She raced to the back room where Kim was doubled up with laughter. ‘You were no help,’ she scolded.
‘That was a corker. I’ve had someone ask for pee on knees instead of peonies before but never chlamydia.’ Kim pulled herself together. ‘Although I did know a Births, Deaths and Marriages registrar who swore blind someone wanted to name their baby Chlamydia.’ That set them off again. The door chimed and they both peeped their heads out to see who it was.
Adrian waved back at them. Ruby was relieved it wasn’t the elderly man changing his mind and coming back to insist she give him chlamydia.
‘I’ll just be a minute,’ said Kim. She pulled her head back through the beads and straightened her top. She pulled her lipstick from her pocket and added a quick sweep across her lips.
‘Only a friend, huh?’ whispered Ruby and Kim gave her a playful swipe before she strode nonchalantly into the shop.
‘Hi, Adrian, I made up a bouquet for Justine.’ She produced the bunch of mixed roses with a flourish.
‘They’re lovely. I managed to catch the earlier train. I’m a bit early, aren’t I?’
‘That’s fine,’ said Ruby, joining them. ‘You go; I’ll lock up. I’m not picking up Curtis for another hour and a bit. I figured I’d sit here and read my book until I need to get him.’
‘You sure?’ asked Kim.
‘Of course. You two kids go and enjoy yourself,’ said Ruby with a friendly smirk.
Kim stuck her tongue out at her as she went to get her bag. ‘And you’ll cash up and everything?’
‘No, I’m planning on leaving the money strewn around the shop and the door wide open with a sign saying, “Help yourselves”.’
‘That’s not funny after all the burglaries.’ Kim gave her a long-suffering stare.
‘Sorry. Of course, I’ll do everything,’ said Ruby. ‘Go, quick before I change my mind.’
‘Thanks, you’re a star,’ said Kim as she headed for the door.
‘Bye,’ she said, waving them off.
Ruby checked her watch – ten minutes to closing. She started to pack up the shop. It wasn’t likely she’d have any more customers but there was always the odd one who wanted to grab some flowers on the way home. She sorted out the stock, tidied up, hoovered the floor and wiped down the surfaces until the little shop was all spick and span. She put all the old stock to one side and wrapped them up into two makeshift bunches. They weren’t good enough to be used tomorrow but they would cheer up Curtis’s dad’s nursing home and as it was near the hotel, she planned to drop them in on the way. She figured it also wouldn’t do any harm to have Curtis on her side before she asked him the big question.
Ruby cashed up. She flicked the lights off in the back room and picked up her bag ready to leave. The bell chimed. Sod it, she thought, she’d forgotten to lock the door and turn the sign over.
‘Sorry, we’re closed,’ she said, stepping into the now sparse-looking shop. A man she would have put in his fifties was standing right up against the door. She smiled but he didn’t – if anything he looked on edge. Alarm bells started to ring in her head. All the talk of recent burglaries filled her mind. Her exit was blocked. She’d never seen this man before. Her eyes darted to his hands checking for weapons – nothing obvious. She straightened her back. This was one of those moments she really wished she was tall. She raised her chin and her voice. ‘I said we’re closed.’
He scanned the shop. ‘Is the owner here?’ He leaned to one side to look past Ruby towards the back room.
‘No …’ As soon as she’d said it she wished she hadn’t because now she’d told him she was all on her own. Alone and vulnerable. Her pulse started to thud in her ears. She weighed him up. If it came to fight or flight, he had the weight advantage. She stepped towards the back room. If she had to, she’d grab the scissors off the wall and wield them like a ninja. Or at the very least, a mildly dangerous harpy. ‘She’ll be back any minute.’ Ruby blurted it out in the hope he’d fear being interrupted and leave.
‘Right. Then I’ll wait.’
Nooooooo! That was not part of the plan. She was trapped in the shop with a burglar. There was no way out. Kim wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Was that when they’d find her body? She was seriously panicking now. ‘You can’t wait because I have to be somewhere.’ Her throat was dry, making her voice sound all wobbly. Show no fear, she told herself as she gripped her bag to stop her hands from shaking.
‘You all right?’ he asked.
