‘Good morning,’ she said, smiling at the photograph. ‘Big day ahead of us today.’
Julia put on a new dress she had bought in Lerwick. It was made of wool jersey with a dark paisley print and it was perfect for getting into the festive spirit. It looked fabulous with her new long black boots.
When she arrived at Cameron’s house she got out of the car, and felt the first ripple of nervous anticipation. She opened the front door to the vestibule and hesitated before knocking on the inner door. She heard footsteps running down the stairs, child-sized footsteps, accompanied by a girlish shriek of excitement.
The door was opened by Amy who seemed disappointed to see Julia; she was clearly expecting someone else. Amy ran back inside the house calling for her dad, who appeared from the kitchen and smiled a welcome to her.
‘Come in, I’m just making some lunch. Amy is expecting one of her cousins to come round to play in a while.’
‘Oh that explains why she looked so disappointed to see me.’
‘Hah! Well I’m pleased to see you.’
Julia took off her coat and hung it over the bannister and followed Cameron into the kitchen. The floor had been dusted with flour and Amy’s cat, Jessie J, stalked through the flour and left paw-prints trailing into the hallway.
‘As you can see, I’ve had some help with the cooking today. We made pizzas.’
‘They smell nice.’
‘They’re nearly done, so I’d better clear up the kitchen before Lucy comes round, or the whole house will be covered in flour before too long.’
‘Let me give you a hand. Where’s the mop?’
Cameron looked at the floor, then back at Julia; he scratched his head and sighed.
‘If you wouldn’t mind? The mop’s in the pantry,’ he replied.
Julia made quick work of the kitchen floor while Cameron finished putting together the salad and took the pizzas out of the oven and set them in the middle of the table. He fetched plates, cutlery and glasses and he was just putting out some juice when they heard Amy running out to the front door, and judging by the shrieks coming from hall Julia could tell her cousin had finally arrived.
Julia put the mop away, and picked up the dishcloth to clean a corner of the table that still had a trace of flour spilt on it. She took the cloth back to the sink to wash it out and turned when she heard someone come in and say hello. It was Cameron’s sister Heather, who nodded at Julia, but did not smile. She seemed distracted and stressed out.
‘I’ll pick Lucy up about six if that’s OK?’
‘If you’re busy I could bring her home; I have to take Amy back to Laura’s later.’
‘No, best not; John’s coming over.’
Cameron shrugged, his face clouding over with annoyance.
When Heather had gone Cameron went to find the girls and there were a chaotic few moments of serving up pizza, imploring them to try some salad and pouring out juice. The girls sat at the kitchen table, talking at each other non-stop. Jessie J jumped up onto the window sill and meowed to go out which made Lucy jump up to try to catch the cat. It evaded her grasp much to Lucy’s disgust and to Amy’s loud amusement.
‘Why don’t we go in the lounge and wait until they have finished eating. I’ll put our pizza in the oven when it’s safe to go back to the kitchen,’ Cameron suggested.
‘Good idea!’
Cameron led the way and took a seat on the sofa. The floor of the lounge was covered in colouring books, crayons and the contents from an ornate doll’s house that stood under the window.
‘I see Amy’s been busy this morning.’
‘Yeah, Laura dropped her off early; she was going off to do her Christmas shopping.’
‘What are you doing over Christmas? Will Amy be coming to stay?’
‘I’m not sure yet. Laura’s being a bit funny at the moment. She seems to think I had a hand in her splitting up with John; so now I only get to see Amy when it suits her.’
‘Well, that’s not very good. Can’t you talk to your lawyer?’
‘We haven’t been to see a lawyer yet. I really don’t want things to escalate. At the moment she has the house and enough money to keep her going. If we start to formalise everything, it might get ugly. If she doesn’t get all her own way I can see her leaving Shetland and taking Amy with her. It’s not like she has a job here to make her want to stay.’
‘That would be awful.’
‘Yeah, it really would. I couldn’t stay here without Amy.’
