‘Has Lucas muddied the waters?’
‘No!’
‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
She waited for her sister to respond, but she didn’t. ‘Willow?’
Still nothing.
Oh dear, Martha thought, perhaps she’d gone too far with her questioning. She then looked at the screen of her mobile and saw that the signal had gone. She sighed with frustration.
While she waited for the signal to return, in the hope that it would, there came a reassuring voice.
‘Hi Martha, how’s it going?’
It was Andy, back from whatever he’d been doing.
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Do you have any good news for me?’
‘I most certainly do.’
Seconds later and she could hear voices the other side of the lift doors. Then, as she hauled herself up on her feet, the doors magically opened, and she was greeted by two men in hi-vis jackets and a small contingent of co-workers.
Jason was there too. ‘Bloody hell, Martha,’ he said, ‘if you wanted a later start to the day, you only had to ask.’
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry with happy relief.
Chapter Forty-Seven
After trying to ring her sister back and getting no answer, Willow then tried Tom’s mobile, but it went straight to voicemail. She left a message for him to ring her, then rang Anchor House. To her surprise it wasn’t her mother or Ellis who answered; it was Auntie Geraldine.
‘I’ve left your Uncle Brian and am staying here until I’ve made further plans,’ Geraldine barked out before Willow could explain why she was ringing.
‘Oh,’ she said, completely flummoxed. ‘But why?’
‘Why not?’
‘Because … because you’ve always been Auntie Geraldine and Uncle Brian. I can’t picture the two of you any other way.’
Geraldine tutted. ‘That’s the feeblest reason to stay married I’ve ever heard.’
A terrible thought occurred to Willow. ‘He hasn’t been having an affair, has he?’
‘Good Lordno!Mind you, I might have more respect for him if he had. It would at least show he has some get-up-and-go in him.’
Willow couldn’t help but feel sorry for Uncle Brian. ‘Is he very upset?’ she asked.
‘I wouldn’t know. He’s hopeless at expressing himself.’
About to ask if he had been given the chance to express himself, Willow remembered why she’d rung. ‘Is Mum there?’ she asked.
‘No, she’s next door with Lover-Boy.’
‘With who?’
‘Withwhom?’ Geraldine corrected her. ‘And she’s with Ellis, of course. That’s what I called him back in the day when they—’ Geraldine broke off abruptly. ‘Well, that’s all water under the bridge. Nothing we need discuss now. Would you like me to ask your mother to ring you?’
‘No. Well yes, if she wants to. But the important thing is to tell her Martha is stuck in the lift at her office building, but there’s nothing to worry about, help is on the way.’
