Chapter 5
Alison drove home the following Thursday afternoon feeling shattered.
She’d done an early shift at the petrol station, having been roped in to cover bakery duty due to staff illness.
With her usual early shift being on a Wednesday, two days in a row of early rises meant she now felt like she could sleep for a week.
One of the downsides of her job was that she was expected to cover at short notice.
Even so, she liked the variety of her work.
Sometimes she’d be manning the till. At other times she’d have to go in early to help with the food preparation, as the petrol station had its own bakery.
She jet washed the forecourt, did stock rotation and whatever else she was asked to do and didn’t really mind any of it.
What she’d refused, a year after starting work, was promotion. They’d wanted her to become a supervisor with a view to training for management. It was flattering but Alison wasn’t tempted.
She didn’t want any kind of responsibility. She’d done all that in her teaching job. All she wanted from this one was to go to work, do what needed to be done, go home and forget all about it. It suited her, but she had to concede it could be difficult when Jenna needed her.
She’d had to phone her daughter as soon as she got the call to explain she wouldn’t be able to take the girls to school the next morning.
‘But why didn’t you just tell them you couldn’t do it?’ Jenna had demanded. ‘You know I was relying on you to take the twins.’
‘I couldn’t,’ Alison had explained apologetically.
‘I would have if I could, but only a few of us are trained to cover the bakery, and one of them’s doing a night shift tonight, so she can’t work the early shift too, and apart from me and the one who rang in sick there’s only Jean, and she’s on holiday. ’
‘In January?’ Jenna sounded as if she didn’t believe a word of it.
‘She’s gone to Tenerife. She always flies out at this time of year to visit her sister.’
‘Nice for some,’ Jenna said.
Alison had bitten her lip, telling herself not to start an argument.
‘Well, I’m sorry to let you down but I have to go to work tomorrow morning and that’s that. I need an early night, so I’ll say goodnight.’
‘You’ll still be able to pick the twins up, though?’ Jenna had said quickly. ‘After school, I mean.’
Alison sighed. ‘Yes, of course.’
‘Great. See you tomorrow then.’
The phone had gone dead, and Alison had held it away from her for a moment, staring at her contacts list and trying very hard not to feel angry with her daughter.
Jenna knew the situation around shifts and covering for absent colleagues.
Alison had made it very clear to her, and Jenna had promised she had backup in place.
So why did she always make her feel guilty as hell whenever Alison put her job ahead of Jenna’s demands?
Would she prefer it if her mother got the sack?
Well, probably, because that way Alison would always be on hand to take the girls to school and pick them up, and probably have them at weekends, too.
She wondered what would happen when she retired in five years’ time.
The twins would be twelve by then. Maybe she’d put off retirement for a couple more years.
Working at the petrol station was a lot less hassle than rushing here, there and everywhere with Hallie and Ada.
In clear traffic, the petrol station was a twenty- or twenty-five-minute drive from her home. However, her granddaughters’ school was ten minutes in the opposite direction.
The plan today was for her to collect the twins and take them back to their house, cook their tea – or dinner, as Jenna insisted on calling it these days – and get them settled before Jenna got home from work.
Joel, apparently, was at a conference that weekend and would be heading south directly after finishing work.
At least it meant Alison would be home by seven. Quick shower, something to eat, and an evening in her PJs watching an old episode of Lewis or Endeavour, she decided, then an early night after her early start that morning. She was looking forward to it.
As her phone rang, she pressed the button on her steering wheel to accept the call. It was Jenna, sounding stressed.
‘Sorry, Mum, change of plan. Would you be able to pick the kids up and take them back to yours for the night, please? Something’s come up at work.’
Alison groaned inwardly. ‘You want me to have them all night? Again?’
‘It’s my fault,’ Jenna said hurriedly. ‘I wouldn’t ask but…’
‘So what’s come up?’
‘I have a meeting I’d completely forgotten about.
Like I said, my fault. And then a few of us are going to grab something to eat and do some brainstorming, so I won’t be home until late.
I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. But look, I promise I’ll pick them up from school tomorrow afternoon and have them on Saturday. ’
She said it as if she was offering a favour, and not like it was something she should be doing anyway.
