Chapter 2
2
F leur sat in a lobby adjacent to a reception desk at the doctor’s surgery on the outskirts of Lovely Bay and looked up at the posters on the wall. One told her not to forget to screen her breasts by way of a picture depicting two pink hundreds and thousands covered doughnuts. It did not make her laugh or want to check her breasts. Another spoke about dementia choices depicting a woman in the most revolting beige cardigan she’d ever seen. A third advertised free community transport with a picture of a little pink minibus. An Ed Sheeran song jangled on the radio and a gigantic plant in the corner looked as if someone was giving it lots of love. As she looked through into the middle of the waiting room, past an Art Deco glass door and beautiful timber floorboards, she thought to herself that even the doctor’s surgery in Lovely was nice. It was a far cry from the surgery she’d belonged to where she’d lived before. In that place, she’d always felt slightly grubby when she’d sat down. It had never been clean and whenever she’d been there, she’d felt as if she’d leave with something a lot worse than anything she’d gone in with. Sitting on the chair wondering how long she would have to wait, she earwigged on a conversation between the receptionist and a woman in overly bright, wide-leg floral trousers and a white shirt. The woman’s long dark straggly hair reached below her bottom and made Fleur feel a bit queasy. Just as she was sitting there, wondering what a palaver washing such long hair would be a message came in from Lucy.
Lucy: Hi Mum, how are you?
Fleur: Just at the doctor.
Lucy: Oh yes, for the check-up?
Fleur: Yep. You good?
Lucy: I’m fine. I’m in London and waiting to get a train back. I just heard from Dad.
Fleur: Is he OK?
Lucy: They’ve got an exchange date to move.
Fleur: Great.
Fleur didn’t think the news was great, but pretended otherwise. Lucy didn’t need to know her views on her ex-husband Ben and his moving escapades. She’d learnt a long time ago to keep her views on Ben in a tightly closed box.
Fleur: Excellent, that’s good.
Lucy: Just in time for the baby.
Fleur: How fortunate. I hope their move goes well.
Lucy: Once the baby has arrived, they’ll be able to settle in, and I’ll be much closer which is good. I can’t believe I am going to have a brother or sister!
Fleur: Exciting!
Lucy: I should be home in a few hours if the trains are on time. See you later.
Fleur: See you then xxx
As Fleur waited for her appointment, she watched the comings and goings of the reception area, including a doctor in a black dress with highlighted hair who looked way too young to know what she was doing as far as Fleur was concerned. How had it come to be that doctors were younger than her? The world didn’t hang around, that was for sure. She idly sat thinking about all sorts and read through yet another poster telling her not to talk on her mobile phone in the waiting area. Glancing down at her phone again, she reread Lucy’s texts. There was no doubt that Lucy was happy about Ben’s baby which Fleur saw as a good thing. They’d had a long conversation about when the baby arrived and Lucy was very happy about having a sibling albeit one who would be many years younger than her. Fleur had to wonder, though, what it would be like in reality. When the baby arrived would Lucy be happy or would she have her nose pushed far out of joint? Fleur hoped it wasn’t going to be the latter because she knew very well who would be the one dealing with the fallout. If it did, our Champo would be the one picking up the pieces.
Despite the fact that Fleur could not stand Ben’s partner Sarah, thought that she was more than irritating and acted as if she knew everything, overall, Sarah had been nice to Lucy. Fleur would give her that. She was well aware that Ben’s new partner could have had a totally different approach to Lucy and it may have gone a very different way. Sarah had included Lucy in the pregnancy from the word go and had even taken her along to a couple of midwifery appointments. Lucy was well into how the birth was going to go and positive about everything. What was there for our Fleur to complain about? Nothing, apart from the fact that the whole situation made her feel ever-so-slightly uncomfortable. Plus, she knew for sure that she didn’t want the birth and the baby’s arrival playing out on what felt like her doorstep but that ship had sailed and was on its way to port. She would have to buckle up and take it on the chin.
With a funny gagging feeling in her throat as Fleur watched the woman with the long hair grab it and tuck the bottom into the waistband of her trousers, she mused the Ben and Sarah situation. She was going to keep her distance, sit back, watch, and see what happened as real life took hold once the baby was born. She‘d tried her darndest to be happy for them and hoped that everything would go well. However, she had a feeling in the back of her mind that when things hit the fan, Sarah’s perfect Instagram posts and lack of reality would not end well.
It would be interesting to observe whether what Sarah had learned in her psychology degree, would all go down the pan once push came to shove. Fleur could but wait and see. One thing she did know: she was not up for being any part of the fallout. All she hoped was that Lucy didn’t get caught in the crossfire. Time would surely tell.