‘Are you OK? You look like you’ve been crying.’
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, thought Grace. It was a bit early for the whole role reversal thing, where the children started being the responsible ones. She shook herself to get rid of the image of the sock lying alone and unloved under the bed.
‘Don’t be silly. It’s just a bit of hay fever. We’re into June now and you know how I am. Give me a proper hug. And you, Jilly.’
Grace pulled both women in, but not before she’d seen the look of concern pass between them.
‘Sit down. Can I make you both a cup of tea?’
Her daughter’s suspicious eyes were something to be avoided at all costs.
‘Are you sure you’re OK?’
‘Yes. Earl Grey or builder’s?’
‘Builder’s, please,’ both women answered at once.
Bustling with the tea things gave Grace a chance to recover. She was really grateful to them for coming to stay while she was away, keeping an eye on the house. As lecturers at a prestigious northern university, they had a big block of time off over the summer, and when Grace rang to suggest a change of scene, her daughter had insisted they were thrilled with it.
‘We’d love to look after the cottage, Mum. College life can be so claustrophobic, bumping into the same people all the time. And you know how much Jilly likes to kayak. We can spend our days on the water.’
‘If you’re sure…’
‘What you’re doing is so exciting, spending the summer in Greece on a crazy whim. You, who never goes anywhere.’
It wasn’t that crazy, and she did get out occasionally, but she’d let it pass.
Grace put the tea things on the table, with a plate of cheese scones from the local bakery.
‘Tuck in. They’re your favourite.’
Her daughter’s face creased into a smile, blonde hair flying everywhere, and Grace noted the answering smile on her daughter-in-law’s face, dark cropped hair framing her beautiful angular features. These two would make anyone smile. Their love was so obvious that Grace wanted to reach out and touch it.
Would she ever feel even a tiny percentage of that sort of love again? Did she even want someone new in her life? Someone who might become ill and die? Grace blocked out a vision of her husband lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by tubes. She honestly didn’t know the answer to her own questions.
It hadn’t been plain sailing for her younger daughter to find happiness. A string of unsatisfactory relationships with men had finally led Flo to see who was patiently waiting right under her nose. Jilly had played the long game and won her princess. Some of Grace’s elderly relatives had been a bit funny about Flo and Jilly’s relationship, and they’d been erased from Grace’s contact list. She was just happy her daughter was happy. And at least Phil had lived to see it.
While Flo and Jilly went out on the river for a quick kayak now the rain had eased up, Grace took the opportunity to finally pack and change the sheets on her bed for her guests. The festive sock was carefully wrapped in a handkerchief and stored away in the back of a drawer.
Dinner was to be a Thai takeaway for the three of them, and once she’d put in the order, Grace placed her iPad in the middle of the table and called the others down.
‘Let’s see if your sister’s up before our food arrives. I know it’s late, but she’s such a night owl, I’m sure she’ll still be awake.’
Grace crossed her fingers under the table.
Lottie answered after just one ring, wide awake and sitting at her kitchen island in tiny white silk shorts pyjamas, her dark hair and eyes so like Phil’s it always gave Grace a jolt.
‘Mum! Sis! And Jilly! What a treat.’
A flurry of waving and air kisses gave Grace the chance to put on her breezy not-bothered-that-you-live-nine-thousand-miles-away-and-I-never-see-you smile.
‘Are you all ready for your Greek adventure then, Mum? Got the thong bikinis and the condoms packed?’
‘Of course, sweetie. It’s all that’s in my suitcase.’
Grace wanted to reach in, grab her eldest daughter and pull her through the screen. She’d been gone for five years now, living in Perth, Australia, with a much younger blond diving instructor who’d swept her off her feet and persuaded her to return with him to his home city. They now ran a diving school together. Grace had got nothing against Brad personally, but the absence of her daughter from her life hurt so much more than she’d ever let on to anyone, except maybe her best friend, Sofia, and only after a vat of dry white wine.
If she’d lived abroad at that age, all her parents would have got was the occasional letter or a rushed call from a payphone, so she was lucky to be able to see and hear her daughter whenever she liked. Touch and smell she would have to do without. There was a bottle of her daughter’s distinctive scent she’d left behind in the cottage, which Grace occasionally sprayed in the air when no one was about.