‘She wouldn’t really leave Shetland though would she? I mean, her family’s here, and she would have to get a job then wouldn’t she?’
‘Maybe not, but I wouldn’t want to take the chance. She’s been acting so strangely since John dumped her.’
There was a loud clatter from the kitchen and Cameron jumped up to investigate. Julia followed him and saw the girls had allowed the cat to jump up onto the table and it had knocked over one of the plastic beakers of juice; and a plate of half eaten pizza was lying on the floor.
‘Have you two finished eating?’ Cameron said, as the girls got up to leave the room.
There was no reply, just the sound of footsteps charging upstairs.
‘I’ll take that as a yes then.’
Julia helped Cameron clear the mess from the table while he put their pizza in the oven.
‘Would you like a glass of wine? I haven’t even offered you a drink yet?’
‘Tea would be better. I have to drive down to the airport soon.’
‘Of course. I don’t suppose your house will look like it’s had a wrecking ball hit it just an hour after the boys get home,’ Cameron said, as he swept up pizza and pieces of cucumber from the floor.
‘Don’t you believe it!’
Cameron put the kettle on and made two mugs of tea. He carried it over to the table where Julia was sitting.
‘I would invite you round for Christmas Day, but it might be a bit tense this year,’ Julia said quietly.
‘Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine. If John is at Heather’s I might go over to Dawn’s house instead. I shan’t be on my own. I’m hoping Laura will let me come over in the morning to see Amy open her presents. She might even be civilised enough to let me stay for dinner. Who knows?’
‘Why don’t you come over on Boxing Day then? We don’t have anything planned, although I expect the boys will want to go and catch up with their friends at some stage. We might even have a bit of an open-house that night.’
‘I might do that, thanks!’
When the pizza was ready Cameron took it out of the oven and put it on a plate in the middle of the table. Julia helped herself to a slice and some salad.
‘Yum, this is nice.’
‘Thanks; I bought myself a new Italian cookbook. This is a Sicilian recipe.’
Julia smiled at him. He reached across the table for the pepper. For a split second she thought he was reaching for her hand. She realised she had flinched, and she put down her fork and picked up her glass as if that had been her intention. Cameron did not seem to notice.
While he was occupied with the pepper mill she watched him. She had never been alone with him in his house before. He seemed different; quieter but more relaxed. She looked around the kitchen and observed he kept it spotlessly clean, at least when Amy was not around to untidy it. In this respect he was different to Duncan who simply did not notice untidiness. She wondered whether Cameron looked after the house on his own. She couldn’t resist asking.
‘Do you employ a cleaner?’
Cameron looked around the kitchen guiltily.
‘Um no, why? Do you think I should get one?’
‘No, of course not. It’s just that apart from the obvious Amy related mess this house is immaculate, and what with you being so busy at work, I wondered how you managed.’
‘Well, I do get someone to do the ironing. But only because I hate ironing. But other than that I do everything myself. I always have been rather domesticated. It surprises people.
’
Julia nodded and laughed.
‘Yes, I suppose it doesn’t go with your playboy image.’
‘Oh please; I hope I’ve shaken off that idea by now. I’m not that kind of man at all. Especially not now.’
He pointed upstairs to where Amy could be heard singing along to a Jessie J song with Lucy. They listened for a moment to the strains of the two five year old girls singing “it’s not about the money, money, money…”
‘Point taken.’ Julia said.
‘So anyway; did you enjoy the rest of your holiday? I haven’t seen you since to ask.’
Julia detected a hint of hurt in his voice, but his face looked untroubled as he bit into another piece of the potato and rosemary pizza.
‘Yeah, it was great thanks. Although, Bryden split up with his girlfriend the day before he arrived, so that was a bit sad for him. But he perked up a bit by the end of his week. Then I had a week or so on my own again, and I managed to make some decisions about my future. So yeah, the holiday was a success.’
Cameron reached for his glass of water and looked enquiringly at her.
