Chapter 6
SIX
NICK
‘I can’t wait to see you too, darlin’. Have you decided where you want to go?’
‘Ermmm, can we get ice cream? From that place at the beach?’
Nick’s jaw tightened at the mention of the beach, remembering his disappointment the other day. But then he smiled, knowing he’d now get to treat her to the ice cream she’d missed out on. He gripped the phone between shoulder and ear, signalling to Travis to go ahead of him into Nanna’s house. Travis hopped out of the van and disappeared up the garden path.
‘Of course we can. But this time you’d better not eat all of my sprinkles.’
Ruby giggled down the phone. ‘I might. They’re the best bit.’
Nick smiled easily this time, the sound of her laugh making his whole body flood with endorphins, as if he’d just listened to his favourite song.
‘Right, well, extra sprinkles for Ruby then,’ he said. ‘Anything for my baby girl.’
‘I’m not a baby!’
‘You’ll always be my baby. Okay, I’d better go now, darlin’. I’ll see you at the weekend. Can you do the Daddy squeeze?’
‘I’ll do it when Mammy takes the phone. I need both arms.’
‘Well, make sure it’s a tight one. I miss you.’
‘Miss you too, Daddy.’
And she disappeared. Nick imagined Callie hovering near his daughter, snatching up the phone, spiriting Ruby away to do something else, something that wasn’t anything to do with Nick. Then he imagined Ruby wrapping her arms around herself and pretending it was him, just like he’d taught her to do when all this began, and he felt a potent mix of contentment and sadness. He was about to hang up when Callie spoke.
‘Nick?’
‘Um, yeah?’
‘I’m going to ask Laura to drop Ruby off with you.’
‘Right. Though I can always come and pick her up from yours. Save Laura the bother.’
Laura was Callie’s best friend. She’d once been their friend, but she’d understandably stuck with Callie since the split. Laura being involved with passing Ruby from hand to hand was becoming a more frequent occurrence.
‘No, it’s not convenient.’
Nick tried to suppress a sigh. ‘Listen, Callie. I… I don’t mind. If he’s there.’
Callie made a soft noise that could have been a laugh if it hadn’t sounded so weary. ‘Nick. We’ve been there before, haven’t we? Let’s not pretend…’
Nick grimaced as he remembered a handful of frosty exchanges with Justin at the front door, which had once bordered on a toe-to-toe row.
‘That was ages ago. I don’t see why?—’
‘No. Nick, no. It’s easier if Laura comes to you. She’ll be there at ten on Saturday.’
And the line went dead. Nick sat for a moment, looking at the black screen, contemplating. Then he took a deep, steady breath, put the phone in his pocket and got out of the van.
Inside the bungalow, he could hear hoots of laughter from the living room.
‘Oh, Travis, you daft bugger! Pardon my French,’ came the voice of his nanna, and as he rounded the doorway, he saw what all the fuss was about. His octogenarian nanna was standing in the middle of the room wearing a T-shirt with a wild cat on the front and the slogan: Cougar on the Prowl . It was embellished with glitter, rhinestones and all manner of bejewelment, making Nick wonder if it might weigh more than the woman herself.
‘Travis, man, you can’t be giving her that,’ he said, shaking his head and suppressing a smile.
Nanna laughed and did a little twirl for them. It wasn’t the first time Travis had brought her a little gift from his online emporium – she had all kinds of bling, from her designer walking stick to a Mulberry clutch that she never dared take out of its wrapping.
Travis stood back with his balled fist under his chin, like a fashion designer critiquing his latest work on a model. ‘I think it needs a scarf,’ he said, reaching into the bag he’d brought with him and producing a filmy leopard-print scarf that he draped artfully around her neck. He gave his creation a chef’s kiss.
‘Ooh, I’ll have to put a bit of lippy on for this afternoon, if I’m wearing this get-up,’ said Nanna, plucking at the scarf and looking in the mirror above the fireplace.
‘You’re going to wear this at the Kitchen?’ said Nick, raising an eyebrow.
‘Why not?’ said Nanna. ‘It’s snazzy.’
‘Yeah, Nick. It’s snazzy,’ agreed Travis with a sly nod.
Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Nanna, do you even know what a cougar is?’
She looked down at the top. ‘Well, it’s a big cat. Like a leopard. Lovely-looking animal.’
