Chapter 5
I woke early the next morning, and felt grateful that I had an excuse not to begin the day with another walk around the gardens at Prosperous Place.
Knowing that I needed to remain at home while Rafe was out (more deliveries were due) and until we were going to visit Grandad George together later, meant that my being bound to the house was justified and had nothing to do with my deep-seated desire to not run into the angry man on the other side of the garden gate again.
Given the effort I’d been going to, to put all thoughts of him out of my mind, he was still resolutely present, but that was probably because of the manner of our meeting. I wasn’t someone who thrived on conflict and the hostile encounter had unsettled me far more than his mesmerising blue eyes…
‘Skylar!’ Rafe called from the hall a while after he’d returned from another foray into the area and after I’d taken in a couple of parcels. ‘Are you coming?’
Curled up in my sitting room with Socks on my lap, I hadn’t realised just how late it was but a quick look at the clock told me that I’d wasted far too long staring into space thinking about… the garden.
‘On my way,’ I called back.
‘Oh, you’re in there,’ Rafe said, when I emerged with the cat in my arms. ‘I thought you were upstairs. Stick him in here with Plato and we’ll get going.’
‘You might want to run a brush through your hair and remove the pencil from behind your ear before we head out,’ I grinned. ‘Have you already been out looking like that?’
Rafe groaned as he stared at his reflection in the hall mirror, then removed the pencil and ran his hands through his dark hair, which fell obediently into place.
I wished mine did that, but I’d got Mum’s hair, which needed coercing into behaving, which was why she always wore hers up. My eyes were green like hers, too.
‘Would you look at the state of me,’ Rafe tutted. ‘And yes, I did go out like this. Anyone would think I didn’t care what I looked like.’
He wasn’t a vain man, but he did like to look his best and had a penchant for scarves, whatever the season, and a kind of effortless, slightly bohemian elegance that couldn’t be contrived.
You either had it or you didn’t and my father had it in spades.
He also had a way of making men and women fall in love with him with just a look, but unlike Mum, he didn’t leave a trail of broken hearts behind him.
He had the knack of making people feel cherished, me included, and I appreciated that for both myself, and everyone else who crossed his path.
‘Throw a scarf on and you’ll be fine,’ I teased, then ducked as he went to ruffle my hair.
‘Do you know where we’re headed?’ he asked, as we locked the house and walked to my car, which was still parked on the drive rather than in the garage.
‘Not a clue,’ I told him. ‘But my satnav should provide the answer. I hope it isn’t too far. I’m not used to driving on busy city roads yet.’
‘I suppose the traffic here is different to what you’ve been used to, isn’t it?’ he mused.
‘Everything is different here,’ I said with emphasis as I remembered what Freya had said about letting my feelings be known rather than bottling them up.
‘Yes,’ Rafe nodded. ‘I’m sure it is.’
‘Come on then,’ I said, because thoughts of Freya automati-cally led to memories of Mr Gruff. ‘We’d better getting going, otherwise we’ll be late.’
Our arrival at the Cavell Care Home was a little later than planned, and a quick look at a map on my phone before we went in suggested that it would have been easier to walk the distance than try to negotiate a section of the ring road that took us close to the city football ground where something was happening that afternoon.
My eyes had been firmly on the road, so I had no idea if it was a match, but I hoped I could find a different way back to the square.
‘Are you all right?’ Rafe asked. ‘I thought you handled that rather well.’
‘I could do with a stiff drink,’ I confessed, ‘but as I’ve got to get us home again, I’ll have to wait until tonight to recover my wits. Why didn’t you ever learn to drive, Rafe?’
‘I never felt the need, I suppose,’ he shrugged and readjusted his scarf. ‘I’ll treat you to a dram of my Laphroaig once we’re back. That’ll set you straight.’
‘I’ll hold you to that.’
I hadn’t seen Grandad George for a long time and, knowing that his health hadn’t been what it was when he moved into the care home, I was bracing myself for some dramatic changes in his physical appearance, but I needn’t have worried.
Once we’d signed in at reception, with Rafe being welcomed like the celebrity he was to some, and I had been introduced and also made to feel welcome, the sound of shouting met our ears from the direction of what my father told me was the main day room.
‘That’s Grandad George, isn’t it?’ I gasped.
‘Sounds like it.’ Rafe chuckled. ‘Come on. Don’t worry, Helen,’ he said to the woman behind the reception desk. ‘I know the way.’
I followed Rafe to the room where the din was coming from and we found Grandad George seated opposite another elderly gent who looked, in style of dress at least, much like my father.
