Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
‘It’s great you’re going away for Christmas,’ Kate said, as we sat in her car, and waited for Connor. We’d told him to be ready for ten in the morning. It was half past ten. Connor was always late. Olivia used to say Connor lived in a different time zone which was always half an hour behind everyone else. If Connor had been early, Kate and I would have worried about him.
Kate and I were rubbing our gloved hands to warm them up. My face was numb with cold, and I’d lost all feeling in my nose. Kate’s car heater was struggling against the plummeting temperature. Overnight the Met Office had issued a slew of weather warnings about the arctic conditions causing havoc in the UK.
‘It is, but I’m worried about Maddie.’ I’d not slept properly since my sister had left a few days ago. That last conversation we’d had where she spoke about Frank wanting them to have a baby and them having to go back to living in America was on replay in my head. The way she’d looked at me had left me feeling uncomfortable.
Maddie had always been the golden child; excelling at school from a young age, gaining an array of impressive GCSEs and A-levels, going to a top university, securing an enviable job writing for a top finance magazine and marrying someone as high profile and wealthy as Frank. I loved her dearly and I’d learned from a young age that there was no point in being jealous of Maddie’s achievements. She outshone everyone. This was a good thing. For many years Maddie took away my mother’s focus on me which was a blessing. I got to do all the things as a teenager that Maddie was never allowed to do; go to parties with boys, drink cider, smoke cigarettes out of my bedroom window, go to music festivals, leave school with a collection of dismal GCSES, go to a local college and then leave to set up a mini catering business in a camper van.
However, through all this, Maddie and I were still close. She would always want to know everything about the parties I’d been to, the festivals I’d danced the night away at and the handsome young men I’d served hot dogs to.
‘Have you spoken to her since she visited?’ Kate asked. I’d updated her and Connor about Maddie’s visit once she’d gone back to Harp Brook.
‘I’ve messaged her a lot, but she tells me she’s busy and promises we will talk before she goes on holiday.’
Kate blew into her gloved hands. ‘Maybe she’s worried about having kids. It’s a big thing.’
I nodded. ‘Maybe. I just know there’s something she’s not telling me. Anyway, I will be dog sitting Humphrey for three weeks over Christmas in Harp Brook and he will keep me busy,’ I said, through chattering teeth. ‘Frank and Maddie are off to Malibu so he can do some mega business deal with a film company.’
Kate smiled. ‘Please tell me she has trained her naughty dog?’
I shook my head. ‘Don’t be silly. The day my sister disciplines that lunatic of a dog, pigs will be seen flying across the sky. Maddie said Frank will give me a lecture on their house rules when I arrive.’
Kate checked her pink face in the driver’s mirror. Her gigantic purple bobble hat made me smile. A year ago, she’d taken up knitting during the lunch breaks of her stressful advertising job. At first, knitting was a way to reduce her soaring anxiety levels. She was mainly anxious due to a toxic boss and a ridiculous workload.
But the knitting soon became the catalyst for change. While she knitted hats, scarves and cardigans, Kate began to think about her life and how unhealthy it felt. After two bobble hats, four scarves and a cardigan, Kate handed in her notice at work. Three months later Kate was the new manager of a craft shop in town, selling wool, embroidery kits, ribbon, knitting patterns and an array of fabrics and materials.
Underneath her purple hat, her long blonde hair had been put into two schoolgirl plaits, each tied with sparkly purple ribbon from her shop. ‘I wonder if Frank has hidden cameras set up,’ she said, casting me an inquisitive look.
‘Knowing Frank, he probably has. I’ll ask Maddie.’
Kate threw a mischievous grin at me. ‘Send me pics of the west wing.’
‘I’m going to be a good house and dog sitter,’ I explained. ‘Something is going on with Maddie and I don’t want to cause her any bother. She has told me everything in their country house is hideously expensive and you know how clumsy I can be. If they want me to live in the east wing all by myself then so be it. I’m going to chill and relax.’
‘Don’t you think keeping to the east wing is a bit boring?’ Kate asked. ‘I mean you’re doing them a favour by dog sitting and they’ll be hundreds of miles away. If he doesn’t have hidden cameras, I think you should go wherever you fancy.’
‘I don’t want to get Maddie in trouble with Frank.’
