The pain in his voice told Jemma all she needed to know. This wasn’t just about not being buried next to his father, he missed his mum and wanted her to love him again.
“Why don’t you go and visit her? The fact that she’s still alive means you have an opportunity to find out how she feels about you now. After all, it’s been twenty years, and that’s a long time for a mother to hold a grudge against her dead son.”
“I don’t know if I can face seeing her,” he shook his head, any hope having long since gone.
“What if I come with you? We could leave some personal things around for her to find that reminds her of you, and then watch her reaction. Come on, Tom, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”
Tom sighed, and Jemma wasn’t sure if he was irritated by her persistence, or touched by her concern. “We’ll see,” he said, in the same non committal voice he had used so many times before. She was about to persist, but knew, from experience, that if she put too much pressure on him, he would retreat back into his protective shell and shut her out again. She decided to leave it for now, but was convinced that, even if it didn’t help him and Susie move on, knowing that his mum did love him, might at least be a way for him to find some sort of peace.
“Do you know what, Jemma?” Tom said, just as they were about to return to Swiss Cottage. “When you first arrived here, I thought you were lovely, but a bit shallow, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. You are the most genuine and unselfish person I’ve ever met, and I love you more than you’ll ever know.”
Jemma smiled at him, pulling him to her. “Well, Hot Lips, my first impressions of you haven’t changed a bit. You are totally gorgeous, and I was right – you really do know how to kiss a girl, but just remind me again.”
*****
Alice was happily humming to herself as she finished wiping the tables at the end of her shift at Glitz. Her second day had been just as much fun as yesterday, and now that the lunchtime rush was over, and the customers had all left, she had turned the volume up on the sound system, and settled down to the task of clearing away on her own, while Oscar nipped out to pick up some supplies.
“You are the dancing queen...” she sang, in her hopelessly tone-deaf voice, happily losing herself in the catchy song. She did a little twirl, and pointed her finger at an imaginary seventeen year old. Throwing the cloth in the air dramatically, she performed another wobbly twirl as she sang, “feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah...” She landed her spin, one hand on her hip, and the other pointing in the air, closed her eyes and threw her head back, just like Agnetha does in the video. Thoroughly enjoying herself now, she opened her eyes again ready for the second verse, but, to her horror, found herself staring straight at Dean, who was standing in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed and with the cloth she had just thrown, hanging off the top of his head.
“I’d stick to waitressing if I were you,” he said, dryly, handing her the cloth before disappearing back into the kitchen, leaving Alice crimson with embarrassment. Shit, how long had he been standing there? When Oscar had popped out, she had assumed she was on her own. She hurriedly turned the music down, and finished clearing away in silence so she could get out of there as soon as possible. When she was finished, she grabbed her jacket and rushed out of the door.
She had arranged to meet Jack at the top of the High Street, and as they walked back to the house together, Alice told Jack about how mortified she had been, when she had turned to find Dean glaring at her with the dirty cloth hanging off his head. But, instead of being sympathetic, Jack laughed and said how he wished he could have been there to see the look on Dean’s face.
“Jack! It’s not funny.” She retorted, punching him playfully on his arm. She had to admit though, now that a bit of time had passed, she was beginning to see the funny side.
When they got back to the house, Jack went into the kitchen to put the kettle on. “By the way, do you like Underscore?” he asked, referring to an indie band, who had just had their first number one hit.
“Yes, they’re quite good. Why?”
“I’ve got four free tickets to see them on Sunday night for a one-off gig in London. The tickets include back stage passes and access to the after-show party. Do you fancy it?”
“I’d love it. Wow, will we actually get to meet the band?” asked Alice, excitedly.
“Of course. Do you know anyone else who likes them? As I said, I’ve got four tickets.”
“Jemma would have come. I remember her saying at your party that she quite liked their last song.” Alice’s mind went back to that night, and she smiled as she recalled Jemma going on about how cute the singer was. “I could ask at work. It would be a shame to waste the other two tickets.”
“Okay. Now, how do you fancy hiring a DVD and getting a take-away tonight?”
“Ooh yes. Tell you what, why don’t I nip down and get the DVD, and you can finish the washing up?” Before Jack had a chance to protest, she chucked a tea towel at him and ran out of the front door. When she got to the shop, it didn’t take her long to find a DVD; luckily they both had the same taste in films. It was only as she approached the bored looking man sitting behind the till though, that she realised she didn’t have her bag with her. In fact, she didn’t recall having it with her when she got home from work. Jack had let them in with his key, and she hadn’t needed her bag before now. Shit. She must have been in such a hurry to get out of the restaurant that she had left it there. Not only did it have her purse and phone in, but also the membership card she needed for the DVD. She would have to go back and get it. It would only take about ten minutes to get to Glitz if she walked quickly, and she could be back here in no time. With a quick apology to the now impatient looking man, she hurried out and headed off to Camden. She glanced at her watch, Glitz didn’t open until half past five and it was only four o’clock, but hopefully Oscar would be setting up ready for the evening shift.
