Follow My Lead Episode 11
Follow My Lead
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“I’ll be there in five minutes. Thanks, Bruno.”
Danielle usually made it home for lunch between her walking shifts, which was usually a sandwich, but today she decided she wanted to do something special for Lydia.
The older woman hadn’t quite managed to disguise her dismay at the only coffee on offer being instant.
It was more than that, though.
Lydia had always been one to rise above a challenge, but Danielle had never seen her livewire godmother so defeated.
She had planned a treat.
When she got home, she parked, then sat in the van, peering along the lane, until another van appeared and flashed its lights at her.
Only then did she walk up the path and open the front door.
“Lydia?” she called. “Do you have a minute?”
Lydia came along the hall, one finger holding her place in a book.
“Do you need help with something?”
Danielle swept an arm towards the lane.
“Ta-da! How would you like a cup of real coffee?”
Lydia looked past her and her face lit up. There, parked at the gate, was a small van emblazoned with the words: Bruno’s Espresso Stop: Mobile Coffee Service.
“Espresso, cappuccino, flat white – Bruno does it all,” Danielle told her.
Lydia was already halfway down the path.
“A mobile coffee van? What a brilliant idea!”
The dark-haired young driver had opened the van’s back doors to reveal a gleaming coffee machine.
“And you’re Bruno? I’m Lydia, and I would love a coffee.
“A skinny macchiato with an extra shot, please,” she said with a grin.
“Coming right up,” Bruno replied.
Moments later, Lydia was sipping experimentally from a takeaway cup.
“It’s delicious!” she exclaimed. “Bruno, I think you and I are going to become very good friends!”
Danielle smiled.
Lydia’s eyes were dancing as she followed Danielle indoors.
“Real coffee – bliss. Thanks, Danielle.
“Oh, and what’s all this?” she added.
She peered at the spread of continental cheeses and cold meat, artisan bread and pickles that Danielle was unpacking on to the table in the living-room.
“This,” Danielle said proudly, “is lunch.”
“Is there a deli in the village?” Lydia asked, cutting a wedge of Brie.
“You’ll see,” Danielle said, enjoying the success of her surprise. “What did you do this morning?”
Lydia explained about joining Cyrus next door for his yoga session, and Danielle envied her courage in plunging in like that.
“Oh, and I whizzed round with your vacuum cleaner,” Lydia added casually.
Danielle closed her eyes. She knew what was coming.
“I found some wallpaper. It would look nice in here,” Lydia added pointedly, and Danielle felt the blush rise in her cheeks.
“It’s to paper this room, isn’t it? I bet you were in the middle of it when I foisted myself on you”
What could she say?
“Honestly?” Danielle said meekly. “I was up a ladder when you phoned, stripping off old wallpaper!”
Their eyes met and the giggling started again.
“Air freshener, my foot.” Lydia laughed.
“What do you do with your free time when you’re not walking dogs and running?” she asked.
Danielle considered.
“The garden. Cooking, baking or reading. You know, the simple life.”
Listening to herself, even she acknowledged that it must sound awfully dull to someone like Lydia, who looked faintly horrified.
“Not running at a million miles an hour is why I moved here, remember,” Danielle insisted.
“I hated that about the city.”
“I know, but . . .” Lydia ran out of words, and Danielle could only imagine the dread in her heart that this was all that life might hold for her now, too.
“Look,” she said, wanting to distract her, “I have an hour before I collect my two afternoon dogs. How about a walk and I’ll show you around?”