Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
JESS
As the weekend approached, Jess thought how much she was looking forward to it. Her mum was coming to stay, Mark was hosting a BBQ and Declan had just asked her out. She was grateful that all of these things were pushing thoughts of the sale of Wisteria House to the back of her mind.
As they walked along, Jess with a spring in her step, a gust of wind blew the painting Maisie was carrying for her teacher into the road.
She stepped off the pavement to retrieve it, when Jess grabbed her by the wrist. She pulled her daughter to safety just as a speeding car whizzed past, missing her by inches.
For a second Jess wondered whether it might not have happened, had Maisie been walking to school with two parents, one on either side.
‘Oh my goodness, Maisie. What have I told you about going into the road?’ she said, her heart hammering wildly as Maisie burst into tears.
‘Sorry, Mummy,’ sobbed Maisie.
Jess hugged her daughter then. She closed her eyes and pushed away any thoughts of what might have happened.
‘You must never go into the road suddenly, even to chase after something. You must always stop at the kerb, look both ways and listen, remember?’
‘Okay, Mummy,’ sniffed Maisie, nodding her head.
Jess remembered learning all about road safety when she was at school and wondered if schools still taught that sort of thing.
She doubted it, with everything else they were under pressure to fit into the curriculum.
She would mention it to Maisie’s teacher, though.
Living in a city, Jess was certain it would be something the other parents would welcome.
When Maisie’s teacher had ushered the children into the classroom, Maisie none the worse and chatting to her friend, Jess quickly explained what had happened on the road.
‘So you see, I was wondering whether you ought to do a lesson about road safety, especially with all the cars on the road in a city. Maybe even an assembly for the whole school?’
‘You’re probably right,’ agreed Miss Jenson.
‘And, yes, of course, I will talk about it at carpet time at the end of the day. I’ve seen a few near misses in supermarket car parks myself, with children and moving vehicles.
’ She shook her head. ‘It’s definitely something we should talk about.
Perhaps an assembly for the whole school is a good idea.
Right, I’d better go.’ Miss Jenson smiled as the children’s chatter became louder with their teacher distracted.
‘Of course, yes, and thank you.’
Jess felt better when she made her journey to work and was thankful that Maisie had such a great teacher. Maybe the school that was closer to her had better facilities, but she reminded herself that a good teacher was worth its weight in gold.
On the bus journey Jess allowed herself to think about Declan, and going out on a date with him.
She hadn’t felt an attraction towards anyone for a while, she realised as the bus stopped and started, the hiss of the doors opening and closing as it made its way to the city centre.
Men had been firmly on the back-burner, and she would never dream of introducing Maisie to a boyfriend unless she thought they had a future together.
She recalled how her heart had beat that little bit faster when she had stood close to Declan, applying the concealer to his face after the attempted mugging.
She liked how he kept the truth from Maisie, explaining away the cut above his eye as being from a fall.
She liked how he baked his mother a cake, after realising the bakery had closed.
It occurred to her that she liked rather a lot about Declan and found herself really looking forward to spending time with him again.
She also wondered what would happen if they no longer lived in the same building. Maybe they would all head off in different directions and lose touch with each other? The thought of it gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach.
After alighting the bus, she found herself staring into the window of an estate agent’s. Maybe in her lunch hour she would pop inside and see if there was anything available to rent.