Travis looked at Nick with wide, innocent eyes. ‘Yes, Nick. I don’t know what you’re suggesting about this majestic creature .’
Nick gave him a withering look and was about to explain to his nanna that she was a walking advert for gentleman callers when she gave them both a knowing wink, a mischievous smile playing across her lips.
‘I’m not as green as I’m cabbage-looking, you two. Now, Nicky, before I forget – I promised I’d bring Wolf Hall for Deirdre to borrow. Would you fetch it from the bookcase in the spare room for me, pet, while I get my shoes on?’
Nick decided he could address the sartorial issue again in the van and left Nanna with Travis, coaxing her feet into her slip-on suede boots in the hallway, ready for her lift into the Community Kitchen.
He went into the spare bedroom and looked at the heaving bookcases. He scanned through the one nearer the door, but he couldn’t see the title he needed. The second bookcase was stacked to the rafters, books even on top of the bookcase itself. He took one look at it and was glad he’d fitted those furniture straps to the back a few years ago – Nanna’s favourite thing to hoard was books, and these bookcases would weigh a ton.
He looked down the rows, spotted the hefty tome in a lower shelf and bent to get it. It was jammed tight between two other books, unsurprisingly, so he ragged a little at the cover to pull it free.
As the book came loose and the neighbouring volumes flopped together, there was an ominous twang from behind the bookcase. He barely had time to stand up and put his arms out before the bookcase creaked and fell forward, books cascading onto his head before the bookcase itself landed on him with a crash.
There was a flurry of noise from the doorway as Travis ran in.
‘Oh my God! Are you dead?’
Nick felt the weight of the bookcase lift off him – a not inconsiderable weight, but after the books had tumbled out, not enough to cause internal organ damage at least. He sat up, shaking his head in shock and giving silent thanks that his nanna had chosen to buy her bookcases from IKEA and not from an antique shop specialising in hardwood furniture.
‘Seriously, are you alright?’ said Travis, his face pale, as he dusted books off him. By this time, Nanna had appeared in the doorway.
‘I’m fine,’ Nick said, standing up and wriggling his arms and legs to make sure he was, actually, fine. Nothing felt broken or too sore. ‘Bloody strap broke, with all the books stacked on it.’
Travis fingered a hole in the plaster – the strap hadn’t broken but had come entirely out of the wall. Nick felt a pang of guilt at his own workmanship. He did most of the odd jobs around the bungalow and he’d screwed that in himself. But then again, he’d never expected the bookcase to be stacked like it was going for a Guinness World Record.
‘Well,’ he sighed, looking at the mess. ‘We’d better get this cleared up. Nanna, go and sit down – we’ll sort it out.’
‘I will,’ she said. ‘And mind you put the books back where they were. I’ve got a system.’ She disappeared.
‘ System ?’ said Nick, helping Travis fully upright the bookcase and put it back against the wall. ‘It was stacked like feckin’ Jenga.’
‘Pardon your French. Well, let’s see if we can get it tidied for now.’
They gathered up the books, putting them back into the shelves wherever they would fit, finding they had a massive excess at the end, which they stacked neatly by the wall.
‘She’ll not be happy about that,’ said Travis.
‘Well, she’s just nearly killed her own grandson, so she’ll have to lump it.’
Back in the living room, Nanna was standing at the mirror, carefully blotting her freshly applied lipstick with a tissue, which she then folded and slipped into her handbag.
‘It’s sorted,’ said Nick. ‘But what possessed you to cram that many books into the case? It was an accident waiting to happen. God forbid it had landed on you, Nanna. You’d have been squashed flat!’
‘It has nothing to do with me. I had a lassie over this week, from the paper. She was interviewing me for an article. She helped put the books away.’
‘Well, “help” isn’t the word I’d be using,’ said Nick, rubbing his ribs, which were now starting to feel a little sore. ‘They were halfway to the ceiling on the top of the bookcase. And what do you mean interview ?’
‘She was a journalist . She’s after doing a story about the Community Kitchen. She’s coming along this afternoon actually. You’ll meet her.’
‘I’ll be glad to,’ said Nick, more than a little grumpily. ‘I’d like to give her a lesson in safe weight distribution.’
‘You’ll do no such thing.’
