Follow My Lead Episode 21
It had become routine to have lunch together each day, and Danielle was surprised by how empty the house seemed without Lydia’s cheerful company.
She didn’t bother sitting down, but stood gazing out at the garden.
Cyrus next door had just cut his grass. When he caught her eye, he executed a courteous bow, making her smile.
Such a lovely man, she thought. He and Lydia would make a smashing couple.
Which, of course, led her to wonder about Basil.
It was a thought echoed by Sylvia when she popped into the shop for some lunch ingredients and a tub of yoghurt for supper.
“This is Lydia’s away day, isn’t it?” Sylvia asked as Danielle unloaded her basket. “Do you think it’ll tempt her back to the city?”
“I’m not sure.” Danielle pushed a bar of chocolate across the counter.
“We’d miss her,” Sylvia commented, and Danielle was struck again by Lydia’s ability to engage with people.
The thought reminded her of her godmother’s advice about asking questions.
“This is a super shop, Sylvia,” she remarked. “How long have you had it?”
“I came to the village in 2007,” Sylvia began, and as she chattered on, Danielle realised how right Lydia was.
It was easy to listen and let the questions evolve from the conversation. Why had she always made such heavy weather of it?
“See you later, Sylvia.” Danielle was smiling as she left. Wait till she told Lydia!
“Someone looks happy!”
A van stopped at the kerb. Stu.
She stooped to peer in.
“Hi! I haven’t seen you around lately.” She’d begun to wonder if he was avoiding her.
“I’ve hardly had a minute,” he replied, shouting over the rattle of the van’s diesel engine.
“I think everyone in the four counties has decided to get their chimneys swept over the last couple of weeks.
“Look at the state of me!”
He was filthy. His face was grey, the creases and smile lines ingrained with soot, apart from a white outline around his eyes where his goggles had been.
She was ridiculously happy to see him. She remembered Lydia’s words about asking him out. Could she?
Maybe not quite yet.
She held up her carrier bag, a baguette sticking out the top of it.
“I have cheese, tomatoes, pickles and fresh bread. How about lunch?”
She saw the surprise flicker across his face and had a moment of doubt.
Then his teeth flashed white in a broad smile.
“If that offer includes a mug of tea, hop in.”
A hastily arranged dustsheet protected her from the worst of the van’s grime; not that she cared. She was just happy to be with him.
With lunch spread out, she wished the afternoon could go on for ever.
As they talked, Stu echoed Sylvia’s question.
“I wonder if this visit will lure Lydia back to city life?
“How would you feel about that?”
That was easy to answer.
“I’d miss her. She just seems to fit in, doesn’t she? I don’t know if she sees herself in Thornville long term.
“It’s hard for her, not having anything to do. I’ve known her all my life, and I’ve never known her to be so aimless.”
“Can’t we make her chairperson of the hall or something?” Stu suggested.
“She’d get things done, and she’d charm other people into doing things, too.”
He said it as though he were joking, but Danielle remembered that spark of interest in Lydia’s eyes when she’d overheard them talking about the hall.
“You might just have a good idea there.”
He rolled his head lazily to smile at her.
“I’m full of them. Why don’t we talk about this some more over supper tonight at Jacob’s Barn?”
Jacob’s Barn was a nice country pub in the next village.
“OK,” she agreed.
His gaze intensified for a second, and her heart almost stopped. Then he turned away again.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
And just like that she completely understood Lydia’s uncertainty over Basil as she’d set off for the city that morning.
Didn’t she now have the same dilemma? They were having dinner together, but was this a date?