He takes a deep breath and dives in. ‘I may have done something stupid.’
Hannah’s eyebrows rise.
‘I’ve been in contact with Jess’s mum, Alison.’
Her mouth drops open. Not a good sign. ‘You’ve spoken to her?’
‘Not yet. We’ve just texted a couple of times.’
Hannah’s mouth purses and she chews the inside of her lip, something he sees her doing frequently at work when she’s battling with a spreadsheet. ‘Does Jess know?’
He shakes his head. This is where he’s getting into ‘stupid’ territory. ‘But now Alison is saying she wants to meet up and I don’t know if I should.’ He’s not sure about anything at the moment. Should he confess all to Jess? Or should he just pull the plug and tell her mum it’s all been a horrible mistake?
‘Why now?’ Hannah asks. ‘What’s caused her to reach out after all this time?’
How much does he admit? He was so convinced he was doing the right thing when he sent the first text to his mother-in-law but hearing the admission in his head makes him second-guess himself. Will Hannah think he’s being disloyal?
‘Actually, it was the other way around.’
‘Oh … okay. Wow.’
He rubs his hand over his face. ‘I know what you’re thinking … but she’s been sober for a while now. And I know, no matter how much Jess doesn’t like to talk about it, that the absence of her mother leaves a huge hole in her life. I suppose I was just, um, testing the waters.’
‘Why do you think she wants to see you face to face?’
He shrugs. ‘Don’t know. But if I was going to hazard a guess, it would be that she’d like to be a part of her daughter’s life again. And that might not be such a bad thing, you know? If she’s stable and sober. Maybe she and Jess could turn over a new leaf. But I won’t know unless I talk to her. So what do you think? Should I go?’
She thinks for a moment. ‘It’s hard to call without knowing what she has to say, so maybe you should hear her out.’
That’s what he’d been thinking. It’s tough to make a decision on whether to bring Alison back into their lives based on a handful of text messages.
‘Are you planning on telling Jess if you get to that point?’
‘Of course.’
Hannah messes around with the photos laid out on the breakfast bar. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Luke, except tread carefully.’
‘You think it’s a bad idea?’
‘Possibly. Possibly not. Maybe you’re right, and her mother holds the key. Just … tell Jess when you need to, okay?’
He nods and they go back to perusing the photos that will eventually become part of his anniversary present to Jess. A sculpture is nice, but if he could give his wife healing, closure, wouldn’t that be even better?
He shuffles the pictures around and holds one up for Hannah’s opinion.
‘It’s a great shot of Jess, but it’s a bit blurry,’ she says, her forehead crinkling in thought. ‘Hang on … I think I may havesome from your wedding day that will fit the bill. I can get one printed off at that place in the High Street if we need to.’ She fetches a laptop and clicks and scrolls until she finds what she’s looking for, then spins it around so he can see the screen. ‘What do you think?’
It’s a picture of Jess on their wedding day, joy sparking from her eyes, captured laughing as her veil blew around her face. ‘It’s perfect,’ he says.
‘And here’s one of you looking very handsome from the same day,’ she adds, clicking the mousepad a few more times. ‘If you put yours on the left and hers on the right, it’ll look as if you’re smiling at each other.’
He grins at her. ‘I never would have thought of that. See? This is why I shouldn’t have attempted to do this alone. Honestly, Hannah, I can’t thank you enough for giving up your precious free time to do this for me.’
She looks away and smiles. ‘It’s no problem, really. The least I can do after all you and Jess have done for me over the years.’
He gives her a gentle nudge with his elbow. ‘Even if you’re constantly calling me a tyrant at work?’
She chuckles. ‘Even then.’
