Saturday morning dawned at last. Mum and Philip, granny and granpy were arriving at ten thirty. I had phoned my grandma and grandpa pretending that I was calling on behalf of the family to invite them for coffee and to meet everyone. They sounded a bit surprised at the invitation but agreed to come, saying that this was a wonderful opportunity to mend bridges. I sort of understood what they meant. Life was too short to bear grudges and an opportunity to say ‘sorry’ was overdue. They said they would arrive at eleven.
After breakfast, I packed my rucksack and Biggles and I had a last run on the beach together. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and the sea calm. It was a perfect day for Roma to ‘rest in peace.’ As we ran along, my tummy was churning. I was dreading mum’s reaction when she saw my grandparents. Of all that was going to happen in the next two hours that was what scared me most. I knew Aunty M would forgive me. I knew my mum wouldn’t. Well, she couldn’t. She wouldn’t want to.
At ten thirty, I heard a car draw up. It was granny and granpy. They hugged me and granny gave me one of her lipsticky kisses on the cheek. Granpy ruffled my curls and played pretend boxing just like he always did. Five minutes later, another car drew up and out got mum and Philip. They looked tanned and were smiling.
So far so good. I walked outside to meet them. There seemed no reason to hurry.
“Hello Florence,” said my mum. “How are you?”
“I’m fine mum. How are you?” I lifted my arms up hoping she might do the same and give me a hug, but she didn’t.
“We are fine too, thank you”, she replied backing away from me. “Are you packed? Have you checked everywhere because we don’t want to have to come all this way again to get what you’ve forgotten? I don’t know why you couldn’t come home by train.”
“I would have if you had asked me, mum. I thought you wanted to come and collect me. Aunty M said so.”
“Well, she would say that. Granny phoned and told us to come down. What have you been up to? I hope there’s no trouble, Florence?” said mum and she stared at me with her piercing grey eyes that cut through me like a knife. I felt a sudden wave of sickness hit me and I gulped.
“How’s things, Florrie?”asked Philip smiling and pulling my nose fondly just like he always did.
“Fine. Did you have a good time?” I asked him.
“Yes, it was good. I was busy but we did manage to have a few days on the beach and we did some sightseeing.”
“That’s good. Let’s go in,” I suggested. I wanted us safely inside before my grandparents arrived.
“Best make sure you’ve got everything packed and you’ve left nothing behind Florrie,” said Philip anxiously and giving me a wink. He didn’t want another upset either.
“I will. I’ll check again, promise.”
Together, we walked inside. Just as we closed the front door, I heard a car pull up on the gravel drive. My heart thumped in my chest and I knew there was no turning back now.