Kate shrugged. ‘The important thing is that you will be getting a break, Rachel.’ She stared at her frosted windscreen. ‘If Connor doesn’t hurry up, all my hard work earlier to clear the windscreen of ice will be wasted.’
It was the day we had all been dreading – Olivia’s birthday. She would have been thirty-three. This was the first birthday without her. Both Kate and Connor had booked the day off work so we could celebrate her birthday.
Connor yanked open the back door and climbed in. ‘Morning both. Bloody freezing, isn’t it?’
‘Why did it take you so long?’ Kate asked, grinning at him via the rear-view mirror.
‘I was doing my hair and trying to find one of Olivia’s romance books,’ explained Connor.
‘Why?’ Kate and I both said in unison.
He brought one out of his pocket. ‘I thought it would be nice to read from it.’
Kate and I spun around in our car seats to stare at him. ‘Olivia hated anyone reading out her writing when she was alive,’ I said, recalling Olivia running out of the room and hiding every time someone threatened to read an extract from one of her books.
Connor shrugged and hugged Olivia’s romance book to his chest. ‘I don’t care what you both think. If she’s looking down at us from heaven, she will love hearing me bringing her tale to life. You all know I had acting lessons as a child and took to the stage in my youth. Trust me, my reading will be epic.’
‘Which book are you reading from?’ Kate asked.
A huge grin spread across Connor’s face. ‘It’s my personal favourite. One Night with The Viking King .’
‘You can’t read that out loud in a graveyard,’ I screeched. ‘Even Olivia said she had gone way too far with the spicy scenes in that book.’
Connor let out a heavy sigh. ‘I was planning to read pages one to three. Calm down, Rachel. The saucy Viking King doesn’t arrive until Chapter Two.’
‘Right, let’s stop arguing. What’s the plan, Rachel?’ Kate asked.
I pointed down the street. ‘Olivia loved the coffee from Happy Beans Café, so I want to go and buy her a token birthday coffee.’
‘Are we still placing it on her stone?’ Connor asked.
‘Yes, we are. We all assume the coffee in the afterlife is heavenly, but can you imagine Olivia’s horror if it’s not nice? She will appreciate our coffee gift.’
Kate started the engine. ‘Olivia was our coffee queen and what better way to celebrate her birthday.’
‘A vanilla latte and a special reading from one of your novels,’ sighed Connor from the back of the car. ‘I do hope you’re grateful, Olivia. Oh, and if you could ask God to get a top talent scout to pop into your graveyard while I am reading and hear my voice, that would be great. Thanks, babe.’
Once Kate had parked outside Happy Beans Café, I ran inside with both Connor’s and Kate’s orders. There was a small queue and only one sweaty and flustered barista, so I took out my phone. A text message from Mum had arrived and it read:
Call Me ASAP.
As the barista had not made any progress in reducing the queue I called Mum.
‘Thank goodness you’ve called,’ my mother cried upon answering. ‘We have a problem. Hang on a sec.’ It sounded like she was clicking her fingers. ‘Gary, bring me my iced coffee and my ciggies.’ Mum cleared her throat. ‘Karen doesn’t want to care for Grandpa Eric over Christmas as she needs a break.’
‘Hello, Mum, how are you?’ I asked, which I knew would give her mild irritation. My mother lives life at a hundred miles per hour.
‘Rachel, I haven’t got time for greetings,’ she snapped. ‘Grandpa Eric needs to be included in the family’s Christmas plans. We’re not giving him to Bev as he will end up in a hot tub with a load of unsavoury people, so we have a problem. Has Maddie told you – I am staying in Tenerife this year.’
‘Yes, she has. I’m off to Harp Brook to dog sit for her and Frank, so I can’t be with Grandpa. Why don’t you pay for him to fly over and spend Christmas with you.’
My mother let out a wail of frustration down the phone. ‘He’s not coming to Tenerife. Good grief, I need to relax. My father drives me insane at the best of times.’
‘Well, ask Maddie if she and Frank will take him with them to Malibu.’
I heard a lighter and the noise of Mum sucking on her ciggie. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Rachel.’
‘I hear Aunty Karen is now caring for Grandpa Eric. When I visited him in the summer, he was amazing. Is he all right?’
Mum sighed. ‘He’s getting old, Rachel. Karen pops in every day. She says Grandpa is now hard work. I hate to say this, but she’s told me some of the stuff he’s coming out with, and I think he’s losing his marbles.’