The pair seemed to be engaged in a loud debate as to the legitimacy of a word one of them had just added to the Scrabble board that was set up between them.
‘Fetch the dictionary, Beth!’ Grandad George demanded. ‘Freddie’s cheating again!’
‘Fetch it yourself,’ the woman he’d addressed responded and I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop a rush of laughter escaping. ‘I’ve got better things to do than referee for you two, again. Besides, we’ve got visitors.’
The two men turned to the door and Grandad George’s expression was transformed.
‘My darling girl!’ he called out, looking bright-eyed. ‘You’re here!’
I rushed to give him a hug and breathed in the scent of mints and cedarwood aftershave that I associated him with.
‘Hello Grandad,’ I beamed as I squatted at the side of the table to see him properly. ‘I’m sorry it’s been so long.’
He held on tightly to my hand, and it was a struggle not to cry. I might have left found family behind, but in Norwich I had not one, but two blood relatives to further bond with.
‘Never mind that,’ he said and leant forward to kiss my cheek. ‘You’re here now.’
‘Are you going to introduce us?’ the man I knew was called Freddie, requested.
‘This,’ Grandad George said proudly as I stood up, ‘is my delightful granddaughter, Skylar. She’s just moved to Norwich and is sharing a house in Nightingale Square with my son, Rafe, who you’ve already met.’
‘It’s a delight to meet you, my dear,’ Freddie twinkled. ‘And I know the square, of course. I’ve spent many happy times there enjoying the garden and parties in the Grow-Well.’
‘And,’ Beth, the reluctant referee, said, ‘I know it too because I live there.’
‘Do you?’ I gasped.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘with my partner, Eli. We’re just a couple of houses away from where you and Rafe are in Heather and Glen’s place. Or should I say, old place, given that it’s yours now?’
‘What a coincidence!’ I laughed and looked at Rafe who smiled.
‘Beth is the activities manager here,’ Freddie put in. ‘She keeps us all entertained, but not necessarily out of mischief.’
I got the impression that Beth most likely had her hands full with some of the sprightlier residents.
‘In that case, Beth,’ Rafe said, ‘may I ask if you walk here from the square?’
‘I do,’ she nodded.
‘That’s good to know,’ I puffed. ‘I’ll be picking your brains later about the route you take, if that’s all right. We drove here today and it was not pleasant.’
‘I can imagine,’ Beth shuddered. ‘If you come on foot and take a couple of shortcuts I’ve discovered, you can be here in no time. I’ll draw you a map.’
With that decided, she went to set up the net for table tennis at the far end of the room where the windows overlooked a large garden.
‘Come on,’ Grandad George said as he, a little stiffly, eased himself upright. ‘Let’s find somewhere a bit quieter to properly catch up.’
‘We’ll continue this later then, shall we George?’ said Freddie with a nod to the board.
Grandad George pretended not to hear him and as he moved away from the table, he somehow flipped the board completely over.
Freddie let out a roar of frustration. ‘You old sod!’ he objected. ‘You only did that because I was winning.’
‘You were not,’ Grandad George shot back. ‘Now, if you don’t mind,’ he added with dignity, ‘I want to spend some quality time with my granddaughter.’
For the second time since I’d arrived, I had to suppress a laugh and Rafe looked amused too.
‘He’s a blatant cheat,’ Grandad George told us as we followed him out. ‘Blatant.’
Rafe shook his head and I felt very happy to find my grandfather in such high spirits. Though that said, I wouldn’t have wanted to swap places with Beth when it was time for the rematch!
Having been given a snail’s pace tour of the ground floor of the home and admired Grandad George’s large and comfortable room, Rafe and I then explained how we’d divvied up the rooms in the house along with what the cats had been up to.
‘Well, that sounds very sensible,’ Grandad George said in response to us telling him that we each had our own sitting room. ‘I had been wondering how the pair of you were going to rub along, having never spent longer than a summer holiday together.’
‘Do you know,’ Rafe said, ‘that thought has never crossed my mind. Though,’ he added, with a look to me and a shudder, ‘I bet it would have crossed yours, Skylar, if you’d had to move back in with your mum.’
‘Given your shared history, there must be something about her that you like?’ I chuckled.
‘I don’t think we need to know the details of Flighty Faye’s appeal where your father is concerned,’ Grandad George tutted. ‘It’ll be dinner time soon and I don’t want my appetite curbed. It’s fish and chips on a Saturday.’
Rafe shook his head and rolled his eyes.
‘Fish and chips,’ I said wistfully. ‘I can’t remember the last time I had fish and chips.’