Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
JESS
Jess had a lovely day in town, meeting up with her friend, a mum she had met on the school playground two years ago and befriended.
Buoyed by the dinner invitation, she realised that she really ought to arrange things with her friends a little more and concentrate on her social life too, rather than just dropping her daughter off at yet another party.
Her friend’s daughter was the same age as Maisie, and sometimes they would go to each other’s house after school for tea.
Today, they were sitting on benches in a small park close to the art gallery, eating a picnic lunch after a play in the kids’ craft room in the gallery, and a trip to the museum.
‘That’s scary.’ Maisie had frowned, as she stared into a glass case at a mummy, and Jess had to agree.
The princess swathed in faded brown bandages had an almost tortured look on her face.
They visited the planetarium upstairs after that and spent a while looking through telescopes at the solar system, before visiting the aquarium downstairs.
You could spend the whole day at the museum, and it was free, if you were unable to make a small donation.
A rush of memories came flooding back every time she brought Maisie here, as her own mum had done the same with her when she was a child.
After the museum visit, Jess’s friend led her to a discount shop down a side street that Jess did not know existed.
‘You can pretty much get anything for kids here, and at great prices,’ said Jess’s friend as she pushed open the door of the shop, that was Tardis-like, filled with row after row of discounted toys.
‘Oh my goodness.’ Jess stood open-mouthed as she glanced around. ‘How come I don’t know about this place?’
‘I stumbled on it too. I have never really seen it advertised, but maybe they don’t need to. It’s been a godsend with all the parties Lily gets invited to. She has a better social life than me,’ laughed her friend.
Her friend’s comment had really resonated with Jess as Maisie had already been to half a dozen parties this year.
She was surprised at just how much she had enjoyed the dinner party the other evening, despite her initial reservations.
Perhaps it was time to get out there a little more and experience new things.
As long as it fitted in with her daughter, of course.
After selecting a toy pony set, complete with brushes and mirrors for grooming, she said goodbye to her friend and headed towards Central station for the train home.
On the journey home, Jess found herself wondering if Declan was okay.
That gash above his eye looked pretty nasty, and must have shaken him up a bit, but he never let on.
Maybe she would knock and see if he was alright.
Then again, what was she thinking? It was Saturday; he would probably be getting ready for a night out with his friends.
Not everyone spent their Saturday evenings with popcorn watching Minions on Netflix.
As they walked towards the apartment, Jess and Maisie bumped into a red-faced Mark coming out of a local shop, carrying a case of Diet Coke.
‘Hi, Mark. Are you okay?’ asked Jess cheerfully, before Maisie launched into details of their day out, and mimicking the haunted look on the face of the princess.
‘Yes. Just a bit exhausted.’ He grinned. ‘I’ve spent the day tidying the garden. I’m ashamed to say it had become a bit of a jungle.’
‘Well, you have certainly had the weather for it. You have caught a bit of a tan,’ Jess commented, although Mark thought the redness in his face was more down to his lack of fitness these days.
Then again, he had spent hours pulling up weeds, digging and strimming borders before mowing the lawn.
They fell into step as they approached the flats.
‘Actually, would you like to come and see what I’ve done?’ he asked.
Jess knew that his ground-floor flat garden was a bit on the wild side. She could see it from Maisie’s bedroom window.
‘Sure.’ She followed him into his flat, through his tidy lounge and into the outside space.
‘Oh wow, you have been busy,’ she said, viewing the freshly mown lawn. The once redundant pots were filled with pretty flowers and shrubs and a water feature with stone fairies tipping water from buckets trickled peacefully.
Jess would love a garden like this for Maisie to run around in.
‘You’ve seen the garden before?’ asked Mark.
‘I can see it from Maisie’s bedroom window.’ She smiled.
‘Oh right, yes, of course. Sorry about that, I bet it’s been a bit of an eyesore.’ He pulled a face.
‘Don’t be silly.’ She smiled again. ‘Maybe you weren’t up to doing anything about it.’ She touched his arm gently. ‘There’s a time for everything.’
‘You did say it was a bit of a jungle,’ said Maisie and Jess felt her cheeks colour.
‘Out of the mouth of babes.’ Mark shrugged.
‘Sorry.’ Jess grimaced.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ He smiled as Maisie ran over to the water feature.
‘I know I have left it far too long before tackling it,’ he admitted.
‘Di was the gardener and somehow, I am ashamed to say, I let things slide. I kept imagining us both sitting out here, which is a poor excuse, but the thought of us enjoying the garden together, knowing that it could never happen, well, it got to me, you know?’ He took a deep breath.
‘Anyway, I nipped to the garden centre for the plants after I had given myself a good talking-to and decided to get stuck in.’
‘Well, you have done a really good job,’ said Jess. ‘Especially as you don’t consider yourself to be a gardener. Really, it looks lovely,’ she told him sincerely.
She wondered what it had been like when Alice had lived here, picturing stone fountains and maybe raised beds for growing vegetables. Perhaps they had a gardener. She would love to know more about Alice’s life at Wisteria House.
‘Thanks.’ Mark smiled. ‘And actually, now that it looks presentable, maybe I will have a BBQ to repay Alice for dinner the other evening. I know Di would want me to enjoy the garden as well as the work.’
‘That sounds lovely,’ said Jess.
‘Great. I will see when everyone in the block is free.’
Even though the thought of hosting a party scared him a little, he found himself looking forward to being in the company of his neighbours again.
‘Do you have any family nearby?’ Jess found herself asking. She had never noticed anyone visiting, but then she was usually too busy dashing off somewhere.
‘No.’ Mark shook his head. ‘I was thinking about getting some of that bamboo fencing, or some fake foliage with flowers,’ he said, quickly changing the subject. ‘Some of it can look quite natural.’
‘Clematis is a good climber if you want real plants. So is honeysuckle,’ Jess advised.
Her mum’s garden had the loveliest scent of honeysuckle in the summer evenings, when they would sit out and have a coffee or a glass of wine in the small but pretty garden. She missed her mum, and could hardly wait for the following weekend when she was coming to stay from Friday to Sunday.
Inside her apartment that evening, Jess made beans on toast for her and Maisie, as they had eaten a huge picnic earlier.
It had been such a lovely day. Maisie was tucked up and fast asleep just before eight o’clock and Jess headed to bed a couple of hours later.
She switched the TV on and idly flicked channels.
She never did knock and see how Declan was doing. Maybe she would do that in the morning.