When he finally got home around nine thirty Georgina was in the conservatory reading a book and drinking a glass of Amarone.
‘Hi, Darling,’ she said, getting up and putting the book down on the seat.
She poured him a glass of the deep purple wine and walked over to the door as he put his briefcase and jacket on a chair. He took the glass and sniffed it, breathing in the alcohol before taking a sip.
‘Mmmmm, just what I needed,’ he said.
‘Would you like something to eat?’ she walked towards the kitchen.
‘Not now,’ he called after her, ‘this will do fine,’ and he sat down on the sofa.
‘Well, how did it go? Are we going on holiday?’ asked Georgina, as she sat next to him.
‘Good news and bad news, I’m afraid,’ said Adam. ‘Mum has agreed to look after Sasha.’
‘Great,’ said Georgina. ‘What’s the bad news?’
‘Sasha will have to stay at her house. She will not stay here.’
‘But what about her friends and her clubs, and Ebony? Who will ride Ebony?’ Georgina whined.
‘The horse is not really a problem is it.’ Adam was irritated. ‘You know that the stable can get one of the stable girls to ride her. She will be fine’
‘Why didn’t she want to come here?’ she asked eventually. ‘What are the ‘plans’ she spoke of.’
‘She is looking after the girl next door,’ Adam continued. ‘She and Tammy, that’s the girl’s name, are going to sort out the garden.
‘That’s ridiculous,’ said Georgina, ‘you know how she feels about the garden.’
‘How she felt about the garden,’ repeated Adam. ‘She seems different. She’s had her hair done. She looked really well.’
‘What do you really think is going on Adam? Do you think she has met someone?’
‘Mum? Don’t be ridiculous, sweetheart. She is nearly sixty and besides she doesn’t go anywhere. Where would she meet someone?’
‘Well, it just seems strange. We don’t know anything about this child next door or even if she really exists.’
‘She definitely exists,’ replied Adam. ‘I met her and her aunt at Mum’s today.’
‘What is she like?’ asked Georgina, wondering if she would be a suitable companion for Sasha.
‘I don’t know,’ Adam laughed. ‘About Sasha’s age, brown eyes, curly hair. I didn’t really take that much notice. I only had time to say hello after all. They were leaving as I arrived. You’ll meet her yourself soon. Look, hun, if you want to go on holiday, you’re going to have to trust Mum. I’m sure she will take very good care of Sasha but if you really feel that she may be in mortal danger we had better cancel.’
‘I don’t know, Adam,’ said Georgina. ‘Sasha is very sensitive and easily influenced. I don’t think staying there is a good idea.’
‘I’m not sure we are talking about the same child, Georgie. I love our daughter with all my heart but I am under no illusion. She is bossy, manipulative and very, very spoilt,’ Adam replied, ‘and on reflection I think it would do her the world of good to spend some time with Mum doing manual labour.’
He took another sip of his wine and laid his head against the back of the sofa. ‘Anyway, if we don’t go we will lose all the money which is eleven thousand pounds in case you have forgotten. The insurance only covers cancellation by the travel agent, injury or death of the insured or close relative and perhaps volcanic ash. Us not having someone to look after Sasha doesn’t qualify for a refund. Anyway, I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Let me know what you decide and I’ll give mum a call in the morning.’
Georgina was well versed in the art of getting her own way with Adam but she had no influence on Liz. She knew that it was pointless piling on the pressure. Besides, she had been looking forward to the holiday. She had spent a small fortune on resort wear and underwear to be seen in.
‘It’s only for ten days,’ she reasoned. ‘Sasha has a mobile, I could ring up every day and check on her. It will be fine.’ She drained her glass and followed Adam up to bed.
* * *
Monica woke up early on Saturday morning with the sun streaming in through the curtains. She needed blinds. It was impossible to go back to sleep with the room so bright. She stretched out as far as her limbs would stretch and then relaxed back onto the pillow. She thought about the Easter holiday and her promise to Joanna. She must make some time to take Tammy out. She leant over the side of the bed and pulled out a shoebox. She had to adjust her position and kneel on the mattress so that she could pull the box onto the bed without falling over.
Once in place she sat cross legged with her back against the pillow and the box in front of her. She lifted the lid and looked at the photographs. There were a couple of albums and several loose photographs scattered on the top. She picked up the loose photographs and spread them over the duvet. Just as she did so she heard Tammy call out.
‘Come in,’ she shouted. A very sleepy looking Tammy walked zombie like through the door.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
‘I’m just reliving some memories,’ said Monica. ‘Do you want to look with me?’
