Wildflower Park – Part One: Build Me Up Buttercup

‘It’s chocolate cake.’ Anna put her hands on her hips but, remembering they were covered in chocolate icing, she wished she hadn’t.

‘It’s got teeth?’ he said, peering closer.

‘Hedgehogs have teeth,’ said Anna, feeling defensive.

‘O-kay.’ He didn’t sound convinced. ‘Anyway, I wanted to talk to you.’

‘What about?’ asked Anna, turning her attention to aligning the hedgehog’s wonky eyes.

‘Those teeth are like my granny’s dentures.’

‘You wanted to talk to me about dentures?’ She smiled at him.

‘No. I think we need to take a break.’

There was a pause as Anna frowned. All she could focus on was that maybe she shouldn’t have used glacé cherries for the eyes. They were demon-like. Chocolate buttons would have been better.

‘Anna?’ prompted Liam.

‘Yes, fine.’

‘Really? You agree?’

‘Yes. I think it’s a good idea,’ she said, over her shoulder. ‘You’ve been working crazy hours recently and I could do with a break too. I’ve always wanted to go to New York but I don’t think I could cope with the flight.’ She turned around to see Liam was staring hard at the floor. ‘Did you have somewhere in mind? It’ll be cold and wet wherever we go in this country at this time of year.’

Liam’s eyebrows inched higher with her every word. ‘I don’t mean a holiday, Anna.’ Beads of sweat were forming on his top lip. His voice was gentle, his expression pained. ‘I mean a break from each other.’

And that was it. Her engagement, her future, her neat little life unravelled by one sentence. She hurled the hedgehog cake at Liam’s face and truly wished it had been made of poo.

Chapter One (#ulink_bb4134b8-0875-5283-9487-ee6395c3fb4c)

‘Are you sure about Majestic Mayonnaise?’ asked Sophie, brandishing the tester pot.

‘Well, obviously.’ Anna playfully waved her loaded paint roller at Sophie.

‘Hey, I’m pregnant!’

‘Barely.’

‘Ten weeks actually, which means it’s the size of a large green olive.’

‘Which apparently means you can only supervise the decorating, rather than provide any actual help,’ said Anna, smudging paint across her cheek as she attended to an itch.

‘I’m sorting this out.’ She pointed at the box in front of her, the words ‘Random Crap’ emblazoned on the side in Anna’s handwriting. ‘I’d love to help with decorating but this is about you starting a new chapter without Liam and I don’t want to intrude.’

‘Two years I wasted on him. What is it with me always picking the same sort of commitment-phobe? Liam makes it four in a row. Four!’ said Anna, emphasising her point by holding up four fingers. She was beginning to think she was either a serial monogamist or she was destined never to find the one. She unceremoniously dropped the roller into the paint tray.

‘You’re not entirely over the anger phase yet then?’ said Sophie, blowing out her cheeks.

Anna’s flash of fury waned. ‘That’s two years of my life I’m not getting back. What sort of person dumps someone four months after proposing?’

‘A prize plughole?’ offered Sophie, who only ever used what she felt were child-friendly swear words and frequently resorted to making up her own versions. ‘You need to think about you now. Not him.’

Anna took a deep breath. Sophie was right. This was her new start. She needed to leave Liam in the past and concentrate on her future. She was more cross than she was upset. In fact, she probably should be more upset than she actually was. She spotted one of his books in the random crap box, snatched it out and slammed it into the box labelled ‘Arsehole’s Stuff’. Perhaps it would take a little while longer for the anger to abate.

‘You’re right. A new start in my new flat.’ She wasn’t sworn off men forever; she needed to prove to herself that she didn’t need one, prove she could manage perfectly well on her own. Then maybe if the right person came along she would consider a relationship on her terms, but given how many times she’d been bitten, it would be a long time before she’d feel ready to do that.

‘Have you got any biscuits? I’m Hank Marvin,’ said Sophie.

‘Top cupboard, Hank,’ said Anna, pointing behind her. It felt like a good time to have a break. She’d been decorating the kitchen all morning and the thought of a cuppa and a Hobnob was now dominating her thoughts. She was pleased with how the little flat was shaping up but it would be a while before it’d really feel like home. Anna had been moved in a week but with her dad’s help she was already putting her own stamp on things.

A few minutes later Sophie was thoughtfully dunking her third biscuit in a large mug of coffee.

‘You okay?’ asked Anna.

