Chapter 23 Jenny #2
Occasionally you had to ignore the thoughts in your head or at least refuse to engage with them.
It was like having biscuits in the house.
Just because they were there didn’t mean you had to eat them.
Unpleasant thoughts were the same. They could be there, but you could choose to ignore them.
Instead she focused on enjoying the things that made her happy.
Seeing family, cooking, walking Percy on the beach, chatting with friends, and reading.
Some people might have considered those to be small things, but Jenny knew they were the big things.
And right now her focus was on enjoying this family Christmas, in whatever shape her family presented itself.
“Have you had a chance to have a proper catch up with your sisters?” She asked the question casually, feeling guilty for trying to extract information about his siblings.
“Which one in particular are you worried about?”
She sighed. He knew her as well as she knew him. “Both of them. Did you know about Becky and Will?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. Haven’t seen either of them in a while. We’re at opposite ends of the country and our paths haven’t collided. But it makes sense.”
Did it? She wanted to ask if he thought the whole thing was a pretence, but she decided that wouldn’t be wise. “You think it’s serious?”
“I’m sure it is. There is no way they would have announced it if not.
You know what Becky is like. I always thought they’d be good together.
Wasn’t sure they’d ever see it themselves though.
Neither of them seemed able to look beyond friendship.
You must be pleased—” He stood up and grabbed the tin where she’d stored the mince pies.
“You always used to say that Will spent so much time here when we were kids that he felt like another member of the family.”
“Yes.” She had said that. And now she didn’t know what to think.
She’d been so sure that Will and Becky had been faking their relationship, but watching them on the dance floor the night before she’d almost revised her opinion.
She could still feel the sharp pain as Audrey had dug her in the ribs with her elbow. Do you see that?
Jenny had seen it. Everyone had seen it. Even Martin had raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction. And then the pair of them had disappeared.
And so far this morning there had been no sign of them.
Jamie ate a mince pie, the pastry crumbling onto the table. “Maybe they will have a big summer wedding. Compensate for your eldest eloping. I’m kidding. We both know Becky would hate a big wedding.”
“Wedding? Even if they are really together, dating is a long way from marriage. Jamie, you’re not seriously eating mince pies for breakfast?”
“No. This is an early morning snack.” Jamie pulled two more from the tin and sealed the lid again. “What do you mean, if they’re together?”
“Nothing. I just wasn’t sure how serious it is, that’s all. Don’t eat any more. I’m making a big Christmas Eve breakfast.” Some things never changed, she thought, and one of those things was how much her children could eat.
“Have you ever known me to refuse breakfast?” He glanced up as the door opened. “Morning, Granny.”
And that, Jenny thought, was the end of her quiet conversation with Jamie.
“Did you sleep well? Is anyone else awake?” She pulled out a chair for her mother. “Any sign of Rosie or Becky?”
“I’m the only one up. Your dad is still asleep, so I left him. I thought maybe a lie-in might help him structure his thoughts for his book. No sign of Rosie or Declan, and after what I witnessed last night I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing Becky and Will any time soon.”
“What did you see, Granny? Share.” Jamie stood up and made his grandmother a cup of tea.
“They were kissing. I didn’t know it was possible for two people to kiss for that long without coming up for air. Thank you, dear.” She patted Jamie’s arm gratefully as he put the tea in front of her.
“Did they know you were there?” Could the kiss have been a performance?
“They were still kissing when the bedroom door shut behind them, so even if it began that way it didn’t end that way. They definitely weren’t thinking about me.”
Jamie sneaked another mince pie. “How do you know what happened once the door closed?”
“I might have paused outside their door as I was passing. Not for long of course. Just long enough to confirm that they were still kissing.”
Jamie choked on the mince pie and Jenny thumped him on the back and then fetched him a glass of water.
She sent her mother a silencing look without any real hope that it would silence her.
There were some things that were better off not voiced, but her mother had yet to discover that.
She was one of those people who thought plain speaking was a virtue, a conviction Jenny had never shared.
Sometimes she found herself holding her breath, willing her mother not to speak her mind.
“That’s enough, Mum. Unless you were looking through the keyhole, I don’t see how you could have drawn that conclusion.”
“There are other ways of determining what is happening behind a closed door. Sounds, for a start.”
“You’re saying you had your ear pressed to Becky’s door?”
“No. I just stood close, that’s all. If they’d been doing it for my benefit they would have been laughing or whispering the moment the door was closed. At the very least there would have been conversation. There wasn’t. Which confirmed that I was wrong in my suspicions.”
Jamie finished the water. His eyes were watering but Jenny wasn’t sure if that was the coughing or the attempts to contain his laughter.
“Suspicions?”
“I thought for a short time yesterday that Becky and Will were faking their romance. But I was wrong.”
Jenny wondered if her mother had been listening outside her and Martin’s bedroom door. From now on she was going to communicate in written notes when her mother was staying.
“What made you think that?”
“Remember that time Becky covered for Rosie when she spilled blackcurrant juice on the sofa? She had the same look on her face yesterday when she announced that she was with Will. I thought to myself blackcurrant juice .”
Jamie scooped up all the crumbs he’d dropped. “Do you speculate about all of us?”
“Of course, dear. I’m your grandmother.” She made it sound as if it was part of the job description rather than a lifestyle choice.
Jamie leaned forward, intrigued. “So when I told you I had something to announce, what did you think it was?”
“I wasn’t sure, but imagining the various options made for a very entertaining few days so thank you for that.
I was relieved it was a wedding, and not something like an incurable disease or a sudden desire to emigrate to a far-off country, although the fact that you wanted a party to celebrate did offer up a few clues.
And it’s good that Rosie and Declan have sorted out whatever their problem was. ”
“That’s enough, Mum,” Jenny said quickly, removing the mince pie tin before Jamie could consume the lot. “You have to let the children lead their own lives and not interfere.”
Her mother tilted her head. “Says the woman who made sure Becky and Will shared a room last night.”
Jenny felt heat creep slowly up her neck. “That’s because they said they were together. I was being hospitable.”
“Of course you were. And so was I when I stopped to listen outside the bedroom. I needed to check they didn’t need anything. But I decided they seemed to have everything they needed.”
Jamie shook his head, thoroughly entertained. “You’re appalling, Granny.”
“I want my family to be happy,” his grandmother said. “What’s appalling about that? And when Becky joins us for breakfast, I’m confident she’ll have a big smile on her face. All’s well that ends well, as the saying goes.”
Jenny made a mental note to be more discreet around her mother because if Becky figured out that everyone had been speculating, all was definitely not going to end well.