After dinner, the girls moved on to the pub for one more drink before returning home.
Liz felt on top of the world. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders when she’d finally realised how stupid and paranoid she was being.
But Tara was right. There was no point in talking to Eric about it, especially not tonight and maybe not at all. Instead, she’d just try and get back to her normal self and try not to read something into his every move or utterance.
What had made her distrust him so much in the first place? A few nights out and a text? Big deal – that could happen to anyone. No, she’d talk to Eric about maybe downscaling their plans for the renovations, which would hopefully allow him to work less and stay home more.
And she might bite the bullet and go to some group or club in order to meet some more people from the community – or network, as Tara might say. And if she ended up getting some more business from the locals, then the kennels might bring in the extra cash they needed.
Fully determined to put her worries behind her and her marriage back on track, Liz followed Tara into The Wishing Well, a lively but comfortable pub situated right in the centre of the village. It had already been a highly enjoyable night, and she was delighted Tara had made her agree to it.
“A white wine spritzer and a Coke, please,” Tara told the barman.
While they were waiting for their drinks to be served, Liz looked up and spied a familiar face sitting alone at the opposite end of the bar.
“There’s Luke,” she cried excitedly to Tara. “And look, he must be here on his own. Let’s go over and say hello.”
“Ah no, Liz, let’s leave it.”
“Why?” Liz gave her a strange look. It wasn’t like Tara to be unsociable.
“It’s . . . well, maybe he wants to be on his own.” Tara paid the barman and picked up their drinks.
“I doubt it. He’s only new in town, so he probably doesn’t know anyone. I’m going over to say hi, anyway. He’s my next-door neighbour, and I don’t want to be rude.”
“Oh, all right then.” Tara picked up her drink and grudgingly followed her over.
As the girls approached, Luke looked up and spotted them.
“Well, hello there,” he said, his rugged, friendly face lighting up at the sight of them.
“Mind if we join you?” Liz asked and, strangely, she sensed Tara stiffen alongside her. What was the matter with her? It wasn’t as though Luke was a stranger – in fact she probably knew him better than Liz did!
“I’d be delighted,” he said, nodding a greeting at Tara who did the same back. “Pull up a stool.”
“So how come you’re back in Castlegate?” Liz asked, settling herself alongside him. He was a lovely guy and, seeing as he would be her next-door neighbour, she was determined to help him settle in. “I thought you wouldn’t be starting the move until after Christmas.”
“Well, our last stint on the rig went better than we thought, and we hit our quota, so I thought I might as well make a start. There was no point in paying the mortgage on the cottage and rent on my old flat.”
“I wish you’d have told me. I could have turned the heat on, or opened the windows, or at least bought in some groceries – something to take the bare feel out of the place.”
As Tara had so far said nothing but a brief hello, Liz attempted to try and draw her into the conversation. “Although, I hear Tara gave you a bite to eat last time – you two got to know each other, didn’t you?”
“We did,” Luke replied, smiling at Tara. “She makes great a fry-up. And she’s pretty handy when it comes to pest control too.”
“I thought I’d better bring the subject up first, just in case you decided to out me in public,” he said, eyeing Tara who smiled mischievously.
“Pity, I was thinking of saving it for ammunition,” Tara replied. “Just in case you decided to sue me and Bruno for pooping in your lovely garden.”
“I told you – it took me ages to get it just like that.”
“What?” Liz looked at Tara. What the hell were they talking about? “What did Bruno do?”
“She might be good with mice, but she’s not so good with dogs,” Luke told Liz. “Or am I allowed to say that?” he added, winking at Tara.
“I mightn’t be so good at handling big strong animals, but at least I don’t start screaming like a baby at the sight of one the size of my thumb.”
“I didn’t scream: I shouted – once.”
Tara grinned. “No, you screamed – a big girlie, Ned Flanders-type scream.”
“I did not –”
“Um, sorry to interrupt but could one of you please tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” Liz asked, wide-eyed. “And who is Ned Flanders?”
“Liz doesn’t watch The Simpsons,” Tara informed Luke.
“You don’t watch The Simpsons?” he repeated in mock horror. “What planet are you on?”
“Well, I don’t have time to watch cartoons!” Liz said, getting frustrated. “Anyway, what’s all this got to do with pooping in gardens and screaming like a girl?”
Tara and Luke’s eyes met.
“You tell her,” Tara challenged. “I swore I wouldn’t say a thing.”
“Pity you didn’t keep your word, then,” Luke countered, before turning to Liz. “I suppose I’d better come clean. I’m afraid of – no, strike that – I don’t particularly like mice.”
“Nope, he’s terrified of them,” Tara interjected, laughing.
Luke silenced her with a look. “I don’t like mice, but unfortunately they like me, or at least, they like the inside of my house.”
“Ah,” Liz said, understanding. They had that problem in their house too – especially around this time of the year. But she used one of those electronic plug-in things, the ones with the high-pitched sound that scared the mice out of the house. She wouldn’t dream of using one of those horrible mousetraps or anything inhumane like that.
“So, anyway, the last weekend I was here, I was going about my business and cleaning out the cupboards when two of the little feckers leap out at me. Naturally, I got a bit of a fright –”
“And ran screaming from the house like a girl,” Tara finished, trying not to laugh.
