Pastures New

Amy hesitated. This was a perfect stranger, after all. But if he was a friend of Harry’s it probably meant he wasn’t a serial killer.

‘It’s okay,’ said Ben. ‘You can trust me. I’m a doctor.’

‘Are you, really?’ Amy burst out laughing.

‘Really,’ said Ben with a smile. ‘I work at the Riverview Practice if you don’t believe me. The name’s Ben Martin.’

‘Okay, I believe you,’ said Amy. ‘I just signed up there yesterday, and I remember seeing your name. Luckily you don’t appear to be my doctor. Which is probably just as well, given our recent history.’

Ben was impressed with the way she seemed to be taking this all in her stride. Despite her enjoyment of gardening, Caroline always managed to keep immaculate while doing it. He hated to think how she would have reacted if she’d ended up in a pile of manure. Not as well as this attractive stranger, that was for sure.

‘It probably is,’ he replied, grinning. ‘And you are?’

‘Amy Nicolson,’ said Amy. ‘Come on, Josh, Ben’s going to find Mummy some clean clothes.’

Together, they followed Ben towards his house. Amy still felt an idiot but Ben’s manner was so easy and open that it didn’t seem to matter somehow. Perhaps her initial impression of a bad-tempered lout had been wrong.

‘Bathroom’s in there,’ said Ben when they entered the house. ‘Here, have a towel. I’ll get you some clean clothes. Will Josh be okay watching TV?’

Josh was more than okay watching TV, particularly once he discovered that Ben had Spiderman in his DVD collection.

Ten minutes later, Amy emerged from the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel, and wearing a rugby shirt of Ben’s and some leggings he’d found, which presumably must have belonged to a previous girlfriend. She wondered idly what sort of woman was his type. Obviously a tall one if the leggings were anything to go by.

Ben gave a sharp intake of breath. He was taken aback by the sudden pull of attraction he felt for Amy. It had been a long time since he had looked at a woman other than Caroline.

‘Tea?’ he asked quickly, moving to the kitchen and switching on the radio, where Jonathan Ross was entertaining a female singer well known for her risqué behaviour in a way only he knew how.

‘Oh, great, you like Radio 2 too,’ said Amy.

‘I listen to nothing else,’ declared Ben. ‘I’m sadly obsessed with that chap who does the allotment bit on the Jeremy Vine programme.’

‘What, Terry, the Adopted Allotmenteer?’ said Amy. ‘He’s brill, isn’t he? Last time I heard him he was talking about runner beans. I couldn’t believe he could make it so interesting.’

They paused and smiled shyly at one another.

‘I know,’ said Amy. ‘I used to think Radio 2 was really old hat, but thanks to my –’ Oh God, here I go again, she thought. Was there ever going to be an easy way to say ‘my dead partner’? Today she couldn’t face the questions, or the sympathy, so she fudged it instead. ‘– to Jamie – my boyfriend –’

Damn! thought Ben, she had a boyfriend. He was startled to find that bothered him.

‘– I started listening and discovered they play loads of music I like. So I listen all the time now. This is probably going to sound barking but I’m on my own such a lot, I find it’s like having a friend in the kitchen.’ She paused, feeling that she was rambling. ‘You probably have no idea what I’m even talking about.’

‘Oh, I think I do,’ said Ben, wondering why she was alone so much. He had heard the hesitation in her voice when she mentioned her boyfriend – maybe Jamie was off the scene. ‘Lots of my patients, especially the elderly ones, say the same thing. And my surgery has such tissue-thin walls I often have the radio on in the background so that people outside my room don’t hear what I’m saying. I find Radio 2 is usually inoffensive enough not to upset anyone too much.’ He paused. ‘So, what does Jamie do?’

Amy took a deep breath. The question had come after all. She should have just faced it dead on, rather than hedging her bets.

‘Jamie’s – oh, I didn’t explain myself very well. Jamie died two years ago. I’ve moved here on my own, with my son, Josh.’

Oh God. Ben had imagined a parting of the ways, but Amy seemed too young to have faced that kind of pain. But then, age didn’t always come into bereavement, as he knew himself, all too well. Cursing himself for putting his foot in it, Ben wondered what he could say, and finding nothing adequate, left it at a simple, ‘I’m so sorry, I just assumed.’