Nick sighed. ‘Fine. I’ll come back later to fix the wall, but in the meantime, is there anything else she’s made into a safety hazard before we go?’
‘Not that I know of.’
‘Good,’ said Nick. ‘Come on – let’s get to the Kitchen for your shift.’
Nanna stood up and rearranged her scarf again, heading for the front door. ‘Yes, let’s get ourselves away. This cougar wants releasing into the wild.’
As she ambled down the path, she gave a little shimmy, as best she could while leaning on her cane, and Nick and Travis exchanged a look.
‘What have I done?’ whispered Travis.
They entered the Community Kitchen to the usual fanfare of Edie’s arrival. Her visits were almost ceremonial these days, since she couldn’t do as much as she used to due to her hip, and she was treated like a guest of honour each time she came. She always batted away the attention, but Nick noticed a little glow of happiness about her from just being in the building.
They’d managed to find a space in the small car park and had walked the short distance to the red-brick building, criss-crossed with dark beams, sporting a large brass sign bearing the Community Kitchen’s name. Once inside, Edie was greeted with hugs and handshakes from staff and diners alike, and once she’d received everyone, she piped up, ‘Right! Where’s me pinny?’
Nick breathed a sigh of relief as she strapped the apron over her lewd T-shirt, and watched her slide comfortably into her role behind the serving counter. It was mid-afternoon, but the Kitchen served all day. The day of a homeless person didn’t always run to conventional mealtimes, so Edie had insisted since the start that hot food would be available all day. She smiled up at a tall man wearing a thin tracksuit jacket and a flat cap, greeted him by name – one of many regulars to the Kitchen – and dished him up some pasta.
There was a tap on Nick’s shoulder, and he turned around to see Cath, one of Nanna’s longest-serving volunteers. She was about sixty, with dark brown skin and short-clipped black hair, and missing teeth at the sides of her broad smile.
‘Now then, young man,’ she said, pulling him in for a cuddle. ‘I haven’t seen you in here for a while.’
‘Hiya, Cath,’ he said, giving her a squeeze. ‘I know, I know. I’ve been snowed under.’
‘Jobs coming out of your ears? Well, that’s never a bad thing.’
‘Yeah, something like that.’ He smiled and scratched his head. ‘How’s the family?’
‘Well, last week I became a great-grandma. I don’t look old enough, do I?’ she said with a wink.
‘You must have been a teenage bride, Cath,’ he said, and she batted his arm.
‘And your Ruby, how old will she be now?’
‘About to turn six.’
‘Ah, that’s a lovely age. Make the most of it, Nick – you’ll never get these years back.’ She patted him on the arm. ‘Anyway, I need to go and help your nanna. Lovely to see you, pet.’
She walked off, and Nick held his smile until she’d gone a few paces. It collapsed like a punctured soufflé as he allowed himself to think about the time he wasn’t ever going to get back with Ruby. The days she spent with a family that now didn’t include him. But then he straightened himself up and decided to do what he usually did when he felt these thoughts creep in. He looked for a job to do.
Nanna, in between cheerfully loading plates with food from the huge serving dishes under the heat lamp, tasked him with seeing to the handle on the walk-in freezer, which was getting a bit stiff. After retrieving some tools from the van, he set to work taking the handle apart and seeing what he could do – a glazier he might be, but he was pretty handy with most things. He’d only just oiled the components and put it all back together when he heard a commotion coming from out front.
He went through to see Travis helping a lad, who was maybe in his mid-twenties, into a seat in the dining area. He had light brown skin and close-cropped black hair, and was bleeding from both nostrils. He had the beginnings of a purple swelling under his eye. As he wilted into the seat, the entire staff swarmed towards him, including Nanna, leaning on her stick.
Cath sucked in an audible breath and outpaced everyone. ‘Liam, what happened?’ She held his cheeks and looked at his bloodied face.
‘I’m fine, Grandma. It’s nothing.’
‘I found him outside,’ said Travis, a little out of breath. ‘There were some wrong’uns chasing him. I scared them off.’
Liam looked up at him briefly. ‘Cheers, mate,’ he said quietly then winced in pain.
‘Never mind I’m fine ,’ clucked Cath, giving Edie a look that spoke from one grandma to another. ‘What have you been getting into now?’ she asked. Her tone was mostly sympathetic but Nick noted weariness too.
