Isobel smiled at Bella and rolled her eyes. ‘Hi, Mum. How are you? What’s up?’
‘Och, I’ve been trying to track you down as I need to check something with you. I just wondered if you would mind popping round later. I’ve just got some papers for you to sign.’
Isobel sighed. ‘Yes, of course. I was going to go to my keep fit class though . . .’
‘That’s fine. Do your class and then come over. You’ll be in a better mood after that. You’re sounding on edge.’
Bella winced as she watched her mum bristle at that comment.
‘But don’t worry, I’ll even make you some dinner if you want.’
‘That’s a deal,’ said Isobel, seemingly placated by the offer of a meal. ‘Bella’s out tonight anyway. I’ll be over after seven and be as happy as Larry as I’ll have more endorphins than I’ll know what to do with . . .’
‘Righty-ho. See you then. Bye. Bye Bella. Come and see me soon.’
‘I will, Gran. Don’t you worry. I haven’t forgotten I’m your favourite gran’daughter . . .’
Margaret chuckled. ‘You’re myonlygran’daughter. See you later alligator.’
‘Bye,’ chorused Bella and Isobel.
Bella ended the call and then looked at her mum who had turned to stare out the window. Bella wondered what she was looking at and went to stand beside her. All she could see were a few cars driving past on the street below and the woman in the flat opposite standing on her phone frowning. ‘Mum, are you okay?’
‘Yes, just thinking that I can’t be bothered with the exercise class but I should really go as it will make me feel better.’ She reached over and hugged Bella.
‘Mum . . . you know how I’m thinking of going travelling?’
Isobel looked at her. ‘Uh-huh.’
Bella looked at her mum’s face intently as she spoke. ‘What do you think I should do? I was wondering about changing my plans to go to South-East Asia and just head straight to Australia and New Zealand. Lily’s just back from there and she has been raving about it.’ Lily was one of her friends from college and she was already talking about going back.
Did she detect a glimmer ofsomethingpass over her mum’s face?
‘Well, they’re both big countries. I’m sure you will have a great time.’
‘But how did you and Rosie decide where you were going to go when you went off travelling?’
Isobel turned to look out the window again. ‘Gosh, it was such a long time ago. Almost a lifetime . . .’ Her voice trailed away. ‘We had always wanted to go to Australia and had been saving for years. Then when we started looking at flights the options were to stop off in Bangkok or Singapore. We chose Bangkok which was amazing. Then we flew to Brisbane and down the Gold Coast and onto Sydney.’
‘Sounds amazing, Mum. You’ll have some top tips then?’
She nodded. ‘I guess so. Though it was a long time ago now. It will have changed a lot.’
Bella thought her mum looked a bit wistful. ‘Do you wish you had travelled more?’
Isobel frowned. ‘Not really.’
‘Didn’t you plan to go for longer? You don’t really say much about it.’
Isobel’s face flushed and she fanned her face. ‘I suppose it was a long time ago, love. But I think I was quite open to it all and went with the flow. Why, what makes you ask?’
‘I just wondered,’ said Bella. ‘I suppose I just wondered what made you want to come home. Weren’t you and Rosie and Ash having the time of your lives?’
‘Yes, we were having an absolute ball. But Ash wasn’t with us for that long before heading to Brisbane and Rosie was keen to explore more. I missed home and your gran,’ she said half-jokingly.
Bella really loved her mum but couldn’t imagine missing her so much that she would curtail her travel plans. And leave a hot country where so much fun stuff was happening to come back to Scotland. But then that was her. She had to keep reminding herself everyone had different perspectives in life.
‘Seriously, I had seen enough and my life had changed a bit in the time I was away from home. I realised that I didn’t need to go abroad to find what I was searching for. I had everything I needed.’ Isobel looked at her watch. ‘I’ll need to keep an eye on the time for my class. Um, Rosie stayed on. Maybe you should chat to her?’ Isobel frowned. ‘Mind you, maybe now she wishes she had come home with me and then she wouldn’t have met that big eejit Dermot after I left her in Australia.’
