It must be lovely,’ Anna said, struggling to appreciate how anyone, anywhere, could see such distances.

  ‘It is. You’d love it.’

  Perhaps, she thought. Yes, she probably would. But she could scarcely imagine it. The less so, the more Don told her about it. What could life in such a big city be like? Compared with her own life here, his sounded as if it was on another planet.

  As well as a downtown office, Don had a downtown apartment – for convenience, he said. For weekends, the family had a cabin in the foothills somewhere, and he had what he called a "sail boat" on a lake. He drove a sports car, of course – a Porsche – except when he drove his SUV or his BMW saloon. Holidays took him anywhere in the world, it seemed, and they occurred surprisingly frequently.

  ‘It sounds a very… a very Californian lifestyle,’ Anna ventured.

  ‘It’s way better than that,’ Don assured her. ‘And there isn’t any place on earth to touch it.’

  Chapter Eleven

  She did like Don. More and more, she enjoyed his company, and the novelty of going out with someone on a regular basis. And they went out together a lot over the next couple of weeks. Don transformed her life. She could think of little else but him. In fact, she couldn’t wait for the end of the month and the closure of the shop. Then she would be able to spend even more time with Don. After all, he wouldn’t be here for long. Just a few weeks.

  Carol noticed the difference in her. ‘You don’t seem so worried about the shop?’ she said when they met on the street early one evening.

  ‘No? Perhaps I’m not. What will be will be, won’t it?’

  ‘That’s the spirit!’ Carol peered at her. ‘Have you got something else lined up?’

  ‘No, not really.’

  ‘Not really?’

  ‘Not at all,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m just taking one day at a time. Enjoying myself.’

  ‘It wouldn’t have anything to do with Peggy’s gorgeous cousin, would it?’ Carol giggled.

  Anna nodded happily. Her secret was out. ‘It might,’ she admitted.

  ‘You’ve been going out with him, have you?’

  ‘Occasionally,’ Anna said airily.

  ‘I’m jealous! I saw him first.’

  Anna laughed and glanced at her watch. ‘Oh, sorry!’ she said immediately. ‘I didn’t mean to do that.’

  Carol smiled. ‘Is that where you’re going now? To see Don?’

  ‘I’m waiting for him, yes.’

  ‘Well, have a lovely evening – and don’t you worry about that silly old shop any more. I told you something would turn up!’

  *

 
; That was the evening when Don first kissed her. They had been for a meal in a cosy little restaurant in Alnmouth. Afterwards they walked along the beach, hand in hand, listening to the roar of the sea and watching the lines of breakers.

  ‘Bet you don’t have this in Calgary,’ Anna teased.

  ‘No, we don’t.’ Don smiled at her. ‘Pretty much everything else, but not this old ocean.’

  He stopped and turned towards her. Head on one side, she looked at him and smiled. He leaned down towards her. She reached up to meet him. Before she knew it, they were locked together in an embrace that seemed to last for hours.

  ‘There’s no you in Calgary either,’ he said when they drew apart. ‘No Anna Fenwick.’

  ‘But there is someone else?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, no-one.’

  He tightened his grip on her hand and they walked on across the sand. No-one, Anna thought happily. No-one at all.

  Chapter Twelve

  The day came. The Wilsons both came to pay her last wages, reclaim their keys, see her off the premises, and lock up the shop. Anna had been dreading this day. Now she couldn’t wait to get out. This part of her life was over. She couldn’t wait to move on.

  ‘There’s a lot of stuff left,’ Mrs. Wilson said disapprovingly, looking round at the shelves. ‘Now it will be wasted. Couldn’t you sell any of it?’ she added, looking hard at Anna. ‘All this stock is worth a lot of money, you know, and money doesn’t grow on trees.’

  Anna felt she was being accused of negligence or incompetence. Fortunately, Mr. Wilson was more fair-minded. He responded to his wife with a mild reproach.