‘You’ve got spare stuff at your house already, haven’t you?’ she continued. ‘Pyjamas, toothbrushes, clean socks and underwear for tomorrow. That sort of thing.’
‘Well, yes, but don’t forget I’ve got work tomorrow and—’
‘You’re not on the early bakery shift again, are you?’
‘No…’ Alison sighed. She’d have time to drop them at school first, but it was bloody annoying. Even so, she could hear the desperation in Jenna’s voice and knew she had no choice.
‘Fine,’ she said heavily. ‘I’ll take them home with me today and drop them at school tomorrow.’
‘Oh, Mum, thank you! You’re a lifesaver,’ Jenna assured her. ‘Give them my love. I owe you big time.’
‘Yes, you do.’
The call ended and Alison tried to push aside her resentment. The last thing she wanted was for Ada and Hallie to feel they were a burden to her. None of this was their fault, and she did love them. It was just getting to be such a nuisance, and it was time Jenna and Joel got their acts together.
It was no good, she thought, as she headed down the road where the twins’ school was located.
She was going to have to be brave and have a talk to her daughter and son-in-law.
They’d have to reach some sort of compromise.
She didn’t mind helping in emergencies, but she’d had enough of being at their beck and call every day.
Apart from anything else, she needed to get back to Kelsea Sands more often.
Despite her mother’s insistence that she was managing just fine, Alison knew how undomesticated her dad was and that he wouldn’t have a clue about keeping the bungalow clean or cooking decent meals for the two of them while her mum’s arm was mending.
Of course, she knew she could rely on her aunt and uncle and Rosie to make sure her parents were okay but she shouldn’t have to.
She wanted to be there for them herself and it should be fairly easy to work her visits around her job if only she didn’t have to factor in babysitting duties every sodding day.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done any baking or cooking.
It had never been her strong point, and she was just as likely to have a Pot Noodle for tea as put anything in the oven.
She’d meant to learn after she left teaching, but events had overtaken her.
Her small garden was hardly inspiring, even making allowances for the fact that it was January.
And other than slumping in front of the television when she got the chance, she had nothing else going on in her life.
When had she last gone to the park? Or for a walk?
No wonder she was gaining weight and her blood pressure was going up.
And that was another thing. Yesterday she’d had two missed calls from the surgery and today she’d received a text message asking her to make an appointment as soon as possible.
Obviously, they’d seen the readings she’d submitted and had decided they needed to increase her medication after all.
She simply hadn’t had time to contact them and knew she couldn’t put it off much longer.
Hallie and Ada came rushing out of the classroom, greeting her with joy as always. She swept them both into a big hug and nodded at the teacher, who knew her quite well by now.
‘Right then,’ Alison said, ushering them across the playground towards the school gates, ‘change of plan. You’re staying the night at my house tonight. Is that all right with you?’
As expected, the girls were thrilled. It always seemed like an adventure to them when they stayed with Grandma, though Alison couldn’t imagine why.
It wasn’t like they did anything exciting.
She supposed it was just the novelty of sleeping in a bedroom that wasn’t theirs – although, God knows, it might as well have been.
‘We haven’t got our tablets with us,’ Ada realised, a look of horror on her face. ‘Can we go home and get them?’
‘No. You can do without them for one night.’ It would do them good, she thought. They were far too attached to those devices for her liking and when they were with her she limited the time they spent on them. She wasn’t confident that Jenna did the same.
‘Can we have chicken dinosaurs for tea?’ Hallie begged.
Alison shook her head. ‘I don’t have any chicken dinosaurs,’ she admitted.
Come to think of it, she wasn’t entirely sure what she did have in her freezer.
Not a lot, she suspected. She hadn’t done a shop for well over a week.
She was pretty sure she’d even run out of bread.
‘We’ll have to call at the supermarket on the way home,’ she told them.
‘I need to do some shopping, so maybe you’ll get those chicken dinosaurs after all. ’
The girls exchanged delighted looks, no doubt envisioning all the treats they predicted they’d be able to coax Grandma into buying for them.
Alison made sure they were securely fastened in their booster seats then climbed into the car. ‘Right. Maister’s here we come.’