When she got there, she pushed the door slightly to see if it was unlocked. It was, although there was no-one inside. Maybe she could slip in, grab her bag and leave again, without anyone seeing her. The sound system was on, she noticed, playing something familiar on a low volume. She crossed the restaurant to a small cupboard where the staff left their belongings, and was just about to open it, when there was an almighty crash from the kitchen. Alice jumped back in fright and clapped her hand to her mouth to stifle a scream. The silence that followed was broken by the next song starting, and then by raised voices coming from the kitchen. Alice stood, frozen to the spot, not sure whether to grab her bag and run, or if she should find out what the crash had been in the kitchen.
“For fucks sake, Oscar, smashing our plates isn’t going to help,” Dean’s voice bellowed furiously from the kitchen.
“Well, listen to me then,” Oscar’s voice sounded equally furious. “I’m telling you that we needed an extra waitress and Alice is perfect.” Alice had just been about to sneak out, not wanting to eavesdrop on someone else’s argument, but when she heard her name, she stood rooted to the spot, not sure what to do.
“We could have rearranged some of the other shifts. You don’t seem to understand, Oscar, we’re not going to survive if you keep employing people and spending money as if nothing’s wrong.”
“Oh come on, Dean. The reason all this is happening is because of that damned ghost, it’s put a curse on us.”
“For god’s sake, don’t be so ridiculous. There’s no ghost here, and certainly no curse,” Dean’s voice sounded tense and frustrated. “There is a problem with the accounts though, and it’s quite simple, we’re spending more than we’re making. That’s it, but we’ll never make a success of this business if you won’t accept that we have to cut back. And that includes staff.”
“Well, Alice is staying,” Oscar’s voice was adamant. “The customers love her, she’s the best waitress we’ve had since opening this place. She stays!”
Deciding that now was probably a good time to get out, Alice grabbed her ba
g and tiptoed towards to door, praying that they wouldn’t hear her. Just as her hand reached out for the door handle though, she heard a noise behind her and, turning round quickly to see what the noise was, she found herself face to face with Dean and Oscar!
Chapter 14
As she stood, frozen, all Alice could do was flash a forced smile at the two bemused faces, waiting expectantly for an explanation.
“Alice! What are you doing here?” Dean was the first to speak, probably trying to work out how long she’d been there, and how much she might have heard. There was an awkward silence as she tried to think of something to say, her flushed face giving away the fact that she had obviously heard everything. Dean waited for a response, his face grim and unsmiling.
“Er... Hi!” she faltered, with a nervous laugh. “I just came to pick up my bag. I left it here earlier.”
“Look, Alice,” Dean’s face suddenly softened. “You must have heard our discussion out there, but please don’t take any of this personally. It’s not you we have a problem with, it’s money.”
“But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a job here,” Oscar chipped in quickly. Turning back to Dean, he said, “Look, Sadie handed in her notice last week, and with some tweaking of shifts we can manage without replacing her, but I’m telling you, Dean, we need Alice. Even if Sadie wasn’t leaving, we’d still be one person short. You’re not here in front of house to see the rush. I can’t manage the whole restaurant on my own, and if people have to wait too long for service, they’ll go somewhere else. There are plenty of other restaurants in Camden, we can’t afford to lose our customers.”
“Okay,” sighed Dean, finally acknowledging defeat. “Alice stays, but stop using that stupid ghost as an excuse. This place is not haunted, alright?”
Oscar pulled a face as Dean marched back into the kitchen. “Sorry about that. Look, are you in a hurry? I’m going to make some coffee and I could do with a chat.”
“Well, I ....” Alice was about to say that she needed to get back to the DVD shop, but, actually, it wasn’t going anywhere, so instead she smiled. “Coffee sounds great.”
“I hear you did a brilliant rendition of Dancing Queen earlier,” grinned Oscar, as he frothed some milk on the machine. “I wish I could have seen it.”
“Oh no,” groaned Alice, cringing as she recalled Dean’s bemused face, half covered with the dirty dish cloth. “Was Dean really cross?”
“Course he wasn’t. Actually, he’d never tell you, but he thought it was quite funny, especially the look on your face when you spotted him. Here, white, one sugar.” Oscar handed her the mug, and gestured for her to sit down. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you, I thought you may be able to offer some advice. As you’re probably aware now, we have a few financial problems. I just don’t understand why though, we’re busy every day, especially evenings. You’re on tomorrow evening, right?” Oscar took a sip of his coffee, as Alice nodded. “You’ll see what I mean, then. We’re fully booked for the next three nights in a row, and yet we don’t seem to be able to break even. I just don’t understand it. When you worked in New York, was the restaurant successful?”
“Yes, very. The owners made a decent profit, as far as I’m aware.”
“So, what are we doing wrong then? Okay, this isn’t New York, but Camden’s a pretty cool place, it’s always busy, we’ve got both regular customers and passing tourists. The food’s good, so I’ve been told, and people seem to love the atmosphere. We should be raking it in, or at least be making some profit. I just don’t get it.”
“I’ve never run a restaurant before, but I’ve worked in a few and I can quite honestly say that this is the best place I’ve ever worked in. I love it and I know your customers do. I really don’t know.” Alice wished she could say something more positive, but she couldn’t understand why Glitz wasn’t thriving either.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” asked Oscar, a little cautiously.
