‘You missed a spot,’ Nell said as she came into her living room with a tray bearing two steaming cups of tea, a beaker of squash and a plate of custard creams.
Stevie glanced around the room’s half-painted walls. ‘Perhaps that’s because I’m doing all the work while the actual homeowner, hem hem, swans about enjoying herself.’
‘Hey. I was gathering badly needed sustenance for us.’ Nell delivered the beaker of squash to Milly, who was colouring in on the sofa with Red watching her intently. ‘Here you go, Mill.’
‘What is it?’ Milly asked.
‘It’s Vimto, same as you get at home. I was reliably informed it’s your favourite.’
‘’K. Please can I have a biscuit to go with it?’
‘Better ask Mum.’
‘Go on, Mill, just one,’ Stevie said. ‘I do mean just one though, or you’ll ruin your tea.’
‘Hooray!’ Milly jumped up and went to claim one of the custard creams. ‘Thank you, Miss Shackleton. Can Red have one too?’
Red’s tail thumped the floor hopefully.
Nell laughed. ‘How can I resist those big brown eyes?’ She reached into her pocket for a doggy treat. ‘Here you go, Red, catch.’
‘Mill, why don’t you take Red and play Mountaineers in the back garden for a bit?’ Stevie said. ‘I don’t like the two of you inhaling all these paint fumes.’
‘But I need my poles to play Mountaineers.’
Stevie looked at Nell. ‘Any suggestions, Miss Shackleton? With a name like that, you must have some mountaineering equipment lying around.’
‘Is your name a mountaineer name?’ Milly asked Nell.
Nell smiled. ‘Sort of, yes. There was a very famous explorer called Ernest Shackleton who was one of the first people to visit the South Pole, over a hundred years ago now.’
‘Where the polar bears are?’
‘No, sweetie, they’re in the north. Where the penguins are, though.’
Milly looked suitably impressed by this information. ‘Was he your grandad?’
‘No, no relation as far as I know. But I’m proud to carry the name.’ Nell paused for a moment. ‘Heh.’
‘What?’ Stevie said.
‘Scott and Shackleton. Just occurred to me.’
Stevie smiled. ‘Meant to be, eh?’
‘What is, Mummy?’ Milly asked.
‘Nothing, duckling,’ Stevie said, ruffling her hair. ‘Just a grown-up joke.’
‘Hang on, Mill,’ Nell said. ‘I think I’ve got just the thing for a budding mountaineer in my walk-in wardrobe.’
She went into her bedroom and came back carrying a hiking pole. ‘My brother bought this when he was visiting then promptly left it behind. I think he had an image of himself roaming the hills like a wise old hobbit or something, except his epic laziness got in the way.’
‘S’pose we can play Mountaineers with just one,’ Milly said. ‘Red, come on. Colin’s in the garden, we can play at rescuing him.’
‘Stay near the window where we can see you,’ Stevie called after her. ‘And keep Red on her lead so she doesn’t run off.’ It was a rather bizarre fact that tiny Milly, Red’s partner in crime, was one of the only people the dog actually behaved herself for.
‘What does poor Colin need rescuing from, do you think?’ Nell asked Stevie when they were alone.
‘From them, in about five minutes.’
Nell smiled. ‘Here. Sit down and drink your tea, I’ll allow it.’
‘Thanks, Miss.’ Stevie chucked her roller back in its tray and threw herself onto the sheet-covered sofa with Nell.
‘Well, thanks for keeping me company on Valentine’s Day,’ Nell said.
Stevie shrugged. ‘Not like I’ve got anything better to do.’
‘You think we’ll finish the first coat before you have to go?’
‘Most of it, I hope. I’ll come round this weekend and help you with the rest.’
‘You don’t need to do that.’
‘I can hardly leave it to a klutz like you, can I?’ Stevie said, nudging her. ‘You pick up a paint roller, next thing you know, the house has blown up.’
