Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
JESS
‘Mum!’ Jess crushed her mum in an embrace as she dropped her floral overnight bag in the hall.
‘Hello, love.’ Her mum’s partner, Pete, said a quick hello, before telling her mum he would see her on Sunday.
‘Nanny!’ Maisie came running out from the bathroom then, and wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s waist, resting her head on her hip.
‘How’s my gorgeous girl.’ Jess’s mum picked Maisie up and swirled her around, before kissing her on the cheek.
‘It’s so good to see you both. It’s just not the same on FaceTime,’ said Jess’s mum and Jess agreed.
Carol, an attractive redhead who looked younger than her sixty-two years, pulled a packet of fudge and a small dolly for Maisie from her bag, much to the little girl’s delight.
‘Is it too early?’ she asked Jess hopefully, producing a bottle of white wine. It was just after two o’clock in the afternoon.
‘Not really, but I think I’ll wait for the BBQ later. I’ll be asleep by six otherwise. You go ahead, though,’ said Jess.
‘You probably have a point. Shall we have one before we leave instead, whilst we get ready?’ suggested Carol.
Jess thought of the days preparing for a night out with her friends as a teenager then, music blaring and a glass of wine in her hand. She had lost touch with her best friend from school, who had moved to Scotland a year before Jess became pregnant.
They had been back and forth visiting each other for a while, but their friendship came to a natural end as the years rolled by.
It occurred to Jess that even though she had made friends at work and at the school gates, she didn’t really have what you might call a best friend. Perhaps she ought to get herself a hobby or join a club of some sort, but it was difficult being a single parent.
‘I’ll pop the kettle on,’ Jess said, taking the bottle of white wine and placing it in the fridge to chill.
She left her mum in the lounge with Maisie, who her mum squeezed for the umpteenth time, before popping a square of fudge into her mouth that Maisie had given to her. She was a lovely child. Jess had done such a good job with her and she could not imagine life without her.
Not for the first time, Carol felt bad about not being involved in her daughter’s life more, having moved out of the area.
She missed collecting her granddaughter from school and collecting shells from the beach on fine days.
Thank goodness for her tablet and all the FaceTime calls after school, although sometimes they left her feeling a little down afterwards.
On one such occasion, she took the ninety-minute drive back to Liverpool, to tuck her granddaughter into bed and read her a bedtime story and ended up staying the night.
She admonished herself all the way home the following morning and told herself to get a life.
Pete had been a little surprised too, as he had planned to cook a steak for them and open a bottle of wine the previous evening.
After Jess’s dad had left, Carol never imagined herself being with anyone else. She remembered Jess being concerned that her mum had sold up and moved to the Lake District a bit too quickly with someone she met at a school reunion, although she was happy for her.
Maybe she had been right all along. Jess’s dad had handed over the house to Carol, no doubt riddled with guilt when he upped sticks and moved in with a work colleague ten years his junior.
‘There you go.’ Jess placed a mug of tea down onto a coffee table in front of her mum. ‘Do you want a biscuit?’
‘No, thanks, love. I’ll wait for later. Do we need to take anything?’ Carol asked.
‘Mark said not to, but I’ll walk down to the Co-op and buy some beers in a bit. Maybe a cheesecake or something for dessert,’ she said.
‘I’ll go, after I’ve had my cup of tea,’ said Carol. ‘It will give me a chance to say hi to everyone. Do you want to come with me, Maisie?’
Maisie nodded as she sucked on the piece of fudge.
Although she hadn’t really needed the money – Carol had always been a saver and was mortgage free – she had worked part-time at the Co-op to keep her occupied. Along with her yoga classes at the church hall and with collecting Maisie from school a couple of days a week, her days were full.
On Sundays, Jess, Maisie and Carol would walk down to the beach for a picnic in the fine weather or have a Sunday roast at Carol’s house.
Jess thought that her mum’s life had been ticking over nicely, before her head had been turned by the handsome Pete Riley at that damn school reunion.
He made it clear to her mum he would not return to Liverpool, so after being smitten by his charm she relocated to the Lake District.
It seemed you were never too old to make mistakes.
Jess lifted the bag of fudge from Maisie, as she was about to take another piece.
‘That’s enough for now. Save one or two for later,’ she told Maisie, who protested mildly.
Jess had taken the day off work today, as the teachers at Maisie’s school were taking industrial action.
Jess was worried that the country was grinding to a halt.
It had been junior doctors the week before, and the train drivers before that.
