Chapter 25
JULY
Nancy
‘Wow, he’s certainly fit for his age,’ Val remarked, glancing out of the window at Slate, clad only in a pair of jeans, mowing the lawn one Saturday morning. ‘And I mean fit in both ways. There’s not an ounce of fat on him. Most men past middle age have a bit of a belly.’
‘Look at you, Mrs Happily Married ogling another man,’ Nancy said in amusement. Val was right though – Slate was as fit as someone half his age. He was mowing that lawn as if it was no effort at all. And yes, he was in good shape too.
‘Nothing wrong with enjoying the scenery,’ Val said with a wink. She turned back to Nancy. ‘I’m so glad that you’re all getting on okay, sis. I was worried about you.’
‘I know you were, and to be honest I was a bit anxious too. But it’s working out well, we’re all like friends.’
‘That’s great. Now, what are you up to this weekend? Dennis and I are going for a drive out and pub lunch tomorrow, if you fancy joining us.’
‘That would be lovely but Phyllis and Aurora have a stall at a holistic fayre tomorrow and I’ve promised to go along. Jackie is coming too.’
Val looked surprised. ‘I thought all that was a bit woo-woo for you?’
‘I’m open-minded. And we both want to support Phyllis. It’s only been a couple of weeks since Joyce died,’ Nancy reminded her. ‘Look, Slate’s got another gig tonight, why don’t you and Dennis come along? It’s a good night out.’
‘I quite fancy it but I’m not sure it’s Dennis’s scene. I’ll see if I can persuade him. Message me the location and I’ll let you know later,’ Val said. ‘Right, I’ll be off then. Enjoy your afternoon out.’
As Nancy saw Val out, a car pulled up in the drive. It was Pam, with her children. ‘Hiya, Nancy. Is Mum in?’ she called.
‘Hello, Pam. Yes, she is. I’ll give her a call,’ Nancy told her.
She waved Val off then shouted up the stairs to Jackie.
Pam and the children followed her into the hall.
Nancy looked at them uneasily, as they ran into the kitchen.
She wasn’t used to children running around her house.
She hoped that they didn’t jump over the furniture or break anything.
And Pam was her boss so she couldn’t really tell them off, could she?
Then, to her horror, she saw that the little girl was about to pick up the big vase in the hall and the little boy was about to open the door of the living room.
‘Oi, don’t touch that, Eva!’ Jackie shouted as she came down the stairs. ‘And Harry, keep out of that room!’
‘Don’t shout at them, Mum!’ Pam protested. ‘Eva, careful hands, darling,’ she cooed. ‘And Harry, I know you want to explore, but you must ask before you go into other people’s rooms.’
‘Never mind “careful hands”, I said don’t touch it, Eva!’ Jackie said sternly as Eva went to grab the vase again.
‘Mum! I keep telling you we don’t shout at the children. It makes them nervous,’ Pam reprimanded her.
‘And Eva going to touch that vase makes me perishing nervous! I’m only renting a room; I don’t own the house. Come on, let’s take them to the park,’ Jackie said firmly.
It was making Nancy nervous too. She didn’t want the children running amok. Thank goodness Jackie was dealing with it.
‘See you on Monday, Pam,’ she said with a smile then went into the kitchen, put a couple of chunks of ice into two glasses of water, and took them outside.
‘I thought you might need this,’ she said, handing Slate a glass.
‘Most welcome. Thanks.’
‘Thank you for mowing the lawn. I usually do it myself but things have been a bit hectic,’ she told him, sitting down at the table. ‘I need to do some weeding too.’ She really had let the garden go a little, and it used to be her pride and joy.
He wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. ‘Happy to help while I’m living here. Keeps me fit and it’s a beautiful garden.’ He nodded towards the house. ‘I thought I saw a couple of kids.’
‘Jackie’s grandchildren. They’ve gone to the park.’ She sighed. ‘They were a bit boisterous.’
‘We never discussed house rules about visitors, did we?’ He pulled out a garden chair and sat down by Nancy. ‘I probably should have asked this before I invited the guys around for band practice. Sorry.’ Decaf and Oxo had come round for rehearsals a few times now.
‘Oh, I don’t mind. It’s only a couple of hours and none of the neighbours have complained.
’ She enjoyed listening to the band playing and had often joined in with the singing.
She sipped her drink. ‘And I don’t want to enforce rules, as such.
I want you all to treat this as your home, although I hadn’t banked on kids running about,’ she confessed.
‘What visitor rules did you have when you house-shared?’
Slate took a long glug of the cold water before replying.
‘Well, it was Decaf’s house, so he could do what he wanted.
Hence moving Muriel in. He didn’t have any rules for me, but the only one who visited me was Jed, especially as the kids got older – going to see Grandad is boring.
Usually I go to his house, for a meal, or to keep an eye on things if he and Rosie go out for the evening – Tristan is fifteen now so they don’t really need a babysitter.
’ He glanced at her. ‘Is Val your only family?’
‘Yes, I didn’t have children.’
He nodded. ‘I guessed. There’s no photos about.’
‘Is Jed your only son?’
‘Yep. His mum left when he was young and I’ve never bothered to take up with anyone else on a permanent basis. I can do without the complication.’