‘My reputation for chaos precedes me,’ Nell said, laughing. ‘Thanks, Stevie, you’re a godsend. And you have to let me pay you back.’
‘Oh, buy me a drink sometime,’ Stevie said, waving her away.
‘I was thinking I could treat you to a girls’ night out. They’re doing a Mamma Mia! singalong at the mechanics’ institute in a few weeks, what do you think? Tickets and all your drinks on me.’
Stevie curled her lip. ‘ABBA? I’m not sure I ABBA, Nell.’
‘Come on, I thought that’d be right up your street. I bet you were well into them in the seventies.’
Stevie laughed. ‘How old do you think I am?’
‘Ah, go on. It’ll be a laugh.’ Nell batted her eyes hopefully. ‘Cheesy singalong fun, just the girls?’
‘All right, all right,’ Stevie said, smiling. ‘But I’m not singing “Waterloo”. I bloody hate that song.’
‘Deal.’
Stevie shuddered, hugging her mug to her, as a gust of wind shook the back door.
‘Doesn’t that creep you out?’ she asked Nell.
‘It did when I first moved in. I’m used to it now.’
‘Nell, you need to get that door fixed. A box stuck in front of it hardly constitutes household security. I worry about you up here on your own when literally anyone could wander in.’
Nell shrugged. ‘One of the benefits of being up on the moors: the only people likely to wander in are Swaledale sheep or the ghost of Cathy Earnshaw. And I reckon I could take her.’
Stevie shook her head. ‘Pretty young woman, all alone in an abandoned moorland farmhouse, wind rattling the doors… you know you’re basically in the opening scene of a horror film here?’
‘Charmingly gothic, my estate agent called it.’
‘And you know what happens in scene two of this particular horror film, right? I’ll give you a clue: it not infrequently involves axe murderers.’
‘Does Leyholme have a lot of axe murderers then?’
‘I’m serious, chicken. Do me a favour – go out and buy yourself a good, sturdy lock, will you? If we can’t work out how to install it between us, I’ll hire a locksmith for you.’
‘I’m fine, Stevie. You worry too much.’
‘Nell, please. For me.’
‘OK, OK, I’ll pick one up from the hardware shop this weekend,’ Nell said, giving her a squeeze. ‘But only because I think it’s sweet that you worry about me. Are you and Milly all ready for World Book Day then? Three weeks to go.’
‘Yep. Picnic basket, three packets of red dye and an old hairdressing cape all set to be transformed into an adorable cut-price Little Red Riding Hood costume.’
‘What about you? I hope you’ll be in fancy dress for the fete. Don’t forget I’ve volunteered you for raffle ticket sales.’
‘I’m the Big Bad Wolf. Fake fur coat and a headband with ears on it. Less than twenty quid for the lot off eBay, a fact I’m disproportionately proud of.’ Stevie dunked a custard cream into her tea and sucked on the end. ‘How are the school’s plans coming along? For weeks Milly’s been talking about nothing but this Wonka’s Chocolate Factory the Reception kids are doing.’
‘Has she now? That’s supposed to be top secret, that is.’
Stevie laughed. ‘Well, for a four-year-old she kept it pretty top secret. She only told me and Red. And her nana. Oh, and the milkman. And Carmel at the post office. And she drew a picture of it for Deb. But apart from that, not a single soul.’
‘Just you and half the village. Right.’
‘Once Carmel knows, it’s basically the whole village. So how’s it going?’
‘Really well,’ Nell said, reaching over Stevie so she could help herself to a custard cream. ‘Actually, the fete thing’s run away with us a bit – we were thinking in the early days that it’d be just book stalls, guess the name of the teddy, that type of thing, but it’s really caught everyone at school’s imagination. All the classes seem to have big plans.’
‘So that’s good, right? That’s the whole idea, to spark a bit of creativity in the kids.’
‘Mmm. It is good, but…’
‘Xander?’
‘Yeah,’ Nell said, grimacing. ‘Poor lad’s been having a recurring nightmare about it all going tits up.’
