‘It was Drew’s idea for me to leave teaching,’ she muttered to herself, shaking her head as if some invisible source was arguing the point. ‘I admit I told him how unhappy I was, but it was Drew who said we could manage fine without my salary by that point. He was the one who dealt with the finances. He knew the situation. I didn’t push him into anything.I didn’t!’
But had she, without even meaning to? Drew had been such a kind man. He would have done anything to make her happy. And he knew how risk averse she was. The very fact that she was even mentioning how she’d like to leave her job – even though she had no intention of doing so then – would have signalled to him how unhappy she was feeling. Had he felt unable to ignore her misery? Had she emotionally blackmailed him, however unintentionally?
Biting back tears, she took her plate into the kitchen and scraped the takeaway into the bin. She couldn’t face it now. Instead, she made herself a hot chocolate and carried it back into the living room, trying to calm herself down. She felt sick with anxiety. She hated confrontation of any kind, but to argue like that with her son-in-law! She couldn’t believe she’d fallen out with her own family, and that she might never get to see Hallie and Ada again. Panic gripped her and she wondered for a moment if she should call Jenna, tell her she would give up her job and accept her offer to be the twins’ nanny.
When the phone rang, she was almost afraid to look at it. What if it was Joel ready for Round Two? Or what if it was Jenna calling to add her tuppence worth? She really couldn’t deal with any more accusations.
Daring to peer at the screen she almost sobbed with relief when she saw Rosie’s name flash up on the screen. She accepted the call without even thinking about it, but it was some moments before she could manage to say hello, as she struggled to hold back the tears, her throat tight with emotion, her heart thudding.
‘Ali? Ali, are you there?’
Alison desperately swallowed and managed to croak out a response.
‘You sound awful. Have you got a cold? I was just ringing to tell you that I’m finally moving back into the caravan on Sunday, and I’ve just come here to give it a good clean. Wish I could stay here all night to be honest, but I daren’t risk getting chucked out when I’m so close to escaping Mam and Dad’s.’ She laughed. ‘Mind you, I’m in no hurry to go back to theirs yet. Just about to order meself a takeaway as a matter of fact and?—’
She broke off as Alison let out a sob, even though she’d done her best not to.
‘Ali? What’s wrong?’ Rosie asked anxiously.
‘It’s… it’s Joel. He’s just been round. Oh, Rosie, he said some awful things! It wasn’t my fault, was it?’
‘What wasn’t your fault?’ Rosie asked, sounding completely baffled.
‘Drew! I didn’t push him into an early grave, did I?’
‘What?’ Rosie’s voice bellowed in her ear. ‘Is that what Joel said? Is he there?’
‘He left,’ Alison managed. ‘I asked him to leave.’
‘Asked him to leave? I’d have kicked his sorry arse all the way down the Clive Sully,’ Rosie raged. ‘The bloody cheek of him! Why would he say something like that?’
‘It’s because of Jenna and the twins,’ Alison said shakily. ‘He’s furious. He says… he says I can’t see the girls any more because I’ve refused to babysit. He says Drew got cancer because he had to work so hard after I left teaching. That it was stress that made him ill.’ She wiped her eyes with a trembling hand. ‘It’s not true, is it? I didn’t cause his illness, did I?’
She really wasn’t sure any more. Joel had certainly sounded convinced.
‘Of course it’s not true! Oh, Ali, don’t let him get to you, please. Right, that’s it, I’m on my way,’ Rosie said.
‘What? No, no you mustn’t! You’re about to have your tea,’ Alison protested. ‘Besides, it’s dark outside and you hate those roads and?—’
It was no use saying anything else. Rosie had hung up.
13
Alison was beginning to think she’d misunderstood the situation and that Rosie wasn’t coming round after all, because almost two hours had passed since their phone call had ended.
She’d gone upstairs and taken a quick bath to try to soothe her frazzled nerves, then she’d got into her comfiest pair of pyjamas and settled in front of the television to watch the rest ofMiss Marple, determined to put the whole sorry business out of her mind.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked, because not only was she still fretting about the scene with Joel, the fact that her own daughter blamed her for her father’s death and that she probably wasn’t going to be allowed to see her own granddaughters for the foreseeable future, but now she had Rosie to worry about. If her cousin had really set off to visit her, she should have been there ages ago. What if something had happened to her?
It was almost eight o’clock. Alison nibbled her thumb nail and tried to decide whether she should try calling Rosie. But what if she was driving? The last thing she wanted to do was distract her.
She wandered over to the window and hesitantly pulled the curtain aside a little. It was dark and windy outside, but at least it wasn’t raining. That was something. It had certainly got colder, though. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if they had some snow. She patted the radiator and gave thanks for central heating.
The knock on the door a few minutes later made her jump. Whoever it was clearly hadn’t noticed she had a doorbell – or didn’t trust them. She grinned in relief. Rosie! Only her cousin would deliberately ignore what was right there in plain sight. She always said half the time they didn’t work, and you were left standing outside pressing a useless button for ages like a numpty when you could have just banged on the door and saved yourself a great deal of time and bother.
Even so, as she opened the front door she kept the chain on to make absolutely certain that it wasn’t Joel come back for Round Two.
‘Bloody hell, Ali, let me in! I’m freezing me tits off here,’ Rosie told her.