‘It’s okay, people generally do.’ Amy waved him away. Harry evidently hadn’t said anything to Ben about her, which pleased her somehow. She liked the fact that her neighbour hadn’t gossiped. ‘You weren’t to know, and anyway, nowadays I cope pretty well.’

Amy smiled as she said this, but there was a sadness in her eyes and her demeanour became closed and wary. Ben took this as a hint to change the subject.

‘Right, I don’t know about you, but I have a fair bit to do today, so shall we head straight over to yours?’

‘Thanks, that would be great,’ said Amy, grateful that he hadn’t pursued the subject of Jamie. ‘Come on, Josh, time we were off.’

‘Oh, but I wanted to see what happens next,’ Josh protested.

‘It’s all right, you can see it another time,’ said Amy, then paused. It seemed presumptuous to assume they would see Ben again.

‘Or I could lend it to you,’ said Ben quickly.

‘Well – if you’re sure …’ began Amy.

‘Positive,’ said Ben. ‘I’ve seen it loads of times. Come on then, this plumbing isn’t going to sort itself out.’

It just showed how first impressions could be so wrong. In fact, as they ambled companionably back across the allotments, Amy reflected that it was a long, long time since she had met anyone who had put her so much at her ease.

Ben followed Amy and Josh up the garden path with a growing feeling of awkwardness. It had seemed like a good idea to suggest he mended her taps, but now he was here he began to question the wisdom of his offer. The last time he had been in this house, a couple of nights before Caroline left, she’d ended up seducing him again, despite his best intentions. After a night of lust and tangled passion, Ben had woken up and wondered just what the hell he was doing. He’d told her then that it was over, and the memory of her tears made him wince. He couldn’t bear to hurt anyone, and they had been very close for a while. He still felt guilty that he had made her cry. Thankfully, no one else knew about it.

And now he was following another woman into Caroline’s house. A woman he found very attractive, he had to admit. But even Amy’s merits couldn’t quite eclipse the vision of Caroline that hit him the minute he walked through the door. She was in every room – cooking in the kitchen, laughing in the lounge, dancing in the dining room, and – where he could hardly bear to picture her – sensual in the bedroom. Amy had already made her mark on the house, it was true – she had changed around some of the furniture, and got rid of Caroline’s wind-chimes and aromatherapy candles – but the whisper of Caroline remained everywhere.

Trying to shake off the feeling of melancholy made Ben matter-of-fact, his manner brisk. It had been a big mistake coming back here. He just wanted to get the taps done and go.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘The bathroom’s through here, isn’t it?’

Amy was surprised. ‘You seem to know your way around pretty well,’ she said.

‘I’m often in and out of these houses, seeing patients,’ said Ben shortly. ‘All these houses have the same layout.’

Ben was aware his terseness sounded rude, but he couldn’t bring himself to mention how he knew this house, or how intimately.

Amy was slightly taken aback by the change in Ben’s manner. He had already found the offending taps and was starting work, but he seemed to have withdrawn into himself. She wondered whether she had upset him somehow, so decided to change the subject instead.

‘Have you had an allotment long?’ she asked. ‘I can’t wait to get out there and sort mine out.’

‘Are you a gardener as well?’ Ben was interested despite his resolve to get out of there as soon as possible. He had a soft spot for anyone who was prepared to discuss the merits of growing things. It wasn’t Amy’s fault she lived in his ex’s house.

‘I love gardening,’ Amy replied. ‘We always wanted to live in the country and grow our own vegetables. I’m dying to get onto the allotments. I just haven’t had time yet. And when I’m a bit more settled I’d like to go into gardening properly. Actually, I’ve just finished doing a course.’

‘Have you met Saffron yet?’ said Ben. ‘She runs her own gardening business, with Caroline, but with Caroline gone I think she might be after some help.’

‘Is she?’ said Amy, her eyes lighting up with interest. ‘I might just get in touch then. Thanks.’

‘Right, that’s all done for you,’ said Ben, wiping his hands on his jeans.

‘Thanks so much,’ said Amy. ‘That was really good of you. Would you like to stay for a cup of tea?’