I was longing to tell Bella about Aunt Thecla being called Bluebell by Tansy’s dad – and how Tansy thought he was still secretly in love with our aunt. I was pretty sure Bella was going to laugh her head off when she heard that. As for me, I didn’t just find it funny, I found it totally thrilling. And if Tansy was right then this was something I couldn’t just leave alone. I had to find out if Aunt Thecla might still be in love too. Of course on the surface she wasn’t, but what about deep down? Buried so deep that nobody else would ever know? And what if the two of them could somehow be brought back together?
But first I had to find Bella and make her tell me what was going on with Sam.
I felt a bit nervous about going back to wait for her at the park because I really didn’t want to meet those three girls again. Luckily there was no sign of them.
I didn’t text Bella because I was imagining her on the back of Sam’s bike and I figured it was safer for her to keep holding on rather than being distracted by her phone.
I spotted the motorbike straight away as it came down the street towards me. At least it wasn’t roaring along at top speed, and I could see that Sam and my sister were both wearing helmets.
They stopped just in front of me and Bella immediately removed her helmet and shook out her hair. ‘Libby.’
‘Hi, Libby,’ Sam echoed as he lifted his visor so I could see his face.
‘I should have guessed you were the reason she was sneaking off all the time,’ I told him coolly.
He looked a bit surprised by my unfriendliness.
‘Shut up, Libby, this is nothing to do with you,’ Bella said sharply. ‘Sam, you’d better go. My aunt has spies everywhere in this village.’
I stared at him as he said goodbye, remembering how Katie and her friends had called him cute earlier. I have to say I’ve never really thought of Sam as cute, but then again there’s definitely something quite striking about his face. He has brown eyes set in an angular face and a mop of messy dark-blond hair. Today he was wearing jeans, a leather jacket and big biker boots, and he looked tougher and more streetwise than usual.
‘But, Bella, what’s he doing here?’ I burst out the second he’d driven off.
‘Trying to find a job.’
‘I thought he already had a job with his uncle!’
‘He wants a job here, stupid … near me!’
‘Wow! So does his mum know he’s here?’ Sam doesn’t have a dad – at least not one who’s ever been around – and his mum has always seemed extremely laidback and hands-off compared to my parents. But still …
‘She knows he’s OK,’ Bella grunted. ‘I don’t think she cares beyond that.’
‘So where’s he staying?’
‘At a B & B in the village. But he’s run out of money, so after tonight he has to move somewhere else.’
Now I understood why she’d needed all that money. ‘Bella, can’t you just ask Mum and Dad to help? Maybe when they see how badly the two of you want to stay together …’
‘Yeah … right …’ she said sarcastically.
‘But don’t you think –?’
‘Libby, we’ve already got it covered, OK? I’m going to take him to the cottage.’
‘What cottage?’
‘Rat Cottage, of course! It’s still empty and there’s that window at the back that doesn’t shut properly, so it should be easy for him to sneak in and out.’
‘But, isn’t that against the law?’ I asked in alarm.
‘Probably.’
‘So what if he gets caught? He’ll get into loads of trouble.’
‘We haven’t got a choice. I’ve already given him all my savings and the money I managed to get off Dad this morning. He bought some food and some more petrol for his bike but there’s nothing left.’
‘But, Bella –’
‘Libby, you have to promise not to say anything about this to anyone. If you do …’ She spoke in a voice that told me that if I did I’d regret it.
‘I won’t tell,’ I promised, instantly subdued by the threat of losing her trust again.
‘I knew I could count on you.’
She quickly changed the subject by asking me what I’d been doing while she was gone. And as I’d expected, she was intrigued to learn that I’d met Michael Godwin and Tansy. When I mentioned Aunt Thecla’s nickname she laughed in disbelief. ‘I mean, I can think of some other less delicate plant names that would suit her.’
‘Like what?’ I asked with a grin.
She shrugged. ‘Thistle … or Cactus!’
I laughed, even though I don’t think our aunt is really all that prickly. Bossy and interfering, maybe. Though I guess Bella might have a different opinion. In any case, I didn’t contradict her because it felt nice, the two of us laughing together like this. It made me feel like I was back on Team Bella.
‘So did Mrs McLusky need any fillings?’ Grace asked Mum as we all sat down together at the dinner table that evening.
‘I should think Mummy is too bound by patient–dentist confidentiality to answer that question,’ Dad said in a jokey sort of voice. ‘Isn’t that right, Nina?’
‘Absolutely,’ Mum said. ‘Anyway, the last thing your poor headmistress needs is a lot of children standing in the playground gossiping about the state of her teeth.’
‘Why? Are they in a bit of a state then?’ Bella asked with a grin.
‘They look in tip-top condition to me,’ Dad responded, then realised his mistake when Mum frowned at him.
‘Since when did you get such a close look at her teeth?’
Dad instantly held up both hands in a ‘Don’t shoot!’ kind of way. ‘Yours are looking even more tip-top, Nina.’
‘And they’re a hundred per cent real!’ Mum said tartly.
‘Wait … are you saying Mrs McLusky’s teeth aren’t real?’ Bella and I both blurted, which made Dad snort and Mum’s mouth twitch, though she still managed not to grin.
‘Aunt Thecla had really nice teeth when she was young,’ Grace announced suddenly. ‘She showed me a big photo of her face. I didn’t know it was her at first, because she looked so pretty.’
‘Now there’s a crumpliment if ever there was one!’ Dad said with a mischievous grin.
Just then the doorbell rang.
‘That’s Aunt Thecla,’ Grace said. ‘She said she was coming round after dinner to see where we’ve hung up all her paintings.’