Sophie pursed her lips as she appeared to carefully consider her answer. ‘I don’t like to complain about this, considering what you’re going through, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m hurtling towards thirty and I’ve not done any of the things I thought I would have by now. I’m fed up with being a general skivvy. I’m bored of having virtually no life outside the kids. I’m sick of washing, ironing and clearing up – it’s relentless. And I’m feeling a bit useless at work too …’ As if highlighting her gloomy state her biscuit dissolved into her tea. ‘Bumfuzzle!’

Anna handed her friend a teaspoon. ‘I meant the pregnancy.’

Sophie briefly screwed her eyes up and then opened them particularly wide. ‘Right. Sorry about the rant. Of course, I’m thrilled. We want lots of kids. The first two took ages to conceive so we thought we had plenty of time but this one must have been the Usain Bolt of sperm.’

Sophie’s husband, Dave, was the polar opposite of Usain Bolt. Dave was to speed what crayons were to fine art – simply not cut out for the job. He was the sort of person most labelled as ‘a nice guy’ but he was a constant source of irritation to Sophie.

‘Still, a new baby will be lovely and now I live seven doors away I’ll be able to help.’

‘Thanks. I’m going to need it.’ Sophie fished out another Hobnob.

‘It’ll be fine. You’re glowing.’ Wasn’t that what you were meant to say to pregnant women?

‘I don’t feel glowing. I feel tired and a little nauseous most of the time. And I’m spotty and fat already! All the pregnant celebrities look stunning and I look like this.’ She pointed in turn at her limply hanging hair, pimply chin and lumpy midriff.

‘I keep telling you the magazines you read are full of rubbish. The celebrities are all airbrushed and styled so much they’d make the Gruffalo look like Kim Kardashian. In fact, who knows for sure that the Gruffalo isn’t Kim Kardashian, I’ve never seen them together.’ Sophie gave a weak attempt at a smile. ‘You’re naturally beautiful.’

Sophie didn’t seem convinced. ‘I’m bloated and I’ve not lost my baby weight from the first two yet. And I really miss proper coffee.’ She peered accusingly into her mug.

Anna wasn’t sure what to say; instead she opted for squeezing Sophie’s shoulder. She didn’t like to see her like this but she knew her well enough to know jollying her out of it wasn’t the answer. They sipped their drinks in silence.

‘Come on,’ said Anna. ‘Let’s go for a walk in the park.’ The novelty of having a private park literally on her doorstep was going to take a long while to wear off. The park was in an area called Walmsley but was known as Wildflower Park because of the many varieties of wildflower that grew there. The history of the park had fascinated Anna when Sophie had first moved there a year before. The old manor house had been demolished during the Industrial Revolution leaving its grounds isolated but surrounded by other large houses, the owners of which were not keen to have their view spoiled by cheap workers’ housing or worse still a factory. They’d clubbed together to buy the gardens and turned them into a private park accessible only by those who had a property backing onto it. Even now keys were held by a select few who had an adjacent property. Anna was incredibly lucky to have been able to buy one of the flats in the small 1970s’ block, which was somehow allowed to be built, backing onto the park and therefore qualified its occupants for access.

‘Okay,’ said Sophie with a groan although Anna knew she loved a stroll around the park too.

Sophie zipped up her hoodie and Anna grabbed her coat and keys. It was early April and the signs of spring were becoming evident as the temperature was starting to feel warmer. Daffodils were everywhere and things were generally greener. As times had changed Anna no longer needed an actual key to open the gate to the park, just a special key fob. She pressed it to the gate, which buzzed in recognition and she pushed it open. Anna felt like she was being transported into the secret gardens of her favourite childhood books.

The park was a good size and must have been magnificent gardens in its day. Now a team of volunteer residents cared for it. A few years ago a community project had set about focusing on the reintroduction of wildflowers to help support bees, butterflies and other wildlife, and it had been a huge success.

Where Anna entered it was sheltered by some conifers, which hid what was once the rockery. A neat path wound its way through budding trees, past some newly sprouted crocuses and down to the pond. Everyone called it a pond, but to Anna, who had been brought up in the city, this was more than a pond. A pond was a thinly disguised plastic shape about four foot round you bought from the garden centre and filled with a few buckets of water; what they had here was more of a lake to Anna. It took up about a fifth of the park and must have been 250 metres across at its widest point. She loved the little island in the middle where the ducks seemed to take refuge at night in case any foxes came looking for an easy meal. But most of all she loved the areas that were given up to wildflowers – they were her favourite.

Sophie glanced at her phone as they walked side by side.