The Secrets of Primrose Square by Claudia Carroll

Author:Claudia Carroll [Carroll, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Jayne

19 PRIMROSE SQUARE

Jayne pulled on her walking shoes and a warm fleece, and made her way into Primrose Square to her favourite bench. It was in just about the quietest part of the square, far away from all the traffic noise on Pearce Street, a place where the only sound you could hear was birdsong and the happy giggling of a few kids in the playground area, not far from where she sat.

She often came out there, particularly when she needed a bit of ‘time out from the world’, as Eric would say. Just a snatched half hour here, on this gorgeously sunny bench surrounded by beech trees and magnolia, was always enough to recharge her batteries, so she could cope with the stresses and strains of whatever was going on in her life.

When Tom first got sick and went from bad to worse so shockingly fast, Jayne would often slip quietly over onto the square by herself, to breathe deep, fresh air until she ‘regrouped’. Then and only then was she was able to face back into illness and chemo and the whole roundabout of carers who were in and out of the house non-stop, with news that was never, ever good.

Just listen to yourself, Jayne thought with a wry little smile. Did I really use the word ‘regroup’? Did I ever even know such a word existed till Eric Butler first strolled into my life?

It wasn’t Eric who was on her mind just then, though. In fact, Eric was such a support to her, she didn’t know how she’d ever managed without him. The two of them had spent the afternoon happily cooking and baking side by side, and Jayne almost burst with pride when Eric told her that the mousse she’d conjured up was ‘real restaurant quality. You’ve got a gift, Jayne, a real gift. I know what I’m talking about too – I started out grafting in restaurant kitchens. You gotta think about writing a cookbook some time in the future.’

She’d beamed delightedly back at him, as he helped her to clean up, marvelling at the deep feeling of peace and happiness she felt when it was just the two of them together, alone.

‘We make a good team,’ he’d said to her, handing her a mug of tea just the way she liked it, when their work was finally done. And Jayne could only agree. So why was it so hard for her family to be just a bit happy for her? Was she really asking for the sun, earth, moon and stars?

Jason, Irene and the twins had been nothing but vile to Eric from day one, and all she could do was be awed by his patience in the face of such unrelenting rudeness. To date, Eric had met every insult with a smile, and every jibe with nothing but tolerance and understanding.

The latest batch of trouble had started earlier that evening, when without so much as a phone call to warn her, Jason’s ice cream van had trundled onto the square and out he hopped with Holly and Molly in tow.

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