Free I Should Be So Lucky by Judy Astley Page B

hardly been used, and the giant pale pink fridge had been so thoroughly cleaned out that it looked in better condition than when she’d last used it herself.
    ‘Do you think she ever cooked?’ Marco asked, opening the door of the immaculate oven.
    ‘I’d say not. But it won’t stay like that for long, not with Rachel slamming pizzas in the way she does, straight on to the shelves and then leaving bits of crust behind so the house smells of burnt stuff and the bits never quite come off.’
    ‘She does that at ours too – James has bought her a special pizza-base gadget from his beloved Lakeland but she never uses it. Hey, though, your fridge – love the colour. But don’t you think this kitchen would look brilliant with
more
pink?’
    ‘Mmm. It would zazz it up a bit.
I
need zazzing, so I’ll go for whatever it takes to help. Maybe that wall behind the dresser.’ She pointed to it. ‘Shocking pink, or would that be too mad?’
    ‘Absolutely. It’ll show wonderfully through the open shelves. I’ll sort it for you, no worries. I’ve got a couple of tame scenery painters that we use on the sets. They’re always up for a bit of moonlighting and there’s not a lot of work on right now,’ Marco told her, making a note in his iPhone.
    She came over to him and gave him a happy hug. ‘You are a such star, Marco, thanks so much for all this. You’d make a lovely husband. Well, you did, actually.’
    ‘Thank you, Vee. And you made a lovely wife. If it wasn’t for the elephant in the house that was wearing a tiara and Judy Garland’s ruby slippers, who knows where we’d be now?’
    ‘Well, you wouldn’t have James, and that would be a shame. He’s lovely too.’
    ‘We just need someone perfect for you,’ Marco said.
    ‘Oh, now please, don’t you start! I’ve already got Charlotte and Amanda on my case, deciding it’s time to put my team strip on and get back out on the pitch.’
    ‘Well … they’ve got a …’
    ‘No – enough! I’m not good at men and that’s that. I’ll take up embroidery and good works instead.’
    ‘Careful’, he warned her. ‘You’ll be getting cats next!’
    Putting off the moment when she went upstairs and reclaimed her own bedroom, Viola unlocked and opened wide the big French doors at the back, realizing immediately that though the house was in pretty good condition, the same couldn’t be said for the garden.
    ‘Ye gods, it looks like the garden’s just one wild old meadow!’ she called to Marco, who was checking how easily movable the dresser was. ‘Marco, come out here and look at the state of it!’
    The grass desperately needed cutting and was completely, though prettily, overgrown with daisies. The borders each side of the lawn had dandelions and buttercups crowding out the dahlias, lupins, evening primroses and verbena that she and Marco had planted so many years before and which had come up reliably and generously each summer since. Right now, they looked like they were struggling to hang on to their territory against invasion from rampant willowherb and ground elder.
    ‘No way am I coming out there! I’m not padding about in long damp grass in these new boots,’ Marco replied from the safety of the doorway.
    ‘You big wuss!’ She laughed, pushing back the cascade of clematis that tumbled down the fence. ‘How much damage would it do? Would a real cowboy throw a strop and refuse to get off his horse to lasso a steer because he’s
got new boots
and the prairie is a
bit damp
?’
    ‘But I’m an
urban
cowboy!’ he protested, venturing only as far as the edge of the paved terrace. Viola went back and joined him and together they checked over the herb patch which was overrun with rosemary, mint and marjoram, crowding everything else out. It would take a lot of effort, but in a week or so it would be the summer holidays. Work would then be only at the level of a couple of tutorials a week for the students whose parents decided that taking a