Chapter 14
The next morning Lily stood in front of the slim, old-fashioned pantry next to the refrigerator, her hand hanging over the doorknob.
She had opened Gran’s door so she could hear her get up and now she could hear Gran’s soft snores floating down the stairs.
Gran had fought her tooth and nail to not have the nap, but Lily told her it wasn’t to be argued with and she knew Gran needed it.
She had stayed up too late the night before and was very tired today.
She drew a deep breath, as if about to open Pandora’s box, and pulled the door open. She knew there was a muddle of things in the pantry but this was something else.
‘Oh, good Lord,’ Lily mumbled, her eyes widening at the sight in front of her.
As Lily dug deeper, she discovered a packet of crackers so old that the cellophane had turned yellow. She probed it cautiously, half expecting it to collapse to dust with her touch.
This was ridiculous. She picked up her phone and walked outside.
‘Dad? Hi.’
‘Hello, love, how’s Mum?’
‘She’s okay but honestly, Dad, did you and Mum see the state of her pantry when you were at the cottage?’
‘Do you think she would let me look in her pantry? It was enough she even let us through the door,’ he scoffed. ‘You know how independent she is.’
‘I do but it’s terrible. I need to go to town and do a proper shop for her, some meal planning, I mean, she’s got things in that pantry from 1985.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ her father said. ‘Do a clean-out and I’ll transfer you some money; get anything else she might need also.’
‘Thanks, Dad,’ she said and she walked back into the kitchen where the mess of jars and packets were on the benches.
She started to place the items into rubbish bags and went back into the pantry for another look.
Finally, at the back of the top shelf, Lily curled her palm around a small, enigmatic tin. She pulled it out, brushing away a layer of dust thick enough to write on. Her eyes widened when she read the label.
‘Spam? Is this actual Spam?’ She turned the tin over in her hands, admiring it as if it were the holy grail of expired food. ‘I thought this only existed in Monty Python sketches and wartime stories!’
Just then, she heard movement upstairs. Gran was awake.
Lily quickly threw all the bags into the pantry, resulting in a dangerously balanced stack of ancient groceries.
As she heard Gran’s slippered feet on the stairs, she hastily shut the pantry door, leaning against it and pretending to be innocent.
Gran entered the kitchen, looking at Lily suspiciously. ‘What are you up to, dear?’
Lily smiled. ‘Oh, nothing, Gran. I thought I’d do some baking. But, yeah, I guess we might need to go shopping first.’
Gran nodded in approval. ‘A good idea. While we’re there, remind me to get some more pickles. I believe we might be running low.’
Lily bit her lip to avoid laughing. ‘Sure thing, Gran. We would not want to run out of pickles. Not for the next century or two, at least.’
‘What do you mean?’ Gran moved with her walker into the kitchen. ‘And why are you propping up the pantry door?’
Lily stepped away slowly. ‘I’m doing a clean-out,’ she said waiting for the barrage of protest about the state of her pantry and that Lily should keep her nose out of her Spam.
But Gran took a look inside at the bare shelves and the bags on the floor and nodded.
‘About time someone did that. I was going to but it seemed too overwhelming, so I kept adding to it.’ She laughed.
Relief came over Lily and she reached into a bag and pulled out the can of Spam.
‘Spam? Really?’ she asked her grandmother with a laugh.
‘I don’t even know where I got that from.
Your grandfather and I loathed Spam. Maybe we won it?
In a pub raffle or the like.’ She shuffled back to her chair.
‘Now do I get a cup of tea or have you thrown the tea leaves out as well? I’m lucky my chair is still here,’ Gran muttered as she sat down and Lily rolled her eyes as she went back to the kitchen bench.
‘I saw you rolling her eyes then,’ called Gran from her chair.
‘Impossible,’ said Lily, laughing into the kettle as she filled it up.
*
Lily had Gran settled at home with the classic musical The Band Wagon playing on her ancient DVD player, a cup of tea and some shortbread. Lily was off to restock the kitchen.
She drove to the bigger village, parked at the supermarket and walked into the store.
Pushing a trolley, she started to make her way around the aisles.
‘Lily?’ she heard and she turned to see Nick standing at the end of the aisle with a small basket in his hand.
‘Oh hi,’ she said, feeling odd to see him outside of the cottage or the village hall.
He wasn’t at work today and was wearing jeans and a white shirt, which did nothing to make him seem less attractive.
He looked so like Brad Pitt it was unnerving, as was the way his forearm flexed holding the basket with the heavy items in it.
‘You buying a few things for dinner?’ he asked.
She laughed. ‘A few things? No, I just cleaned Gran’s cupboards out, and let’s just say it was like being in a kitchenalia exhibition of the past thirty years. I need to restock everything. She had products older than me. It was like she was hoarding for the next nuclear scare.’
Nick laughed, and put his basket into her trolley. ‘Why don’t I push and you put things in it and we can chat?’
Lily paused and then pushed the trolley towards him.
‘Okay, let’s go.’
She started selecting the necessities. Some fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, bread and a few indulgent delights that she was certain her grandmother would enjoy.
‘I spoke to Jessica,’ he said as she stood by a display of cakes.
‘Oh?’ She picked up a packet of madeira cake.
‘She said she would apologise to you.’
‘She doesn’t need to, she just needs to stop it,’ she said as she put back the cake.
‘Did you speak to Jasper?’ he asked as they walked along the biscuit aisle. She picked up some crackers for Gran to have with some cheese and some digestives for them when shortbread was in short supply.
‘Not yet. I was going to but I got sidetracked by the pantry of yore,’ she said with a laugh.
Nick stopped wheeling the trolley and she turned around to see what he was looking at.
‘Don’t leave, Lily. You’re so fabulous and we can have fun. Ignore Jess and stay in the show.’
A woman walked past them and glanced at Nick and then she smiled at Lily as though she had done well for herself.
She sighed and gestured around her. ‘This is the real reason I’m here though: to help Gran. Not deal with rubbish in the village hall twice a week for June and July and then a week of shows in the last week of August.’
‘I know but it will be better and it’s a great chance to keep your voice in check and sing for your gran,’ he pleaded.
They kept walking as Lily put some cleaning supplies into the trolley.
‘Okay,’ she finally said. ‘But I’m not taking any rubbish from Jess and you need to work it out with her, because her behaviour is not that of someone who is okay with the break-up. She’s acting like the spurned ex-wife.’
‘I’ll get it sorted, I promise,’ Nick said, and she saw a look of worry cross his face. For a moment she nearly felt sorry for him, but if he couldn’t stand up to Jessica and their relationship hadn’t been serious, then that was his problem.