Never Say Goodbye (45 page)

‘I haven’t heard from my solicitor yet, but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t go through. Are we still on for coffee at the Seafront tomorrow?’

‘Of course. I’m looking forward to it, and don’t start going on about coming to pick me up. I’ll be perfectly all right on the bus, or Jeff’ll drop me off if he’s going that way.’

‘OK, if you’re sure. Hang on, it’s me who’s got another call this time. Tell you what, I’ll call you back, just in case it’s the solicitor.’

After ringing off and pocketing her phone, Josie decided to drop into the health centre to check her blood pressure, just because she could, and finding everything pleasingly normal she carried on to the high street, where she ran into one of her mother’s friends in the butcher’s.

‘Oh, Josie, how are you, love?’ Sandy Tremble asked mournfully. ‘I’m ever so sorry about what you’re going through. Must be terrible, and you’ve lost such a lot of weight. Eileen’s that worried about you. Well, we all are. You know if there’s anything I can do . . .’

Like cheer up
, Josie was thinking. ‘That’s lovely of you, Sandy,’ she said. ‘Thanks, but I’m doing really well.’

‘I must say you look a bit better than I was expecting,’ Sandy admitted, ‘but you ought to get our Cheryl to show you how to hide those sores on your face. You know what she’s like with make-up.’

‘Oh, they’ll go soon enough,’ Josie assured her. She hadn’t realised the sores were so conspicuous, and how typical of Sandy to remark on them. She’d never been known for tact.

‘Josie? Is that you?’ the butcher’s wife called out. ‘Yes it is. How lovely to see you up and about. And there’s a pretty scarf you’re wearing. That shade of blue really suits you. Goes with your eyes.’

Josie smiled. ‘Thanks, Ellie.’

‘Are you going to get a wig for the wedding?’ Sandy asked.

‘I’m thinking about it,’ Josie replied.

‘It’s tragic, all your beautiful hair falling out like that,’ Sandy sighed.

Ellie said, ‘It happened to my cousin when she had it, but it grew back once the chemo was over.’

‘Which cousin was that?’ Sandy wanted to know.

Leaving them to it, Josie took her mobile outside to answer a call from Lily. ‘Hi love,’ she said. ‘Everything OK?’

‘No, it’s not,’ Lily cried wretchedly. ‘I’ve just heard from the Kesterly Golf Club – apparently we can’t have our reception there, because they’ve gone and double-booked and the other people were first. What are we going to do? I’ve told everyone now. It’s on all the invitations.’

Josie was thinking fast. ‘Who did you speak to?’ she asked.

‘Mrs Camber, the one we saw when we went for a look round.’

‘OK,’ Josie replied. ‘Leave it to me.’

She picked up a couple of lamb chops for Jeff’s tea, finding later that Ed, the butcher, had thrown in half a dozen bangers for free. As soon as she got home, Josie grabbed Jeff’s car keys and handed them to him.

‘What’s going on?’ he demanded, as she started for the door.

‘We’ve got some business to sort out for Lily,’ she informed him.

‘Well, whatever it is,’ he retorted, ‘it’ll have to wait, because you look all in, woman, and I’ve got to pick someone up from Maple Drive at quarter past.’

Accepting that she didn’t actually have the energy for it now, and anyway Mrs Camber had probably already left for the day, Josie sank down in her favourite chair and felt it might be good if she didn’t have to get up again for quite a while.

‘So what’s happening with Lily?’ Jeff prompted.

As she explained, Josie felt her eyelids starting to droop.

‘OK, let me deal with it,’ he told her when she’d finished. ‘You’re doing too much these days and wearing yourself out.’

‘I’ll be fine tomorrow,’ she assured him, ‘and we should go there together.’

‘Will you do as you’re told for once in your life?’ he cried.

Keeping her eyes closed, she smiled. She liked it when he put his foot down.

‘I’m not joking,’ he growled. ‘You’re not helping yourself, gallivanting around the place . . .’

‘Ssh,’ she interrupted, putting a finger to her lips.

‘Are you going to answer that?’ he asked as her mobile rang. ‘It’s Bel. I’ll tell her you’ll ring back . . .’

‘No, it’s OK,’ and clicking on she said, ‘So was it the solicitor?’

‘It was,’ Bel replied. ‘Apparently there’s some mix-up with the paperwork. I’ll have to go and see him in the morning, so can we get together later in the day?’

‘No problem, something’s come up here as well, so why don’t we speak on the phone around lunchtime and work things out from there?’

‘You’re kidding me,’ Bel cried in outrage as Fliss brought a tray of drinks to the table. ‘They can’t do that.’