Liam rolled his eyes, but then seeing Cath’s assertive stare, his cheeks coloured. ‘I was just minding my own business.’
Cath’s nostrils flared, and Edie touched her arm.
‘Well, I think you’ll live,’ Edie said, ‘but we best get you checked over at the hospital. Nicky, could you take him?’
‘Yeah, no bother.’
Liam looked up at him with a cowed expression and hunched shoulders. ‘Cheers,’ he said again, barely audible.
The other staff started to disperse now that the situation appeared to be under control, and the gawking diners returned to their meals. Nick went over to help him up.
‘How’s about we get you cleaned up first, eh?’ said Nanna. ‘Pop him through the back and we’ll see to this bleeding.’
‘Okay,’ said Travis, stepping forward eagerly. He always revelled in a crisis. ‘We’ll sort it, Nanna; you get back to what you were doing.’
Edie nodded and went back behind the counter, to murmurs of ‘What lovely lads she’s got’.
Cath rubbed Liam’s head and patted his cheek gently. ‘I’d best phone your mother.’
Liam groaned. ‘Grandma, I’m twenty-four. I don’t need to be treated like a bairn.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ she replied, reaching for her mobile phone.
Nick and Travis helped him through to the staff bathroom out back, where he sat on the toilet lid. Travis went to get the first aid kit, while Nick dampened some paper towels and passed them to the patient.
‘If your mam’s anything like your grandma, you might have a bit of explaining to do.’
Liam’s mouth set in a grim line and he nodded.
‘Do you make a habit of this then?’ Nick asked.
‘Trouble seems to find me,’ Liam said, shrugging and pressing the paper towel to his eye.
Nick seemed to remember overhearing snatches of conversation between Cath and other kitchen staff, when she’d grumbled about one of her grandsons being a bit of a handful. He’d heard later that he was a little more than a ‘handful’ and had been occasionally in trouble with the law for stealing.
‘You know, there’s a bit of this drama that I’d love to know a bit more about,’ Nick said.
Liam looked at him and waited.
‘I’d like to know how the hell my little brother managed to frighten off a gang of rat boys?’
Liam’s face broke into a grin, which immediately made him wince in pain. ‘He ran at them, screaming.’ He shook his head. ‘They didn’t know what to do so they just scattered.’
Travis, by now, had come back in holding the first aid box and rolled his eyes. ‘It’s actually a recognised technique for self-defence,’ he said archly. ‘Making so much noise that it draws attention.’
Nick raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, that was a bit of a gamble. What would you have done if they hadn’t run away?’
‘Kick to the nuts?’
‘Fair enough. Right, let’s have a look in here.’ Nick rifled through the first aid kit and found some cotton pads. ‘Here, hold these under your nose,’ he said, giving them to Liam.
Travis plucked a tube of antiseptic cream from the box, unscrewed the lid and started dabbing it on the grazes on Liam’s forehead.
‘Ah, man, I’m alright,’ snapped Liam, batting Travis’s hand away, his face breaking into a scowl. The tube of antiseptic cream went flying. ‘Listen, I’ve got stuff to do. Just let me out the back door and tell me grandma I’ve got a taxi or something.’
Nick shook his head. ‘Sorry, mate, but I’m not incurring the wrath of both Cath and my nanna. Or I’ll end up looking worse than you.’
Travis stood back with his arms folded, looking offended that his attempts at nursing had been rebuffed, but he joined Nick in taking Liam by the arms and encouraging him to stand up.
‘Ha’way,’ said Nick gently. ‘Or none of us will hear the end of it.’
Liam sighed and nodded, allowing himself to be led from the bathroom. On the way out, Nick felt the squish of the antiseptic tube under his foot as he accidentally stepped on it, and he kicked it out of the way.
They shepherded Liam out of the back exit, to save him being put on show again – much to the relief of Cath, who, after giving Liam a gentle hug had pretty much barred the door back into the dining room – then loaded him into the van. As Nick reversed, he noticed a black Golf parked next to him that hadn’t been there before. It looked vaguely familiar, he thought fleetingly, but then his attention was drawn to his reluctant passenger, the blood oozing through the gauze pads, and the traffic between them and the Royal Victoria Infirmary.