A Year at the French Farmhouse(55)

She slipped off her trainers and walked across the soft sand to the lake’s edge. The shallow water was clear against the sand but became murkier as it stretched away and deepened. She spotted a tiny shoal of fish – each no bigger than her smallest fingernail – darting and moving together as she dipped her toes into the water for the first time.

In England, they’d visited some relatively remote places, but wherever they’d gone she had always been able to hear the faint hum of traffic on a distant motorway, the purr of cars on nearby roads, music emanating from vehicles or houses or tiny speakers tucked into oblivious ears. Here, other than the odd bark of a dog, she realised she was enveloped in a peaceful silence, with no throbbing undertone.

She stretched her arms up, spreading her fingers and luxuriating in the sensation of releasing tension from the furthest part of her. Perhaps she could come and do yoga on this beach, meditate, do all the things she hadn’t had time for before. Actually practise self-care instead of sharing quotes about it online. Bathe her eyes in the beauty of a landscape that was entirely natural as far as her eyes could see.

This is why she’d moved here. The tranquillity, the silence, the sense that time was hers to stretch, shape, seize or drift along with as she wished. Yes, there was work to do, bills to pay; there would be difficulties no doubt with admin and renovations and setting up a business. But as long as she could walk to this lake, look out over the expanse of deep, calm water, ground herself somehow in the nature her body had craved more than she’d realised, then she could find the strength for anything else that came her way.

The thought brought her back to herself – Emily would be finished with her call by now. Feeling a tingling sensation in her fingers, she walked back over the sand, which covered her skin with a rough, uneven coating. As she stepped onto the wooden decked path, she felt the sand begin to crumble away, and by the time she was at the edge of the tarmacked road, she felt clean enough to slip her trainers back on.

She half walked, half jogged to the edge of the parking area; breathing heavily and resolving to improve her fitness now she had the time to do so. Then suddenly a small figure appeared where the road curved.

It was Emily.

‘Em!’ Lily called, waving a hand. She felt suddenly guilty – why had she come so far from the house? The figure stopped and then started moving more quickly towards her. Lily began upping her pace in turn, wanting to reach her friend quickly and apologise for not being there when she’d received the news, whatever it was.

She’d been caught up for a moment, and it had been wonderful, but thinking about how Emily must have stepped outside and been unable to find her and share whatever she’d learned made her feel guilty. She dropped into a light jog.

As Emily’s features came more into focus, she could see her friend had been crying; her face was red and blotchy, her mouth turned slightly down. Like Lily, she wasn’t a natural jogger, but between them they managed to cover the distance that separated them quickly.

Looking at her friend as she approached, seeing her face so unnaturally streaked with tears, Lily felt the years fall away. They were two children on a playground, one running to pick up the other who had fallen. Two teenagers at a club, helping each other get home safely. Two women supporting each other through marriages, pregnancy, with bereavement, sadness, joy and all the ups and downs of life.

In that moment, everything else Lily had been striving for or worrying about fell away. She knew instantly that if Emily was ill, she’d drop everything else to care for her. In that moment, nothing else mattered but the friend who’d been at her side for almost her entire life.

They raced into each other’s arms like long-lost lovers at the end of a romantic movie, Emily burying her head in Lily’s shoulder, hot tears on her cheeks. ‘I…’ she said. ‘I…’

‘What is it?’ Lily said, gently pushing her friend’s shoulders so they were standing face to face. ‘Whatever it is, we are in this together. No matter what.’

‘Oh god, Lily,’ Emily said. ‘It was so… they kept me waiting for ages, and my heart was just…’ She looked at her friend, her eyes wide and frantic.

‘It must have been awful,’ said Lily. ‘But you got the result?’

Emily nodded, her messy bun flopping forward on her head almost comically.

‘And…?’

‘It’s… well, it’s actually… it’s nothing.’

‘Nothing? You mean it’s small? Early stage? Pre-cancerous cells?’

‘No,’ said Emily, shaking her head. ‘I mean absolutely one hundred per cent nothing at all,! Basically, as much as I usually hate the word – they said that my sample was… normal.’

‘Normal! So you don’t have…’

‘Nothing to see here, guv’nor,’ Emily replied, giving a little watery smile.

‘Oh my god, Em, that is brilliant!’ Lily gathered her in for a squeeze.

‘And I called Chris. I called him straightaway,’ said her friend. ‘And I told him everything. And he was so cross, but so happy for me too. And I realised that I should have shared it all with him. He said that’s what he’s there for. To share it all, no matter what.’

‘Oh, Em. I’m so happy for you.’ They separated and began to walk slowly towards the house.