“Yes, I do as it happens. In fact, I’m psychic and have been working on developing my skills. My best friend died back in September, she was like a sister to me. I was devastated.” Alice still found it hard talking about Jemma, and she could feel the familiar tightening of her throat as the tears threatened to return. Quickly she swallowed them back and continued. “I know for a fact that Jemma’s ghost is with me. She’s always around.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your friend. I lost a very good friend to Aids a few years ago, I still miss him terribly. The reason I asked is ...” he hesitated for a second. “Well, Dean thinks I’m crazy as you heard, but I think this place is haunted and that there’s some sort of curse on it.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t feel anything here. Certainly nothing negative that might suggest a curse or anything. What makes you think it’s haunted?”
“Well, what other explanation is there?” shrugged Oscar dramatically. “You know, sometimes when I’m here on my own, I get this really creepy feeling that someone’s watching me.”
“I know someone who’s a medium. Maggie would be able to tell you for sure if this place is haunted. Would you like me to ask her to come round?”
“Oh, would you? Thank you, Petal, it would really put my mind at rest if a medium checked this place out for me.” Oscar stood up and stretched. “Excuse me a sec, I’m just going to change the music, I need an Abba fix. This stuff is fine in small doses, but it doesn’t half get dull after a while.”
“It’s Underscore isn’t it?” asked Alice, recognising the song that was playing.
“Yeah, Dean loves them, but I find them a bit boring.”
“Really? I quite like them. In fact, I’m going to see them on Sunday. Jack, that’s my boyfriend, has got free VIP tickets and we actually get to meet the band afterwards.”
“Oh wow, you lucky thing!” exclaimed Oscar, looking impressed.
“I thought you said you found them boring?”
“I do, but as I said, Dean loves them. I’d love to be able to surprise him with tickets to see them. Do you think there are any left?”
“Well, actually, this could be your lucky day,” grinned Alice. “Jack’s got four tickets, and we were going to ask around if anyone wanted to come with us. So that’s sorted then. You’re coming.”
“Oh thank you, Sweetie,” cried Oscar and threw his arms around Alice. “Dean’s going to be so chuffed.”
“No problem,” laughed Alice.
“All that said though, I’m still going to change this CD for Abba. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a repeat performance of Dancing Queen, is there?”
*****
Jemma had been standing for a long time, perfectly still and deep in thought, looking a bit like one of the stone statues surrounding her. Eventually, she bent down and touched the cold gravestone that she had been staring at for so long, the tears running freely down her face.
“Oh, mum,” she sobbed, quietly, “I thought I would see you again when I died. I miss you so much.”
She closed her eyes and could almost feel her mother kissing her, brushing her hair, and cuddling her as she snuggled her into bed. The memories were so fresh and yet it had been such a long time since she had died. The one consolation was that if she wasn’t here, she must have been able to move on to a better place. She wondered if her mother was able to see her, if she even knew that her daughter died. Maybe she had tried to contact her, just like she herself had tried to contact Alice. Looking at her mum’s grave, she noticed that someone had left some fresh flowers, carnations, at the head of it. That must have been Aunt Tess. She found it comforting to know that someone still came to her mother’s grave. She wondered if her own grave had flowers on it. She only had to look slightly to the left, as she was buried very close by, but, so far, so hadn’t been able to summon up the courage to look. It was such a strange feeling to know that you were about to visit your own grave. She thought of Tom, who didn’t even know if he had a grave. She couldn’t imagine how painful it must be for h
im not to be buried next to his father, as well as losing the love and respect of his mother. How could anyone abandon their child when they were dying, and not believe their protestations of innocence? Surely you would stand by your child no matter what they had done? She felt a surge of anger towards this cold, cruel woman, hating her for causing Tom so much pain and anguish.
Angrily brushing away her tears, she resolved to visit this woman, to see if she had come to her senses over the many years since her son had died.
Slowly, she stood up again and turned towards her own grave. She felt her throat tighten and a nervous fluttering deep in her stomach. Shit, she was actually looking at her own grave. This was seriously weird.
Slowly, she walked towards it and looked down for the first time at her gravestone. The dark marble looked shiny and new, and the gold lettering clearly identified it as hers. There were some fresh carnations lying at the head of her grave, just like her mum’s. Poor Aunt Tess, it must have been so sad for her to have lost two family members, both so early in life. Next to the carnations, lay a few white tulips, beautifully bound in white ribbon. On closer inspection, she noticed that the tulips were made from silk. Clever, she thought, that way they’ll never wither and die. Next to them lay a small card, laminated to protect it from the weather. It read; Jemma, You were like a sister to me, I miss you so much. I hope all the angels look after you in Heaven and that you have found peace. All my love, Alice.
Fresh tears fell down Jemma’s face as she re-read the small card. She was so glad she had managed to leave that white tulip for Alice on her first day of work. Claire had taught how to materialise small objects into the living world, and, although it took an enormous amount of will and energy, it had been worth it to see Alice’s reaction when she had found it. Alice couldn’t have been more wrong about the angels though.
Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) Page 14