The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane - Part Two: An Autumn Promise by Helen Rolfe

Author:Helen Rolfe [Rolfe, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781398700277
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2020-09-30T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Audrey

Audrey ran down the stairs to answer the door on Saturday morning, knowing it would be Layla. She’d been pestering her for days to do her make-up but with school work, Audrey hadn’t had a chance until now. Amazingly enough, the incentive of choosing to go on to make-up college if she worked hard at her GCSEs was spurring her on. She’d never worked this hard at school, but without the distractions from the nasty girls back in her previous school, as well as the novelty of a new environment, she’d got into a new routine.

She ushered Layla inside from the blustery autumn day. ‘Do you have the “you know what”?’

Layla nodded and attempted a wink although the movement was less than discreet. Luckily Gran was baking this morning so they wouldn’t be interrupted – they had something else to do other than the make-up and it was something Audrey had gradually begun to think about as her gran became all the more special in her life.

‘I thought I heard voices.’ Gran came along the hallway all smiles, dusting her hands on her apron. Not that Layla minded, she ran in for a hug anyway.

‘What are you making?’ Layla took off her shoes so she didn’t bring in the dirt from outside.

‘Bakewell tart this morning. You two go and have fun with the make-up – I’m in the middle of making pastry and I don’t want it to spoil. I’ll take a look at the kindness calendar later if you don’t mind.’

‘That was close,’ Layla giggled when Gran returned to her pastry and Layla followed Audrey upstairs. The last thing they wanted was to let Gran see the calendar before they swapped it with the one Audrey had been working on and kept under her bed.

Once they were in her bedroom, the door open so they could hear Gran pottering around downstairs, Audrey took it out. ‘This covers October and I’m working on another for November.’

Ever since Audrey had realised Gran’s mood lifted when they discussed the kindness calendar and how Layla could fulfil her tasks, Audrey had begun to look for ways to help her gran out of the rut she was in. Perhaps rut wasn’t the right word, she had an anxiety disorder that couldn’t be fixed with a simple click of the fingers, but Audrey wanted in some way to remind Gran of the woman she once was and still could be. The way Veronica spoke to Charlie about her time as a nurse conveyed how much she missed that side of her life and what Audrey and Layla had talked about doing was getting Gran involved in anything that would mean she was helping again, whether it be big or small tasks.

Between them they’d concocted a plan. Layla had been stopping by ten minutes earlier for her piano lessons when she knew Veronica would be in the bathroom – a schedule had had to be drawn up as Sam and Audrey both needed to get out of the door at particular times.

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