Tammy walked over to the bed and saw the photographs. She just stood there for a second before climbing onto the bed next to Monica, upsetting a lot of the photographs and turning them back to front. Monica had picked one up.
‘Wow, you were such a beautiful baby,’ she said to Tammy, ‘and so good, unless I held you of course, then you would scream the house down.’
Tammy laughed and picked up another photograph. It was a picture of the three of them, Joanna, Monica and Tammy who was about four or five at the time. They were at the zoo and Tammy was playing tug-o-war with a goat who wanted her crisps.
‘Do you remember that?’
‘Mum was beautiful wasn’t she?’ Tammy was running her finger over her mother’s face.
‘Yes, she was,’ said Monica, ‘and you are so like her. She would be so proud of you.’
Tears welled up in Tammy’s eyes which made Monica cry too. Monica handed her a tissue and took one out of the box for herself. She put her arm around Tammy who let Monica hug her while they both cried.
‘Well, look at us, what a fine pair we make,’ Monica said eventually. ‘Shall I put these away?’
‘No,’ said Tammy, ‘I want to see them. Sometimes I try to picture her in my mind when she was well but all I see is her in hospital.’
‘Oh, honey,’ said Monica. ‘If it helps we can pick out some photographs and put them in a frame to remind us of the happy times.’
They both pawed through the loose photographs and the albums. There was a gorgeous smiling picture of Joanna in a coral coloured dress with a matching hat at Tammy’s christening. Monica was holding Tammy who appeared to be crying hysterically.
‘You see, this is the baby I remember,’ said Monica holding up the photograph.
‘I love it,’ said Tammy. ‘Let’s keep that one.’ For the next hour and a half they laughed and cried as they sorted through the rest of the photographs, remembering conversations, occasions and places where the pictures had been taken. Tammy couldn’t help but notice that Monica had been a lot slimmer when she was younger. It didn’t go unnoticed by Monica either. The proof was right in front of her.
‘Oh, I didn’t realise I’d got so fat,’ said Monica.
‘Well, it can’t have been on home cooking,’ said Tammy laughing.
‘Cheeky,’ said Monica. ‘I’m getting better.’
‘That’s because you couldn’t get worse,’ joked Tammy.
‘OK young lady, out,’ said Monica. ‘That’s it. Let’s get up now and have some breakfast. We have swimming and some serious shopping to do and I hate that bloody Ikea at the weekends. It’s always too crowded.’ Tammy ran off back to her own room to get dressed as Monica put the chosen photographs to one side and put the box back under the bed.
* * *
Liz had been up for a few hours. She was never one for lying in bed. As soon as she was awake she was up.
Jim, on the other hand, loved a lie in. He had a weekend ritual whereby the papers would be delivered early and she would take them upstairs to him with a cup of tea. He would read them in bed and then drop off to sleep for another hour before coming down to breakfast.
This suited her as she loved the quiet stillness of early morning. Whenever she had work to prepare or mark for her students this was the time of day when her brain seemed to be at its sharpest and she could work without interruption.
She poured herself another cup of tea before moving into the office. She had planned to go shopping and then start researching what to do first. Everything in the garden needed attention and there would probably be a bit of clearing and chopping down before she could get started. She’d have to get into the shed to get the tools and that would require clearing a path in the overgrown grass and cutting back the ivy so she could open the door properly.
She also thought about giving Eve a call. It had been a while since they had spoken and she wondered how she was doing. She envied the fact that Eve had three daughters. She would have loved a daughter. There was an old saying that Eve often quoted. ‘A son is a son till he takes a wife, but a daughter’s a daughter all her life.’ Adam was certainly proof of those words. Most of her friends with daughters saw them often and even if not were still very involved in their lives. Adam couldn’t be more distant.
The phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. It was only eight thirty so she guessed it would be Adam. He knew she was an early riser.
‘Hello, Mum,’ he said, as she picked up the receiver.
‘Hi, Adam, have you talked to Georgina?’ she asked, getting straight to the point.
‘Mum, Georgina and I,’ (he lied) ‘would be very grateful if you would look after Sasha over the Easter holiday. We will drop her off on Tuesday morning around eleven o’clock. We don’t need to be at the airport until three so we could have a cup of tea with you, if that’s OK.’
‘Great,’ said Liz. ‘I’ll see you then.’
She put on her coat and went to the garage to get the car before heading to the supermarket. With Tammy and Sasha to feed she would have to stock up. She wondered what sort of girl Sasha was and how she would get on with Tammy.
