CHAPTER EIGHT
It was the following week. A Tuesday.
Mum’s birthday. Or rather, it would have been.
I was on my way into the hospital to see Loli with my carefully curated list of special songs on Spotify. Songs that Mum had always loved.
When I went in, Loli was in bed, sitting back against her pillows, just staring out at the flat grey sky. My heart squeezed with emotion. Coping with Mum’s birthday was hard enough – although we’d always tried to make it uplifting and fun – but being in hospital with a life-threatening condition would make today even tougher for Loli.
I walked over to her and, seeing me, she made a visible effort to perk up. ‘Lisa!’
I leaned over to hug her, thinking how frail she seemed today, and she clung to me a little longer than she usually did, as if she didn’t want to let me go.
We exchanged a look that spoke volumes about our feelings. There was no need to say a word. We both missed her so much...
‘It’s horrible, isn’t?’ I took her hand and she nodded.
‘I don’t think my heart can stand it,’ she admitted. ‘The grief. Along with the fact that –’ She stopped abruptly and gave her head a little shake.
‘The fact that what?’ A feeling of dread pulsed through me.
Loli patted my hand. ‘It’s bad news, love. She’s not a good match.’
‘No?’ I stared at her in dismay. I’d been pinning all my hopes on her sister, Joan, coming to the rescue and the thought that the life-changing op wasn’t going to happen, after all, was soul-destroying. No wonder poor Loli was looking utterly defeated. Why did she have to get the bad news today! On this day of all days! Life could be so very cruel.
I dredged up a bright smile, determined to cheer her up. ‘Well, there’s nothing else for it. You’ll just have to take my kidney instead.’ I gave her a wink so she’d know I was joking.
I thought she’d come back at me with some sharp retort, but she said nothing. She just shrugged with a look of such complete hopelessness, I felt an actual pain in my heart.
Then she rallied. ‘Ignore me. I’m just being silly. It was a long shot, wasn’t it? And I didn’t want my sister’s kidney anyway. Imagine if she’d had to fly all the way over here and have surgeons cutting into her.’ She shook her head. ‘No, it’s for the best.’
I tried to smile but failed.
‘Hey, come on. I’m relying on you to cheer me up today. Tell me something amusing. What’s been happening while I’ve been stuck in this hospital bed? Tell me the gossip. How’s Maya getting on?’
‘Maya?’ She was our next-door neighbour. Marguerite’s sister-in-law. The one who’d kindly put in a word for me when Marguerite was looking for staff. ‘I haven’t seen her lately, but I’m assuming Marguerite will have told her what a disaster I was as an employee.’
Loli snorted. ‘Well, I know whose side Maya would be on. Yours! She never says as much because she’s too nice, but it’s obvious she doesn’t much care for her sister-in-law. I do wonder why she ever thought you’d enjoy working for Marguerite.’
I sighed. ‘I don’t think even Maya could have imagined how horrible Marguerite would be as a boss. She knew I was desperate to find a job, what with you in hospital. She was just trying to help.’
‘You don’t need to be desperate, love. I’ve told you before – we can sell the house.’
‘No!’ Looking around guiltily, I lowered my voice. ‘No way. It’s your home, Loli.’
‘ Our home.’
‘That house is full of so many lovely memories. For both of us. There’s no way I’m going to allow you to sell it.’ I smiled at the irony of my words. If Loli made up her mind to sell, there probably wasn’t a lot I could do to change her mind, and she knew it!
‘Well, we’ll see,’ she said. ‘So what exactly happened to make Marguerite sack you? You never really told me.’
‘Oh, well, it’s quite funny now, looking back. I spilled Bucks Fizz all over Marguerite’s most highly-valued customer and saying she wasn’t best pleased would be a vast understatement.’
Loli’s eyes opened wide, so I told her about Marguerite giving me a push, which caused the spillage, and how understanding Lady Arabella had been about it all. ‘She saw what happened, so she was kind of on my side.’
‘Quite right.’ Loli chuckled. ‘Oh, I’d love to have seen that awful woman’s face when the Bucks Fizz went flying! You’ve cheered me up, Lisa.’
I grinned, relieved to see her looking brighter. ‘Oh, well, the day went from bad to worse after that. First, I missed my stop on the bus and ended up having to walk a mile back into the village on the hottest day of the year with a twisted ankle. But then, of course, I found Barley.’
‘Barley? Oh, the little stray dog you found?’
I nodded, feeling a bit guilty that I hadn’t told her everything. I’d glossed over finding Barley because then I’d have had to tell her about Jensen jumping into the river and rescuing him, and then of course she’d have wanted to know all about this gallant hero and whether he’d make a good match for me!
‘I’ve got pictures of Barley.’ I fished my phone out and showed her the one I’d taken of him when he came out of the water, standing on the riverbank, looking all skinny and bedraggled.
‘Oh, bless him.’ She took the phone and swiped to the next photo, which was one of Barley snuffling in the bushes, having dried out a little in the sun.
‘What would you say to adopting him if an owner can’t be found?’
Loli looked at me and nodded. ‘I’d say why not? Athough I’d worry about the extra work for you, while I’m still in this state. Dogs can be hard work. Especially energetic little things like this Barley scamp clearly is.’
I laughed. ‘He’s gorgeous. And fearless. After he almost drowned and we rescued him from the river, you’d honestly think nothing had happened at all. He was just running around and so friendly.’
‘We?’ Loli gave me a sharp look.
‘Yes. Um...’ I looked away. I’d deliberately not mentioned Jensen to her, knowing how keen she was for me to find someone special, and knowing she was sure to jump to conclusions. ‘A man happened to be there when I saw Barley struggling, and he dived in to save him.’
‘And would this happen to be the man?’ She brandished the next photo which was of a smiling Jensen hunkered down on the riverbank, making a fuss of Barley.
‘Er, yes. That’s Jensen.’
‘Jensen. He’s handsome,’ she commented. ‘And a hero to boot.’
‘Well, I guess so.’
‘So what happened after Jensen rescued him? You took him to the animal shelter, did you?’
‘Well, Jensen did.’
‘You didn’t go with him?’
‘No, his friend came to collect them, and there wasn’t room in the van for me.’
‘I see.’ Loli was looking thoughtfully at the photo. ‘And have you seen this Jensen since then?’