Chapter 30
Alice arrived the following Wednesday lunchtime and I had set up the table in the garden with a lovely spread for lunch. I’d bought cheeses and fruit, there was fresh bread and Alice’s favourite hand-cut crisps. I had a bottle of Sancerre in the fridge too, but wasn’t sure whether Alice had driven or got the train. Looking at the spread, I wondered if this would be the last meal I’d ever have in this garden. It had only been three days since I’d come back from Norfolk, but I’d made a decision about what I was going to do and was keen to get on with it.
I’d had a conversation with Dorothy yesterday on the phone. I’d originally called her to say she’d made a mistake with the bank transfer and had mistakenly added a nought on the end of the figure. But Dorothy made it very clear that there was no mistake and that I had earned every penny and more. When I had tried to protest, Dorothy shut that line of conversation down quickly by saying that if I wanted to give it away then I could; it was my money and I should use it in any way I felt was fitting. If I felt that offering it to a charity of my choice was what I wanted to do then it was up to me. In the end I had just thanked her and been grateful for that boost to my savings.
In fact, it was this that had made me look again in The Lady online magazine. Maybe I could try another position as companion. There were enough wanted ads looking for them. It wasn’t only about the money that Dorothy had generously given me; it was how happy the woman was now. Despite the accompanying heartache, I had helped her into a position where she could move on.
She told me that Leonard was improving in hospital and the police were looking into the accusations. Sandra was, at the moment, helping them with their inquiries. Rufus had gone straight to his employers and had told them of his deception. Rightfully they had let him go, but apparently he was finally happy and free of what had been hanging over his head and, oddly, had decided that a career in the theatre might be more for him.
It was a week that I would never forget. A companion and painting hunter. I’d done a good job, but if I was to be companion again I’d be looking for a position that was far less taxing.
There was a woman looking for a someone to accompany her on holiday for a fortnight, but that was an all-expenses-paid job rather than just paid. There was a man whose wife had died and he needed help downsizing from his old family home to a smaller property and then to care for him until he found someone in the new community to take over his needs. There was man in Cornwall and a woman in London, and I kept looking, but hadn’t found the courage to apply.
In the meantime I’d had a phone call from Lavinia who’d said that Dorothy was struggling a bit and feeling very tired after the week away. Would I consider Dorothy’s offer of the boathouse and also keep an eye on her until she got back on her feet? In the middle of the night when I’d woken and couldn’t get back to sleep, I’d decided to take it.
‘Hi, Mum.’
Alice was at the side of the house where I’d propped the gate open and I looked up from the table of food to see my daughter with a bunch of flowers in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Good, I thought, she’d got the train. This would be far more relaxed.
‘Garden looks lovely.’
I caught her and gave her a hug, which she returned.
‘How are you, darling? How are the girls and Jim? I must come and see them soon. I miss them.’
I had been so wrapped up with things here, I realised it had been a good month since I’d seen Lou and Meg. After the ups and downs of the week I’d just had, I had a sudden wish to wrap both of my granddaughters in my arms. Of course Chris still had my car so I’d need to get the train to Alice’s. But that was no matter.
‘We’re all fine. It’s you I’m worried about. I mean, working as a companion at your age is a bit weird, don’t you think.’
‘It’s a slight change in direction in my life, that’s all,’ I said and was horrified to feel my lip trembling. ‘Shall we have some wine?’
I filled two glasses before Alice could decline.
I began cutting slices from the loaf of sourdough and Alice stood watching me while sipping her drink. I was desperately trying not to blurt out what I was thinking, what I was feeling. Douglas had left me; after forty-three years of marriage he’d disappeared off to the other side of the world on a whim. The only reason I’d been looking at jobs and flats I couldn’t afford was because of him. It hadn’t been my choice. I would have been quite happy staying here in this house until it became too much for me or I died, whichever came first. Instead I had been abandoned and put out to pasture.
And the truth now was that I had discovered something during my week away, and it was that I quite liked myself. I was actually pretty okay and had something more to offer. I wasn’t quite dead yet. I picked up my wine glass and took a large gulp.
‘How’s work?’ I asked after Alice sat down. We began to pile cheese onto bread, and roll up slices of the cured meats I’d bought at the local deli. I offered Alice the plate of grapes and dried fruit.
‘Good,’ she replied. ‘I’m hearing rumblings of redundancies, but Hannah says it won’t be me and actually I’m more likely to be promoted within the next six months, which will be about bloody time.’
Alice worked for a marketing company and had been sidelined for promotion many times when the girls were younger. They just wouldn’t take her seriously, assuming that the kids came first, but now they were older – eight and eleven – it seemed that now was the time. And Alice had worked damn hard for it too. I took my hat off to my daughter. She juggled and ran herself ragged, put herself out and generally proved herself to be someone who could be relied upon.
‘That’s wonderful, Alice – you deserve it,’ I said holding up my glass. ‘Here’s to being seen for all the work that you do and promoted accordingly.’
‘Thanks, Mum. How was your weird week in Norfolk anyway?’
‘Challenging, but rewarding,’ I said, taking the wine and topping up our glasses. ‘Put it this way: I shall be more careful when applying for my next position.’
‘You’re going to do it again?’
‘Yes, I think I will. Also, I’ve found somewhere to live.’
‘Right, I’m sorry for going on at you on the phone the other week. I’m cross with Dad for being an idiot and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I know you’ve got to sell the house. So, where are you going?’
‘The woman I’ve spent the week looking after has a boathouse at the end of her garden on the Thames at Hampton. She’s offered it to me for a while, well, for as long as I want it.’
‘A boathouse? It sounds poky. Is it?’
‘It is quite small to be fair, but beautiful and has a lovely balcony looking over the water.’
I wasn’t quite sure why I felt I needed Alice’s approval, but I did. I wanted her to be happy for me. I’d already phoned Chris that morning to let him know what I was doing and he was thrilled for me. Alice was never going to be as easy.
‘Everything has changed and I don’t like it,’ she said, a little petulantly.
‘Everything has changed for me too,’ I reminded her.
‘I know,’ she said.
Alice finished her mouthful and then took a sip of her wine.
‘I don’t even know what we’re all going to do for Christmas,’ she said.
‘Alice, it’s only August.’
‘Yes, but we always came to you and we can hardly cram ourselves into your boathouse.’
‘I don’t see why not. Alice, this is quite hard for me, but I would like you to be happy for me. Can you do that?’
She looked at me across the table and smiled.
‘If it’s a boathouse, there’s a boat I assume?’
‘Of course – Dorothy has a blue narrowboat.’
‘Do you think we could take the girls out in it?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘We could ask.’
She took my hand across the table and straightened my mother’s flower ring on my finger, then stared at it for a long moment.
‘I love you, Mum, and I am happy for you,’ she said.