She hoped she would be kind and thought about telling Adam about Tammy’s mum so he could talk to Sasha before she arrived, or whether she should have agreed to look after Sasha at all.
It was too late now anyway. She would tell Tammy on Sunday that Sasha would also be staying and hope that they clicked. Despite the fact that they came from entirely different worlds they were a similar age and probably interested in lots of the same things. She doubted that Sasha had ever had to worry about anything in her life, which made her admire Tammy even more just for getting through the day and keeping her amazing sense of humour.
* * *
Monica and Tammy wandered around Ikea looking at the bedroom furniture. They soon found something they both liked. Although Monica had told Tammy that she could have whatever she wanted, and she meant it, she hoped that it would be something practical. Luckily the flooring in the flat had been done before they moved in so she didn’t have to worry about carpets.
Monica hated flat pack furniture. It was a hang up from her student days. She remembered how long it had taken to assemble a chest of drawers. She was really happy to discover that for an extra fee the store delivered and assembled the furniture in situ. That settled, Tammy picked her furniture, plus a sofa bed and blind to match. Unlike most girls of her age she hated pink. Her only concession to girly at all was a pastel coloured laundry bin and storage boxes to match.
Monica was really happy that they found everything so quickly, especially as her feet were killing her and she was puffed out from walking along the arrowed lanes directing you to the tills and the exit. She would have loved to have found a shortcut. Instead she felt as though she had walked around the entire store. She needed a rest.
Tammy was worried about Monica’s lack of energy.
‘You’re not sick are you?’ she asked with concern in her voice.
‘No, I’m not sick at all,’ said Monica. ‘I’m just too fat. I promise that I will do something about it. I need to go on a proper diet and I need to get some exercise. Perhaps we could start going for walks in the evenings, what do you think?’
‘Definitely. I’ll be your personal trainer,’ said Tammy.
‘Okay. Happy now?’ said Monica. Tammy nodded that she was and they left the store hand in hand and headed home. Tammy picked up a catalogue as they went through the exit, keen to show her new bedroom furniture to Liz on Sunday.
* * *
Georgina tried to speak to Sasha about staying with Liz but Sasha was far from pleased at the prospect of not seeing her friends or riding her horse.
‘Why can’t I stay here?’ she whined.
‘Because nana and grandpa are going on holiday too so there is no one to look after you.’
‘Then I’ll come with you,’ she sulked.
‘Not an option, poppet,’ soothed Georgina. ‘Daddy and I have already got the tickets and we can’t change them now.’
‘Then stay here, don’t leave meeee!’ She stamped her feet.
‘You will have a lovely time with Grandma Liz whether you like it or not and that’s the end of it,’ said Georgina firmly.
She had no intention of continuing to argue with a ten year old drama queen, especially when she had been such an expert herself from an early age. She knew all the moves. Besides, she had a lot of packing to do. Not only did she need to pack for herself and Adam but now Sasha would need several changes of clothes to stay with Liz. There was still the manicure and pedicure to organise and the bikini wax to take care of. It was hard work looking fabulous.
* * *
Adam had a grudging respect for his mother for standing her ground. She had, in the past, always appeared weak and submissive and he hated himself for saying it but she got on his nerves.
It wasn’t nearly so bad when Dad was alive because he was fun and they laughed together. Not that he saw his parents much then either but at least they had each other so he had no need to feel guilty.
Dad dying had completely ruined that and he now felt so guilty that it was hard to talk to his mother at all. It didn’t seem to occur to him that by actually doing something for her and making an effort now and again he could have eased his guilt no end.
* * *
Monica and Tammy picked up a DVD on the way home. Monica would usually have ordered a pizza and a two litre bottle of Coke but instead she made a healthy tuna salad and a low calorie drink. While eating it she pictured the local takeaway owners wearing black and wringing their hands as they mourned the demise of their businesses. Tammy was content with a salad too. She wanted to encourage Monica, although she did eat half a packet of biscuits with her hot chocolate before she went to bed.
* * *
Meanwhile Liz was studying the internet, looking for hints and tips on what to do first. Instinctively she felt that the wilderness that was the grass should be cut down so they could see what they were doing. She would have to do this job herself as she didn’t want either of the girls handling sharp tools. They could rake the cuttings and keep the compost heap well stocked. It wasn’t a huge lawn so it shouldn’t take that long.
