Same Time Next Week

Chapter 14

Astrid unlocked the door of the repair shop and waited for the beep of the alarm to start up that would give her a count of ten to key in the code, but it didn’t, which was odd.

She walked in cautiously, sensing she wasn’t alone.

‘Hello?’ she called and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw a figure jerk to a sitting position from a supine one on a velvet chaise longue that Peter was re-covering for a client. Astrid shrieked and so did the figure. Astrid dived for the light switch.

‘Who the hell are you? Come out und show theesen,’ she barked.

‘Astrid, it’s me,’ said a familiar voice.

‘Sky?’ Astrid patted her chest in relief. ‘What are you doing here in the dark?’

‘I was finishing something and I thought I’d take five minutes. I must have nodded off,’ Sky stretched the cricks out of her back. The chaise wasn’t the most comfortable thing to lie on, but she’d needed a solid sleep she couldn’t get at home – although it didn’t even feel like home any more. Wilton had been living there for just over a week now and rather than it being the temporary stay she’d hoped, he had brought more of his things over and set up a load of gaming stuff in the lounge.

‘My goodness, what could be so important that you were working at this blumming time?’ asked Astrid.

‘Do you want to see?’ said Sky. She went over to her work bench. She reached into the drawer and pulled something out that was wrapped in blue tissue. She handed it to Astrid.

‘I wanted to finish it because it’s late. I was hoping to have it done for your birthday but I got held up on another job and I didn’t want to rush it.’

Astrid’s hands reached over tentatively; she hadn’t expected anything. She didn’t know Sky well enough to be on present-exchanging footing, even if, from what she knew of her, she did think the young woman was a treasure.

‘I heard you talking one day,’ said Sky. ‘I knew this birthday was going to be hard for you, with it being the first one without Kev.’

Astrid took a teddy bear out of the tissue paper. He was dressed just as Kev used to dress in jeans with a shirt, sleeves rolled up, waistcoat and a Peaky Blinders tweed cap. There was a gold bracelet around his wrist, a replica of the one that Astrid now wore around hers. There were even tiny business cards, miniatures of the ones Kev had, with ‘Cutthroat Kevin, Barber’s Shop Memorabilia’ printed on them and tucked into the back pocket of his jeans; plus a leather wallet with a tiny photo of Astrid in it, which Sky had drawn.

Astrid had to sit down before her legs gave way.

‘I asked around,’ said Sky. ‘Bon told me that Kev always carried a picture in his wallet of you. I asked in the Pot of Gold if any of the antiques dealers had photos that I could borrow so I could get the details right.’

Astrid stroked the bear’s mutton-chops beard, darkest brown with the merest peppering of grey. Sky had even stitched in the little mole under his eye. The bear’s brown eyes shone, she’d even got the lopsided smile that Astrid would always remember. She broke down.

Sky was horrified.

‘Oh god, Astrid, I didn’t want to do this to you. I’m so sorry, I thought it would cheer you up.’

‘ Ach! You have no idea, I am so happy,’ said Astrid, tears flooding out of her, looking as if she had sprung a leak. She was hugging the bear close to her chest, sniffling, smiling, crying, a mess of emotion. She pushed the bear out to arm’s length to study him again.

‘Kev, you are the most beautiful bear I have ever seen,’ she said. ‘I will treasure you for ever.’ She cuddled the bear again before wrapping him carefully back into the tissue, then she picked up her bag of equipment. ‘I have to clean now and then I will take little Kev home. I don’t think I will ever be able to thank you enough, Sky. I know how much work goes into your Sky Bears. You must let me pay you—’

‘Oh no, no, no,’ Sky protested. ‘It was something done in my spare time, and it’s a gift and you must always accept a gift because if you block the flow of receiving, the energy gets all clogged up. That was what my dad always said. It’s bad luck, bad karma.’

‘Well, thank you, then I will,’ said Astrid, quietly, choked. ‘You must go home now and to a proper bed.’

‘Yes, I will,’ replied Sky, though the prospect filled her with dread. She felt like a spare part in the house and she wondered if Wilton’s design was to have her pack up and leave because he couldn’t have been so naturally gross, he had to have been putting extra effort in. The wording in the tenancy agreement was very clear that the house should be respected and no smoking inside it, and yet he puffed away like an addicted chimney and left a trail wherever he went. She didn’t want to breathe it in, it was bad for her and she had to look after herself. She couldn’t even leave any towels or toiletries in the bathroom because she knew he’d use them. She didn’t want to engage in small talk with him in the kitchen; they had nothing in common. No, she didn’t want to go for a drink with him, thank you. No, she didn’t want to watch a film with him in the lounge, she had work to do. The house rattled with the sound of his snoring and only a thin, hollow, plasterboard wall separated his bed from hers.

She wished that Astrid hadn’t turned up because her extended nap on the chaise was the best sleep she’d had since Katy left. She could feel the stress of the situation impacting on her and it couldn’t be allowed to. But what else could she do but put up and shut up?

When she got home, she went straight into her bedroom and pushed her chair up against the handle before getting undressed. It was now an issue not having a lock on her door, because she was sure that Wilton was poking around in her things when she was out. She’d left a trap for him before she went to work on Saturday, a pair of black pants at an angle to a pair of pink ones in her drawer, and they’d been moved.

She slid in between her sheets and pressed her head against the pillow. She closed her eyes, but a faint familiar smell of smoke poked at the back of her nose. She pushed her face deeper into the pillow and it was even stronger.

She flicked on the bedside light and examined her pillow and there she found two long hairs the colour of Wilton Dearne’s. He’d not only been snooping in her room, but lying in her bed. Disgusted, she got up, ripped off the sheets and spread a fresh one over the mattress. She was too weary to tuck it in, so pulled the undressed duvet over her body just as it was.

Enough, was her last thought of the day. Enough.