The Old House on the Corner (32 page)

‘We just called it “the yard”, and it was an eyesore. Granddad had no head for business and the company just went down and down until it fizzled out altogether. I’ve photographs at home showing the place in all its glory, when it looked very smart, and an
even earlier one when it was green and countrified. If I’d known you’d be interested, I’d’ve brought them with me.’

‘Perhaps we could have another coffee morning next week and you can show us then,’ Sarah Rees-James suggested. ‘We could have it in my house if you like, make it a regular event.’

‘I shall be starting work at the hospital in August,’ Kathleen told her. ‘I won’t be able to come then, but it would be nice to meet again next week.’

‘I’ll be looking for work as soon as the children go back to school,’ said Marie Jordan, ‘but I could come next week an’ all.’

‘I won’t be here next week,’ Victoria reminded them. ‘I’ll be in New York, having already started my new job. But don’t forget the barbecue on Saturday. I’ll be here for that.’

‘I’d forgotten you were leaving.’ Sarah looked at her glumly. ‘Tiffany will miss you terribly. And so will I, which is silly, because I hardly know you –
that’s
silly too, because I feel as if I’ve known you for ages.’

‘Our Danny will miss you too, Victoria,’ Marie put in, ‘me as well.’

‘We all will,’ said Rachel.

Anna remarked how sad she also would be to see Victoria go.

Victoria blushed. ‘There’s been times this week when I’ve wished I wasn’t leaving, but it’s too late to back out now. I might come home, you never know the way things will turn out, and I’m not selling the house, it’ll still be mine. If I
do
return, I wonder if you’ll all still be here by then?’

Gareth couldn’t concentrate on work that morning.
His head was all over the place: one minute he was thinking about Victoria, next it was Debbie with whom he’d had a terrible row all to do with the planned holiday in Barbados. The travel agent had written wanting the balance in full – so far Gareth had only paid a deposit. He’d blanched when he saw the amount required.

‘We can’t afford this, Deb,’ he told her. ‘I’m not prepared to take on any more debts.’

‘Why not?’ Debbie tossed the pigtails that looked ludicrous on a 25-year-old: until now he’d considered them cute and sexy. ‘We can afford to pay it back.’

‘No, we can’t, Deb,’ he said patiently. ‘I did a calculation the other night. After I’ve paid instalments on all the loans, there’s hardly enough left for us to live on. The interest on top is horrendous and a complete waste of money. It would be madness to go on holiday. We’d need spending money: we’d get even deeper into debt. I’m going to ring the travel agent and cancel. It means losing the deposit, but that’s just too bad.’

‘You’ll do no such thing, Gareth Moran.’ Debbie stamped her foot and Tabitha, who’d been listening, his head going from one to the other as if he was watching a tennis match, turned in fright and ran upstairs. ‘I’m really looking forward to that holiday. I
need
a holiday. I’ve been working dead hard lately.’

‘If you need it all that much, then why don’t
you
pay for it.’

‘You know I don’t earn enough.’

‘Well, now you know that
I
don’t earn enough, not to pay for holidays in Barbados and fancy golf carts,’ Gareth responded angrily.

‘It’s not a golf cart, it’s a Prairie Dog.’ The little
pointed jaw that he’d kissed so tenderly in the past dropped an inch. ‘Does that mean we’re not getting the Prairie Dog either?’

‘Not unless you buy it yourself, Deb.’

On the way to work in the Escort, he’d regretted saying that, just in case she went out and bought the damn thing with her Goldfish card. She might even pay for the holiday as well. He thought of ringing Goldfish and telling them he wouldn’t be held responsible for his wife’s debts, but it seemed an awfully traitorous thing to do.

‘Have you gone deaf, man?’ Kevin enquired from the next desk. Kevin was the same age as him, earned the same wages, was married and had two kids, lived in a perfectly nice house with perfectly nice furniture, drove a newish car, and the only money he owed was to the Halifax for his mortgage. Gareth envied him tremendously. He was beginning to regret marrying Debbie. If they’d just continued to live together, everything would have been fine. It was getting a joint account that had been his undoing.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said to Kevin. ‘Did you say something?’

‘I said, “Are you going deaf?” and before that I asked if you’d like some posh nosh at lunchtime. It’s me birthday and I’m treating all youse guys to a meal.’

‘Count me in,’ Gavin said with a sigh. It might take his mind off things for a while.

Alastair, who’d been asleep in his pram outside Rachel’s back door, woke and began to cry. Sarah took him home for his midday meal, saying, ‘Danny’s babysitting Tiffany and Jack. He’ll have had enough by now.’

