Matty held up a hand. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Gloria sniffed, but there was less sting in it this time. Then she settled herself into the stairlift and pressed the button.
Matty waited until it began to move before turning back towards the kitchen, smiling to herself.
***
The sound of the stairlift starting up again gave Matty the heads-up Gloria was on her way back down. She got up from the sofa and wandered into the hallway. The wheelchair stood by the front door, still folded.
Matty whistled as Gloria came into view—a touch of rouge on her cheeks, lipstick on her thin lips, and a summer dress that showed the pale skin of her arms and chest. “Mrs S... Look at you.” She’d even found a sunhat. “I’m going to have to be on my guard for those charming older gents who’re going to be swarming.”
Gloria couldn’t stop the chuckle, or the blush. “Oh, stop it.”
Matty smiled.
“Right, let me change shoes and we can get going.”
Gloria came to a halt, unclipped herself, and stood up. She watched as Matty kicked off her Vans and picked up her bag.
She sat down on the bottom stair, pulled out her skates, eased each foot in, and tied the laces.
“Are you mad?” Gloria said. “How willI keep up with you on those?”
Matty skated across to the wheelchair and pulled it open. “Strap in, Mrs S. We’re going for a ride.”
Chapter nineteen
Sloan was still on a high. The meeting had gone well, Boston was back online, and she was feeling hungry. She glanced at her watch and realised she'd missed lunch.
Grabbing her purse, she got up and headed out of her office.
"Dawn, I'm taking lunch. Hold all calls unless it's about my mother, then switch them through to my mobile."
"Yes, Ms Slater, of course."
"Also, call Jerry and find out when I will be getting the report back from him. I expected it days ago."
"Absolutely, Ms Slater." Dawn scribbled down the instruction.
Without another word, Sloan slid on her sunglasses and left. She took the stairs down—it was at least some exercise, she considered. Out into the high street, she felt the heat of the sun hit her face, warming her.
It was a beautiful day, to say the least.
She'd considered Compton's for a sandwich but then rethought that, as it felt somewhat disloyal to Matty, especially when she’d been the cause of Matty’s employment decision.
Instead, she swung around and headed for Banjo.
As she walked, Sloan glanced into shop windows and stopped here and there to look at something that caught her eye; something she might buy at a later date—lingerie she’d like to wear for… She stopped her thoughts—that wasn’t a path she could go down.
Then something else caught her eye in the reflection—a blur of familiar blonde curls and a wheelchair flying through the square at a speed most would consider risky, which she absolutely would, too. It was her job, after all, to assess such things.
She slowly turned and tried to absorb the scene in front of her, watching her mother, one good arm raised into the air, being pushed across the square towards the fountains by Matty, laughing and gliding behind on those dreadful skates.
"What on earth…"
She marched after them, almost barging into a man in a tracksuit that looked like it had seen better days and was hanging halfway down his backside. "Sorry," she mumbled, as he grumbled at her to watch where she was going.
Sloan kept moving.
