‘I’m going to be extra careful. I’ll be meeting clients outdoors, on site. I won’t socialise. No taking clients for drinks or anything like that. It’ll be baby steps and until everyone has learned to navigate through whatever post-lockdown looks like. You should stay here, where you feel safe and comfortable and then, when you’re ready you can make the big decisions, or not. It’s your call, okay? Now promise me you’ll stop worrying.’
Gina watched as he pulled her to him, kissing her hands as he did so then wrapping her in his arms. With the warmth of his body against hers, his breath on her hair, for a moment, everything was all right. ‘Okay, I promise. I’m sorry for… you know, being a stress-head.’
He pulled her closer. ‘And no more apologies. Let’s just lie here and enjoy this, watching the stars, the monsters sleeping, the simple things. Tomorrow can take care of itself.’
Gina nodded and snuggled closer, closing her eyes, and reassuring the crazy woman within.‘You’re wrong. You’re mad, too. You have to trust him. Believe in the Jimmy you love. Nobody could fake this, his words, holding me close, stroking my hair, making me feel good and safe. There is no Bella. There is no them. Just us, me, him, Max, and Mimi. Stop with this stupid paranoia and bloody daft plots. I mean, as if you’d actually kill someone. This isn’t a book or a film. You’re not a vengeful psycho. You’re Mrs Gina Morgan who got into a tizzy so relax, remember to breathe in, breathe out… nobody is going to die… breathe in, breathe out… cos she’s not coming back… breathe in, breathe out… it’s all going to be fine.’
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
BABS
Makehay in May for you may never know what June is coming with and you may never know what July will present! When you see May, make hay! – Ernest Yeboah.
Babs read the meme on her timeline and muttered to an empty kitchen, ‘Talk about stating the bloody obvious!’ Memes got on Babs’ nerves. Especially those silently making a point, telling someone who’d pissed you off, that they had pissed you off, via a deep and meaningful passive-aggressive meme.
Attention seeking, that’s what it was. Like poorly posts. They really did Babs head in because NO she did not want to see the pus oozing out of someone’s in-grown toenail or know how many Lemsips they’d taken that day.
But what sent her over the edge were the pity posts. With the sole purpose of whingeing about something so trivial and banal and utterly, flagrantly desperate, that on many occasions she’d had to stop herself from bashing out a comment saying so. And then, the nosey buggers who couldn’t resist the lure of gossip and wrote,You okay hun? Inbox me.
People needed to pull themselves together, focus on important things like… she looked around the kitchen at the morning mess, the Kellogg’s box that some imbecile had ripped open and now the flap didn’t close properly. And Pete, the general, all-round knobhead, had filled his mug to the brim and left a trail of coffee splatters from the kettle to the table. He did it all the time. The marmalade and Lurpak were still on the side. This would be Isaac, and yep, she knew it as soon as she looked inside, toast crumbs in the melted butter.
And what boiled her blood was that because they’d actually managed to wash their own dishes… big round of applause for the Finch family… the rest of the kitchen would somehow, as if by magic… clean itself.
Well not today, José!
Grabbing her keys, she called up the stairs to Demi who’d just come out of the shower and was therefore absolved of sin.
‘Demi, do you fancy going out for breakfast?’ Babs listened, a door opened and footsteps preceded a reply.
‘Where can we get breakfast? Nothing’s open yet.’ Demi peered over the banister.
Babs loved it when she was in-the-know. ‘Ah, well, that’s where you’re wrong because Costa drive-through has reopened so we can go there.’
‘But, Mum, there isn’t a Costa round here.’ Demi moved to sit on the top stair, pulling on her socks as she spoke.
Babs smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘There is in Rhyl.’
‘Rhyl! You want to go all the way to Wales to get a coffee and a toasted sandwich?’
‘I most definitely do. And fish and chips later on, once we’ve had a wander along the beach and worked up an appetite. I’m going back to work soon, and I fancy a day out. Let’s make the most of the new rules and freedom, not to mention some nice nosh. There was an article online all about how takeaways had thrived during lockdown and there’s a list of places that are open and a photo of a chippy on the seafront at Rhyl. So come on, chop-chop.’
Demi laughed. ‘Okay then, let’s go to the seaside… shall I wake Sasha up?’
‘NO! She’s got online interviews this afternoon with an agency so she can stay here and bag herself a job. I’m not giving her any excuse.’
Babs was about to fetch her bag when a voice shouted, ‘I heard that,’ to which Babs replied, ‘Good. So, get out of bed, lazy arse, and make yourself look employable even if it’s from the waist up.’
Demi was grimacing, even though everyone knew it was true. Sasha was bone idle, like her dad. So without further ado Babs grabbed her bag, gave a jerk of the head in the direction of the door, and smiled as Demi’s footsteps thundered down the stairs.
It’d been a spur of the moment idea to go out, but Babs was looking forward to a day by the sea with Demi. It would be a nice change, especially as she was dreading going back to work, out there again, in the land of cobwebs and loo brushes and germs that could be lurking anywhere. But she wouldn’t dwell. Today was going to be a good day, hers, and Demi’s. Then, before she closed the front door, Babs remembered something and popped her head back inside, yelling in her jolly-Mum voice.
‘Oh, and Sasha, be a sweetheart and give the kitchen a once-over. Your father and brother left it in a right state. Ta-ra, love. Best of British with the interviews.’ And on that note she slammed the door.
* * *
Babs sipped her coffee and thought about the meme she’d read a couple of hours earlier. If this wasn’t making hay, she didn’t know what was.
By her side on the sea wall, Demi chewed on her toastie, a photo of which had been posted on Snapchat, along with numerous shots of her vanilla latte and the sea that was currently so far out it looked like a pencil line on the horizon.