Marie said, ‘I’ll come with you,’ and Victoria announced she and Anna were going into town to buy a computer. ‘We’re having lunch first and Ernie will probably want to leave in about half an hour.’ She took Anna home, the older woman clinging to her arm. Only Rachel and Kathleen were left. Having the coffee morning was Rachel’s way of bravely trying to regain some normality in her life, but the effort had left her nervous wreck.

‘I think that went very well,’ Kathleen said warmly.

‘Do you? Frank says I’m a hopeless hostess. I force things on people and they feel obliged to take them just to please me.’

‘You were perfect,’ Kathleen assured her. ‘Everyone enjoyed themselves, I could tell, and I know I did. Isn’t Victoria sweet? I really liked her. I liked Sarah and Marie too,’ she added hastily, ‘and Anna is a real character.’

‘Would you like another cup of coffee?’ Rachel asked. She probably didn’t realize how much her eyes were pleading for Kathleen to say ‘yes’.

‘I’d love one, thank you, and one of your delicious fairy cakes.’ She should really be getting back to Steve, but Rachel’s need seemed so much greater.

Anna had recovered her voice. In the restaurant, she had a loud argument with Ernest as to whether he should order a whole bottle of wine. ‘It’s much cheaper than buying it by the glass,’ she said.

‘It depends how many glasses you buy.
You’re
only allowed one. Unless Victoria can drink the rest of the bottle, it’ll go to waste. I’m having beer. She shouldn’t really drink at all, it interferes with her medication,’ he said to Victoria.

Victoria assured them she couldn’t possibly drink three-quarters of a bottle unless they stayed all afternoon, so Ernest ordered two glasses and Anna made a face at him. ‘Meanie!’

Ernest grinned. ‘I’m just looking after your best interests, luv.’

‘You’re still a meanie.’

They were in the Life Cafe´ in Bold Street where Kathleen and Rachel had lunched the day before on Anna’s recommendation. It was her favourite restaurant. ‘This room’s so gracious,’ she remarked when they went into the circular dining area that had an elegant balcony where more people could be seen having lunch.

‘I’ve always wanted to eat up there,’ Anna said, ‘but I can’t manage the stairs.’

‘I’ve offered to carry her up, but she’s not having it.’

‘I still have some dignity left, Ernie Burrows. You can carry me in private, but not in public. What would you like to eat, Victoria, dear? I’m having chicken salad.’

‘I’ll have curried anything. I love curry.’

The waitress came and Ernest gave their order. They began to talk about computers. ‘Can either of you type?’ Victoria asked.

‘I used to be able to type quite fast,’ Anna said. ‘I learned during the war, but these days my fingers aren’t what they used to be. Ernest can manage quite well with just two.’

From the balcony of the Life Cafe´, Gareth was watching Victoria eat. He’d been hoping for a stress-free hour enjoying the food and the company of his mates, but he’d barely started on his steak and chips
when Victoria had walked in with the old couple from the house next door to Hamilton Lodge. They seated themselves at a table directly beneath him. All he could see was the top of Victoria’s dark curly head. He sent half a dozen thought messages telling her to look up, but they mustn’t have arrived because she didn’t.

‘What’s down there, man?’ asked Kevin.

Gareth jumped guiltily. ‘Down where?’

‘Down there where you keep looking?’

‘I don’t know what you’re on about, Kev.’

‘Every time I speak to you, your eyes are somewhere else. You must be getting a squint.’

Gareth ignored this. Earlier, Kevin had told him he was going deaf. He must be giving an awfully odd impression to people. He continued to look down and saw the old guy, Ernie, signal to the waitress and, worried he might be calling for the bill, he leapt to his feet, muttering, ‘Won’t be a mo,’ and hurtled downstairs.

‘Fancy seeing you here!’ he gasped when he reached the table where his neighbours and Victoria were sitting.

‘Oh, hello.’ Victoria blushed.

‘Hello.’ Anna seemed delighted to see him, as if he were a long-lost friend. ‘Sit down a minute, dear. Gareth, isn’t it? We’re leaving soon.’

Gareth sat in the chair next to Ernest. ‘I was upstairs, on the balcony,’ he gulped. ‘I thought I’d just come and say hello.’

‘Hello,’ Victoria said again.

‘Do you work near here, son?’ Ernest asked.

