Page 30 of Matilda’s Summer of New Beginnings

‘Ummm . . .’

‘What?’

‘No. Actually that was not my intention.’

‘But they’d love them. Cerys would probably sell the originals in her shop like she does with some of Edie’s local work. And Flora could get you some publicity with her events contacts. It would be lovely. You’d be one of the locals. A proper Padcocker.’ Rosie grinned.

‘I–I–I don’t know that I want to be a Padcocker! I don’t really know any of them. I only know Jay.’ I picked up my paintbrush and dunked it heavily in the water to show her just how busy I was, and that I couldn’t possibly be drawn into that sort of conversation right now.

‘And?’ Rosie ignored the frantic dunking and looked at me strangely. ‘Jay’s not a bad person to know. And you’ll get to know everyone else through him.’ She paused for a second, letting the words sink in. ‘Right. I’m off. Shower time!’

She blew me a kiss, and waltzed out of my room, leaving me standing with my mouth open, and my brush hovering over the water pot. Within seconds, the shower was on, her music playing, and she was singing loudly and without shame to some eighties rock ballads. Much as I loved her, Jay had clearly got the singing voice, whereas Rosie made up for it in enthusiasm.

But regardless. Did I want to go and see Jay?

Of course I did.

Did he want me to see him?

I wasn’t really sure . . .

And that was the point the blob of cold paint water dropped off the end of my brush and splashed my big toe.

* * *

Later that evening, as I was relaxing in front of the television, enjoying having the place to myself, the landline rung. I froze. Nobody ever called the landline — I stared at the telephone until it stopped ringing, and the answerphone clicked on.

‘Ummm — hello? Are you there Rosie? Obviously not—’

I leapt across the sofa like a gazelle, and grabbed the phone. ‘Jay!’ I chirped, perkily. ‘What a surprise. Nobody ever rings the landline. I was just in the kitchen and heard the answerphone, so . . .’ I giggled, to try and sound nonchalant and carefree, and even did a girly twirl of my hair, which was quite frankly ridiculous as it was the landline and not a video call.

‘Oh! Hello Matilda. I was — um — trying to get Rosie, and I can’t get through on her mobile, so I thought, on the off chance, I’d call the flat.’

‘Yes, she’s out. It’s just me here. Can I take a message for her?’

‘No, no, it’s okay. I’ll just text her, it wasn’t that important.’ That was, I thought, an odd thing to say — if his message was unimportant enough for a text then why had he felt the need to call the landline? ‘Actually!’ he said quickly. ‘While you’re on the phone, can I talk about Padcock?’

I looked at the phone curiously. ‘Of course. Unless you’re going to make some comment about me being in a costume drama. All the dresses now have new homes, thank you very much. But I have some more paintings done from your pdf — do you want me to email you some photos of them, see what you think? It’s just a bit of fun, but you know. I’m enjoying it.’

‘No, no. Nothing like that. And no, I don’t want photos emailed.’

‘Oh. Okay.’ I felt a little deflated.

‘I’d much rather see them for real.’

Now that threw me. ‘Oh! Well, you’re welcome to come up,’ I said. Then I blushed, as I thought that sounded a little forward.

‘I know,’ he continued, ‘I’m planning to come up at some point, but it’s a bit tricky at the moment. There’s stuff going on for the Fayre, and I’ve got a lot of shifts at the Spatchcock. Not to mention the lessons for the kids. And Polly . . .’

Bloody Polly.

I pasted a smile on my face in the hope that it would make its way down the phone and he wouldn’t realize I had suddenly developed this awful hatred for a woman I didn’t even know.

‘Ah, that’s a shame. Another time then.’

‘Yes.’

There was a bit of an awkward pause.