Therefore she set the fear aside to deal with later and she and Sally got Blackie some breakfast.
* * * * *
After they got Blackie breakfast, Isabella loaded Sally in the car and they went into town.
They did this partly because there were a few things for dinner that night that Isabella needed to pick up.
They did this mainly because Isabella decided that, although Sally couldn’t have cookies for breakfast, that didn’t mean Sally couldn’t have cookies at all and they needed some ingredients for cookies too.
As she was driving and Sally was chattering, she made up her mind that, after the kids went to bed that night, she and Prentice were going to talk.
She was not going to get dazed and confused.
She was not going to let him touch her, kiss her, make love to her or sleep with her.
She was going to put her foot down and get things straight.
They were going through the market with a cart as Isabella decided exactly what they’d get straight.
She was going to leave Monday. They were going to tell the children tomorrow night. Maybe take them out to dinner or something. Then she’d have Sunday as a farewell day and she’d be gone.
That was as far as she got in her plan.
Isabella had to stop strategizing when she had to stop and explain to Sally that she could pick only one candy bar for her and one candy bar for Jason rather than Sally having one of each on the display.
Then she couldn’t continue her mental planning session because practically everyone she passed in the aisles either smiled at her or said hello and this broke her concentration.
Then she couldn’t continue her mental planning session because, on their way to checkout, Lucy Guthrie (who used to work at the pub where Dougal and Annie, Fiona and Scott and Prentice and Isabella hung out), stopped them. Isabella and Lucy chatted for ten minutes about how Sally was getting on, if they were going to have a mild winter and if Isabella and Prentice had sampled the new Indian place in town.
Somehow shaken by Lucy thinking Isabella and Prentice would sample anything together even though it seemed the entire village (including Prentice) were under the mistaken impression that they were together, Isabella didn’t start her mental planning session again until much later.
It was after they went to the fruit and veg shop so she could get fresh fine greens for dinner and blueberries for pancakes the next morning.
And it was after they ran into Denise MacRae, Debs’s best friend since childhood who spent as much time at Prentice’s Mum’s house back in the day as Isabella did, which meant a lot, and her baby outside the fruit and veg shop.
And also after Denise’s nearly one year old baby charmed Isabella with a smile and then began to flirt with her brazenly (as only one year old baby boys could do), rendering Isabella smitten.
This meant she stood outside giggling with baby Robbie while talking to Denise about all things baby, Sally, Jason, Prentice, school runs and football practices.
And the mental planning session also came after Gordon Taggart, who was walking his dog, stopped to chat with Denise, Sally, Robbie and Isabella. Sally and Isabella fell in love with Gordon’s border collie instantly and they both took turns giving her hugs and cuddles (Sally) and scratches and body rubs (Isabella).
“Gon’ ruin her for me, lasses,” Gordon said on a smile, his eyes moved over Isabella’s shoulder and then his smile turned sour.
Isabella’s heart skipped a beat as the older man moved with a strange aggression around both Isabella and Sally.
She stared at him wondering if there was a magical spell over the village making the villagers be nice to her and the spell had suddenly been broken.
Or maybe villagers turned bad.
“Bella, luv, there’s a photographer coming this way. Get Sally to your car,” he warned, Isabella looked around him and saw that there was, indeed, a photographer coming, already shooting pictures even though Gordon was doing his best to shield them.
Then she realized that Gordon was doing his best to shield them and she wanted to kiss him.
Instead, she gave him a grateful look with an added, whispered, “Thanks, Gordon.”
She grabbed Sally’s good hand, touching Robbie’s nose (to which he giggled at her), smiling at Denise and she and Sally walked as quickly as they could without appearing to be running away.
Isabella only resumed her mental planning session when Sally was painstakingly but happily stirring the thick cookie batter left-handed.