‘Good, very good.’
‘I’m glad.’ He followed it up with an introduction. ‘This is my mum, Marianne. Mum, this is Bess, she’s a paramedic with the air ambulance.’
‘All these people with important jobs,’ his mum gushed, presumably mostly with pride for her son.
And now it made sense. Gio’s mum was in town, and that likely came with a whole host of problems. Over the years, he hadn’t shared the specifics but she’d got the measure on what Gio’s home life was like and it wasn’t good. When they’d shared a house, Bess had never met his mother but he’d disappeared sometimes for days on end and always came back quieter and more subdued than when he’d left.
Bess lifted up the flowers. ‘I’d better get on, got a few other bits to grab.’ She sensed Gio’s discomfort and she didn’t want to put him through any more of it than was necessary. ‘Good to meet you, Marianne.’ And to Gio, she said, ‘We’ll catch up soon.’
‘Hope so.’ He smiled. He didn’t have to say so but Bess could tell how much his mother’s visit was impacting on him already.
She got the rest of the things she needed and was at the self-serve checkout when he came up behind her.
‘You’re following me,’ she joked. ‘I should report you.’ She looked around. His mum was over the other side of the checkouts, putting through their small basket of shopping. ‘How’s it going?’
His eyes lost their usual sparkle. ‘I don’t really know. Good… weird.’
‘She’s staying with you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Did she tell you she was coming?’
‘What do you think?’
‘Gio…’ his mother called over. She smiled at Bess but quickly looked away as if embarrassed.
‘I’m needed,’ said Gio, his voice soft and low. ‘See you soon.’
Bess watched him go. If they hadn’t been in the supermarket and his mother wasn’t watching, she might have hugged him tight, told him to hang in there, that it would all work out in the end.
Half an hour later, Bess let herself into her mother’s home; Fiona insisted upon it, although Bess had to wonder what would happen if Malcolm became a permanent fixture in her mother’s life. Surely there’d need to be some ground rules then; she didn’t want to walk into a situation she’d rather not see.
She shook away the feeling, called out her arrival and closed the front door behind her. ‘Something smells good,’ she added as she took her coat off.
‘Cinnamon tea cake, your favourite,’ Fiona hollered back as Bess made her way towards the kitchen.
As soon as Fiona saw the bouquet, she hugged her daughter and leaned in to smell the blooms. ‘For me?’
‘Of course for you,’ said Bess. ‘And for you,’ she added to Liquorice, who had already jumped down from the kitchen chair to come over and wind around her ankles, ‘you have a treat too.’ She scooped him up and made a fuss of him as Fiona unloaded the pouches of cat food from the bag Bess had brought in.
Fiona emptied the rest of the bag. ‘Thank you for bringing lunch; I could’ve easily whipped something up, you know.’
‘I thought you could use the rest.’ Bess had found Cajun chicken, a lovely side dish of herbed potatoes, vegetables already prepared. All that needed to be done was to heat it all up in the oven.
‘You’ve spent too much on me today, Bess, what with flowers and food. I don’t expect it.’
‘You didn’t ask, but I wanted to spoil you. You deserve it.’
The cat leapt from her arms and she put the oven on ready to warm everything through. They needed to talk but she couldn’t do it on an empty stomach.
They got the lunch ready, dished up and it was only when they were part way through the meal that Bess’s mum finally mentioned Malcolm.
‘I know it was a shock for you, Bess, seeing me with another man.’
‘How is Malcolm doing?’ Perhaps it would be easier to approach this from a different angle rather than addressing her emotions about the new man in her mother’s life. Medical details she could deal with.
‘Thanks to the wonderful work of all the first responders, including my own brilliant daughter, as well as the hospital staff who took such good care of him afterwards, he’s home already and recovering well.’