Luke feigned a glare. “Excuse me, I thought I was telling the story.”
“Sorry.” Tara winked at Liz, while trying to stifle a chuckle.
“And your friend here, suspecting that I might have been in a bit of bother, came running to my rescue.”
“What can I say? For a big strong man, he’s a bit of a wimp really.”
Luke and Tara were now smiling at one another like there was nobody else in the room, and just then, Liz understood why Tara had been initially so hesitant to join him. The sparks were flying in all directions between these two!
She studied her friend, who was still in mid-banter with Luke. Tara was radiant. Her eyes were sparkling with amusement, and her face glowed as she and Luke continued to try and better one another.
God, these two were perfect for one another, and if Tara couldn’t see that, she was a fool! As Liz had long since tired of telling her, her friend had spent way too long in the comfort zone, afraid of not being in control, terrified of letting herself get hurt. And while this had worked out well so far for her and Glenn, it was surely inevitable that Tara would need something more, someone who could complete her life in a way that Glenn never could.
Now, looking at the two of them together, it was perfectly clear that they only had eyes for one another, and if Liz decided to slip away without saying anything, they’d hardly notice. She knew Luke was single; he’d told her a while back that his last relationship had finished some time ago, so there was no barrier on his side. Tara, on the other hand . . . well, if she was going to pursue this – and in Liz’s opinion she really should – Tara would have to start thinking about herself and what she really wanted. Although, if Glenn were to get wind of the obvious attraction between these two, given what Tara had said about that guy Dave earlier, Liz didn’t even want to think about how he’d react.
Still, judging by the banter going on just now between Tara and Luke, she thought wryly, Tara – unlike herself – didn’t seem to be at all worried about what Glenn might think!
“I don’t know how you sleep at night,” Tara was saying now, and Liz tried to tune into their conversation once more.
“Are the mice that bad?” she asked Luke. “You really should invest in one of those plug-in things – then they wouldn’t keep you awake at night.”
Tara and Luke looked at one another and grinned – again. OK, Liz thought, it was starting to get a bit annoying now!
“We stopped talking about the mice ages ago, Liz,” Tara said. “I was just asking Luke how he can justify what he does for a living.”
“Why should I have to justify it?” Luke gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s what I do.”
“Are you joking? Drilling for all that oil? You’re raping the earth’s resources.”
Liz groaned and reached for her drink. “Oh dear God,please don’t get her started on the environment!”
“Ah, so Tara’s a Green, is she?”
“Of course I’m a Green. Why wouldn’t I be? Why wouldn’t anyone be?”
“So, you reuse and recycle and you’ve got your own compost heap, and all that stuff?”
“Of course.” Tara nodded proudly. “We all have to take responsibility for the environment, an environment that the likes of you and your oil companies are destroying.”
“I see. So you regularly use recycling centres then?”
“Yep. I take my bottles and cans there every week.”
“Every week?” Luke raised an eyebrow. “Well done, you.”
“It’s not that much of an effort. It’s only a few minutes away in the car.”
As soon as Tara had said the words, Liz realised that she was blindly falling into the trap Luke was so obviously setting for her. But she said nothing.
“Oh. So you drive to the recycling centre, do you?”
Tara hesitated slightly. “Well, I have to – it’s a mile away from our house.”
“I see. So, it’s OK to drive your car and send all that carbon monoxide into the atmosphere because you’re going to the recycling centre, is it?”
“Well, no, but . . .”
“Take any holidays recently?” Luke asked then.
Liz smiled. An almighty battle was about to commence, and by the sounds of things, she’d be much better off staying out of it. Tara had finally met her match.
“Yes,” Tara replied hesitantly.
“Oh, where did you go?”
Her mouth set in a hard line. “Egypt.”
“I see. And did you happen to get on your bike and cycle all the way to Egypt, and then sleep under the stars with the Bedouins, before cycling all the way back home again?”
Tara was silent.
“Well?” he prompted.
She rolled her eyes. “No, I flew.”
“What? You flew?” Luke pretended to be aghast. “A conscientious environmentalist like you got into one of those nasty machines that uses jet fuel and pumps out gallons of pollution into the atmosphere? That same atmosphere you’re so obsessed with saving?”
Liz wanted to laugh, but one look at Tara’s expression made her think better of it.
Luke shook his head. “And you have the nerve to criticise me!”
“Look, I never said anything about going overboard!” Tara cried, totally wrong-footed now. “I just think that all of us should do our bit to help the environment. I mean, what about global warming and the melting icecaps and all that?”
“A myth,” Luke said, reaching for his pint. “The atmosphere’s been heating up and recooling for centuries. It’s nothing new.”
“But it is!” Tara retorted. “The icecaps are melting, there are floods and weird weather and droughts and it’s all because of –”
“So, you think you can solve all that by bringing a few bottles to the bottle bin? Get real, Tara. The earth’s been around for millions – billions of years. Why is it that the likes of us – who have only been around for half a second in the scheme of things – are so bloody egotistical as to think that we get to control the environment? The earth survived without human intervention for billions of years, and I’m sure it will do just fine without us.”
Liz looked at Tara for a reaction to this, but none was forthcoming. For the first time as long as she’d known her, Liz saw her best friend rendered utterly speechless.
Yep, she thought, shaking her head at the realisation, they really were perfect for one another!