Phoebe could have explained that trying to straighten things out was what she’d been doing all along if only everyone else had let her. But she didn’t think it was wise to jeopardise what seemed to be the makings of a fragile truce between her and her future mother-in-law.
‘We’re going to talk it through later.’
‘You’ve spoken to him?’
‘We’re not completely useless, you know. We can actually sort some things out for ourselves.’
Carol gave a tight smile, the first one Phoebe could ever recall being aimed at her. They were hardly bosom buddies, but it was a start. She was beginning to wonder whether someone was handing out personality transplants today. First there’d been humble Adam and now an apologetic and almost friendly Carol. What was next? Steve handing out sweets and hugs and calling everyone darling?
‘I only want what’s best for Jack and Maria,’ Carol said.
‘And you weren’t sure if I was it?’
‘No. And I’m still not. But as they both seem very fond of you and you are now carrying my second grandchild, it seems we must make the best of things.’
‘It does.’
Silence fell between them. Was that it? Was Phoebe’s interrogation over now? ‘I’m sorry,’ Phoebe began, ‘but I have –’
‘Work to do. I understand.’ Carol glanced at her watch. ‘I have an appointment to get to as well.’
Phoebe half wondered whether she was expected to offer a hug or a kiss on the cheek. But then, to her relief, Carol turned and strode away. Perhaps the hugs and kisses would come, Phoebe mused, but she wasn’t in any hurry for them either.
A pair of hands suddenly slammed down on Phoebe’s shoulders. She spun around to find Midnight grinning at her.
‘Where the hell did you come from?’ Phoebe squeaked. ‘You gave me a heart attack!’
‘Was that Maggie Thatcher’s evil twin?’ Midnight nodded her head in the direction of Carol’s retreating figure.
‘Yeah. Lucky me, eh?’
‘What did she want?’
‘To make friends, I think.’
‘Won’t her face need extensive re-plastering if you make her smile too often? She needs to watch out for that if she’s going to go around making friends with people.’
Phoebe laughed. ‘I’ll tell you one thing; it’s been a very weird day. I’m starting to believe anything is possible.’
*
Thankfully, the rest of the afternoon was rather less eventful than the earlier part had been and Phoebe was able to go about her duties with a broad smile on her face. The news of her pregnancy was still filtering down to all the staff, and she even got a stiff word of congratulations from Steve, which was surprising to say the least, followed by the offer of a quick nip of whisky from Janitor Jeff who insisted that it would make the baby sleep when he or she arrived. Jeff had never quite been coherent enough for Phoebe to ascertain how many children he had or, indeed, whether he had any at all, but if he did she sincerely hoped he hadn’t offered that sort of advice to their mother, and that she wasn’t daft enough to take it. All in all, however, it had been a long time since Phoebe had enjoyed an afternoon at work quite that much.
And she had Jack to look forward to afterwards. She had run through the possible conversations in her head all afternoon, and while she was uncertain how it would go, she knew one thing for sure – she wasn’t going to let it turn into another argument. Every moment with him was precious and she didn’t want to fill a single one with harsh words ever again.
As the sounds of slamming shutters, burglar alarms being set and goodnights filled the high street of Millrise town centre, Phoebe stepped out into the warm evening, a sense of excitement building. She didn’t need to go far before the cause of it came running towards her with a bouquet and a sheepish grin. Jack thrust the flowers towards her. ‘I thought I was going to miss you coming out.’ Phoebe took them and held them to her nose, a familiar warmth spreading through her. ‘I know they don’t even come close to the apology I owe you, but will they make a start?’ he said.
She looked up at him with a watery smile. How could she have even contemplated giving him up? ‘I think they’re more than a start.’ But then her smile faded. ‘You’re not here because your mum told you to come, are you?’
‘No,’ he laughed. ‘I know I’m a mummy’s boy but I’m not that bad. Although, if she had have done I would have been too scared to refuse.’
‘Me too,’ Phoebe smiled, ‘and she’s not even my mum.’