She would be in a right fix if the bus drivers went on strike.
When Maisie skipped off to her room to play with her new dolly, Jess sat down opposite her mum.
‘So how are you, then, Mum?’ she asked as she sipped her tea.
‘I’m fine.’ Carol smiled. ‘I’ve already told you.’
‘I mean really.’ She looked her mum in the eye, who had been averting her gaze.
‘I’m okay.’ Carol paused for a moment. ‘Most of the time anyway, but the truth is I’m finding things a bit difficult.’ She took a compact from her bag and reapplied some peach lipstick that complemented her chestnut-coloured hair.
‘Difficult? In what way?’ Jess frowned.
‘Oh, I don’t know. It’s just not the same in Pete’s house.
It’s so quiet.’ Carol closed her compact and managed a smile.
‘You can hear the sheep in the morning, instead of the rumbling of trains. I suppose it will just take a bit of getting used to, for a city girl like me, that’s all.
’ She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
‘Is that the only thing that is bothering you?’ Jess asked, hoping her mum would open up to her.
‘I’m not sure, is the honest answer,’ Carol replied, finally looking into her daughter’s eyes.
‘Everything is so different living with another man. Me and your dad were together for so long, I’m finding it hard to live with someone else.
’ She sighed. ‘You just sort of rub along together in a long marriage. Although maybe that was the problem. We got too comfortable, which is why he sodded off with Lisa from accounts.’
‘Oh, Mum.’ Jess’s heart broke for her mother.
‘Oh, don’t worry, I’m well and truly over things, but it’s made me realise how much I miss everything around here, especially you and Maisie.
’ Carol sighed. ‘I was very flattered by Pete, and he was good for my self-esteem, that’s for sure, but moving in with him?
Perhaps it was a bad idea.’ She shook her head.
Jess swallowed down a lump of regret, her heart breaking for her mum, who after over thirty years together never dreamt her husband would leave her for another woman. Jess was still having trouble believing it too.
She still carried the guilt of seeing her dad one day in a café with another woman, but not saying anything to her mum.
He told her mum that he barely left the office, such was his workload, yet there he was smiling and drinking coffee with the woman in the café tucked down a side street.
She had walked over to say hi, and his reaction was so cool as he introduced the staff member that Jess thought nothing of it. It had been the woman he ended up with.
‘Oh, Mum. Do you really think you have made a mistake?’ asked Jess, dreading the answer.
It had only been a few months since the school reunion, and, if Jess was honest, she did think things had moved a little quickly, but she was happy her mum had found someone else.
‘He’s still so good-looking,’ Carol had told Jess dreamily after she had run into Pete Riley in their old school hall. ‘A real silver fox if ever there was one.’ She had sighed, a besotted look on her face.
Jess recalled the red roses that would arrive at her mum’s door, and reservations for dinner at romantic restaurants. Her mum had sent her a selfie one evening from a skyscraper restaurant that gave a panoramic view of the city.
Now it would seem that Pete Riley was not all that he appeared to be. No doubt her mum would tell her everything when the time was right.
‘Yes, Jess,’ she said to her daughter eventually. ‘I think I have been far too hasty. But we can talk about that another time,’ she finished, as Maisie reappeared in the lounge.
‘We will definitely talk later. Are you sure you are okay?’ asked Jess once more.
‘I’m fine, love, really. Being here is exactly what I need,’ Carol reassured her.
‘Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, but Maisie is having a friend for a sleepover this evening. I thought they might keep each other entertained at the BBQ,’ said Jess.
‘Of course I don’t mind. In fact, that is probably a good idea as she might get bored otherwise,’ agreed Carol.
‘I can’t wait for you to meet Alice. She’s quite remarkable, especially for her age,’ said Jess, keen to take her mum’s mind off things, and really hoping she would enjoy herself.
‘She sounds it. I’m looking forward to meeting her too. And the others,’ Carol replied with a genuine smile.
‘Can we go to the shop now, Nanny?’ asked Maisie, clutching her little Minnie Mouse handbag.
‘Of course we can,’ said Carol, standing up. ‘We’ll talk later, I promise,’ she said to her daughter, before kissing her on the cheek.
Jess hated the thought of her mum regretting her move with Pete.
She still loved her dad but was alarmed by how selfishly he had behaved.
One thing was for sure, though, her mum deserved to be happy.
And if there was anything Jess could do to help her she would do it in a heartbeat.
Even if it meant putting her own hopes for dating on hold for a while.