‘In Duke Street, it’s no distance away.’ He liked the old couple, they were the gear, but Gareth wished they would go away and leave him with Victoria.
He’d be happy for the whole world to disappear as long as she was left behind, the only two people on the planet, with no one to talk to but each other. He loved her! He loved her in a way that he’d never loved Debbie: deep down, with his heart and his soul and his mind and his body. He longed to tell her now, say it aloud, shout, ‘
I LOVE YOU, VICTORIA MACARA,
’ so the whole restaurant would know.

The old guy, Ernie, was saying something to him, asking if he’d like a drink. ‘No, ta. I won’t keep you,’ he stammered. Anna had been chuntering on, saying something about computers and being about to buy their first. He said, ‘If you need any help setting it up, let me know.’

‘Victoria’s going to do it, but I’m sure another pair of hands will prove useful. Come tonight if you’re free. We’ll open some wine, won’t we, Ernie? Make an evening of it.’

Gareth glanced at Victoria who was carefully examining her nails. ‘I’ll be there,’ he said in a choked voice.

‘Isn’t he married?’ Ernest said a few minutes later as he helped Anna into her wheelchair. Victoria had gone to the Ladies. ‘You should’ve invited his wife if we’re going to make an evening of it.’

‘Don’t be an idiot, Ernie,’ she snapped. ‘Can’t you see those two young people are madly in love? The last person Gareth wants there tonight is his wife.’

‘You shouldn’t really be encouraging them, luv.’

‘Don’t be such a misery guts. They’ve only got a few days left together. ‘I’ll encourage them all I like.’ She sighed dreamily. ‘It must have been love at first sight, just like you and me, Ernie.’

‘When we first met, you couldn’t wait to get shot of me,’ Ernest grumbled.

‘I was only pretending. I knew for certain we’d meet again, just like that song. “
We’ll meet again
”,’ she warbled in a shaky voice and everyone turned to look, making Ernest feel hugely embarrassed yet strangely proud of his incorrigible little wife.

In Allerton Road, the tall, luscious figure of Sarah Rees-James, clad in white – stretch T-shirt and stretch jeans – was causing a similar distraction as she pushed the pram along the crowded pavement with a sleeping Alastair inside, Jack crouched at the foot, and Tiffany clutching the handle with one hand and Oliver in the other. Sarah was remarking at the top of her voice on the ‘dear little shops’, saying, ‘How quaint,’ when she saw a beauty parlour.

‘What’s quaint about it?’ Marie asked. She wasn’t even faintly pretty, but usually drew admiring glances with her long red hair. Not today though. All eyes, particularly those of the men, were drawn only to Sarah and, in particular, her shapely breasts.

‘I didn’t think there were places like that out in the sticks.’

‘We’re hardly out in the sticks, Sarah. We’re not far from the centre of Liverpool.’

‘I wouldn’t have expected the people from around here to have facials and leg waxes and stuff,’ Sarah said, much to the annoyance of a passing woman, who turned and glowered at her back.

‘Shush!’ Marie had noticed the woman’s black stare. ‘Don’t talk so loud or someone’s likely to give you a thump.’

‘Well, I’ve never been shopping in a place like this before. It’s almost Victorian.’

‘There’s a Tesco’s over there. Did they have them in Victorian times?’

‘They might have, I wouldn’t know. There’s a hairdressers. It looks quite respectable. I’ll go there and have my streaks done. Hold the pram a minute, Marie, while I buy the children some chocolate.’

‘It’ll melt all over their clothes.’

‘I don’t mind. I
love
washing things.’ Sarah breathed ecstatically. ‘I feel like a magician when I take them out of the machine and they’re all clean again.’ She disappeared into a sweet and tobacconists called O’Connor’s. Marie held the pram and glanced idly at the cards in the window advertising things for sale.

Sarah reappeared. ‘Isn’t this a super adventure, kids?’ she remarked, giving Tiffany and Jack each a Cadbury’s Flake. ‘Oh, look! There’s a shop where you can have keys made and shoes repaired at the same time.’ She looked puzzled. ‘That’s a strange combination. They engrave things too.’

‘There’s thousands of shops the same all over the country, girl. I suppose you threw your shoes away as soon as the heels wore down a bit,’ Marie added caustically.

‘I did no such thing! Mummy used to give them to Mrs Wesley, the housekeeper. She had a daughter who took the same size. Anyway, by that time, they were out of fashion and I wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing them again.’

Marie rolled her eyes. ‘Lucky old you.’

Sarah slowed down the pram and looked at her. ‘Am I getting on your nerves?’