She wondered what she might find under there. It was so wild now. She could see nettles and dandelions and docks had staked a claim. Those were the ones she knew the names of anyway. She doubted that there would be any grass left to save. In a way she didn’t mind. She was thinking about replacing the grass, maybe adding paths next to the borders and putting decorative stones or shingle in the middle. She had often thought about putting in a pond before Jim died.
Sunday morning was not as bright as Saturday had been. Grey clouds hung menacingly in the sky threatening heavy rain, maybe even thunder and lightning. Liz was glad that she would be going out. She hated being in by herself in a thunderstorm.
She decided to head up to the garden centre to get Monica some flowers and more tools so that Sasha would have some of her own too.
The garden centre had only just opened when she arrived, which was fantastic as there were no queues and she could breeze in and out, but once inside she decided to look at the gardening books to see if there was anything that could help with the task ahead. She flicked through a couple of books on the shelves for inspiration. As she walked past the coffee shop she heard a familiar voice.
‘Hello again, Liz.’ She turned to see Nick sitting at the same table he had sat at before, a folded newspaper in his lap.
‘Morning,’ she said smiling. ‘You’re up early. You must be a very keen gardener,’ she added.
‘No, not at all,’ was the reply. ‘I’m a very keen coffee drinker. I moved into a flat up the road last year and this is the nearest place to get coffee in the mornings. It’s usually nice and quiet at this time. How about you? You’re here early too.’
‘I’m not one for lying in bed,’ she said self-consciously.
‘Will you join me for coffee?’ he asked.
‘Why not,’ said Liz. ‘I’m not in a hurry.’
She ordered a cappuccino and sat down at the table. Nick was easy to talk to. She found out that he had two ex-wives. The first marriage had been to his college sweetheart Susan. They had married at eighteen and had two children, Heather and David. ‘We were married for twenty years. It would have been a lot less but for the kids.’
‘Are you still in touch?’ asked Liz.
‘I see them all often. We have a standing arrangement to meet for dinner at least once a month. Susan plays host to me, our children and grandchildren.’
‘That’s great,’ said Liz. ‘Did she remarry?’
‘Ah, yes,’ said Nick. ‘Susan is very happily married to my brother.’ Liz was surprised and it must have shown on her face. ‘It’s not a bad thing,’ said Nick. ‘Patrick has most of my good traits and none of the bad so she very wisely divorced me and married him,’ he was smiling broadly.
‘You don’t sound too bitter about it,’ Liz ventured.
‘I’m not,’ said Nick. ‘Oh, I was at first but when I got over my wounded pride I realised that they are much more suited than we ever were. Patrick is brother, step-dad, granddad and uncle and I couldn’t be happier. We all get on fantastically well.’
‘How very modern,’ said Liz, fascinated, ‘and the second?’
‘The second was an even bigger disaster. I guess it was me trying to cling on to my youth.’
‘Ah, that reminds me of the old joke,’ said Liz. Nick look puzzled. ‘How does a man hold on to his youth?’
‘Tell me,’ said Nick.
‘expensive jewellery,’ Liz replied. They both laughed.
‘I guess it was something like that,’ he said smiling. ‘I was in my early forties and she was in her late twenties.’
‘Mid-life crisis?’ asked Liz.
‘Panic,’ said Nick. ‘I was never good at being on my own.’
‘What happened?’ Liz was curious.
‘I don’t think I made enough money at the time to support her in the lifestyle to which she wanted to become accustomed. She moved on to bigger fish.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Liz.
‘Don’t be,’ said Nick. ‘It was a big mistake. Besides, I am very happy doing what I do now. Enough about me. How about you, are you married?’
‘I was married for a very long time. I have a son, Adam, who is married to Georgina and they have two children, Leo and Sasha.’
‘Was married,’ repeated Nick. ‘Are you divorced too?
‘No, no,’ said Liz. ‘Jim died five years ago.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Nick. ‘He must have been a good man.’
‘He was. We laughed a lot.’
‘You miss him.’
‘I do,’ said Liz, ‘but it’s getting easier all the time. I had to pull myself together eventually. I was scaring the neighbours.’
‘Are you fond of gardening?’ asked Nick.
‘I wouldn’t say I was fond of it,’ Liz replied, ‘but I have a project to finish. I have neglected the garden over the last few years and have recently decided to get to grips with it, restore some of it and change the rest. I hope I’m not being too ambitious. Anyway, it was either the garden or get a couple of cats and that’s a slippery slope.’
Nick laughed. ‘You wouldn’t consider going back to teaching?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Liz. ‘I’ll think about it when I’ve finished the garden.’