Stevie raised an eyebrow. ‘You’d know, would you?’
‘Yes I would because we’re friends and he told me,’ Nell said, elbowing her. ‘So less of the eyebrow-dancing, Missus.’
‘Come on. What is going on with you two?’
‘That’s just it. Nothing.’ Nell dunked her custard cream and cursed silently as half of it dissolved into her tea. ‘It’s like we’re… I don’t know, best friends. And that’s all.’
‘Oh, right. Thanks a lot.’
Nell smiled. ‘Second-best friends then, if you’re going to be all jealous.’
‘And you don’t want to be just second-best friends. Do you?’
‘Well, no.’
Stevie twisted to face her. ‘So what are you waiting for then? He’s obviously smitten with you. Trust me, I know that boy.’
‘I’m waiting for him, aren’t I?’
‘Bloody hell, love. If you’re waiting for Xander to make a move, you’ll be single till kingdom come.’
Nell sighed. ‘I know. It feels like he needs to be the one to ask me, that’s all.’
‘Never took you for the traditional type.’
‘It’s not a gender thing, it’s a Xander thing,’ Nell said. ‘I just think it’ll help with his confidence issues if he asks and I say yes.’
‘Hmm. You think he will ask?’
‘I think he’s nearly there. And I’m in no rush. Let him bide his time if that’s what it takes for him to feel comfortable.’
‘And what if somebody less concerned about having to make the first move snaps him up in the meantime?’
‘Like who?’
Stevie shrugged. ‘Jolene Hancock, for one. Her divorce just became final. Wouldn’t surprise me if she set her sights on him again now she’s officially back to being single.’
‘Jolene? No way.’ Nell frowned. ‘Wait – again?’
‘Yeah, her and Xander go back a long time; they were at school together. She’s carried a torch for him for years, not that he’s ever noticed. Now her marriage is over and Marie’s out of the picture, I can’t see her dragging her feet.’
‘Really, you’re serious? Mega-glamorous, Shellac-manicured, kitten-heeled Jolene Hancock fancies Xander?’
‘She’s not the only one either. I’d get in while you can if I were you.’
Nell shook her head. ‘Are you honestly telling me that Xander – our Xander, Xander Scott, who can barely speak to the opposite sex without having a panic attack – is a major village sex symbol?’
‘I don’t know why you’re so surprised,’ Stevie said, laughing. ‘He’s a good-looking lad, isn’t he?’
‘Well yes, but… he’s just so shy and awkward all the time.’
‘So what do you see in him then?’
‘I suppose he’s… sweet, in an unpredictable sort of way. He makes me laugh. Eminently huggable. And kind of oddly sexy, I guess, for reasons I’ve never quite been able to pin down.’ Nell frowned, trying to put her finger on just what it was about Xander Scott that had got him haunting her thoughts almost from the moment they’d met. ‘It’s that sense he’s never quite comfortable in his own skin. You feel sort of special when you can get him to relax with you, show you the real him.’
‘Exactly. And you thought none of the other straight girls round here would’ve noticed these things?’
‘I still think he needs to ask me rather than the other way round,’ Nell said, nibbling meditatively on what remained of her biscuit. ‘And he will, I think, once he’s got his courage up. He did actually ask me to the pub after the training day, but then I think his nerve went and he extended the drinks invitation to the rest of the staff so we weren’t tête-à-tête.’
Stevie rolled her eyes. ‘And to think I thought you muggles had it easy.’
‘Nothing that involves Xander Scott was ever going to be easy.’
‘I got asked out the other day,’ Stevie said.
‘Did you? By who?’
‘Deb. You were right, she is a lesbian.’ She shook her head. ‘See, even you’ve got this bloody gaydar thing. Whereas for poor old Stevie, somebody who might actually have been able to get some use out of it, life is one constant guess-again humiliation.’
‘So how come you’re spending Valentine’s Day painting my living room in miserable singleness then?’
‘I told you, Nell, I’m not dating any more. I turned her down.’