He rubbed a hand around the back of his neck and gave her an awkward smile. It was so endearing that Phoebe could barely stop herself from dragging him into the nearest bus shelter and kissing his face off. ‘Did she give you a hard time today?’ he asked.
‘Not as hard as she gave you, by the sounds of things.’
‘Probably.’ He dug his hands in his pockets. ‘We’re ok, right?’
‘More than ok. But we do need to talk.’
‘I know. I’ve got the car parked on the spare ground near Uncle Fred’s shop. Want me to take you home? We can talk on the way.’
‘Your home or mine?’
‘Ours… if you’ll have me.’
‘You’re asking me…’
‘To move in. Don’t say anything just yet. But think about it. I promise not to rush or hassle you if you promise to give it some proper consideration.’
Phoebe smiled. ‘I will.’
*
After a couple of detours Phoebe hastily changed at her place, and then Jack whisked her off to a little bistro in a nearby village complete with a pianist and portions of food so tiny that it must have cost him a small fortune. Ordinarily, she would have scolded him and told him that he needed to spend his money on more practical things. But she knew that he needed this more than she did; it was a way of making good and easing his guilt, so she simply took the evening in the spirit it was intended. The journey to the restaurant had been full of stuttered beginnings, heavy pauses, clumsy explanations, sentences that didn’t go anywhere. At times it still didn’t feel as if they were getting to the root of anything but the fact that they were talking at all felt like progress.
Afterwards, they headed back to Jack’s house, and as he opened the front door to let Phoebe in, she expected to see Maria race down the hall to greet her. But then she remembered the time; Maria would be in bed. Still, the house was unusually dark and silent; there was clearly nobody there.
‘I thought you said May was looking after Maria?’ Phoebe said.
Jack gave another sheepish grin, one of many aimed at Phoebe that evening. ‘She is. I never said they were here, though. They’re at May’s house.’
‘Oh… so it’s just us?’
‘Yeah.’ Jack kicked the door closed behind him and grabbed the flowers from her arms, dropping them onto the hall table. ‘Is that alright?’ He pulled her close. ‘I thought it would be better for talking.’
‘This isn’t talking where I come from,’ she murmured as his lips brushed hers.
‘This is the warm up.’
A lazy smile stretched her lips as his hands ran down her body. It felt like years since they had been this intimate.
‘We’re supposed to be sorting things out,’ Phoebe insisted, trying, but failing, to chastise him.
‘We are. I’m sorting out the need to see you naked in my bed.’
‘You’re impossible,’ Phoebe grinned as he began to lead her to the stairs. ‘I’m still starving after that meal and you said you’d cook supper for me.’
‘Don’t worry. I have sausage for you.’
Phoebe let out a shriek of laughter. ‘That’s the corniest thing I’ve ever heard!’
‘Hey… I’m trying to be seductive here.’
‘I HAVE SAUSAGE FOR YOU!’ Phoebe snorted. ‘You’re hopeless!’
‘Hopelessly in love.’ He halted on the stairs, took her hands in his and held her in a smouldering gaze. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too.’
‘Let’s never forget that again.’
‘No, let’s not.’ Phoebe leaned in to kiss him. ‘Now… about that sausage you promised…’
*
Phoebe rested against the bonnet of Jack’s car and wiped a film of sweat from her forehead. The sultry heat of an August afternoon wasn’t helping her fatigue. As she watched Jack and Archie carry boxes from the hired van into the house, she wondered how such a small flat like hers could have contained so much stuff and how many hours, exactly, it was until bedtime. She had been told by her midwife that the second trimester of her pregnancy (her midwife loved to use big words for everything) would be the best, that she’d be full of energy and blooming. Right now, she felt distinctly wilted. The decision to move in with Jack had come hard on the heels of Archie leaving them to go home, but with notice to give on her flat and other sundry setbacks, it had taken almost two months to finally get to this day. Phoebe was beginning to wish she’d stayed put and waited for a nice cold, winter’s day to do all this running to and fro.
‘Oh yeah, that’s right,’ Archie shouted over as he spotted her, ‘you just take it easy and we’ll move all your stuff.’