‘Apparently they can, and so they have,’ Josie told her, the dark circles around her eyes appearing more like bruises than shadows. How tired she looked today, Bel had thought the minute she’d seen her. Now she knew that the encounter at the golf club had knocked it out of her.

‘She put up a good fight,’ Jeff declared, patting Josie’s hand, ‘but the events co-ordinator, or whatever she calls herself, wasn’t going to budge. Apparently the other booking’s for the mayor’s son, so I reckon we got shafted, not double-booked. Of course we can’t prove it, so all we can do is accept our deposit back and start looking for somewhere else.’

Bel was having none of it. For almost a month now, since learning she had secondaries, Josie had been coping brilliantly, doing her best, to rise above everything life was throwing at her. Added to that, Lily was on tenterhooks waiting for her exam results while she held down a job at Sainsbury’s. So no way was she, Bel, going to allow some jumped-up mayor and snooty events organiser to get away with slamming them down like this. ‘I need to know the woman’s name,’ she told Jeff firmly, ‘because someone has to pay for the invitations to be reprinted and resent, and if we’re going to hold the reception in my garden, which I think we should, they’re going to bloody well pay for the marquee.’

Josie blinked.

‘We can’t let you do that, Bel,’ Jeff protested. ‘I mean, it’s lovely of you, but you . . .’

‘Before you turn it down,’ Bel interrupted, ‘you need to come and see the place. As Josie knows, there’s plenty of room, a terrific sea view and no golf balls flying about to take out your eye or crack your skull.’

‘You’re being too hasty,’ Josie declared. ‘You need to think about it, because I’m telling you, you won’t want the likes of our lot trampling about your lovely home . . .’

‘Don’t be such a snob,’ Bel scolded.

Josie had to laugh at that.

‘Josie’s right,’ Jeff told her. ‘We can’t let you throw open your doors to people you don’t even know, especially when it’s Josie’s family.’

‘
My family!
’ Josie cried, turning on him – and seeing the mischief in his eyes she slapped his hand. ‘Well, I have to admit,’ she said, ‘I’ve already got visions of my mother chucking up in the garden and our Steve half-inching the silver. Honest, Bel, you really don’t want to do this.’

‘Yes I do,’ Bel insisted, becoming keener on the idea by the minute, ‘provided Lily and Jasper are willing, of course, and let’s face it, the chances of finding somewhere else now, when August isn’t much more than three months away, are almost non-existent. Everything will have been booked up ages ago.’

‘We ought at least to look around,’ Josie said, ‘because I’d feel terrible if anything of yours got damaged . . .’

‘I have insurance, and the few valuables I keep there can always be locked away. Why don’t you take Josie home when we’ve finished here,’ she said to Jeff, ‘then come and have a look yourself?’

Josie seemed about to speak, but then remained silent. Probably, Bel decided, because she was too weary to form the words. Damn mayor and golf club. She was going to give that events organiser such a rollicking when she got hold of her. ‘Did you sleep last night?’ she asked Josie gently.

Josie glanced at Jeff. ‘Yes, I think so,’ she replied, but Bel could tell she hadn’t, probably worrying about the venue for Lily’s wedding, but also because it was one of the cruellest parts of chemo, making someone feel utterly exhausted, but not allowing them to sleep.

‘What’s happening about the barn?’ Josie asked, trying to change the subject.

‘Oh, it’s being sorted,’ Bel replied dismissively. She wasn’t going to get into the fact that the farmer was considering a higher offer from somebody else. It wasn’t Josie’s problem, and she didn’t much want to think about it right now anyway. ‘So what time’s your treatment tomorrow?’ she wanted to know. ‘I could probably come and pick you up after I’ve dropped the children at school.’

‘Oh no, no, I don’t want you putting yourself out like that,’ Josie protested. ‘You’ve got enough on your plate taking care of those kids . . .’

‘It’s OK, I’ll go with her tomorrow,’ Jeff announced, signalling Fliss for the bill.

Josie turned to him in surprise.

‘What?’ he said. ‘My company not good enough for you now?’

‘Don’t be daft. I just thought you’d be working.’

‘That don’t mean I can’t take my Mrs to the hospital. I’ll fit everything in around it.’

Still amazed, Josie looked at Bel.

Smiling, Bel simply raised her eyebrows.

Turning back to Jeff, Josie squeezed his hand as she said, ‘That’ll be lovely.’

‘All right, all right, you don’t have to get carried away,’ he told her, but he left his hand in hers as he dug into his pocket to pay for the drinks.

