Page 64 of Escape to the Country

Chapter 20

Eleanor finally staggered through the front door of The Forge an hour later after the long walk home.

‘Hi.’ Her mum turned around from the kitchen table and was aghast to see her daughter’s upset face. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’

‘Oh Mum! I’ve made a mess of everything!’ Eleanor burst into tears again. Would she ever be able to stop crying?

‘Come and sit down,’ said her mum, leading her over to the table. ‘What’s the matter? Is this to do with your ex-boyfriend?’

‘It’s all of it, Mum.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I lost my job. Restructuring or something.’

‘Oh.’ Her mum looked concerned. ‘Well, I’m sure there are plenty of other positions out there for a wonderful journalist like yourself. You’ll see, they’ll be chomping at the bit to have you work for their newspapers.’

Eleanor shook her head. ‘But I’m not a wonderful journalist, Mum. I never told you the truth.’

Now her mum was looking shocked. ‘So what is the truth?’ she asked slowly.

Eleanor took a deep breath. ‘I work, I mean I used to work, for this awful gossip magazine. You know, one of those cheap, tacky ones that are just filled with rubbish about celebrities. I took the job to further my career but that was eight years ago and now I’ve ended up with nothing.’

Her mum took a deep breath. ‘Eight years?’

Eleanor nodded. ‘I know. I was too embarrassed to tell you. You were so proud of me and I knew you wouldn’t be if you knew the truth. And then time went on and on and it just became too big a lie.’

Her Mum frowned. ‘So it was a gossip magazine? Like the ones…’ Her voice trailed off.

Eleanor gulped away more tears ‘The ones that wrote about dad all those years ago. I’m so sorry. It was the only job I could get at the time. But the last thing I ever wanted to do was upset you. So I kept on lying.’

Her mum reached out to stroke her face. ‘Darling, I love you. I’ll always be proud of you, regardless of what job you have.’ She took a beat. ‘I suppose the gardening leave was all a lie as well?’

‘Yes.’

Her mum gave her a soft smile. ‘I did wonder, what with you having the last month off and all.’

Eleanor was shocked. It turned out she hadn’t really fooled her mum after all. And that her mother’s reaction to her job hadn’t been as bad as she had feared all those years.

She shook her head. ‘It wasn’t wonderful at all though. My fabulous, glamorous life in London? I didn’t really know anyone. I just bought lots of clothes to make me feel better, but even they didn’t really make a difference. I actually felt alone quite a bit of the time. Do you know what I mean?’

Her mum nodded. ‘I think I do. Of course, I’ve been lucky enough to have friends like Ben here in the village and I’ve got the animals.’

‘I don’t think I really had any real friends in London,’ said Eleanor, with a sigh. ‘I did go out all the time but it was always for work. I was lonely, even with Lucas. I don’t even know how I ended up with him. He liked the exclusive tickets I had access to. But there were no feelings there.’ She stared across the kitchen as if realising the truth for the very first time. ‘We never laughed.’

‘Well, that is sad,’ said her mum, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

‘But the worst of it is that I told Annie and Megan the truth,’ said Eleanor.

‘Well, that’s a good thing,’ said her mum, looking pleased. ‘They’re your true friends so it’s important to be honest with them.’

The tears began to fall once more. ‘No, it’s not. They think I’m here to do a story on Tommy King and that I’ve betrayed them.’

‘Tommy who?’

‘You know Tom who brought the stray dog? Well, he’s actually a famous singer. Really famous.’

‘Is he really?’ Her mum looked surprised. ‘Well, I’d have never known. He was ever so nice.’

‘Yes, I think he truly is,’ groaned Eleanor. ‘And that makes it all the worse.’

‘Look, they’re your best friends. They’ll understand once they’ve calmed down.’