I wanted to go to the lottie. Being amongst the plants, nurturing them, and digging over the soil were good ways to get my head together. But I could have run into Luke, and I wasn’t ready to face him. In the end, I decided to drive past, and if I couldn’t see his car, I’d have a couple of hours on the plot. There was no sign of it, so I parked up and headed down the path. Toby was weeding in between his plants. He looked up as I approached.
“Hello, Fliss.”
“Hi, Toby.”
I was pulling a spade out of the shed when Toby appeared close to me.
“Look, Fliss, I don’t want to pry but your aunt said you were upset. Something to do with Luke?”
At the mention of his name, I fell apart.
“Oh, love.” He captured me in a warm embrace. “Come on now. Let’s get you a cup of tea and talk about this.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do people always say tea makes things better?”
“Search me. But a good cup of tea never hurt anyone.”
We sat in front of his shed in companionable silence.
“Luke’s had a paternity test,” I blurted out.
“What? Are you sure about this?”
“I heard him on the phone. He’s going out to celebrate it this evening. Probably with his friend, Marcus.” I said his name with distaste.
“So really, you only heard one side of the story? Didn’t you even stop to ask him about it?”
I felt my face redden. “I shouldn’t really have been listening at the door.” I stared down at the tea in my mug.
“No, you shouldn’t. And you may have come to the wrong conclusion. It’s more likely that Marcus was the one taking the paternity test. He likes to…” Toby searched for the right words, eyes screwed up in concentration.
“Put it about a bit?” I said for him.
“Hmm, that’s it. Look, you two started off on the wrong foot. Don’t let it happen again. You need to discuss it. Please, don’t make assumptions before you hear the whole story. Okay?”
I smiled a sad smile. “Yes, you’re right. I’ll take a couple of days to cool off and gather my thoughts. Then I’ll reach out to him.”
“Good.” He patted my shoulder. “But don’t leave it too long.”
After my chat with Toby, I still wasn’t convinced about all this. Also, I was feeling a tad guilty about listening to the call and not asking about the conversation.
Luke
I’d never seen Dolly look so frustrated. I wondered if I should just leave.
“Come inside. I’d like to hear your side of the story.”
I was ushered to a seat. I felt like a naughty kid. She made the tea and came back into the room.
“Dolly, what exactly is going on here? First Fliss leaves mine without a word, she won’t answer my texts, and you’re looking at me like I’m a serial killer.”
“I’ll come straight to the point.”
That was what I liked about Dolly; she didn’t mess about.
“Please do, Dolly. I’m going out of my mind here.”
“Have you taken a paternity test recently?”