‘Spit it out,’ Bonnie urged.
‘Come on,’ said Faye.
‘I’m considering looking for jobs as a flight attendant.’
‘Cabin crew?’ Faye asked. ‘That’s great.’
She looked at both women. ‘Do you really think so?’
Bonnie was grinning. ‘If you want to do it, then I say go for it. What appeals to you about the job?’
And it all came out, her enthusiasm lacing the words: ‘I would be a part of a team – I would be doing something totally different. I was trawling through article after article about older women entering or returning to the workforce, losing hope, until I read an article about a lady in her late fifties who’d got her first job as part of the cabin crew. It jumped out at me; it got me excited. I’d be meeting new people from different countries; I’d visit far-off places. I’m not silly. I know I might not get to see a lot of the places we stop at, but just being there and having a better sense of the world really appeals to me. And let’s face it, I’d be good at serving on board. I’m used to doing that, and I’ll probably get a lot more thanks from passengers than I ever did from Perry.’
‘Then what are you waiting for?’ Bonnie encouraged.
Margot had more confidence than she’d thought possible. ‘Okay, I’ll go for it. Maybe start applying.’
‘Do it,’ said Faye.
Margot thought Bonnie had so much more colour in her cheeks these days. It was hard to marry her with the woman who’d answered the door that first time Margot had come to the cottage when Bonnie wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible. Was there something more out there for her too? ‘What about you, Bonnie?’
‘What about me?’
‘Howard said he thought you might miss working?’
‘He said that?’
‘He did,’ said Faye. ‘He told us that you loved the travel, the time you got to spend together, but that you were a bit lost. Do you really miss being a district nurse?’
‘He said you were brilliant at it by the way,’ Margot put in. She loved that they could bring new snippets to Bonnie about the man she’d adored.
‘I do miss it, yes. But I retired.’
‘And…?’ Faye prompted.
Bonnie harrumphed. ‘People don’t un-retire.’
‘If they miss what they once did, then of course they do,’ said Margot. ‘And Howard un-retired by taking on the bookshop.’
‘That’s a point.’
‘You’ve got nothing to lose by looking into it,’ said Faye.
‘Oh, I’m too old now.’
‘You travelled very recently,’ Margot reminded her. ‘We’ve seen the evidence. All your photos show us how active you are. You’re in your sixties, you have a lot of years left, and if you miss working, go back to it. Take it from me, missed opportunities aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.’
‘I’ll think about it.’ Bonnie smiled slightly. ‘You two are very persuasive. Sometimes I would swear Howard asked you to watch out for me.’
It did feel a bit that way and when they left the thought had Margot saying, ‘We’ll pop in tomorrow, if that’s all right?’
And Bonnie replied, ‘Any time. I would love to see you both.’
20
FAYE
Faye had had four vans to clean this morning. She’d been late to bed – just one more chapter she’d kept on telling herself, thoroughly enjoyingWild, the memoir about a young woman’s solo hike after her life fell apart – but four vans wasn’t too bad. That, she could manage. And it worked out well. Rather than going to Bonnie’s together Margot had said she would pop in to see Bonnie before lunchtime and before she finalised her job application, which she’d been working on ever since she talked to them about it yesterday, which meant Faye could go this afternoon.
