Footsteps In Ashbridge Episode 07
Lou waved to Sarah as she shut the gate.
“See you tomorrow at the chalk face!” she called.
Harry had cleared the mugs and plates from the sitting-room and was stacking them in the dishwasher.
“Sarah loved the cake,” Lou told him.
“How did you get on with her?” Harry asked as he put the leftovers into a tin.
“I think we’ll make a good team. I wish I had another week’s holiday first, though.” She yawned. “At least the kids aren’t back for a couple of days. Is April out of bed yet?”
“She is,” Harry replied, “and she’s gone out! She’s meeting the girls for a walk, then they’re having lunch at the Duckpond.”
“Well, thank goodness for that!” Lou exclaimed, sitting at the kitchen table. “I thought she was going to say she wasn’t going back to uni.”
“That’s kept me awake, too,” Harry confessed. “What a waste it would be – throwing up her studies because of Matt Dacres.”
Lou couldn’t help laughing at his ferocious tone.
Harry was so proud of April’s achievements and the offers she’d had from three universities.
His joy had been tempered, though, when instead of going to nearby Newcastle, April chose Edinburgh because that was where Matt was going.
It was good to give children wings as well as roots, was Lou’s take on it, and she’d loved the visits they’d had in the past year to Scotland’s capital city.
But she wished now that April was only going to be a couple of hours away.
“I’m not sure that she made as many friends as she would have done if she and Matt hadn’t been together,” she said.
“He’s a nice lad – you used to think so, too – and they were happy,” she added. “But I think it’s a mistake to get tied down at that stage of your life.
“Not that she’d have listened if I had told her that.”
“She looked almost cheerful this morning,” Harry commented. “So fingers crossed. Now, shall I tell you what I have planned to eat tonight?”
At least it wouldn’t be just herself and April appreciating Harry’s food.
Lou’s brother Neil and his new wife, Tina, were coming round for dinner.
It had been difficult to co-ordinate time off from work so they’d have their three-week honeymoon later in the year.
As her very own master chef read out his menu, Lou thought about Tina.
She was so down-to-earth and such a people person – and now part of the family.
It would be good to get her on her own sometime to confide her worries about Harry.
To be continued…