‘Actually, no, I’m not. I need to leave.’ She snaked her hand into her bag. If she could reach her phone without him seeing maybe she could dial 999. Would they be able to work out that she was in a hostage situation?
‘How long is she likely to be?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know exactly. She will be back. But you can’t wait.’ She was making no sense. She bit her lip as she rummaged around her bag with one hand. It was extremely difficult to identify items when you couldn’t see them. She had far too much rubbish in her bag. She found something squishy – eurgh, what even was that?
He stepped forward and Ruby thought her heart was going to leap out of her chest. She pulled the first thing she could from her bag and waved it menacingly. They both stared at the rubber chicken. For a moment Ruby was as confused as the burglar. Then she remembered it was the toy she’d bought for Boomerang.
She threw it at his head, shot to the back room and grabbed the scissors. She spun around to find he had followed her.
‘That’s far enough!’ she shouted and she made a stabbing action with the scissors. Although it would have been more menacing had she opened them up.
‘Whoa. Calm down. I’m not after any trouble.’
‘Then why did you barge in here and corner me?’
‘The shop was open and you were acting a bit strange.’
He had a point. ‘That’s not the point. Who are you and what do you want with me?’
‘I’ve come to see Kim. I’m Vince.’
Chapter Twenty-One
Ruby was a bit dazed. She was sitting in her car just outside the train station, staring out of her windscreen but not really seeing anything. All she could think about was Vince. Vince – the husband Kim said was dead, but it appeared was very much alive and who, once she’d stopped waving the scissors at, had got her a drink of water to help with the shock. The living, breathing man who she thought had come to rob the shop and murder her, but it turned out only wanted to see Kim, his wife. None of it made any sense.
Someone tried the passenger door handle and she screamed. She’d been miles away, trying to understand what Vince had told her.
‘You all right?’ asked Curtis, sticking his head in the car.
‘No. I’m not. I’ve just had a conversation with a dead man,’ said Ruby.
Curtis scanned the back seats. ‘Is he still here?’
‘What are you on about it?’ She didn’t need Curtis going all obtuse on her.
‘I thought maybe you thought you saw a ghost.’
‘Something like that. Get in and I’ll tell you on the way to the nursing home. Then we’re going to the hotel bar, where we are going to have too much to drink and I’m going to tell you a story that will melt your brain. Then I’ll get a taxi home.’
‘That crystal ball of yours has been worth the money,’ he joked.
She scowled at him. He quickly got in the car and did up his seatbelt.
They had been driving for a few minutes before it registered with Ruby that Curtis hadn’t queried her setting out her plans for the evening and inadvertently his. Her head was far too full of Vince for her to contemplate raising the donor issue and that hitched up her annoyance at Kim even further. She’d tried to call her after Vince had left the shop but it had gone straight to voicemail. That was probably for the best. She wanted to see Kim face to face when she challenged her about this.
‘It’s occurred to me that there may be a reason why you want to get drunk. Is there something wrong?’ ask
ed Curtis.
‘I didn’t mean to take over your evening. I can drop you at the hotel if you like?’
‘The plans you have outlined for the evening are fine but that doesn’t answer my question. Is there something wrong?’
‘You are going to wish you’d not asked,’ said Ruby, pulling up outside the nursing home. ‘I’ll tell you later.’
Inside it was dinner time and the staff were charging about trying to ferry everything from the kitchen while it was hot. Ruby held up the flowers, feeling bad for interrupting.
‘I just thought these might cheer up some of the residents,’ said Ruby to a stressed-looking young woman carrying a full gravy boat.
‘That’s such a nice thought. But I’m afraid I don’t know when I’ll be able to put them in water.’
‘If you point me to some vases, I’ll do it,’ said Ruby.
‘Okay. Straight through those doors. Round to the right, you’ll find the cleaning cupboard. Top cupboard, top shelf. Help yourself.’ And with that she sped off.
‘I’ll go and have a quick five minutes with Harry if that’s okay?’ asked Curtis.
‘Sure.’ Ruby went in search of the vases. She noticed she was grinding her teeth – quite rare for her to do it while she was awake. That’s how cross she was with Kim.