‘WHAT?’ Mum and Dad both nearly choked on their food. ‘Grace, why didn’t you tell us?’
My little sister looked indignant. ‘I just did!’
‘I’m not putting any of them up,’ Mum exclaimed. ‘Not one!’
Dad nodded. ‘Don’t worry, Nina. Just leave it to me.’
The following morning as Bella and I were still lazing in bed, I said, ‘So do you think Aunt Thecla believed Dad about the box with her paintings in it being permanently lost in storage?’
‘Nope.’
‘Neither do I. She took it pretty well though, don’t you think?’
‘Offering to paint us some more? I’m telling you, the next ones she gives us are going to be even more hideous.’
I smiled. After a short silence I said, ‘I wish she wasn’t looking after us today.’ Dad was away meeting a client for most of the day and Mum had been asked at the last minute if she could go in on her day off to cover a sick colleague’s caseload. Aunt Thecla had offered to help out.
‘She’s not going to be looking after us – just Gracie,’ Bella said firmly. ‘And I think it’s quite handy that Dad won’t be here. It’s always easier to see Sam when he’s not around.’
Aunt Thecla arrived half an hour after Dad had left, just as Mum was setting off to walk to work. Once she’d gone, Bella announced that she was going out on her bike to get some fresh air. Aunt Thecla is a big fan of fresh air, especially country air. She also never bats an eyelid (like Mum and Dad do) when one of us tells her we want to be on our own for a while. She thinks it’s perfectly normal to need time away from other human beings.
Bella left while I was up in our bedroom getting dressed, and when I came downstairs Aunt Thecla was complaining about the lack of fresh food in the house. I thought she was exaggerating because I knew Dad had stocked up at the supermarket before he left, but when I opened the fridge I saw what she meant. The bread bin was empty too.
I was pretty sure I knew where all the food had gone.
Grace suddenly asked, ‘Can we bake something, Aunt Thecla?’
‘I very much doubt we have sufficient ingredients,’ she replied. ‘But we can buy some if we go to the shops. Now then … let’s make a list.’
‘I’m going out on my bike for a bit,’ I announced. ‘I’ve got my phone with me. I’m going to try and catch up with Bella.’
‘Didn’t she just say she wanted to be alone?’ Aunt Thecla called out after me, but I pretended I hadn’t heard as I shut the door behind me.
I knew – or at least I thought I knew – exactly where Bella was going. So when she didn’t answer her phone or my text asking where she was I didn’t let that stop me.
It felt like forever but in fact it only took twenty minutes to cycle to our old cottage – Rat Cottage as we all referred to it now.
There was no sign of anyone in the two neighbouring cottages, though a car was parked on the grass verge in front. I couldn’t see my sister’s bicycle or Sam’s motorbike anywhere, but it made sense that they’d have hidden them.
I propped up my bike against the side of the cottage and crept round the back to find the dodgy window. Nothing had changed. The grass was still overgrown and judging by the droppings on the patio the rats were still alive and kicking. Even the Frisbee Grace had managed to get stuck in the tree was still up there.
Suddenly footsteps behind me made me jump and as I turned a familiar voice said, ‘Hey! It’s Libby, isn’t it? What are you doing here?’
It was the girl I’d met at the park – Katie. I was so stunned to find her here that I couldn’t speak at first. I soon recovered enough to mumble, ‘We used to rent this cottage. That’s our Frisbee.’ I pointed a bit lamely up at the tree.
‘Wait – was it your family who upset Mrs Fuller so badly?’ She sounded amused.
‘She upset us!’ I protested. ‘That house is disgusting inside!’ I paused. ‘But how come you’re here?’
‘My aunt and uncle live next door. They’re going on holiday today so we’re giving them a lift to the station. You’re lucky they already took the dogs to the kennels this morning. If the dogs had found you here they might have got nasty.’
‘Yeah … well … the dogs actually shouldn’t be in this garden,’ I murmured, edging past her to get back round to the front,
‘That’s what my mum says. My auntie doesn’t like Mrs Fuller though, so I don’t think she cares.’
I could feel Katie’s eyes on me, watching as I collected my bicycle. I was trying to think of something friendlier to say. On her own Katie seemed OK, although I was still wary of her two friends.
It was then that I heard voices and saw Bella and Sam walking round the bend in the road.
‘Libby, what are you doing?’ Bella called out crossly. ‘Does Aunt Thecla know you’re here? You’re going to spoil everything if you’re not careful –’
‘Hey!’ Sam came to the rescue, giving my sister a sharp nudge as he spotted Katie standing silently behind me watching us. ‘Who’s this then, Libby?’ he asked, trying to sound calm though I could tell he was nervous.
‘This is Katie,’ I introduced her quickly. ‘Her aunt and uncle live in the middle cottage.’
Suddenly we heard a door opening and adult voices talking and laughing. A man and a woman emerged from the middle cottage carrying suitcases.
‘Come on, Libby. Let’s go,’ Bella said sharply.
‘See you around, Libby,’ Katie called out.
My legs felt like they were made of lumps of wood as I hurried back along the road with Bella and Sam. When we were finally out of sight of the cottage, Bella turned and glared at me. ‘Are you trying to get us caught?’
I glared back. ‘I was just trying to find you, that’s all! Where were you?’
‘We were hiding my bike in the woods,’ Sam said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ‘Did Bella tell you about the den we found? We’ve patched it up and it makes a pretty good shelter.’
And a pretty good place to roll around snogging, I thought. Though of course I didn’t dare say that.
‘Come on, Libby,’ Sam said. ‘Come and see it. It’s actually pretty cool.’