‘Really? We talk on email a lot. He never sounds like he’s confused.’
‘Rachel, Grandpa needs to have someone to care for him over Christmas. The family on WhatsApp suggested that you look after him. It was your cousin Fay’s marvellous idea. She said taking him to Harp Brook would give you some much needed company.’ Mum took a glug of her iced coffee.
I recalled Maddie telling me that Fay thought I was consuming too much sugar. Irritation began to nibble away at me. My cousin Fay should stick to coming up with suggestions about her own life in Australia. My heart began to thump. ‘Me? Look after Grandpa and Maddie’s dog over Christmas in Harp Brook?’
‘Yes, Rachel.’
The plan to chill out and relax over Christmas was crumbling. Why couldn’t Mum come back from Tenerife and look after her father?
‘Mum, I am going to Harp Brook for three weeks,’ I cried, making the barista turn to see if I was okay. ‘That’s a long time for me to look after Grandpa and my sister’s lunatic dog.’
Mum laughed. ‘Rachel, you’ve got no commitments.’ She coughed down the phone. ‘You’ll have time on your hands. It’s also Christmas, an important time for family to be together. You’re going through a hard time, and you need your family around you. That’s another great thing Fay said on WhatsApp.’
It was then I erupted down the phone at my mother. ‘My cousin Fay needs to mind her own business.’
‘We’re not discussing this,’ snapped my mother. ‘Robert and Karen have already bought Grandpa a train ticket. They will drop him at the station tomorrow. He’ll be arriving at yours at lunchtime. We’ve booked him a taxi from the station to your flat.’
I recalled getting suspicious of Mum when Maddie told me she thought Mum was going through her caring era. I was right to get suspicious. She’d been planning this. ‘ Mum! ’ I shouted, ‘this is not fair. Grandpa can’t stay in my flat. I have a leaky ceiling. It’s a health hazard.’
‘Life isn’t fair, Rachel,’ hissed my mother, before taking another swig of her iced coffee and a drag on her freshly lit cigarette. ‘Do you think I enjoy being away from my wonderful and precious family at Christmas? I will be miles away in Tenerife having to entertain Gary’s friends who are coming out here for the festive season. It will be exhausting for me.’
‘But you like socialising in Tenerife! That’s the main reason you went to live out there. Hang on, other cousins could look after Grandpa Eric.’
She exhaled loudly. ‘Fay lives in Australia and we’re not sending Grandpa out there. Her sister is about to give birth to twins after Christmas so she can’t have Grandpa Eric either.’ She took another drag of her cigarette. ‘One of your other cousins is backpacking around South America and my sister hasn’t heard from him for two weeks. Your eldest cousin has started shoplifting scented candles again and her sister has gone back to Ibiza to live with that divorced DJ – the one who has four children. Your youngest cousin lives in a squalid flat with three other male students and his sister is now a snake breeder. Rachel, do you see why Fay’s suggestion of you caring for Grandpa works?’
There wasn’t anyone else who could look after Grandpa. ‘I suppose you have a point.’
‘Grandpa won’t mind a few leaks in the ceiling for a night. You can put him in your spare room overnight. Cheaper than a hotel.’ In the background, she said to Gary, ‘Is it too early for a cocktail? No? Can make you me one? Thanks, it’s always a stressful call with Rachel.’
‘Mum, I heard that,’ I snapped. ‘Can we not put Grandpa in a hotel overnight? The spare room is Olivia’s bedroom.’ My voice crackled. ‘I haven’t been in there since she…’
‘Rachel, your grandfather cannot afford a hotel. He’s a pensioner and not made of money,’ snapped Mum. ‘Why don’t you sleep on the sofa?’
The barista had finished my order and was waiting for payment.
‘I have to go, Mum.’
‘Karen has created a WhatsApp chat for you titled, Looking after Grandpa Eric. She’s invited you to join it,’ Mum explained as my phone vibrated. ‘The family will want daily updates on Grandpa so make sure you stay in contact. Oh, and don’t lose your sister’s dog either. It will break her heart and we don’t want that. I’ve got to go. Gary wants me to join him in the pool. You wouldn’t believe how warm it is out here.’
I carried the coffee order back to Kate’s car, cursing my cousin Fay, my mother and the person who invented WhatsApp.