Phoebe grinned. She liked Archie a lot more since he wasn’t living with Jack and he seemed to like her a lot more too. ‘I’m supposed to take it easy. I’m pregnant, in case you’d forgotten.’
‘I’m beginning to think it’s all a ruse to get people running around for you. Seriously, I can’t even see a bump.’
‘Trust me, there’s a bump.’ Phoebe ran a hand over the gentle curve of her belly.
‘I don’t know where you’ve been looking, Arch…’ Jack called over as he made his way to the van to pick up another load, ‘you can see it a mile off.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ Phoebe pouted. ‘You know how to make a woman feel good about herself.’
Jack threw her an impish smile and a blown kiss. He almost bumped into May as he lugged a box of old CDs up the garden path.
‘Oops!’ he called cheerfully. ‘Nearly had you then.’
May smiled. ‘We’ve made cold lemonade if anyone wants some.’
‘Is lemonade code for beer?’ Archie asked. May showed him her best schoolmistress frown. ‘Oh, actual lemonade then,’ Archie laughed.
Maria appeared at the front door, her legs almost buckling under the weight of a huge ice-and-lemon-filled pitcher.
‘Whoa!’ Phoebe hopped from the car and raced with surprising speed up the pathway to the front door. May turned around and took the jug from Maria.
‘Close one, eh?’ she smiled at Phoebe.
‘Sorry…’ Phoebe blushed. ‘I see you’ve got it under control here.’
‘You need to learn to relax,’ May said. ‘When your baby comes there’ll be more trouble for him or her to get into than jugs of lemonade. Besides,’ she tapped the side, ‘it’s plastic, so a sticky floor was the worst we’d have got if Maria had dropped it.’
‘I wasn’t going to drop it,’ Maria piped up.
‘I didn’t think you were,’ Phoebe replied. ‘I was being silly.’
‘I was bringing you a drink,’ Maria added. ‘The baby is thirsty.’
‘The mummy certainly is,’ Phoebe said. ‘It’s actually a good job Granny May was here to take this or I might have drunk all the lemonade straight from the jug and then what would everyone else have had?’
‘Milkshake,’ Maria returned in a serious tone.
Phoebe looked at May. ‘No need to worry then. You’d better hand over that juice!’
Jack came out to the step again, empty handed this time. ‘That looks good,’ he said.
‘I’ll get some glasses and we can take a break.’ May took the jug back inside, Maria chattering away as she followed.
Jack turned to Phoebe. ‘If I’d known how much stuff you were going to bring I wouldn’t have begged quite so hard for you to move in.’
‘Thanks…’ Phoebe raised her eyebrows and he laughed. ‘Anyway, I’ve been trying to help all morning. It’s not my fault you won’t let me carry anything heavier than a Sugar Puff.’
‘I can hardly ask you to lug boxes around, can I?’
‘I’m not that big yet. I am still able to walk around and look at my own feet and everything. It wouldn’t have hurt me to carry some of the smaller boxes.’
‘Even so…’ Jack pulled her into a brief kiss. ‘I just want to keep you safe and you promised you’d let me… remember?’
‘I am safe. I’ll be even safer tonight when I’m ensconced in your safe home. In fact, I’ll be so safe that The Queen will hear about it and pop round with the crown jewels for me to keep an eye on, as they’ll be much safer here with me than in the Tower of London.’
‘You know you’re beautiful when you’re being sarcastic? It does funny things to me.’
‘Really? Then I shall drive you mad with desire from now on.’
Archie made his way up the drive. ‘I’m going to hurl if you two don’t stop being so loved up in public. There are laws against that sort of thing.’
‘You’re just jealous.’
‘Of you, bro? Phoebe’s easy enough on the eye, granted, but she must have a screw loose if she’s moving in with you.’
‘Oi! You’re not too big for a cuff round the ear!’ Jack laughed.
‘You’ve got to catch me first, old man.’
Phoebe watched the banter with a broad smile. It was nice to see them getting along – at least, better than before. While Archie was far from cured, he had at last agreed to seek help for his gambling habit, reluctantly forced to see sense that any hobby that got him beaten up was probably out of hand. There was still tension, and sometimes there were still heated exchanges but, for the most part, things were a lot better. It certainly helped that Carol and Edward had taken back some responsibility for him too, leaving Jack free to worry about Phoebe and Maria, which was quite enough for anyone.
