TWENTY-FOUR
DECLAN
On Monday payment from the lady at the café had dropped into Declan’s bank account. He’d met with her one day after work and looked over her books. He’d been impressed that she had logged all of her incomings and outgoings, and saved every single receipt of purchases, all held together with a bulldog clip. She had apologised to him and said she really ought to have it all organised in a folder on the computer, but Declan didn’t mind. In some ways he found it easier to manually look at receipts and do the calculations. He presented her with a bill, which she had now paid. His first customer.
With the extra cash he thought he might take Jess out somewhere extra special, if she would agree to that. In the meantime, there was the BBQ at Mark’s place to look forward to this coming Friday. This morning when he had showered, all the make-up Jess had carefully applied to his face slid down the plughole. At least his mum had not noticed the bruising, though; at least he hoped so. He hated the thought of her worrying about him.
He dressed for work and as he glanced in the mirror, his impressive-looking black eye stared back at him. He was boundto take some ribbing from his colleagues, but he could handle it. He had handled far worse.
As he crossed the landing, Jess’s front door opened.
‘Morning.’ He smiled.
‘Morning. Oh, and thanks for the cake. I have to say, I was very impressed. It was lovely,’ said Jess.
‘Thanks, and you’re welcome.’
‘Yes, it was yummy.’
Maisie pushed in front of her mother at the front door. ‘Do you know how to make chocolate brownies?’ she enquired.
‘Oh, putting in orders now, are we?’ He laughed. ‘No, actually I don’t, but it’s easy enough to find out I suppose.’
‘Maybe Nanny will make some with you on Saturday when she babysits,’ suggested Jess.
‘Off anywhere nice?’ Declan found himself asking.
‘No solid plans.’ Jess tucked a piece of hair that escaped her ponytail behind her ear. ‘But as Mum’s watching Maisie, I might join the work gang for a night out.’
Declan hesitated and found his heart beating a bit faster than usual.Sod it.
‘Do you fancy going out somewhere? Unless you would rather go out with your friends from work, that is.’ He held his hands up.
‘That sounds nice.’ She smiled and he felt his heart soar. ‘The work crowd are always going somewhere or other; I can go out with them another time.’
‘Great. Right, I’d better go.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Catch you later.’
He stopped and turned around then. ‘Actually. Do you want a lift?’
‘No, thanks, honestly. We have our routine in the morning.’
Jess had worked hard to make sure the mornings went like clockwork, without relying on anyone else. She and Maisie werea team, their morning routine well practised. Especially now that Maisie didn’t spend time poring over things she might take into school.
‘No problem. See you later,’ said Declan, before he bounded down the stairs.
TWENTY-FIVE
JESS
As the weekend approached, Jess thought how much she was looking forward to it. Her mum was coming to stay, Mark was hosting a BBQ and Declan had just asked her out. She was grateful that all of these things were pushing thoughts of the sale of Wisteria House to the back of her mind.
As they walked along, Jess with a spring in her step, a gust of wind blew the painting Maisie was carrying for her teacher into the road. She stepped off the pavement to retrieve it, when Jess grabbed her by the wrist. She pulled her daughter to safety just as a speeding car whizzed past, missing her by inches. For a second Jess wondered whether it might not have happened, had Maisie been walking to school with two parents, one on either side.
‘Oh my goodness, Maisie. What have I told you about going into the road?’ she said, her heart hammering wildly as Maisie burst into tears.
‘Sorry, Mummy,’ sobbed Maisie.
Jess hugged her daughter then. She closed her eyes and pushed away any thoughts of what might have happened.
