He hung up; pleased he’d claimed a small victory against the doubters in front of him.
‘Guilt,’ Josie sneered. ‘That’s what changed their minds. Pure guilt. But at least if Lila thinks she’s having dinner with Ma and Pa, she’ll show up. Yer support pants are safe, Val.’
‘Here you go, see you again soon,’ the sales assistant said hopefully, handing over a navy and gold gift bag.
Outside, Cammy paused, looked around him, adjusted the game plan.
‘Okay, restaurant next, but I’m starving and I don’t want to eat there twice in one day. What about stopping off somewhere on the way?’
Josie and Val both nodded, before Val, mission leader, synchronised her watch. ‘What about that tapas place just off George Square? Service is always really quick in there.’
11
Bernadette
‘He’s fine. Your dad’s fine, so don’t worry,’ Bernadette blurted, reassuring her daughter, just as little Casey threw his arms around Bernadette’s leg, like the koala bear he’d seen at Edinburgh Zoo the weekend before. He refused to be prised off, so she had to walk to the kitchen, dragging one leg behind her. ‘Remind me how cute he is when I’m in getting my hip replacement,’ she said, so grateful for the light moment that she could have let him stay there, hugging her all day, delaying the inevitable.
Eventually Nina tempted him off using the persuasive powers of strawberry yogurt, while scrutinising her mother’s face for a hint as to what had warranted the unexpected visit.
‘Right Tiger, why don’t we give you a treat and let you watch SpongeBob,’ Nina said, evoking a riotous cheer from her son, who then darted over to the family area of the kitchen and parked himself in front of the TV. ‘Yet another thing I said I’d never do,’ Nina mused. ‘It’s up there with feeding them anything that isn’t organic and bribing them to go to bed at night.’
‘I was guilty on all those counts too,’ Bernadette said, with a wry smile. Her daughter was a great mum to Casey and Milo. Compassionate. Thoughtful. Focussed. It was what had made her a great nurse. Bernadette had been surprised when Nina had followed her into the job, albeit in a very different field.
‘The kettle’s just boiled, Mum. I’ll just be a sec, if you want to get the mugs out.’
Bernadette busied herself making tea while Nina sorted the TV out for Casey, trying to steady her hands as she poured the water into the mugs.
Nina had married a lovely guy, Gerry, an electrician for a local house-building company. They’d got a good discount on this house because Gerry worked for the company and finished it himself. They didn’t have a great deal of money, now that Nina was only working part-time, but they were happy. At least, Bernadette thought they were. Who really knew what went on behind closed doors? She was pretty sure anyone who looked at her life with Kenneth would think they’d had a great marriage. If only it had felt that way from the inside.
Casey settled and engrossed in the cartoon, Milo gurgling happy in a playpen next to them, Nina finally sat down.
‘Ok Mum, you’re going to have to tell me really quickly what’s wrong because my imagination is running riot here and my heart is thudding like a train. So whatever it is, you need to blurt it out. Are you sick? Is Dad sick? That’s it, isn’t it? Oh God, Mum, I’m so…’
‘I’m leaving your dad, Nina.’
That hadn’t come out the way she’d planned at all. What had happened to breaking it gently, pre-empting it with reassurances and explanations to soften the blow? Nina had always been a daddy’s girl, adored her father, hung on his every word. And now she was staring at her, chin dropped, eyes wide, completely speechless.
Bernadette reacted to the silence by going into panic mode, a state that sent a direct message to her gob to ramble like a woman possessed. ‘Nina, I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. I know this will be shocking to you, but Ipromise it won’t change anything. I’ll still be here. I just can’t stay and there are a million reasons, but I won’t go into them, because…’
‘It’s about time.’ Nina had finally found her voice.
‘…What?’ Bernadette wasn’t sure she’d heard right.
Nina sighed, then took a sip of her tea. ‘It’s about time,’ she repeated. ‘Mum, I don’t know how you’ve stuck it so long.’
Bernadette sagged back in her chair, completely flabbergasted. ‘I don’t understand. I thought you’d be upset, devastated even.’
Nina sighed, clearly neither upset nor devastated at all.
‘Mum, you’ve been unhappy for years.’
‘I have. Oh God knows, I have. But I thought… I didn’t realise I’d let it show. Or that you’d picked up on it.’
The corners of Nina’s mouth turned up as she leaned over and put her hand over her mother’s. ‘Mum, I’m a psychiatric nurse. I’d be pretty shite at my job if I hadn’t noticed.’
Bernadette was finding it hard to absorb this unexpected turn of events. ‘But you never said.’
‘Because you didn’t either. Look, Mum, I get it. I love Dad, but I see how you live. I know that there’s no warmth, no real affection. I wasn’t aware of it when I was growing up, but I think as I got older, maybe when I started my training, that I began to notice it. Not to mention the fact that you have nothing in common except us.’