May returned with a tray. She plonked it down on the front lawn and everyone dropped to the grass around it, not worrying about stains or cat poo or anything else that might ruin a good pair of jeans. Spirits were high and everyone’s mood was too good to care.
‘It’s so good of you to come over and help.’ Phoebe took a glass from May. Some might say it was a strange situation to be in, but Phoebe was getting used to having Jack’s dead girlfriend’s mum around the place. She was easy to get along with, kind, patient, tolerant and seemed really keen to be involved in Jack and Maria’s lives, to the extent that she had welcomed Phoebe warmly from the first moment they’d met. This was probably the last reaction Phoebe could have predicted had someone asked her beforehand, and more like the one she felt she should have got from Jack’s own mother.
‘I had nothing else to do,’ May said with a shrug. Phoebe knew that probably wasn’t true and May was just making light of the gesture.
‘You’re a superstar,’ Jack agreed. ‘And this lemonade is amazing.’
‘I helped!’ Maria squeaked.
‘You practically made it all yourself,’ May said, winking at Maria.
Phoebe glanced at Jack, but he wasn’t following the conversation now. Instead, he was frowning at Archie, who was looking at his watch.
‘What’s with that, Arch?’ he asked.
Archie looked up. ‘What?’
‘Checking your watch every five minutes. You need to be somewhere?’
‘I’m just keeping an eye on the time.’
‘What for?’
‘I might go out tonight.’
‘So… you’re not waiting for anything to finish? A game result or –’
‘Jack…’ Phoebe cut in. ‘Leave it.’ She forced a carefree smile for Archie. ‘I bet he has a date he doesn’t want to tell us about.’
Archie took a long swig of his drink, content to let Phoebe’s explanation stand. Phoebe heaved a silent sigh. If they needed to discuss this then they could do it later when May was gone and Maria in bed. So much for getting on better. Getting on better
didn’t always mean getting on.
‘We’d better crack on or we’ll still be moving this stuff when the baby comes,’ Phoebe announced, pushing herself to her knees before standing.
Archie drained his glass and jumped up too. ‘Good idea.’ He ruffled Maria’s hair. ‘Thanks for the drink, gorgeous.’
As they walked to the van, Phoebe glanced back to see that Jack was helping May collect the empty glasses. She looked around again to see Archie swing himself up into the back of the van.
‘Does it matter what I bring in next?’ he asked.
‘Not really…’ she pointed to a box. ‘But that one’s heavy so I’d wait until Jack’s finished before you try to pick it up.’
‘No worries…’ He lowered his voice and leaned closer. ‘Thanks, Phoebe.’
She smiled. There was no need to ask what he was thanking her for; she was just happy to know that it was not only Archie and Jack who had finally learned to understand one another.
*
‘I should be doing this for you, not the other way around.’ Phoebe let out a contented sigh as she lay stretched across the sofa, Jack massaging her bare feet.
‘If you touch my feet right now your hands would burn off. I’m not the one carrying an extra person around, anyway.’
‘But you have carried most of my belongings around all day today. That’s got to be worth my gratitude.’
Jack grinned across at her. ‘I’ll think of a suitable repayment that you can give to me later.’
‘I don’t think so. Later is reserved for bath and bed. I’m shattered.’
‘Tomorrow, then?’
‘Tomorrow when I wake up and it’s the first morning in my new home, you mean?’
‘That’s the one.’
‘Maybe I can stretch to a little reward then…’
They were quiet for a while, watching some programme on the TV about internet scamming. At least, Jack was watching, but Phoebe was so tired she was only staring at the screen. It didn’t matter, because she was content to lie there in Jack’s company, easier now than ever before.
‘Oooh,’ she pushed herself up, hand to her belly.
‘The baby?’ Jack asked, concern darkening his features. ‘Is everything ok?’
Mishaps in Millrise: Parts 1-4 in one book – plus a little extra… Page 31