  ‘Steady on, Edith. Anna’s done her best. What’s left wouldn’t be easy to sell, even at knock-down prices. Most of the stock has gone anyway.’

  Mrs. Wilson sniffed and let her face show what she thought of that.

  In truth, Anna thought, glancing around herself, there wasn’t a lot left. What little there was still on the shelves could still be here next Christmas. Tins of shoe polish that hardly anyone used any more. Long-life bread that Mr. Wilson had thought a sensible thing to stock. Tinned meals that only Matthew ever bought.

  ‘Mr. Wilson,’ she said, ‘I’ve been meaning to speak to you. I don’t know what you plan to do with the shop now, but if you’re interested in leasing it – as a shop still – I might be interested in taking it over.’

  ‘Might you?’ Mr. Wilson gazed at her with a friendly smile. ‘Not had enough of it?’

  ‘No. I’ve enjoyed working here.’

  ‘Out of the question,’ Mrs. Wilson snapped. ‘It’s closed. Finished. This is the end of it.’

  Anna thought a wistful trace of regret passed over Mr. Wilson’s face before he spoke again. After all, the shop had been an important part of his life, too. ‘I’m sorry, Anna, but Mrs. Wilson is right.’

  ‘I just thought I’d mention it,’ Anna said bravely, not really disappointed with the answer she had received. It was what she had expected.

  Mr. Wilson thanked her for her work and wished her well in the future. He said to let him know if she ever needed a reference. Then Anna handed over her keys and said goodbye. By then Mrs. Wilson was too busy poking around in the stock room to do more than call an unenthusiastic reply, but her husband was a little kinder.

  ‘You’ll do well, Anna, whatever you choose to do. Don’t you worry about the future.’

  She was glad to get out after that.

  On her way home she saw Matthew half-way up a ladder that was leaning against an old building that had been empty for a long time. She called to him. He looked round and waved. She watched as he poked at a window frame with a screwdriver.

  ‘What are you up to, Matthew?’

  ‘Oh, not much.’ He flashed her a grin but carried on with what he was doing.

  She waited but he said nothing else. She watched for a few moments and then continued on her way. He was busy, obviously. Looking to repair the window, it seemed. Matthew wasn’t just a fencer. He could do most things. Turn his hand to anything, people said.

  She was disappointed he hadn’t had time to chat to her for a moment, but that went with her day. Disappointment all the way through – until now. The evening would be different. She was seeing Don this evening. She couldn’t wait.

  *

  ‘So you’re a free woman?’ Don said.

  ‘Free? Yes, I suppose I am.’

  ‘How does it feel?’

  She looked round the restaurant before she replied. They seemed to spend all their time together in restaurants. She had never known anything like it.

  Feel? She wasn’t sure what she felt. Nothing, really. Fed up, perhaps. Tired. Apprehensive.

  ‘I suppose my life is changing – has changed already, since this afternoon – but I don’t feel particularly happy about it. It’s not what I wanted, or expected.’

  She shrugged and added, ‘I’ll just have to look for another job now. That’s all.’

  ‘You don’t think this is the best thing that ever happened to you?’

  ‘No, I don’t.’

  She looked at him and smiled ruefully. ‘Stop trying to humour me, Don. It’s no big deal. I just have to look for another job. That’s all.’

  ‘Right.’ He smiled back and said, ‘Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are when you get annoyed with me?’

  She laughed and shook her head wearily. ‘No, you didn’t. And don’t start telling me now either. I’m not in the mood. Besides, I’m not annoyed with you. ‘

  What a silly man! She had to laugh, though. He was very good at taking her mind away from her everyday worries.

  It was late when she got home that evening. There were lights on in the house but she thought no-one else would be up still. She tried to make no noise. She took her shoes off just inside the door.

  ‘That you, dear?’ Mum called from the kitchen.

  Anna smiled. She might have known!

  She went through into the kitchen. ‘I thought you would all be asleep by now.’

