Monday morning in the shop, the last week of August, Charley was literally counting the days until Tara would be back in. Only having the one pair of hands, she struggled to juggle everything that needed doing, but it was only having the one pair of eyes that was the real trouble. Gaggles of youngsters, no doubt bored at having been off all summer, had taken to hanging around Cargo and being what would politely be called a ‘nuisance’ but what Charley called a complete pain in the arse. The other shop-holders warned her bitterly it was an annual event. The ice-cream parlour and the deli had both banned teenagers from going in more than two at a time, and some of the shopkeepers had advised her they’d noticed a significant increase in shoplifting. Charley told herself it was only a petty problem, and that all shopkeepers had to factor in losing a certain amount of stock to theft, and that the kids were only young, only doing it for kicks and she shouldn’t take it personally, but that didn’t stop it pissing her off. She didn’t know exactly how much she’d lost, but she was down several bath bombs and bottles of bubble bath, and a good many tealights, not to mention several packs of sweets and chocolates. Her shop, with its open displays and small items, was an easy target, especially when she was alone. I bet nothing ever gets nicked from the bike shop. You could hardly slip a racing bike under your hoody, and Carlo was on permanent security duty anyhow. She’d been tempted to ask if she could borrow the lurcher for a day or so, but rejected the idea on the grounds it would be overstepping the mark with Ricky. Gradually, tentatively, she and Ricky were finding their way back to a degree of friendship, and she didn’t want to push things and spoil that.
Halfway through the morning, the shop door opened and a group of teenagers crowded in, insouciant, arrogant and rowdy. Girding her loins, Charley decided to be proactive. Locking the till and approaching them, she asked brightly, ‘How can I help you, girls?’ only just restraining herself from adding, Are you shoplifting to order or purely on an opportunistic basis?
There was a stunned silence – clearly they weren’t used to a direct challenge – until one of the more brazen of the group said, ‘We’re just looking.’
‘Okay, great!’ said Charley, with an enthusiasm she truly didn’t feel, and still holding her ground. Then the pack split up and Charley knew she was stuffed. Nevertheless, when she saw one of the girls pick up a bottle of bubble bath she called over, ‘If you’re interested in buying that, open it and have a sniff.’ The girl stared at her with open hostility. Without batting an eyelid, Charley eyeballed her back and eventually the girl replaced the bottle on the shelf.
‘Nah. It’s okay,’ she said, and then headed for the door, the others following her.
It felt like a minor victory to Charley, but her heart was pounding and, she reflected, she had no way of knowing if anything else had miraculously slipped into a pocket or two before the rest of the gang had sloped out. Feeling mildly shaken, she went back behind the till and, perhaps not surprisingly, was even more relieved than usual when Pam arrived for the afternoon a couple of hours later. Her mother-in-law was her usual cheerful self, but as the afternoon wore on, Charley thought she seemed a little distracted. So, once there was a brief lull and the shop was empty, Charley asked if she was okay.
A tiny flicker of a frown clouded Pam’s face. ‘Ye-es, but I wanted to ask your advice about something.’
‘Go ahead, caller!’ said Charley cheerfully, leaning on the counter. ‘Ask me anything you like.’
‘Do you think it’s too soon for me to have sex with Dez?’
Charley gasped and nearly had a coronary. Do. Not. Overreact, she ordered herself and desperately tried not to show even a tiny fraction of the shockwave that had jolted her sideways.
‘Well, do you?’ she asked the older woman sincerely. ‘That’s the more important question.’
‘In my day we didn’t go leaping into bed with people so quickly,’ replied Pam. ‘Well, some people did, but Geoff and I didn’t.’
Charley reeled. This was way too much information about her mother-in-law’s sex life. But Pam was continuing.
‘So on the one hand, it does seem a bit early in the relationship, but on the other hand I know I’m old-fashioned and definitely out of touch with modern sensibilities. I don’t want to lose him by making him wait too long. I mean, how long do people wait these days?’
‘Not very long, sometimes not at all,’ Charley answered honestly, if not very helpfully, and inwardly hoping – desperately hoping – that Pam wouldn’t ask her about her and Ricky or, even worse, her and Josh. She Ricky had known each other for months before they’d had sex, not least because they’d been friends before they started dating, but she’d ended up in bed with Josh the first night she’d met him. Not that she was going to admit that to Pam. Not in a million years.
‘How long is “not very long”?’ queried Pam, and to Charley she seemed achingly vulnerable and she tried to imagine how hopelessly lost Pam must feel, starting dating again forty years after she last went on a date. Bloody hell; that was a lifetime ago. No wonder the poor woman was struggling.
‘Look, I’m not going to tell you how many weeks or whatever you should wait,’ said Charley earnestly. ‘My best advice to you is: don’t do it unless you feel ready to. Even if you think you might lose him. You can’t stay with anyone who expects you to have sex before you’re ready to.’
Naturally it was at this precise moment that Ricky opened the shop door. Charley felt herself blush bright pink for some reason. It wasn’t like he’d overheard them or anything.
‘Am I interrupting?’ he asked since both women had so instantly fallen completely silent.
‘No,’ said Pam.
‘Yes,’ said Charley, simultaneously.