‘What kind of decision?’
‘About work; what I’m going to do with my life; how I’m going to move on.’
‘That’s good; what did you decide?’
Julia was busy chewing pizza so she didn’t answer for a moment. Cameron watched her; a serious expression on his face.
‘I’ve applied to become a foster carer. It takes a few months to get approved, but if I am, then I shall be looking after children at my home.’
‘Wow, fostering; that’s brave.’
Julia shook her head. It didn’t feel like a brave thing to do. It felt a little bit like hiding away from the world, but perhaps she was being naive.
‘I don’t really have any other skills to offer, so I don’t have that many options.’
Cameron nodded thoughtfully, but before he could reply they were interrupted by the sound of vigorous bouncing on a bed above their heads.
Cameron stood up and walked to the foot of the stairs and shouted up to the girls.
‘Amy! What have I told you about jumping on the bed?’
The bouncing stopped instantly, to be replaced by giggling, which morphed into cackling as the girls realised there wouldn’t be any further repercussions.
Cameron sat down at the table again.
‘Seriously? Fostering? You want to do all this again with young kids?’
‘Yeah! Can’t wait. I would much rather be chasing after a couple of hooligans like those two than sitting around on my own. What’s the point of having such a lovely big home when I have nobody to share it with? Jamie and Bryden don’t come back very often now. They have their own lives.’
‘When you put it like that.’
‘Speaking of which. I really ought to be going soon. I have to pick them up.’
Cameron looked at his watch in surprise.
‘Where did the time go? We never really got a chance to talk. Maybe when I don’t have Amy?’
Julia stood up and picked up her handbag.
‘Thanks for lunch; it was great. Have a lovely Christmas won’t you!’
‘And you!’
Cameron followed her out to her car. As she fiddled in her pocket for the keys he put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. It felt like old times when they were just friends. Julia put her arm around him and hugged him back.
‘We’ll always be friends,’ Cameron said. ‘I don’t expect anything from you. You don’t need to worry about what happened.’
‘Thanks. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I wasn’t sure how things would be once we got home again.’
‘Well, if I can paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca – we will always have Palermo.’
Julia laughed. She got into her car and drove away, feeling a huge sense of relief, and then a moment later, a rush of excitement at the idea of picking up her boys. Christmas would start in less than an hour.
17
Julia leaned against the window sill and watched the plane taxi back to the terminal. A couple of minutes later the ground crew had put the steps in place and were busy unloading baggage from the hold. She watched the first passengers descend onto the tarmac and make their way across to the building. It was only just after three in the afternoon but the sky was darkening quickly. It wasn’t raining, but it was cold and breezy. Julia recognised Bryden in the gloom but saw he was on his own. He walked quickly away from the plane to get out of the cold and Julia stared at the steps of the aircraft wondering what had happened to Jamie.
Bryden stopped and looked back at the plane, and Julia realised he too was waiting for Jamie. She sighed with relief, and then saw the man himself walking slowly towards her. He carried a duty free bag and a book, and his head was lowered as if he was not interested in any of his surroundings. He did not look happy to be home.
Julia headed towards the door where the passengers would appear just as Bryden walked through. He grinned at Julia and held his arms out to her. He hugged her and then picked her up and swung her around.
‘I’m back!’
‘Yeah, I can see that. Did you have a good flight?’ Julia said, as he put her down again.
‘Yes, but word to the wise, our boy Jamie’s in a foul mood. Approach with caution!’
At that moment Jamie appeared and Julia smiled at him. She went to hug him, but he moved out of her grasp. He headed straight towards the luggage carousel, even though there were no cases on it yet.
Bryden pulled a face at Julia, and then wrapped his arms around her again. He let go abruptly when he noticed one of his friends and went over to speak to them. Julia was left standing on her own for a moment. She watched Jamie who was standing with his back to her. She looked at the duty-free carrier bag containing a bottle of Russian vodka. It was a strange thing for Jamie to buy; she imagined it must be a present for someone.