  Mum yawned and pushed a magazine aside. ‘Oh, I wasn’t sleepy tonight. Your father was, though. He’ll be snoring his head off by now.’

  Anna smiled. ‘Mum, you don’t have to wait up for me, you know.’

  ‘Of course I don’t. And I wasn’t. Would you like some cocoa, dear?’

  She hesitated. It was so late. Then she remembered she wouldn’t have to be up at her usual time in the morning. So why not?

  ‘Yes, please. That would be lovely.’

  She watched her mother get up and start hunting for mugs and spoons.

  ‘Did you have a nice evening?’

  ‘Yes. Lovely, thank you.’ Anna yawned and added, ‘Don took me to a restaurant in Alnwick.’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘I can’t remember the name. It was the Italian one on the market place.’

  ‘Oh, yes. Tarantino’s? Something like that.’

  ‘Yes. What did you do?’

  She listened as her mother told her about visiting an old friend who wasn’t well, and being visited in turn by a friend of her father’s. It was last-minute seed catalogue time, as well. Time still for poring over what to grow in the forthcoming summer. The usual, in fact. An evening spent in the way people lived in the village. Boring, really.

  ‘You seem to be seeing a lot of Don?’ Mum said as they sipped their cocoa.

  ‘Yes. He’s very nice. I like him a lot.’

  ‘Is he a proper Canadian?’

  Anna laughed. ‘Proper? Whatever do you mean?’

  ‘Well, was he born there, or did he emigrate with his parents?’

  ‘Oh, he was born there. He’s lived all his life in Calgary, I think.’

  ‘I don’t remember his parents. They emigrated before I was born. But the Millers have always been a nice family. All of them.’

  ‘Except Peggy’s Aunt Dorothy?’

  ‘Peggy’s... Oh, Dot Miller, you mean? She has the farm up by Dancing Hall?’

  Ann
a nodded to encourage her. Mum chuckled. ‘Dot was always difficult. Strong-minded, determined – and difficult! She should have emigrated, as well. She would have got on well in the back of beyond.’

  ‘That’s what Peggy thinks!’

  They chuckled over that. Then Mum changed the subject. ‘What are you going to do now the shop’s closed?’

  ‘I don’t know. Look for another job. I’ll find something.’

  ‘Round here? There’s not much for you in Callerton.’

  ‘Something will come up.’

  ‘If you have to leave, love, Dad and I will understand.’

  It was said so hesitantly, and Mum looked so sad, that Anna was almost moved to tears. ‘Don’t worry so!’ she said, getting up to give her a hug.

  She got a brief smile in return. But she could tell how worried Mum was. Given that, the last thing she could tell her was that Don had spent a lot of the evening trying to persuade her to think about emigrating to Canada.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning Anna got up at her usual time. She had planned to have a lie-in but her mental clock was stuck in its old routine. So she was up at seven, in time to join her father at the breakfast table.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you this morning,’ he said.

  ‘And I didn’t think I would see you – but here we are, as usual.’

  ‘Any plans for the day?’ Dad asked, pouring her a cup of tea.

  ‘Not yet. I might go into the Job Centre in Alnwick. Or I might just sit and watch day-time television, like all the other unemployed.’

  ‘No use feeling sorry for yourself. You’ll soon get something else.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  She really did. She wasn’t built for doing nothing all day. She wasn’t used to it. But she knew it wouldn’t be easy. After nearly a month of making applications that had come to nothing she was reconciled to that. Very few companies and organisations advertising jobs even had the courtesy to acknowledge applications, never mind tell you what had become of them.

  Besides, there weren’t a lot of opportunities around Callerton anyway. Probably not in any rural area, if it came to that. Especially for someone without academic or professional qualifications. She sometimes wished now that she hadn’t been so eager to leave school and get a job. At the time, it had seemed the best thing. Now she wasn’t so sure. Perhaps she should have listened to what people were telling her. Then she could have been a teacher or a nurse by now. Or a brain surgeon, or an airline pilot. Or… or anything!