THE TRYSTING TREE Read Online Free PDF

for more than forty years.
     
    ~
     
    ‘No.’
    ‘Mum, please . Can you at least give it some thought?’
    ‘I’ve already given it a great deal of thought,’ she said loftily. ‘This is my home and my workplace. I cannot leave.’
    ‘I’m not asking you to give up work, you know that. I’m just asking you to think about moving to somewhere more manageable. You can continue to live independently with a bit of assistance. Someone to clean, a freezer full of nutritious food, a flat close to a doctor’s surgery – all of this would make your life so much easier. And just think of the cash you’d raise.’
    ‘Cash?’ Suddenly alert, Phoebe fixed me with a look. I realised she had no idea what Garden Lodge was worth.
    ‘You’re sitting on a small fortune here and what use is that to you? You could sell this, buy a comfy flat and have enough left over for a luxury cruise.’
    She snorted. ‘And who would I go with?’
    ‘You’d have enough money to treat someone to a holiday.’
    ‘I would?’
    ‘My preliminary research suggests an asking price of half a million would not be out of the question.’
    ‘ What? ’
    ‘It depends what the land’s worth as a building plot. But the house itself has a certain historical appeal. The two combined could fetch a good price. Then there’s the woodland. People get emotional about things like that. Someone could view this place and fall in love with it, just like you and Dad.’
    In the silence that followed it occurred to me how rarely I mentioned my father to Phoebe. I felt awkward, guilty almost, as if I’d sworn in church.
    ‘I didn’t fall in love with it, actually. But I was in love with Sylvester and he was mad to have the place, so I went along with his hare-brained scheme. I humoured him and he humoured me. It worked up to a point.’
    Talking about Sylvester seemed to lower her mood still further, so I decided to drop the subject, contenting myself with the suggestion that it might be useful to have the house valued. Phoebe said nothing for a moment, then looked at me warily, as if she suspected a trap. ‘Half a million, you say?’
    ‘It’s possible. There’s no knowing what someone would pay for a quirky one-off property like this.’
    ‘It would have to be someone with more money than sense!’
    ‘Well, fortunately there’s no shortage of those.’
    Phoebe fell silent again, but I knew she hadn’t finished, so I waited.
    ‘I suppose I’m not getting any younger.’
    ‘Nor do you have one foot in the grave. You’re semi-disabled, not dying. You just need to adapt. Like you did after Dad left. It was very hard, I’m sure, but you did it. You started over. You could do that again. Especially with me to help you.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I think if I moved closer… I mean, if you had someone dependable living locally, I’m sure you’d manage better.’
    Phoebe raised a hand in protest. ‘I wouldn’t want you cramping my style, Ann. I have to have my own place, with my own front door.’
    ‘Of course. I wasn’t suggesting we’d share a home, but I think the time has come for me to live closer. Closer to my roots. It’s what I’d like to do. I could help set you up in a new home and be around for… well, for any emergency. And then I could stop worrying about you.’
    Phoebe looked surprised. ‘You worry about me?’
    ‘Of course I do.’
    ‘Why? There’s absolutely no need.’
    ‘I know I don’t need to worry, I just do. You’re my mother. It’s natural to worry about people you love.’ Phoebe looked blank and I began to flounder. ‘That’s what love is, isn’t it? Worrying something bad will happen.’
    ‘Well, I never worried about Sylvester.’ She looked away and added, ‘I suppose I should have, but you never see these things coming.’ She looked back at me and lifted her chin. ‘I observe , Ann, I don’t empathise. That’s why I was a lousy wife and a lousy mother.’ She shrugged. ‘Sorry, but that’s