Stopping abruptly in the doorway, Ricky looked from Charley to Pam and then back again. ‘Oh, right,’ he said flatly. ‘I’ll just leave this here then.’ He propped a package against the door lintel. ‘It was delivered to the bike shop by mistake.’
He turned to leave but Charley blurted out, ‘Hang on, wait! I know what you’re thinking and we weren’t talking about you, honestly. We were talking about…’ Pam shot her such a mortified look Charley momentarily floundered, ‘…something else entirely,’ she concluded lamely.
‘Right,’ said Ricky, beating a hasty, embarrassed retreat.
Bugger! Charley cursed, since Ricky clearly hadn’t believed her. Then she turned her attention back to Pam and bravely tried to wrap up the sex lesson. ‘So, to sum up, don’t have sex unless you want to and, just as importantly, don’t do anything you don’t want to do.’
‘Like what?’ Pam’s eyes widened and she looked thoroughly alarmed.
Charley’s heart sank to the soles of her shoes. The last person she ever expected to be having the Porn Chat with was her mother-in-law. She gritted her teeth and delivered a no-holds-barred explanation of the impact of porn on the sexual expectations of men, or rather some men, nowadays.
‘Right… Oh, I see. Yes, well, I suppose the internet has a lot to answer for,’ was Pam’s measured response.
‘And don’t forget to use a condom,’ was Charley’s final piece of advice.
‘I hardly need to at my age, darling!’ The mere idea clearly highly amused Pam.
‘Oh, please don’t make me give you the safe sex talk too!’ implored Charley.
Pam’s hand flew to her cheek. ‘Oh God, of course, STDs and so forth. I’d forgotten. One last question…’
‘Shoot,’ said Charley. She was way past caring that Pam would saying anything else excruciating.
‘Should I leave Dez to get the condoms or should I? I mean, will it look like I was expecting to have sex if I’ve got some in?’ she asked with loveable frankness.
‘Always a tough call,’ replied Charley, ‘but personally I’d put safety first.’
‘Thank you so much, darling. I hope you didn’t mind my asking, but I’ve got absolutely nobody else to turn to,’ finished Pam with a brave, self-effacing smile, as if she were trying to make light of it.
Pam’s admission brought Charley up short, and her heart went out to her. ‘I don’t mind a bit,’ she assured her gently, and honestly. ‘In fact, I take it as a compliment.’
‘Actually… can I ask a big favour?’ said Pam.
As long as it’s not buying you some condoms.
‘Would you mind coming to M&S with me to help me buy some underwear?’
Oh thank God, thought Charley, rapidly recovering her composure. ‘Not at all, when did you have in mind?’
‘I think they’re open until ten tonight,’ replied Pam.
‘Right!’ said Charley. ‘Let’s do this!’
Straight after closing up, she and Pam had nipped into the big M&S in the centre of Bristol and were now standing in the lingerie department gazing at the bedazzling range of women’s underwear in every shape, size and colour.
‘I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought myself new undies,’ confided Pam.
‘I don’t even know where to start!’
Charley immediately picked up a skimpy scarlet thong. ‘Something like this?’ she asked with a perfectly straight face.
‘Good grief!’ Pam visibly winced. ‘I’ve seen more substantial garden twine!’
Charley snorted with laughter and put the offending article back.
‘Seriously, though, aren’t they hideously uncomfortable?’ asked Pam.
‘I wouldn’t know!’ claimed Charley.
Pam replied with a raised eyebrow and, wilfully ignoring her, Charley moved on to a display of less provocative underwear.
‘Joking apart, I don’t want anything “sexy”, obviously, but I don’t want anything too frumpy. I want something that’ll make me feel…’
‘Comfortable?’ supplied Charley.
‘Confident.’
Charley completely understood. The last time she’d bought new underwear had been for her first date with Ricky. She certainly hadn’t been expecting they’d end up in bed, it was more dressing for every eventuality, just in case. Like packing for a music festival in high summer and taking sun block, shorts and shades, as well as a brolly, waterproof coat and wellies.
It was she who’d asked Ricky out, now she came to think of it, and they’d gone out for a drink. As a first date it hadn’t felt particularly momentous, but then they already knew each other pretty well and so they were at ease with one another. At closing time, he’d offered to see her home but they’d both cycled to the pub and the journey back to Charley’s meant slogging up a steep hill. It had seemed so natural to her to end the night together that Charley had simply pointed out that Ricky’s place was nearer – so they went back to his place. Hand in hand, they’d wheeled their bikes through the city, the streetlamps casting bright pools of light in the dark streets. She hadn’t planned to spend the night with him, and she hadn’t got the impression that Ricky had expected to either, it had just felt… right.
In the end, Pam chose two sets of lingerie, both with full-cup bras and very full-brief pants, modest cotton with just a hint of lace. Rejecting black as too sexy, and red as too tarty, she opted for navy and pale purple.
‘What d’you think?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Not too young for me?’
‘Absolutely not!’ replied Charley. Casting her eye over them and choosing her words carefully she said, ‘I like them, they’re pretty. Feminine without being tarty.’ Personally, she wouldn’t have been seen dead in them.