She arranged the flowers into three separate vases and by the time she had tweaked the last arrangement she could feel the tension leaving her jaw. Flowers always had a calming effect on her. Ruby took one vase through to the television lounge where a few residents were eating off trays. Nobody looked up. But then to be fair the shepherd’s pie did look and smell particularly good. Ruby took the second vaseful into the dining room and was greeted like a returning hero by Dot.
‘Look who it is and those flowers! Are they for me?’ Dot’s face lit up and Ruby instantly felt bad.
‘They’re for all of you to share.’
‘They’re beautiful. Here, let’s have a sniff.’ Ruby wafted the blooms under Dot’s nose.
‘Gaw-jus,’ she said. ‘Now sit down and update us on everything.’ Dot picked up her fork and carried on with her meal but her eyes never left Ruby.
‘Oh, what the hell,’ said Ruby. She needed to get it all off her chest. She recalled her encounter with Vince, including wielding the rubber chicken in his face, which she got out for demonstration purposes and had the room in uproar. By the time she’d finished her story and the ladies had gasped and hooted in all the right places Ruby was feeling somewhat unburdened. She caught sight of the clock.
‘I need to dash. But I’ll be back soon. I promise.’ She gave Dot and Kitty a quick hug and jogged off to get the last vase of flowers.
She headed upstairs and found a door with Harry’s name on a laminated card slotted into a holder. An odd reminder of how easily replaceable those name tags, and the room occupants, really were. She knocked on the door.
Curtis appeared.
‘I brought these for your dad,’ she said, offering him the vase.
‘You can come in if you like?’ As usual he was hard to read but she got a sense that maybe he wanted her to. She went into the room and closed the door behind her.
‘Harry, this is Ruby who I was telling you about,’ said Curtis. Harry’s eyes fluttered open.
‘Hi, Harry, I brought you some flowers,’ she said, finding a space on the table so he would be able to see them from where he was sitting in bed. He was a slightly built old man with a shock of thick white hair and an oxygen mask covering half his face. ‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.
Harry gave her a thumbs up. ‘The antibiotics seem to be working,’ said Curtis, sounding flat.
‘That’s good then.’ Ruby pulled up a chair. ‘If you keep on like this, you’ll be back training for the London marathon soon enough. Or at the very least you’ll be able to join the others in the lounge.’ Harry rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, now hang on a minute. Am I sensing that you don’t get on with someone?’ Harry didn’t react. ‘Or … is it the opposite? Is there a someone who you do get on with? Perhaps you’d like to get on with them even better. A certain lady of the female variety. Maybe Dot?’ Harry’s eyebrows jumped. ‘Or Kitty?’ Harry started to laugh and it instantly turned into a hacking cough.
Curtis scowled at Ruby as he got to his feet and helped Harry into a more upright position.
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Ruby, feeling mildly panicked that she’d triggered the coughing fit.
Harry pulled off the mask. ‘He said you were feisty. He’s not wrong, is he?’
‘To be fair I’ve been called a lot worse,’ said Ruby.
Harry’s breathing was laboured and he needed to pause before speaking again. ‘Thank you for the flowers.’
‘I work in a florist’s – it’s one of the perks. Don’t go thinking Dot has a rival for your affections. I don’t want to get mixed up in a love triangle.’
Harry beamed back at her before Curtis replaced the oxygen. ‘I think we should probably go.’
‘Lovely to meet you, Harry. Keep up the good work,’ she said. Harry gave her another thumbs up and she could see he was smiling.
They walked back to the car. ‘How do you do that?’ asked Curtis, shaking his head and glancing back at the nursing home as if he was trying to figure something out.
‘Do what? The flowers? It’s just practice. The trick is not to try to be symmetrical with blooms. You—’
‘Not the flowers. The chat. Despite having known him for over half my life I frequently have no idea what to say. I had been sitting there in silence for at least five minutes. But you … You’re able to chat to a complete stranger about … actually I have no idea exactly what you were talking about but I know that’s the most animated I’ve seen him in weeks. It’s the first time he’s smiled in a long time.’
‘Oh.’ For once she didn’t know what to say. ‘Gift of the gab, my mum used to say.’ She tilted her head. ‘Verbal diarrhoea my teachers called it.’
‘I think it’s a gift.’
