‘Good thinking,’ said Alice. ‘Then would you like to sit on the sofa and watch a bedtime cartoon? If that’s alright?’ She turned to Jess.
‘Yes, of course. Just for half an hour maybe, then we should probably get going.’
It was a shame really as the conversation was just getting interesting. Audrey Hepburn! Imagine meeting her in real life! Jess could hardly take it in. She had met a well-known reality star when they promoted a branch of their clothing at the shop, and thought that was exciting. What a life Alice must have lived.
‘I will put them on in the dressing room.’
Maisie took the pyjamas from her mother and went behind the couch to change.
‘That’s what she does at home if we have visitors,’ Jess told the others with a grin. ‘Behind the couch is her dressing room.’
‘What do you do, Mark? I know a little about Declan and Jess,’ said Alice as Maisie settled down on the couch to watch a cartoon with her toy zebra.
‘I’m retired now, but I was a firefighter,’ he explained. ‘I took early retirement with a good pension, so my wife and I could go travelling.’ He took a sip of his wine before going on to tell them that his wife had passed away. ‘I’m so glad we never waited to visit the places we wanted to. I miss her every day, though,’ he said, and Alice reached over and patted his hand.
‘Keeping busy is the key,’ Alice advised. ‘Isolating oneself just allows thoughts to develop. You must always go out, even if it is just for a walk. Maybe even join a club of some sort.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve done that,’ Mark replied. ‘I’m a member of the boating club at the marina. I bought myself a boat on a bit of a whim with Di’s life insurance and joined the club. They are a nice bunch down there. They saved me from myself when I was in a bit of a dark place,’ he revealed.
Jess wondered if he had any other family but as he hadn’t mentioned any, she didn’t think that now was the time to ask.
Talk turned to movies and television shows then, and Alice’s guests were surprised to hear that she enjoyed a little bit of reality TV.
‘Travel programmes mainly, although I did enjoy one programme recently about surviving in the wilds. Which I found quite ridiculous.’ She laughed. ‘Especially as the participants had a whole camera crew filming them. They were hardly going to starve to death, were they?’ she said, rolling her eyes.
‘You wouldn’t catch me sleeping out in the forest without a camera crew.’ Jess shuddered. ‘There could be psychopaths out there.’
‘We need more of those,’ said Maisie, as she yawned sleepily.
‘What?’ Jess asked, startled. ‘Why would you say that?’
‘Because when we were walking home from school, I heard you say to Darcy’s mum that we need more psychopaths around here.’
Jess racked her brains wondering why on earth Maisie would say such a thing.
‘It was when that man on the bike nearly knocked into us.’ Maisie snuggled into her blanket and cuddled her toy zebra.
Jess put two and two together then and almost fell off her chair laughing.
‘I said “cycle paths”,’ she explained, and Alice, Declan and Mark joined in, roaring with laughter too.
TWELVE
ALICE
‘There’s nothing quite like laughter to bring people together. Children really are a joy, aren’t they?’ Alice laughed as she stood and began to clear the table.
‘They are. Maisie is always coming out with things like that.’ Jess wiped her eyes. ‘Here, let me do that,’ she said, taking some glasses from Alice.
‘We’ll do it together,’ said Declan, getting to his feet and piling the dessert bowls on top of one another on a tray.
‘If you insist, then thank you. I’m afraid I don’t have a dishwasher but leave them on the side. I will leave them in to soak until the morning,’ advised Alice.
‘You will do no such thing,’ said Jess. ‘I’m quite happy to wash the dishes; it’s the least I can do to thank you for a delicious meal.’
‘I’ll dry,’ said Declan.
Alice caught Jess colouring slightly at the idea of being in the small kitchen with him. She smiled to herself.
