‘Do you think he’ll have changed much?’ Lisa asked.
Beatrice shrugged. ‘No idea.’
‘He looks the same in the photos of him online. Better, actually. More suave. Suaver.’ Lisa flicked her wrist. ‘You know what I mean.’
All Beatrice knew, was that she wished Lisa would change the subject. Mark had only been in Picklewick a few days and she was already heartily sick of hearing his name. She was certainly sick of thinking about him, especially since she suspected he hadn’t givenhera second thought since he’d left. And why would he? So what, if they’d dated once? It was a long time ago, and they’d hardly been in the same league as Romeo and Juliet. Well,hehadn’t – she would have laid down her life for him. Once or twice she’d been tempted to tell him how she felt, but thankfully had been unable to find the courage – the devastation she’d felt when he ended their relationship had been bad enough, without adding the mortification of him knowing she was in love with him.
A bell rang and a second later children exploded from the various classroom doors, filling the playground with yells and screams, and a blur of movement.
Beatrice craned her neck to see Sadie, but the child was nowhere in sight. She caught a glimpse of Taya though, who was trying to play it cool by ignoring her.
‘Oh, heck, what now?’ she muttered, when she saw Miss Barnes signalling to her. ‘Could you watch Taya for a minute?’ she asked Lisa. ‘I need to speak to Sadie’s teacher.’
Lisa gave her a sympathetic smile.
‘Can I have a quick word?’ Miss Barnes asked.
Mutely, Beatrice nodded and followed the teacher into the classroom.
Sadie was sitting in one of the small chairs, her arms folded, her face mutinous.
Miss Barnes said, ‘Sadie is a little upset today because she found out she’s going to be a toadstool and not a fairy in the school play, and she’s refusing to take part.’
Beatrice sighed. ‘Leave it with me. She’ll come around.’ Maybe the pink sparkly fabric she had in mind would do the trick?
‘Won’t!’ Sadie snapped. ‘Toadstools are nasty.’
‘Who says?’
‘Everyone.’
Beatrice highly doubted that. ‘Come on, let’s get you home.’ She held out a hand.
Sadie thrust her hands deeper into her armpits and stuck out her chin. ‘No.’
‘What do you meanno?’
‘I’m not going until Miss says I can be a fairy.’
‘In that case, you can stay here all night,’ Beatrice said. Blackmail, even from a five-year-old, wasn’t nice.
Miss Barnes said, ‘We’ve had such a lovely afternoon, too. We’ve had a visit from an author, haven’t we, Sadie? He spoke about your favourite book, didn’t he? Look.’ She pointed to the hallway. ‘There he is. You don’t want Mr Stafford to see you in a mood, do you?’
Beatrice froze, and her gaze was slowly drawn to the open classroom door and the hallway beyond. And she immediately locked eyes with him.
Recognition flared in his and a smile flitted across his face. He gave a small, awkward wave, then turned his attention back to Mrs Warring, Taya’s teacher.
Irrationally, Beatrice wished she was wearing something more glamorous than jeans, boots and a padded jacket that made her look like a small hippo. The bobble hat with a red pompom on it wasn’t her best look either, and neither was her make-up-free face. When all was said and done, she looked a mess.
Miss Barnes said, ‘Excuse me a minute. I just want to say goodbye to Mr Stafford. He was so marvellous, and the children adored him.’
Beatrice dragged her gaze away and focused on her belligerent daughter. ‘We’re going,’ she said, her tone brooking no argument.
‘No.’
‘If you don’t do as you’re told, you’ll go straight to bed after tea, young lady.’
‘Don’t care.’ Sadie settled herself more firmly in her chair.
