39 Weeks (18 page)

It was moving day. I was as packed as I was ever going to be including the last cup after I’d finished my early morning
tea when I got up, an
d now I was waiting with my Dad,
who’d offered to help out,
for James to get back with a
van he’d organised
through a friend
.

‘So James?’ Dad said.

‘He’s a friend, don’t go getting ideas.’

‘Is he
the
. . .?’

‘No he’s not. He’s just a friend.’

‘He seems nice.’

‘Dad he’s a friend, that’s all. I don’t know how else to say it. He’s not a boyfriend he’s just a friend friend.’ I said firmly through gritted teeth.

‘Okay, you don’t have to get nasty. Does he know
that you’re just friends
,
only he seems to like you rather a lot judging by the way he . .’

‘He knows. Now can we leave it . . please?’

I walked over to the window to see if I could see James coming yet with the van, and to stop Dad wittering on about what a nice bloke he thought James was. I knew I was being a bit oversensitive but he like Mum seemed to be determined to pair me off with someone
, no news there
,
they’d both been doing that since my twenty first,
and
it had all
gone into overdrive since they found out I was pregnant.

Mum still thought I was waiting for
the fake father
Rob to get back. I
hadn’t
as
yet
got myself out of the
lie
I’d told her
,
and had
avoided the subject as much as possible
on her duty visit last weekend
when she helped me pack up some of my stuff. I was going to have to come up with something soon though
,
otherwise I could see myself taking the bump to its first day
at school
and Mum still asking me when Rob was going to get back.

I’d been more careful what I’d told Dad, more truthful, but then Dad was a lot more okay about stuff like that, and seeing as Mum and Dad didn’
t talk to each other anymore
I didn’t need to lie to him as well. I hadn’t told him of course that the father was James’s twonk of
a
twin brother. I think even Dad would h
ave freaked out at that, I know
I still was. I was sort of getting over the fact that they looked so alike, especially now that Matt and the rest of the builders had finished
and I
didn’t have to see him anymore, a
nd personality-wise they were as different as chalk and cheese as the saying goes, but still every time I thought about it I was weirded out all over again, after all when you thought about it, it was a bit
. .
well . . odd. I mean look at the facts the father didn’t even know I was expecting and couldn’t even remember me properly, and here I was dating, sorry amend that to being friends with
, the baby’s uncle. Yeah I really didn’t want to think about that too much.
James did seem like a nice guy, and I liked him, he made me laugh, but . . . and there it was, if there was a but in the equation it was a no go
from the start
wasn’t it
? N
ice guy or not.

James pulled up outside with a huge van, climbed out smiling as always,
and waved
to me
watching at
the window. Two seconds later he was through the front door and bonding with my Dad like they’d been bosom
buddies for years.
I knew
James was trying to score brownie points by being mates with my Dad, and Dad was trying to get on well with what he thought was a potential son-in-law. You gotta laugh, well I did anyway, as I watched them
going through this ritual
.

An hour or so later and the van was packed with my meagre amount of furniture and severa
l large boxes. This was it then. G
oodbye mini shoebox flat, and hello much larger, slightly more expensive, new flat. James and my Dad drove off
in the van
, and I followed in my car.

We pulled up in Kingsley R
oad and parked outside number five. I already had the keys and Gill had moved out last weekend so there were no delays in getting in. I was despatched to
the
kitchen with the last
box
I’d
packed that contained all the last minute items, such as the kettle, tea bags, milk and cups
,
and
was
put on
tea making duties, while James and my Dad made a start on shifting everything else out of the van.

It wasn’t easy. At the old flat which had been on the ground floor, getting stuff out the front door
and
o
nto the van hadn’t been too difficult, not that I’d actually carried anything myself but judging by the lack of heavy breathing and red faces it didn’t seem too bad. But at this end everything had to be
carted up a flight of stairs and round a tight corner at the top so there was an abundance of heavy breathing, red faces
,
and swearing, albeit somewhat muted
swearing
in deference to my new
and
unknown
neighbours
on the ground floor. 
 

Everything stopped for twenty minutes while we had a cuppa, there was nowhere to sit as yet, because my sofa and the two dining chairs from the kitchen
had been some
of the first things to go on the van,
and therefore would be
last to come off again at this end.
So we stood drinking our tea leaning on the kitchen cupboards.

I was so excited
about being here,
and was already mentally planning redecorating everywhere. Gills taste was a bit too flowery for me, and too peach. I don’t remember there being so much peach everywhere,
and
unless she
’d
got a job lot of peach paint from somewhere on the cheap, it was obvious she really liked the colour
.
But i
t was already driving me mad, not to menti
on clashing badly with my stuff, and when the sofa was eventually bought up
it could only get worse
as that
was
a
dark pink
colour
.