‘Thanks,’ said Ruby, liking how good she felt about herself right at that moment.
Kim hadn’t been out of the shop all day, but she had seen that it had been chucking it down all afternoon. Thankfully the evening had brought a brief respite although it was still cloudy. Kim and Adrian were waiting for Margaret to let them in.
‘I like your top,’ said Adrian.
She’d had a good rummage through her wardrobe and discovered a few nice things she’d forgotten all about. She wasn’t sure when she stopped thinking about what she was wearing but she was conscious that, of late, she’d been living in jeans and T-shirts and she was enjoying the change. ‘Thanks. I’m planning on keeping this one on tonight.’
‘That’s good to hear.’ Adrian scrunched up his shoulders. ‘Not that it was a problem last time. And it wouldn’t be in the future. You know … if you wanted to take your top off.’
Margaret flung open the door and scowled at Adrian, clearly having overheard their conversation. ‘Everything all right?’ She addressed her question to Kim whilst Adrian ran a finger around his collar.
‘All good,’ said Kim. ‘Keep that pac-a-mac to hand,’ she added, smiling at Adrian, and they went inside.
‘We had the canine psychologist here for Boomerang today,’ said Margaret, her voice gruff.
Kim spun around. ‘How did it go?’
‘Well … that’s debatable. I think you’ll notice a change in him. Anyway …’ Margaret marched ahead.
‘What does that mean?’ asked Adrian.
‘I have no idea.’
As they approached, the usual barking started. Margaret shouted and the barking dwindled except now there was one lone ear-splitting solo echoing around the yard. Kim and Adrian looked at each other. ‘Boomerang?’
They reached his kennel and received their answer. Boomerang was sitting in the outside run, and for a moment Kim was overjoyed to see him looking calmer but he had his head back and was howling at an ear-bleeding pi
tch.
‘Blimey,’ said Adrian, putting his fingers in his ears.
‘Boomerang,’ said Kim but she got no response. ‘Boom – er – ang,’ she called in a singsong voice.
The dog stopped howling and looked at her.
‘I say, someone has the magic touch,’ said Margaret. ‘Shall we try taking him for a walk?’
It took a while to get the harness on him. He was overexcited and bounced around like Tigger after a couple of red bulls.
Eventually they were ready to venture out on a walk. Kim held on to the lead tightly whilst Margaret snapped instructions at her. It was beyond stressful. The dog was pulling hard and Kim was surprised by how much power he had. He wasn’t a big dog but his power-to-weight ratio was impressive. As was his ability to have his front half off the ground most of the time, like he was trying to take off. Boomerang seemed to think he was in a race and was determined to be first across the finish line.
‘Tell him, heel!’ insisted Margaret.
‘Heel,’ said Kim. Boomerang continued to strain against the lead. It was making Kim’s arm ache.
‘I don’t think he’s listening,’ said Adrian.
‘Pull the lead back and tell him,’ said Margaret and Kim caught sight of her shaking her head. She was doing her best.
‘Heel!’ she said firmly and gave Boomerang a tug.
Underfoot it was slippery thanks to the rain and for a moment she skidded. Her heart leaped but she regained her footing. Over the last few days she’d thought about what it would be like to take Boomerang out on lovely long walks – having her arm tugged out of her socket had not featured in those daydreams.
They were doing the same circuit they had done with the Yorkshire terrier and the Labrador – and now they were on the homeward stretch. Kim was looking forward to relaxing the muscles in her arm.
‘You okay?’ asked Adrian.
‘Yes, fine,’ said Kim. She figured if he was going to be her dog, she had to get used to walking him. ‘I’m sure he’ll calm down.’
Margaret snorted a laugh and at the same time Boomerang went into overdrive, catching Kim unawares. She had the lead looped around her wrist as Margaret had instructed, which was good as it meant when the dog lunged, she didn’t let go or rather couldn’t let go. But this was also bad because the jolt coincided with a particularly slippy bit of track and Kim slid along for a moment like she was water skiing before reaching a grippy bit where her shoes stopped and Boomerang kept going. Propelling her face first into a muddy puddle.
The Promise of Summer: the new heartwarming and uplifting romance for summer 2021 Page 17