Eleanor was trying very hard to keep busy to stop her from worrying about her friends. She had spent the previous afternoon tidying up the kitchen in The Forge. In the evening, she and her mum had watched television.
She was still reeling from her mum’s lack of reaction regarding her job at Hot Gossip! Maybe she should have told her years ago. Maybe she should have told her friends as well then things wouldn’t have got so out of hand.
She hadn’t slept well. Tossing and turning, she spent hours dwelling over the possibility of having lost her best friends through her own stupidity. In the end, she fell into such a heavy sleep after dawn that she woke up late. With no texts or calls on her mobile from either Annie or Megan, Eleanor was feeling so depressed that she couldn’t even be bothered to get dressed before going downstairs to start sorting out the animals.
Then it had been so busy that she was still in her pyjamas collecting the chicken eggs at nearly midday.
As she came out of the coop carrying the freshly laid eggs, the donkey gave her a gentle nudge with its nose.
‘Get off,’ she told her. ‘You’ll make me drop them.’
She gently put down the eggs by the back door and went to carry the large bundle of hay from the back of the garden to where the goat and donkey needed it.
As she dropped it onto the ground, she scratched at her neck. What with the animals and the hay, the eczema was worse than ever. She felt such a mess.
But for once she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she hadn’t bothered with her hair. That she had no make-up on. That she was in her old T-shirt and pyjama bottoms. Nothing mattered any more. She just felt numb.
As she bent down to undo the string holding the bale together, the donkey gave her such a nudge with its nose that she went straight over, face first, into the hay.
She swore under her breath and struggled to get up. It was only then that she felt she was being watched.
She quickly spun around and saw Tom and Arthur standing at the back gate.
‘Good morning,’ said Arthur, undoing the latch on the gate. ‘I do hope we haven’t come at a bad time.’
‘Good morning,’ she managed to mumble, shocked that Arthur and, perhaps worse, Tom would find her in such a state.
‘It seems you forgot to take the bicycle with you,’ said Arthur, coming into the garden. ‘I thought perhaps you might need it if you wished to visit your friends. It’s been so nice to hear you all laughing and chatting away together each day.’
She tried to take in what Arthur was saying as she watched Tom wheel the bicycle into the garden and close the gate behind him.
‘Anyway, we were just passing and thought it might be an opportune time to visit your mother,’ carried on Arthur. ‘Is she in?’
Eleanor nodded, still feeling absolutely mortified that they had found her in such a mess.
Arthur, on the other hand, appeared completely oblivious to her appearance. Class and good breeding probably did that, she thought.
‘Mum!’ she called out, her voice a little shaky. ‘Arthur’s here.’
‘Is he really?’ Her mum came hobbling out of the kitchen. ‘Hello, Arthur. What a lovely surprise. I’ll put the kettle on.’
Arthur followed her mother into the kitchen, chatting away about the weather.
As they went inside, Eleanor hid her flaming red cheeks by trying to undo the string on the bale once more. She almost jumped out of her skin when a pair of large male hands quickly appeared and wrenched the knot open almost immediately.
‘Thank you,’ she muttered, straightening up but still not making eye contact with Tom. Instead, she scratched her neck as she fretted. After all, this man had been the main reason that her friends were so angry with her. Her main downfall. None of which was his fault which made her guilt even worse.
He reached over and gently stroked the donkey’s mane. ‘Just to warn you, I think Arthur’s going to talk to your mum about perhaps decreasing the number of animals she has.’
Eleanor was surprised that Arthur had mentioned such a thing to Tom. Perhaps they were closer than she realised. In shock, she made eye contact with him and saw him glance at her neck. She immediately dropped her hand and covered up the eczema patch with her hair.
‘Well, thanks for the heads-up,’ said Eleanor, trying to appear casual and confident despite her pyjamas and lack of make-up. ‘Have the neighbours been complaining?’
‘Not all of them,’ he replied, with a soft smile.
Eleanor sighed. ‘I don’t blame them. I mean, look at it.’ She waved her arm around at the mess.
He glanced around the garden. ‘Has she always been like this?’
Eleanor shook her head. ‘Only since Dad walked out on us. Now it’s like living in London Zoo. I think we’ve lost the tortoise at least five times so far this week.’
‘Well, it’s not like it can get very far, is it?’ His blue eyes crinkled up at the edges.
She tried not to match his smile. ‘Very funny.’
She almost started to relax about him finding her like this. It wasn’t important what she looked like, she realised. Nothing mattered any more. She just felt so sad that she didn’t really care.
However, she did get changed before joining the visitors in the kitchen for a cup of tea. But she only threw on a T-shirt and shorts. She tied her messy hair back in a ponytail and checked her face but, in the end, she figured it would have been too obvious to suddenly appear fully made up, so she slicked on some lip balm and went back downstairs.
‘Perhaps Ben can help you find a home for some of them,’ Arthur was saying.
Eleanor glanced at her mum, who was trying to hide how upset she was. ‘I think that’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you seeing him tomorrow night? You could mention it then.’
Her mother nodded sadly.
Eleanor looked at Tom in despair.
Thankfully he picked up on her signal. ‘The bicycle’s all fixed up for you,’ he said in a bright tone of voice.
Eleanor was grateful for him to change the subject so easily, especially as she could feel her mum relax as the conversation moved on.
They went outside and showed her mum the bicycle and then headed on their way.
‘Thank you,’ murmured Eleanor, as they left. ‘For being so gentle with her.’
Arthur gave her a soft smile. ‘Everything will work out, my dear. You just wait and see.’ He gave her arm a squeeze and then walked away.
Tom stopped and looked down at her. ‘Annie’s been pretty upset,’ he said. ‘It’s not my place to intrude, but whatever it is you’ve had a row about, it can be fixed.’
Eleanor gulped back the pain that reappeared deep inside. ‘I’m not so sure,’ she told him. ‘But thanks anyway.’
As she looked up and gave him a small smile, she found herself thinking that he had kind eyes. At that moment, she was extremely grateful that she hadn’t exposed his private life to the world. He didn’t deserve that. He was too nice. Then she closed the back gate and went back indoors.
Her mum was still mulling over the idea of not keeping so many animals. Eleanor knew nothing she could say would sway her decision, so she went back upstairs. She curled up on her bed, staring at the photograph of her, Annie and Megan when they were younger. It had all gone so wrong and she had no idea how to fix it.