My Dad was giving James a none too subtle third degree, presumably to make sure he was a suitable candidate for my Pri
nce C
harming. James told him he worked for the same building and decorating company that his twonk brother worked for. Course he didn’t say ‘twonk brother’, that was just me.
And how he lived over on the other side of town, and had his own house. Only a two bed terrace on Limer Street but still it was all his, or would be when he’d paid off the mortgage. My Dad was practically ticking off a check list, nodding and smiling at every answer James came up with. Evidently he passed all the tests with flying colo
urs, as next thing
Dad was saying when James called him Mr Parker was ‘
p
lease
call me
Alan’. Oh God
save me
, if only I
’d been
an orphan.

Tea break over, they went back to bringing the rest of my furniture up. The wardrobe was a complete nightmare to manoeuvre round the tight bend at the top of the stairs, and eventually they decided the only way it would be possible was to take it apart and reassemble it again in situ in the bedroom.

Finally I was in. There were boxes everywhere
and the furniture, what little there was, had just been pretty much dumped, but it was all in the right rooms at least, and no doubt I’d be spending the next day or two, if not week or two, trying everything out in every possible configuration it was possible to configure, before deciding on the perfect a
rrangement, but
I was here, and all my stuff was here
, that was the important thing
.

After another cuppa
, this time sitting down,
Dad decided he really ought to get going, I think he was going on a date judging by how cagey he was being about giving any specific answers or details. And James said
that
as he should be getting the van back he’d give my Dad a lift back to his car
that was
still parked outside my old flat. How nice, all mates together,
all bonhomie. Please God, please let me be an orphan.

As soon as they were out the door and I was on my own, relishing my new space, Mum phoned to make sure everything had gone alright she said. I put my foot in it straight away by mentioning James’s name
. She already knew Dad was helping me, and I think that was the real purpose of the call, to check up on Dad, but she didn’t know about James I’d just said a friend was helping. Naturally being my mother she jumped on it straight away and wanted to know who he was, and how I knew him, and did Rob know about him, and on and on it went. I promise God
,
I’ll never do another bad thing as long as I live, just make me an orphan.

When she’d finally run out of steam half an hour later and said goodbye
,
I breat
hed a sigh of relief and got on with
the unpacking.
I started with my clothes. Most of my stuff, of which there was rather a lot, I hadn’t realised quite how much until I started packing it all, didn’t really fit
me
anymore, so I only unpacked the fat stuff that I could actually wear. It was a pitifully small collection, but I knew it was pointless buying
any
more as it was only a matter of time before what little I had would also be too small and I’d need the next size up again. One of the bonus’s about being in a top floor flat was that you invariably got the use of
any
loft space, so I left my un-wearable clothes packed up with plans of storing the two boxes they filled up there.

I
made the bed up next. I’d learned
the hard way when I’d first moved into my old shoe-box flat
,
that on moving day sooner or later you’d be so tired you’d flake out, and the last thing you’d feel like doing would be to have to make u
p a
bed before you could
go to
sleep
. So this time I made sure it was one of the first things I did.
When I’d finished I was tempted to lie down there and then but stoically resisted and forced myself out to the kitchen instead.

James came back, I wasn’t expecting him to, I’d already said thank you a million times when he left to take the van back, and I’d assumed that was that. But now he was back again, with pizza, and I was starving so I let him in.

‘I thought you’d gone for the day, done your duty and gone.’ I said trying to find plates buried somewhere in the depths of one of the boxes.

‘Thought you’d be hungry.’

‘I am but . .’

‘Okay then. Don’t worry about plates we’ll just eat
straight
from the box. Might need a knife though.’

I switched tack from looking for plates and started searching for cutlery, thankfully that was easier to find.

‘My Dad get off alright?’

‘Yeah. I like him he’s a nice bloke.’

‘Yes. You know he thinks . .’

‘Yes
.’

‘Well did you tell him that we weren’t . .’

‘Yes of course.’

‘Really?’

‘No not really, he thought you and I were . . and I . .’

‘Great.’

‘Well we could be.’

‘No we couldn’t.’

‘You’re still sticking with that are you?’

‘Yes. We’re friends. It was your plan remember.’

‘Okay, friends . . for now.’
he said handing me a slice of pizza.

I opened my mouth to object but he cut me short and before I had a chance to utter even a small objection, or even so much as an ‘um’
he
said ‘
y
ou found your calendar
yet? I
t won’t look like home until you’ve got a naked man or two hanging about the place
will it?’
then
a wicked grin spread over his face as he laughed at his own joke
.

25
th
September – Week 17

My first day in my new flat. When I woke up this morning it felt like Christmas, you know that
excitement you feel when you’re a kid, early in the morning before anyone else is awake, and the whole magic day you’ve been waiting for
all year,
is finally here. Well I felt like that.