Read Online Back to Vanilla by Jennifer Maschek - Free Book Online Page B

from a mother.
    However, the two got
on remarkably well, the kids adored their grandma, and she was a
thoroughly entertaining woman. If a mother-in-law offers a template
for the future wife, Lyall could have done a lot worse, as his best
man had told him at his wedding.
    When Jane pulled up in
a cab outside, escorted by a tall, leathery-looking guy in Ray-Ban
aviators around the same age that she had just turned – sixty – the
household was just returning to a semblance of tranquillity after
an earlier domestic squall. Emily had grown impatient with her
younger sister’s fondness for making leaf boats in the yellow and
blue paddling pool they were sharing, and simply stood up, stepped
on to the grass, lifted an edge and tipped out the water. Little
Maidie sat there wet, cold and wailing, inconsolable until Lyall
had refilled the pool and gone through the motions of chastising
Emily (while winking at her, indicating that this was for Maidie’s
sake).
    Oblivious, the eldest
girl, Hattie, was in a familiar state of repose, lying tummy down
in the oversized garden hammock, one arm trailing towards the
ground, the other clinging to a book (she was reading The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , as usual a
choice that was not quite appropriate for her nine years). Very
little seemed to rile her and life would have been considerably
less hassle had Lorna and Lyall simply stopped at the one.
    And so, as the
doorbell rang, the two younger girls were seemingly at peace again,
sitting at opposite sides of the inflatable pool, while Hattie
swung gently in the hammock, and Lorna chopped erratically at a
pile of tomatoes and onions in the kitchen. Lyall put down the wire
wool he was using to scrape the remainder of last year’s veggie
dust, and a layer of light rust, from the barbecue grill and walked
through to welcome the two guests into his home.
    He led Frank, whom he
was mildly surprised to note was American, to Lorna in the kitchen,
where the guest delivered two cloth bags of assorted Waitrose
delights, ranging from Pimm’s and strawberries to gingerbread
rabbits and a selection of gaudy, almost neon cupcakes. Lyall
continued through the French doors into the garden with Lorna.
    The two girls stopped
splashing, looked up and bounded over in a shower of droplets,
giving their grandma a quick, wet hug, before following the
direction of her nod into the kitchen. Hattie rolled gracefully
from her swaying haven and, without her sisters’ customary fuss and
bustle, came over for a kiss and headed off to join in the
unpacking of the goodies.
    Lyall sat back down on
the patio wall and continued scrubbing. Jane settled in a deckchair
on the edge of the grass, intuition or experience making her pull
it just shy of where the eventual barbecue smoke would be drifting.
Hattie popped out, mouth bulging with icing and sponge, another
cupcake in her left hand and a large glass of Pimm’s and tonic,
with a slice of cucumber and a sprig of mint, in her right. She
handed the glass to her grandmother, spat out a crumby but genuine
thank you, and retook her place on the hammock swinging from a
metal stand further down the long lawn.
    “So, how was London?
Good birthday?”
    “Absolutely divine,
Lyall,” she replied, taking the cucumber from the glass and
munching on it like an unexpected but welcome snack. The fervour
with which she approached anything sensual continued to endear her
to Lyall, and he guessed it contributed to her undiminished
popularity with her escorts. “There are always job opportunities
for book doctors of your calibre, should you ever fancy a change of
scene. I still know quite a few people.”
    “I appreciate the kind
thought, Jane, but I’m guessing your need to move back there is
tainting your view of our life up here, rather than me having some
pressing need to alter my scenery. I’m perfectly happy,
plus...”
    He paused; they were
both all too aware of the main ties he had to the area.
    “You’re