‘Right, well, the bottom line was that Fiona wasn’t being strictly truthful with that story of hers. I was with her the night she met Alf Cotter in a pub. It was a few years after you got the part of Agnes and deserted us, but I’ll come back to that one later,’ Nancy said archly, making Odette smile despite the anxiety of the conversation. ‘The thing is, he did call her that morning, as you know, but he wasn’t offering her Agnes McGlinchy. He was offering her a different part. A much smaller one. Mavis Burney, a part-time assistant in the corner shop. And, aye, she was raging that you’d pretended to be her and hadn’t told her he’d called – we worked that out quick enough – but she was even more raging that you got the bigger role. In fact, that night we met him again, he told her he had another small part up for grabs. She was so offended, she told him to stuff it up his arse and then copped off with a football player. I think she married him actually, right before he got dropped and was never seen again. So, you see, Olive, yes, you should have told her that he called, but the reality was you were always supposed to be Agnes. You’re not completely off the hook, butyer not that much of a cow after all.’ Nancy winked, chuckled and then popped another grape in her mouth. ‘Anyway, she goes to the Wooden Spoon in the village for a bacon roll every morning, so if you want to square this up with her face to face, we can make that happen.’
Odette thought about that. She’d told a lie that had hurt Fiona. Then Fiona had told a lie with the intention of hurting Odette. For now, she was going to call that even.
‘Not yet. Harry says that when I get out of here, we should go on a driving trip and I like that idea,’ she said, blushing as their gazes met and he gave her a typically understated but affectionate smile. The truth was, she more than liked it. This last week had been a change for them to face each other when they were talking, rather than Odette staring at the back of his head. Maybe that’s why she’d never realised before how handsome he was. Or how kind. Or how much he cared about her. When she got out of here, that was the top thing on her new to-do list. And maybe it was the drugs, but she felt a wave of giddy excitement every time she thought about it.
‘Don’t worry, Nancy, I can do the Heimlich manoeuvre if that grape gets stuck,’ Keli told her, as she breezed into the ward.
She saw the colour on Odette’s cheeks and knew that putting her on this ward had been the best thing she’d done all week.
Well, that and going out for dinner with Laurie and Yvie. Laurie had filled them in on the news that she’d moved out of Rex’s apartment, and she was seeing Sy now. Apparently Rex had begged her to come back to him, especially after he’d been crucified in the press after the viral video and then received the news that he’d been written out of the show until the fuss dieddown. The storyline was that Hugh was being hunted by police after topping off Agnes, and had gone on the run, last seen on a flight to Malaga. He’d released a statement saying he was taking time off to pursue opportunities in Hollywood, but no one was buying that, because it had been compounded by a mass of dodgy stories about his lying and cheating that had been leaked in the last week and the public backlash had been vociferous.
Laurie had protested her innocence, but Keli wasn’t convinced and she didn’t blame her one bit. The whole publicity game was still a mystery to her, though, and something she wanted no part of. Well, almost no part.
On the back of the video, she’d already had a phone call from a morning TV show asking if she’d be willing to talk about common ailments affecting the elderly. Her manager, Calvin, was still in negotiations…
‘Oh my goodness, it’s like An Audience With Odette Devine in here this morning,’ Tress said, as she came into the ward, pushing Buddy in his buggy.
Nancy immediately jumped up. ‘I’ll take my boy for a walk, and you have a seat, pet. There’s already too many visitors at this bed. Keli will chase us.’
Tress shook her head, huge grin on her face. ‘Thanks, but it’s okay. I’m just here for two seconds, to check in on Odette and give Buddy to you.’
‘We’ll come and blether to you for a minute, Freda,’ Calvin said, as he and Harry swapped their seats at Odette’s bedside for the blue plastic seats beside the patient one bed along.
Tress had visited Odette every day this week. Over the six months that she’d worked with the actress, she’d grownincreasingly fond of her, so she’d been worried when Odette left the show that they’d lose contact. Now Tress knew that would never happen, because, well, now their lives were intrinsically linked. She’d sussed out that Odette didn’t have many people in her life and Tress would always welcome more people to the family that she’d built for herself. She’d never say no to a new aunt for Buddy.
‘How are you today? You’re looking smashing, you really are.’
‘It’s because I’m here,’ Nancy announced with a chuckle.
‘It’s definitely because Nancy is here,’ Odette played along.
‘I’m glad, because Nancy is taking over my visiting shifts for the next couple of days and she’ll be bringing Buddy too, because Noah and I…’ Tress felt her neck go red and chided herself. What age was she? She should be over this by now, yet she hadn’t stopped smiling in a week. ‘We’re going down to the Lake District for a couple of days, just the two of us.’
Just the two of them. Anya had gone back to the USA. Cheska had called her to say goodbye and to wish her and Buddy well.
So that just left Noah.
They’d spent every possible hour together over the last seven days and now she didn’t even want to think about a time when it wasn’t Noah and her and Buddy.
‘I’ll be back up on Tuesday, Odette, and Nancy, thank you. I’ve left everything at home ready and his day bag is under the pram. Call me if there’s anything at all…’ Tress leaned down and kissed her sleeping son, ‘Love you, Noah Walker,’ she whispered. She used his proper name more now because she liked how it sounded.
She hugged Nancy, then Odette and then blew a kiss to Yvie and Keli as she passed them on the way out. Then she got into the lift and smiled at the woman staring back at her in the mirror. The one who was totally loved up.
In the hospital car park, in the new Jeep he’d bought yesterday to replace his mangled one, Noah watched his girlfriend run towards him. He’d been here all morning because he had a few things to sort out on the ward, and then he’d dropped into the farewell lunch for Cheska. They’d hugged, said goodbye and wished each other well. And they both knew they meant it.
Tress jumped into the car, leaned over, kissed him, and it lasted way longer than was appropriate for a hospital car park. He didn’t care. He couldn’t get enough of her and she felt the same way. How did he get this lucky?
‘Ah, you’ve finally seen sense,’ his mother had said when he’d told her. ‘I thought you two would get together eventually. To be honest, in the early months after the crash, before you started seeing Cheska, I thought you and Tress might get together then. Perhaps that would have saved some heartache.’
Noah knew different. Like he told anyone who would listen, this wasn’t a movie. Or a song. Or a romcom. This was their lives. If they’d got together immediately after the accident, they’d never know if it was convenience, or grief, or the desperate need to use romantic love as a crutch.
Now they knew.
They’d made it through the worst that could happen, they’d healed, and they had built new lives together. And then they’d still chosen each other. This was who they were meant to be. Noah. Tress. Buddy. Their family.
‘Ready to go?’ he asked, when they finally came up for air.
‘Ready to go,’ she said, more beautiful than she had ever been.
And as they drove off for their first holiday together as a couple, Tress switched on the radio and laughed as a familiar voice filled the car. She was still the one…
Shania Twain was with them too.
