‘Oh.’
I experienced a flutter of panic. What did oh mean? Did he think I’d followed him here? Maybe I should have just walked on after all.
‘I was just out for some fresh air.’ I pointed behind me at the river, as though it wasn’t obvious where we were. ‘I thought you’d gone.’
He shrugged. ‘I thought I’d come down here. Relive some old memories.’ He smiled up at me, his eyes on mine, and I felt my heart shift in my chest. Had he really been thinking about me? Us? Before I could say anything, he looked around him. ‘I’ve missed this place. I forgot how pretty Chester is.’
‘Yeah, I guess I forget to look because I live here.’ I opened my mouth to ask if he remembered going on the boat cruise, then quickly changed my mind. I didn’t want him to say no, or say yes, it was boring, or something that might ruin my precious memories of a perfect day. ‘You live in a pretty place anyway, don’t you? Willow Hall is beautiful.’
He grunted and shrugged. ‘I suppose so. But… ah, never mind.’ He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face. ‘Would you like to sit down?’ He indicated the bench next to him and I sat down at the far end, leaving a generous gap between us.
‘So what’s up? Are you not happy living there?’
‘It’s not that. I like it better than I ever thought I would. It’s just a lot of pressure, you know. We need to make it work or we’ll lose it. We’ve only got one wedding booked for next year.’
‘Well, even one wedding’s a good start, isn’t it? And you have more open days coming up, don’t you? You’re bound to get something from those.’
‘Let’s hope so. The renovations have cost us a fortune. We need to start making some money somehow. Julian and I have put this off for far too long.’
‘I don’t understand how your mother’s kept it going for so long without your support. How did she cope?’
Anthony shrugged. ‘We rent out land to farmers, so that’s provided some income. But if we’re going to keep the hall, we need to increase our revenue.’
I stared thoughtfully up at the branches of the tree above us. ‘Why don’t you put on some other events this year if you can’t get weddings? Corporate events? Dog shows? Horse shows? Flower shows? Craft fairs?’
‘It’s a bit late to organise it all now.’
‘Why? They don’t have to be huge events. Start off small and well organised and invite the local press to get coverage.’
Anthony stared thoughtfully at the river. A group of teenagers had hired a bright-orange pedalo and were laughing raucously as they tried to pedal against the current.
‘Hmm, that’s an idea.’
‘Do you know any rock stars that would put on a concert for you?’
‘Sadly not.’
‘Shame.’
He chuckled and rubbed his face again. ‘Jayjay seems like a nice lad. Why aren’t you with him?’
‘He had to get back to work.’ I kept my eyes on the pedalo. Anthony’s use of the word lad hadn’t escaped me; he’d obviously noticed that Jayjay was younger than me. I hoped he wasn’t going to ask me questions I couldn’t answer. I was no good at lying.
‘What does he do?’
‘He’s a roofer.’ I think, I added silently to myself. I was pretty sure Bobbi had told me that, anyway.
‘He didn’t seem dressed for work.’
‘He had an appointment this morning, but he’s going back to work this afternoon.’
‘Ah, okay. So this flower show thing, how would we set that up?’
I hesitated. Why was he asking my advice? ‘Err, well, you could advertise your own, although that might take a lot of organising and you might not be able to attract enough interest this year. Unless you contact your local horticultural society to see if they have any events planned that they might like to move to your hall?’
Anthony pulled a face. ‘I doubt that would encourage any interest in our wedding business, though.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t really know. How about a craft fair? That might be easier and could attract a broader range of people. Are the house and gardens open to visitors during the week?’
‘Not at the moment. We talked about it, but Mother’s not interested.’
‘But you wouldn’t have to open every day. You might not even get any visitors at first.’
‘Well, then, that begs the question of whether it would even be worth the effort.’
‘I suppose.’
There was a pause in conversation as a couple of ducks waddled up to investigate us for food. Quacking gently, they stared at us with their shiny black eyes and pecked hopefully at the floor by our feet.
‘Hello, ducks,’ Anthony said mildly. ‘We have no bread. Try the little girl over there.’ He nodded towards the toddler in the red coat who was now walking away, hand in hand with her grandfather. The swans were already gliding off down the river.
‘She’s so cute!’ I said wistfully.
Anthony laughed. ‘She is, isn’t she. You should see Julian’s kids. They’re lovely. Grace is such a little chatterbox. She never stops talking. She’s amazing, she really is. And Charlie is growing so fast! I can’t get over him. Every day he seems to have grown another inch. He’s great.’
‘Aw, bless!’ I stared at Anthony in amazement. He’d always been fond of his niece and nephew, but he never used to gush about them like this.
‘Liz is expecting again too. Did Julian tell you that on Sunday?’
‘No! That’s wonderful news. When is she due?’
‘September, I think.’ He grimaced. ‘Don’t quote me on that, though. I might have got it wrong.’
I laughed. ‘Well, that’s lovely. Tell them congratulations from me. I bet your mum’s pleased.’
‘Yes, she can’t wait. She loves having the little ones around. They seem to make everything better.’
‘I can imagine. Can I ask you something, though? Why did you move out? There must be plenty of room at the hall for everyone.’
He shrugged. ‘You know what I’m like; I need my own space.’
‘Don’t you get lonely? I mean, I haven’t seen where you’re living, but I can imagine it must be pretty remote.’
‘It’s only a short walk from the main house. I’m all right. I like living on my own, away from all the nagging.’
‘Nagging?’ I felt a surge of indignation. ‘I didn’t nag, did I?’
‘Not you!’ he laughed. ‘My mother. She’s great but she does go on at me, checking I’ve done this and that. It’s like I’m a kid again. No, I liked living with you.’
‘Really?’ I blinked in surprise.
‘Of course. We got on all right, didn’t we? You were easy to live with.’
‘Oh.’ I cleared my throat, my flush of happiness floating away with the blossom being stripped from the trees around us. Easy? Hmm, easy was convenient and unremarkable. It wasn’t exciting or passionate or fun. No wonder he’d found it so easy to say goodbye. It was painful to think that while I counted the days I’d spent living with Anthony