Page 68 of Escape to the Country

Chapter 22

At some point in the afternoon, Eleanor had drifted off to sleep on her bed, still clutching the photograph of her friends.

She woke up to a knock on the door and realised it was nearly teatime. ‘I don’t want any food, Mum,’ she called out. ‘Just sort out dinner for yourself. I’m really not hungry.’

It was true. She still felt sick to her stomach with loss and worry.

‘Good job we brought some chocolate with us then,’ said Megan, stalking into the room and throwing a box of Maltesers on the bed. ‘Tom had a stash of these, so I promised I’d give them to the kids. I’m saving their milk teeth and sharing them with you instead.’

Eleanor struggled to sit up, feeling shocked as she watched Annie follow Megan into the small bedroom and look around.

Megan stared up the walls. ‘Wow. Your mum hasn’t changed anything here in decades, has she?’

Eleanor shook her head. ‘Well, you know what Mum’s like,’ she said.

The bed jumped as Megan threw herself onto the end. Annie remained standing, avoiding eye contact.

The only sound for a few moments was Megan ripping open the box and grabbing a handful of Maltesers. ‘Anyone?’ she offered, holding out the box with her other hand.

The response was a deafening silence.

Megan sighed. ‘Well, this isn’t at all awkward,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘What’s that?’ She pointed at the photograph which Eleanor was holding.

Still in shock, Eleanor handed it over to her. She did notice that Annie couldn’t resist peeking over Megan’s shoulder to see what it was and was thankful to see a small smile of recognition pass Annie’s lips.

‘I’ve got this same photo on my bookshelf,’ said Megan before handing it over to Annie. ‘You?’

‘On my bedside cabinet,’ muttered Annie.

Megan took the photo from her and peered at it. ‘God, we look so young. I think this was one of the last photos we had of us together before you both abandoned me.’

‘Abandonedyou?’ said Annie.

Megan looked up the bed at Eleanor. ‘You went to London and Annie sailed around the world. And don’t think I’ve forgiven either of you for that yet.’

‘Doesn’t mean that I was happy,’ said Annie, looking utterly miserable.

Megan looked at her. ‘I always imagined you like Kate Winslet inTitanic,’ she said. ‘You know, arms stretched wide at the front of the boat.’

‘With Leonardo DiCaprio right behind me,’ added Annie with a sad smile.

They all sighed in unison. ‘How many times did we watch that DVD?’ asked Eleanor softly.

‘Too many,’ said Annie, sitting down on the bed. ‘It was nothing like that, of course. It was horrible and lonely.’ For a second, Annie looked bleak. She had had a rough time after her father had died and part of the reason for working on the cruise ships was to get away from her wretched home life.

Eleanor would have done the same, but she could never leave her mum. Except she had, she realised. She’d moved away as quickly as she could and her mum was stuck here with the animals. Yet another regret to add to the growing list.

‘So are you going to move back to London?’ Annie suddenly asked, looking straight at Eleanor.

Eleanor shook her head. ‘No. I’m not. No job and it turns out that I was pretty lonely there as well.’

Annie frowned but didn’t reply.

‘What about all the celebrity parties you went to?’ asked Megan, in between mouthfuls of chocolate. ‘They must have been fun.’

‘Not really,’ said Eleanor. ‘If you’re a celebrity then you get the VIP treatment. But they all know that you’re a journalist so treat you like a leper and you’re left alone in case they say anything they shouldn’t. Most of the time, I ended up near the bar, grabbing a free drink.’

‘So why did you carry on if you hated it so much?’ asked Annie.