The carousel started up and Bryden came back to retrieve his bag. Jamie’s was the last bag to appear, which did nothing to shake off the dark cloud of annoyance surrounding him.
Julia and Bryden led the way out to her car. Jamie lagged behind, making no attempt to catch up or to join in with their conversation. Bryden jumped into the front passenger seat, earning a scowl from Jamie who climbed into the back seat and then leaned back and shut his eyes as if to cover his mood behind a shield of exhaustion.
Julia drove home trying to fight off the urge to tackle Jamie on his rudeness and sullen manner, but she knew it would inflame the situation. It could not be connected to anything she had said or done, so she shouldn’t take it personally. But it was hard not to be hurt, particularly as she had been looking forward to their arrival for weeks.
When they arrived home, Jamie and Bryden took their bags up to their rooms. Bryden came downstairs straight away and headed for the fridge. He opened the door and peered in at the contents and grinned appreciatively. He then inspected the contents of the slow cooker, which was bubbling away contentedly in the corner. Next he lifted the cover from the cakes Julia had made early that morning and smiled.
‘Someone’s been busy!’
‘Thought you two might need feeding up over the holiday.’
Bryden opened a drawer and took out a packet of crisps and stood by the sink munching them cheerfully. Julia was relieved at least one of her sons seemed happy.
‘What’s happening tonight?’
‘Nothing really. I made dinner already as you can see. I was hoping we could all catch up this evening. But I’m not sure now…’ Julia tilted her head in the direction of Jamie’s bedroom.
Bryden pulled a face and shook his head. He screwed up the empty crisp packet and chucked it into the bin and walked back to the sink to wash his hands.
‘I was hoping we could go round to Granny Alice’s house. You can show me what you’ve been doing to it.’
‘It’s dark now.’ Julia said, surprised at his interest.
‘So?
It still has electricity and light bulbs doesn’t it?’
‘Of course.’
‘Come on then; let’s go out for a drive. There’s something I wanted to tell you and I can do without Mr Happy butting in.’
‘OK, but we’d better tell him we’re going out.’
Just as Julia spoke, they heard footsteps above them and a moment later Jamie came downstairs. He scowled at Bryden who ignored him and reached for a glass and went to the fridge to get some juice.
‘Can I borrow your car please?’ Jamie said.
‘Um, well we were just about to go out actually. We won’t be long though.’
‘That figures!’ Jamie replied, glaring at Bryden.
‘Where were you going anyway?’ Julia said, looking from one son to the other, wondering what was going on between them.
‘I was going to meet Liam in town for a drink. I’ll probably stay over at his tonight.’
‘Oh, well in that case you definitely can’t take the car. I need to go out first thing in the morning. I have to go and collect the turkey from the butchers. But I’m sure we could drop you off.’
‘It’s OK.’ Jamie strode off towards the lounge and seconds later they heard him talking to someone on his mobile.
Julia was impatient to find out what was going on so she picked up her handbag and keys and unhooked her coat from the rack in the hall.
‘Come on then,’ she said to Bryden, who instantly put down his glass and followed her out to the car, not bothering to put a coat on.
Bryden fastened the seat belt and then sighed dramatically.
Julia started the car and set off up the hill back towards the main road. ‘So tell me; what is going on with you two?’
‘It’s kind of complicated. Can I tell you when we get to the house?’
Julia drove on in silence; Alice’s house was less than two miles away and a few minutes later they pulled up outside.
She opened the front door and turned the lights on and Bryden followed her inside.
‘What a difference! I can’t believe it’s the same house. The new kitchen is brilliant,’ Bryden said, as he walked around the downstairs of the property. He seemed genuinely impressed and Julia smiled gratefully. Nobody else had visited the house yet, so this was the first reaction from someone who knew what it had been like when Alice lived in it. They went upstairs and Bryden admired the new bathroom and the paint colours in the two bedrooms.
Learning to Dance Again Page 19