Nancy bit her lip. ‘I don’t want Jackie to think her grandchildren can’t visit, especially as Pam is my boss, but one of them was about to pick up my expensive vase, and the other was about to stomp into the living room. Jackie stopped them though.’
‘Jackie will keep them in line. She loves her grandkids but she doesn’t strike me as one of those doting nannies that’d let them get away with anything.’ He finished his drink. ‘Are you still up for coming to the gig tonight?’
‘Definitely,’ she told him. ‘Jackie, too, but we haven’t managed to persuade Phyllis to come yet.’
‘Rock music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.’ Slate replied. ‘How about we all travel together? There’s three seats in the front of the van and it saves us taking two cars. That is if you’re both happy to travel in the front?’
Travelling with the singer of the band! That sounded fun. ‘I am, and I’m sure Jackie will be too. It means she can have a drink!’
‘Great. I’ll clean up this mower and put it away then go and have a shower. See you later.’
Jackie came back a couple of hours later. ‘Sorry about the kids – they can be a handful. Why do you think I don’t want to stay at Pam’s while looking for a flat?’ she said.
‘I don’t want you to feel like they can’t visit,’ Nancy told her.
‘Goodness, no! It’s me who doesn’t want them to visit! This is our haven. I can visit them or meet them somewhere. Don’t worry about it.’
Nancy felt a glow of happiness at the words ‘our haven’. They were all starting to feel like family to her, and she was happy that Jackie felt so at home.
* * *
Later that evening, Nancy put in her contact lenses and applied some lash-lengthening mascara that she’d bought the day before.
It had been Jackie’s suggestion and she was right, it did make Nancy’s eyes look bigger.
She added highlighter to her cheeks, too, and went for a plum-coloured lipstick – again Jackie’s suggestion.
She was really pleased with the results.
She had never been one for wearing much make-up, a bit of foundation and lipstick was enough, but then Clifford had preferred her to look natural.
Or so he said. As far as she knew he could be living it up somewhere abroad with a glamorous woman who was always made up to the nines.
She brushed the thought aside. She wasn’t going to think about Clifford.
He’d gone. And now she was making a life for herself and, to her surprise, rather enjoying it.
She and Jackie had gone to see Slate’s group play a couple of times now and she always enjoyed it.
Maybe Phyllis’s tea-leaf reading of ‘success and pleasure’ was coming true, because renting out her spare rooms had certainly been a success, so far, and she was enjoying having house guests.
Neither she nor Jackie had asked for their tea leaves to be read since.
She guessed that like her, Jackie didn’t want it to become a habit.
It was a bit of fun, but they didn’t want to live their life by the leaves, as Phyllis did.
She never missed a day reading them although she rarely divulged the result.
‘Ready to go in twenty minutes, ladies!’ Slate shouted.
‘Hey, are those jeans new? They look fantastic, and that mascara widens your eyes,’ Jackie said as Nancy came out of her bedroom.
‘Thanks but I feel a bit dowdy compared to you,’ Nancy told her. Jackie looked very rock-chic in a pair of black leather-look trousers, a black T-shirt with a silver ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’ and guitar motif across the front and knee-high boots.
‘Want to borrow my waistcoat?’ Phyllis asked her.
She’d been working in the shop today and had only just come home.
‘Hang on and I’ll go and get it.’ She went into her bedroom and bought out a vintage denim waistcoat with floral embellishments of tiny white beads.
It was gorgeous. ‘Try it on,’ she urged.
Nancy slipped her arms into it then went into her bedroom to look in the mirror. It totally transformed her outfit. Phyllis and Jackie stood in the doorway grinning.
‘Thank you. It’s perfect. I promise I’ll look after it,’ she said. ‘Where did you get it from?’
‘Oh, it’s an old one. I decorated it myself. I can show you how if you want. We can jazz up your jeans for next time.’
‘That would be fantastic. Thank you, Phyllis.’ Nancy smiled at her. ‘I do hope you can come along with us one week. I’m sure you’d enjoy it.’
Phyllis nodded. ‘Maybe in a week or two. Have fun, both.’
Nancy felt like an excited teenager as she slid onto the front seat next to Slate.
* * *
The pub was packed when they got there. Decaf and Oxo hadn’t arrived yet, so Nancy and Jackie helped Slate set up.
It was a fabulous evening. Soon their feet were tapping and Muriel beckoned Nancy and Jackie to join her on the dance floor.
The three women got on quite well, and now that Slate wasn’t living with her and Decaf, Muriel was friendly to him too.
Nancy loved these Saturday evenings. She felt quite exhilarated, being part of the gang.
She and Clifford had always kept themselves to themselves.
Look what she’d been missing all these years.
When Slate sang his ‘Keep on Walking’ song – which Decaf told them Slate had actually composed himself – Nancy joined in the chorus, as did several members of the audience.
‘So keep on walking, I don’t want you near, keep on walking, there’s no place for you here.’ And as she sang the words Nancy felt again as if they were meant for her. She didn’t want Clifford back. She sang at the top of her voice as if she wanted the world to know.
Suddenly she was aware that it had gone quiet and only she and Slate were singing.
Everyone started clapping and cheering. She look around, confused.
Had she really sung a duet with Slate? Then she saw Val and Dennis standing by the doorway, they must have just come in.
Dennis was grinning and Val put a thumb up.