‘It’s OK, I’ll do it,’ Bel insisted. ‘I was here before you, so I’ve had an extra cup.’

‘It’s all on the house,’ Fliss declared rashly, having moved within earshot.

‘You’re not going to get rich that way,’ Jeff protested. ‘Come on, how much do I owe you, and make it quick because I have to get Josie home before I go for my next pickup.’

‘Keep your money,’ Fliss told him, turning back to the counter. ‘Or give it to charity.’

‘Is your phone ringing?’ Josie asked Bel, nodding to where it was on the table.

Having forgotten it was on silent, Bel picked it up, and seeing who it was she turned the phone for Josie to look.

Josie’s non-existent eyebrows arched with interest as Bel said, ‘Hi Kristina, how are you?’

‘I’m fine,’ Kristina replied, sounding throaty and faint, ‘well, actually I’m not. It’s why I’m ringing. I was wondering if I could come to see you.’

Bel was looking at Josie as she said, ‘Of course you can come to see me. Where are you?’

‘In London. I can drive down tomorrow or the next day, whenever suits you.’

‘How about tomorrow?’ Bel suggested. ‘Do you want to meet up somewhere, or will you come to the house?’

‘I’ll come to the house if that’s OK. Unless . . . Is Nick . . . Is he staying with you?’

‘No, but the children are, so if you can make it around eleven?’

‘That’s fine. I’ll see you then. And . . . thank you.’

Feeling for how wretched she sounded, Bel clicked off the line and looked at Josie again.

‘So she wants to see you,’ Josie stated. ‘I can’t say I’m surprised.’

Bel shook her head. ‘I don’t suppose I am, either. I just wish I knew what I was going to say to her.’

‘You’ll have a better idea of that once you’ve heard what she has to say to you,’ Josie pointed out, ‘but remember, it’s not your fault this is happening.’

Knowing that in large part it was, Bel said, ‘It’s time you were going home. You look shattered.’

‘Do I?’ Josie replied. ‘I’m starting to perk up actually. See, that’s the effect you have on me.’

Laughing, since she knew it was Jeff’s offer to take her for her treatment that was providing the boost, Bel said, ‘Let me know what Lily and Jasper think of my idea, and if they’re up for it we’ll arrange for them to come and see the garden.’

‘I still reckon you ought to take some time to think it over,’ Jeff advised, ‘because it’s a big thing to take on, especially when you’re not going to know anyone, apart from us.’

‘I’ll cope,’ Bel promised, packing up her bag to leave, ‘and I’ll call you as soon as I have some news from the golf club.’

‘Are you sure about coming to the hospital tomorrow?’ Josie asked, as Jeff got into the driver’s side of their car.

‘Course I’m sure,’ he retorted, wincing at the way the engine turned over half a dozen times before catching, ‘I wouldn’t have said it otherwise. Or don’t you want me there? I don’t mind if you’d rather have Bel . . .’

‘No, no, I want you to come. It’s just, you and hospitals, I thought . . . Well, we don’t want you passing out on us, do we?’ she teased.

He cast her a glance that was just like his old humorous self.

Feeling a lovely catch in her heart at how handsome he was, she said, ‘So why now all of a sudden, when you’ve only picked me up a couple of times before?’

He shrugged. ‘Just thought it was time I did my bit . . . And our Lily told me if I didn’t she’d divorce me.’

Josie had to laugh, even though she’d have preferred it to have been his own idea.

‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘I don’t want you coming out the end of this thinking I never did anything to help. I know I haven’t been all that good about it up to now, but to be honest, I didn’t know what to do. It really got to me, thinking you might . . . Well, you know what happens to people who have cancer . . . I know not all of them, but if you were going to be one . . . Anyway, you’re not now, so we just have to get this next bit of chemo out of the way and then we can go back to normal. Although, I have to tell you, I’m getting used to the new you, the way you went at that woman in the golf club earlier, wow, that’s my Josie, I thought. You can hang on to a bit of that if you like.’

Josie could feel her heart breaking. How was she ever going to be able to tell him the truth? ‘It didn’t get us anywhere though, did it?’ she replied flatly.

‘Maybe not, but at least you gave her what for, and I bet Bel don’t have much trouble putting her in her place either. She won’t be dealing with the little people then, will she, stuck-up mare that she was? I’m telling you, if she’d been a bloke I’d have put one on her.’

‘I thought you were going to anyway.’

His expression turned sardonic again. ‘Maybe I should have. Anyway, you’d better save the next time you go off on one till all this is over,’ he advised, ’cos it’s worn you out.’