From a Distance by Raffaella Barker Read Free Book Online Page A

trumped most everyday activities and Mae would like it too.
    ‘Okay, I’ll collect her and then we’ll get Mae and have tea. Tell me, Dora, does she know?’
    ‘Know what? About this guy? ’Course not! I never introduce them to Maddie. Except for Aaron.’
    Luisa sighed. Aaron. Never far from her thoughts still five years on. He was kind to Dora, and he could play the spoons on his knee and sing whatever anyone asked him to, while looking like he’d stepped out of a Kodachrome snap of the seventies with his burst of fair hair and his beard.
    Luisa heard the tiny wobble in Dora’s voice, At the time, Tom had said, ‘She will never stop loving him, Aaron was the one for her.’ That still held true. Silence crackled between them down the phone line, until Luisa spoke.
    ‘Mae and I would love it, you know we would. Maddie is family. Did you tell her it would be me?’
    ‘I said it might be – help! Look at the time. Thanks so much Lou, I owe you. See you later. God, my hair isn’t even dry. Oh well, take me as you find me is my motto, or don’t take me at all. Bye!’
    Dating vicariously though Dora was hair-raising, thought Luisa, returning the phone to its place on the table among a chaos of her notebook, three pairs of glasses, two of which belonged to Tom, so he didn’t have any with him to teach today, and a rubber sunflower that came as a marketing ploy for God Knows What, when the farm suppliers dropped off a roll of fencing wire. What would it be like to be out there meeting men herself? Thank God for Tom. No matter how staid and invisible-making marriage could be, and sometimes it certainly was, at least it removed the stress of first dates. Anticipation was one thing, but what about not getting on? Being bored by someone. Dora was always bored by the men she met.
    The drilling command of the oven timer shrilled at her. Why? Everything was cooked. Oh yes, the violets. She’d noticed them by the beech tree this morning, and an experiment was hatching. She would steep them in scalded milk. She was borrowing ideas from an eighteenth-century text she’d looked at in the antiquarian books shop in town. The book was vast, the pages frayed and yellowing, and its price ran into hundreds of pounds. Luisa had seen it in the window display and decided to have a go at the recipes. She began with the page it was open on, and the black­currant leaf sorbet had been so delicately fragrant she now couldn’t wait to see what would happen with violet ice cream.
    A car dashed into her reverie, screeching to a halt outside the kitchen, gravel flying. Grayson raised his head, sighed, and lay back down. It was Tom. He wasn’t meant to be back. For better or worse, but never for lunch, that was the golden rule for marriage. Luisa felt a rush of irritation as her husband opened the door, then found that she was actually quite pleased to see him. Another person who could eat pudding. She decided to kiss him. ‘Darling, how come you’re back?’
    Tom threw a bag of books on to the table with the air of a man who was being pushed to breaking point. ‘You know your phone’s off? I couldn’t get through.’ He swung the fridge door open, stared accusingly at the contents and shut it again. ‘I’m starving,’ he said weakly.
    Luisa took no notice, it was the same with every family member who opened the fridge. She fished her phone out of her bag, and turned it on. A cascade of chimes announced many missed calls. ‘It’s always off,’ she said, ‘I do it so I can’t mind when Ellie doesn’t call. You could have tried the land line, you know.’
    ‘I did. Engaged.’ Tom circled round the blue Baked Alaska, eyeing it with suspicion: ‘What’s this? It looks like toothpaste.’
    ‘Oh yes, Dora.’ Luisa was distracted, listening to her messages. ‘D’you want to taste it? I’d love to know what you think.’
    Tom digged a spoon in, and nodded. ‘Bloody good. Why’s it blue though?’
    ‘I thought it looked like