Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
JESS
‘I really enjoyed that.’
Carol flopped down onto the sofa of her daughter’s flat half an hour later, the two little girls flat out in bed after all their dancing.
‘I’m so glad, Mum. They are a nice bunch of people, aren’t they?’
‘Oh, they really are,’ said Carol as she accepted a cup of tea from Jess. ‘And to think it was Alice who brought you all together. What a woman she is. I still can’t believe her age.’ She shook her head. ‘And I have to say, you look happier.’
‘She’s remarkable, isn’t she?’ Jess sat next to her mum on the large sofa, both having changed into their cosy pyjamas. Jess had made up the sofa bed for her mum in her spacious bedroom.
‘But I would rather talk about you.’ Jess gave her mum her full attention.
‘What do you want to know?’ asked Carol as she sipped her tea.
‘I want to know what you are going to do. You admitted you think you have been hasty, selling up and moving in with Pete. You are obviously not happy,’ she ventured.
Carol took a deep breath as she fought back tears.
‘No, I’m not happy, but I don’t want you worrying about me.
’ She sighed. ‘I well and truly had my head turned by Pete Riley, the heart-throb of my high school. Maybe I was a little lonely,’ she confessed, as even though her days were full between her part-time job and looking after Maisie, the silence that fell over the house in the evening was almost unbearable. ‘And definitely flattered.’
‘I can understand that,’ Jess empathised. ‘I mean about the loneliness in the evening.’
‘I should have spotted the signs with your dad.’ Carol sighed. ‘We hadn’t exactly been intimate for months on end— Sorry, I’m sure you don’t need to hear that,’ she said, pulling a face.
‘It’s fine, Mum; I’m a big girl now.’ Jess smiled.
‘And when I think about it, he always had his bloody phone in his hand. Even when he went to the bathroom.’ She shook her head.
‘And he was always nipping out somewhere too, now I think about it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though. But really, I am fine now, so as I said, don’t you worry about me.
’ She gripped her daughter’s hand and squeezed it.
‘Oh, Mum, why shouldn’t I worry about you? You have always looked out for me.’
‘Well, what can I do?’ Carol sighed. ‘I have well and truly burnt my bridges, haven’t I?
As you know, I settled a few debts and bought a car out of the money from the house sale.
What I have left would never buy me another house, and I would never get a mortgage at my age.
Maybe I could look at a one-bedroomed flat, though,’ Carol mused as it was all she needed.
She would never live with another man again as long as she lived.
Jess thought of how her mum had always been so generous, paying for lunch if they went out, or bringing little treats for Maisie.
Not to mention helping with the initial rent on the flat.
She reminded her mum of this. ‘So now it’s my turn to help you.
You can stay here, if you really want to come back to Liverpool, until you find a small place of your own. ’
‘But you don’t have the room,’ protested Carol.
‘We will manage. You’re my mum,’ insisted Jess. ‘If you can put up with the sofa bed, I actually quite like sharing a room,’ she reassured her. ‘Although I have to tell you, the building is up for sale.’
‘It is? Then I ought to look for a rental quickly in case it is sold,’ she told her daughter. ‘You could stay with me, if need be. I have enough for a deposit on a rented place.’
‘Thanks, Mum, but for now you can stay here. Let’s just take one day at a time.’
‘Okay,’ said Carol. ‘And thank you.’
Jess knew her mum wouldn’t wait now she’d made a decision. She would be looking for her own place as soon as possible; that way she wouldn’t worry too much about Jess and Maisie. Whatever the future held, though, she knew they would weather any storm together.