‘How’d she take it?’
‘Well, she said she understood, but I’m sensing she was a bit hurt.’ Stevie sighed and finished her tea. ‘I feel bad. I’d have liked to be friends, at least. We kind of bonded when we took Milly and the dogs to the park.’
‘You could’ve said yes. You like her, right? I mean, you fancy her?’
‘Well, yes, I do, but… I mean, there’s Milly to consider. Even now she’s at school, she still needs so much of my time. And it feels too soon after losing Angela to be thinking about new relationships.’
‘How long has it been?’ Nell asked softly.
‘Nearly four years now.’
‘And you think that’s too soon?’
‘Too soon for my survivor’s guilt to have worn off anyway.’
‘You want my opinion?’
‘No.’
‘I think you ought to go for it.’
‘Funny, I could swear I said no just then.’
‘Angela would want you to be happy with someone else, wouldn’t she?’
‘I don’t know, Nell. She’s dead so I can’t ask her.’
‘But you must know what she’d have wanted for you.’
‘I thought I knew her inside out,’ Stevie muttered, half to herself. ‘Who she was, how she felt, what she was capable of. But the people you love can surprise you, and not always in a good way. And now it’s not just moving on, it’s… back to square one, almost. Right back to where I was when I met her.’
‘Where were you?’
‘Not in a good place,’ Stevie said, looking down into her empty mug. ‘A mess, if you want the truth. It took me a long time to trust Angela enough to let her in, and then she—’ She bit her lip. ‘I just don’t know if I can do that with someone else. Not now.’
Nell put her mug down on the table and covered Stevie’s hand with hers.
‘I didn’t know it was so complicated,’ she said quietly. ‘You want to talk about it?’
‘Not really. I’m a bit sick of the subject.’ Stevie summoned a smile. ‘But thanks.’
‘You know where I am if you change your mind.’
Nell’s phone buzzed and she fumbled about in her overall pocket until she located it.
She frowned at the screen. ‘Xander.’
‘You reckon this is it then?’ Stevie asked. ‘Has he been swept away by the romance of Overpriced Flowers Day and finally plucked up the nerve to ask you out?’
‘Unless he wants to tell me he’s eloped with Jolene Hancock. He’s exactly the sort of person to marry someone out of social embarrassment because he didn’t want to hurt their feelings.’ She swiped at the screen. ‘What’s up, Xand?’
‘Oh God, Nell, you have to help me,’ he said in a strangled voice.
‘Xander, what’s happened?’ Nell said, alarmed. ‘Are you OK?’
In the background there was an almighty din, the sounds of metal objects crashing together and a little voice screaming, ‘MummyMummyMummyMummyMummy…’
‘A toddler with an Oedipus Complex is trying to kill me,’ Xander gasped.
‘What, your friends’ kid? Are you babysitting?’
‘Jacob’s not a kid, he’s Satan incarnate. Please, Nell, I’ll give you anything. Double your salary, as many packets of plasticine as you can eat, whatever you want. All you have to do is tell me how I can make him stop screaming.’
‘Why are you asking me?’
‘Because the only other friends I’ve got who might be able to help were responsible for conceiving the little hellspawn.’ He sighed. ‘Plus I don’t want to ruin their night out.’
‘OK, text me the address and give me half an hour. I’ll come over and see what I can do.’
‘Nell, I love you tenderly, do you know that?’
The cries of ‘Mummy!’ in the background were louder now, and so high in pitch they were in danger of becoming audible only to sheepdogs. It sounded like Jacob was gaining on him.
‘For the love of all that’s holy, hurry up,’ Xander hissed as he hung up.
‘Sorry, Stevie, I have to go,’ Nell said, stashing her phone away again. ‘Would you be able to drop me off in Morton on your way home?’
‘Course. Did he ask you out then?’
‘What do you think?’ Nell said, rolling her eyes. ‘No, he’s got a toddler trying to murder him.’
‘Of course he has. How very Xander.’