We also have to think about where we are now, as a location. Bexhill’s a ghost-town – there’s no one left here. We’ve got Megan and our baby to think about now, as well as ourselves: do we really want to be living here on our own for the next thirty years? Bill and Emma are about four miles away, which is no problem while we have transport, but what about after that? It means walking or cycling there every time we want to see them or even just ask them something. And what if one of us becomes ill? It’s going to be tough for the other to cope with everything. At their place we’d have company as well as support, for us and for the kids. On our own here Megan’s got no one her age to interact with and it’ll be hard on her.
And then there’s the issue of transport: we don’t know for sure, but we have to plan for the possibility that in six months or less we won’t have any. What are we going to do then, when we need to make trips to collect things? How are we going to harvest all the fruit in the area and bring it back for preserving? We could carry a couple of bags each at a time, but look how long it took us to harvest the cherries and preserve them: if we had to do it on foot we’d probably lose most to the birds. If we want to get around any distance in the future, or to transport anything, it’s going to have to be with horses and a cart, and we can’t possibly keep them here in town. We could probably get by without them, but our living radius, so to speak, would only be a couple of miles, and it would be difficult.
And last – but by no means least – there’s the baby, when it comes. You’re due in the middle of March, according to your calculations, and by then it’s possible that we won’t have the vehicles. If we’re here on our own what will we do when you go into labour, especially if you’re early? We’ll have no means of getting over to Bill and Emma’s, or of letting them know so they can come here, and they won’t have any transport anyway. And the same applies to Sarah and Georgie.’ He paused and blew out his cheeks. ‘Well, those are my initial thoughts: what do you think?’
Jane was silent for a while, thinking about what he’d said. ‘Well… wow! You’ve given this a lot more thought than I had yet… as usual!’ and she smiled. ‘That’s one of the things I love about you, Jamie; that you’re so practical. For me, it was initially going to be more of an emotional reason why we might stay here, though I think I would have reached similar conclusions to you in time. I think you’re probably right. I had hoped to have the baby here, but all the things you say make sense, really. I was hoping we would have a long time living here and enjoying it, but it seems that won’t be the case. Are you dead-set on moving to Bill and Emma’s?’
‘Well, emotionally, no I’m not, hon. I think a lot of Bill and Emma, obviously, but I love being here with you and I love being next to the sea, both for living here and for fishing. But it’s not just you and me now, is it? And then there are all the other points that I raised. My view, regardless of what I feel, is that we have to move to Bill and Emma’s. They’re a lovely couple and we get on great with them, so it’s not as if it will be difficult living there. I’ll miss this location terribly, but I think it’s for the best. Furthermore, I think we need to start making tracks now. Like you, I want to see out most of this year here and harvest all of our crops, but I think we need to make preparations to move to Bill and Emma’s straight away.’
‘Really? So soon?’
‘Yes. We don’t know for sure, but we may only have another three or four months left of the vehicles being usable, and we’re going to have to make use of that time to transport a lot of our stuff over there, prior to actually moving in.’
‘Well, if we’re moving there, then I’d like to be in our own place, rather than in the house with Bill and Emma, so they can have their privacy and family time together, and we can have a bit more independence as well.’
‘I agree,’ said Jamie, ‘and you beat me to it! That will mean converting one of the buildings in the top yard; probably the old chicken shed, as Bill suggested. We’ll have to transport timber and building materials there and do the conversion soon, while it’s still summer and while we still have the vehicles. Also, we’ll need to take the wood-burner from the lounge over there and install it in the new place.’
‘Wouldn’t we be better off with the smaller range from my kitchen, so we have better cooking facilities and an oven as well?’
‘Yes, we would,’ Jamie replied. ‘Only trouble is, it probably weighs a third of a ton and I don’t know how we’d move it! Maybe I’ll have a chat with Bill about it to see if he has any ideas. As you said earlier, we’ll need to gather everything that we can for the future and store it at Bill and Emma’s farm, while we have transport. My idea is to more or less empty Screwfix, B&Q and the other builders’ merchants near us of anything that could be needed for future repairs, maintenance or projects. We’re going to need nuts, bolts, washers, screws, nails, brackets, gaskets, materials for plumbing repairs, cement, sand, ballast, timber, sheet materials, tools, etc, etc.’
‘Wow, again! You have had your thinking hat on, haven’t you? Did you come up with all of this in the hour that Megan and I were gone?’
‘Pretty much, yes, but it’s been on my mind constantly since they asked us today.’
Jane leaned over and kissed him. ‘Well done, clever-clogs! I think I have to agree with you, so it looks like we’re moving in a few months, then.’
‘I’m glad you agree, hon, as I’d hate for you to be against it or feel upset by it. We’ll still be here until the end of September or maybe October, I reckon. That will give us a chance to harvest everything we’ve planted. We’ll break the news to Megan in the morning. How d’you think she’ll take it?’
Jane smiled. ‘Well, to be honest, I think she’ll be over the moon! Living on a farm in the country, being close to Sally and having farm animals to feed… Need I say more?’
Jamie laughed and hugged her. ‘I think we should go over to their place after breakfast tomorrow and let them know the news. It’s only fair that we tell them straight away and I’ll need to discuss lots of things with Bill. We’ll also have to look at the old chicken shed to see what work needs doing to it to make it habitable and make a list of things we’ll need to get.’
‘Okay, that’s a good idea. Well, I’m off to bed – are you coming?’
‘I’ll be in shortly. I’m going to have a small whisky and a smoke and see if anything else comes to me that we’ll need to do.’
She kissed him and then stroked Max and said goodnight. Jamie went into the kitchen, poured himself a drink and went outside for a smoke. He wandered down the garden path and Max followed silently to look after him. He opened the gate and sat on the top step, looking out at the full moon in the sky directly above; the white surf shone brightly as the waves broke on the beach. Max sat down and nuzzled his arm: Jamie put his arm round him, pulled him close and stroked him.
He thought of the day he’d found the bungalow and moved into it, remembering how things had been then. It seemed far longer than just three months because it had been so intense and they’d been fully occupied the whole time. It had become his home and he would be sad to leave it, but Bexhill was no place to live any more, isolated as they were, and it would be worse when they had no vehicles. Their future lay with Bill and Emma at the farm and he knew they were doing the right thing. And it wasn’t as if they would be moving completely out of the area: the farm was only a couple of miles or so from the outskirts of Bexhill. He got up and went back to the house, with Max walking beside him. He brushed his teeth then looked in on Megan, who was sleeping peacefully. He went to his room, got into bed and Jane rolled over to snuggle up to him.