by Jenny Colgan
They spent an awkward hour settling her in and unpacking her things – it had seemed so much in the car, and it helped a lot to humanise the spotless, cosy but bare little room. Finally, Marie gently hinted that they should leave so she could introduce Lilian to the other residents.
Rosie turned towards her aunt. ‘I …’ Then she didn’t know quite what to say.
Lilian shook her head. ‘Don’t …’
Both of them stood there for a moment. Then, for the first time, Lilian stepped forward and took Rosie in her arms, and they held each other in an embrace, Rosie enveloping Lilian’s fragile frame. She felt so tiny, Rosie thought.
‘You’ve put on weight,’ she whispered.
‘Shut up,’ said Lilian. And then, after a pause, very quietly, ‘Thank you, my darling.’
‘We’ll see you in the shop next weekend,’ said Rosie. ‘And if you learn how to use that mobile phone you can put it on speaker and shout at us all day.’
Lilian indicated Stephen, who was lounging by the door.
‘From one wounded bird to another then?’
‘I heard that!’ said Stephen. Rosie grinned and blushed.
‘All right,’ said Lilian. ‘Off you go, the pair of you.’ And Rosie kissed her again on her soft white cheek.
Then they did go, hand in hand, walking gently through the falling snow, stopping, out of sight of the house, to have a quick snowball fight. Rosie screamed as Stephen chased her, her wellies full of snow, up to the avenue of trees.
‘I can’t believe you can finally outrun me,’ she said, her face pink from the wind, her mouth laughing wide. He grinned full at her.
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to. In fact I faked the entire thing.’
‘Piss off!’
He laughed and put up his hands.
‘OK, OK. I didn’t. I didn’t, obviously. But Rosie—’ His tone turned serious for a moment. ‘I never thought … I never in a million years thought that out of something so awful would come … something so sweet.’
And Rosie thought of her life and how terrible she had thought it would be, to be buried alive in the country, looking after an elderly lady, and how selfish she had been.
‘I got lucky,’ she said. ‘God, I got lucky.’
‘So did I,’ said Stephen fervently. And beneath the freezing grey sky; the cloud cover that wouldn’t lift for another six months; regardless of the windy weather, they kissed until it got dark. Which wasn’t very long. But they kissed on anyway.
Lilian was tired after being introduced to a long line of old women mostly, all of whom seemed nice. Ida Delia wasn’t there, but after supper Lilian made her way, timidly, to the games room. Sure enough, sitting in the elegant salon, looking out into the darkness, was Ida Delia.
Lilian, taut with nerves, cleared her throat.
‘Ahem,’ she said. Ida Delia looked up through thick pink-rimmed glasses. Then she nodded.
‘Lilian Hopkins,’ she said. Then a pause. ‘It is Hopkins, isn’t it? You didn’t get married and change it?’
Lilian felt a bolt of frustration shoot through her.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I did not get married and change it.’
Ida Delia nodded. There was a long silence; much left unsaid went between them.
‘Well,’ said Ida Delia finally. ‘I have a box of dominoes here, if you’re interested.’
And after an equally long pause, Lilian shrugged.
‘All right,’ she said. And she sat down quietly, and they opened the box and began to play.
The letter was tear-stained and rain-stained and goodness knows what else; it was hard, after all this time, to make out anything on the yellowing paper that had come back with his watch and his medals, and been saved, many years ago. It said, in Henry’s very recognisable handwriting, just one thing; a note, perhaps for a letter never sent, or simply an affirmation. Ida had kept it all this time, almost convincing herself over the years. If she screwed up her eyes and pretended, or was telling people who had not known them both that the ink had run in the rain, or the sweat or the blood or whatever it was; that where it said, ‘I will love you always, L,’ that it was not an L but an I; an I caught in the rain. That was all. She had never shown it to anyone, not even Dorothy, who would snort at anything romantic anyway. She could never ever entertain the belief that it said L and not I.
But maybe; just maybe, thought Ida Delia Fontayne, it was time.
‘Are you a sweetshop or a bookshop?’ asked a curious Edison one sunny, frosty Saturday morning. ‘I think you should be both. That would be good.’
Rosie looked up from where she was unpacking the box of Lilian’s self-published book she’d found in the bottom of her wardrobe, propping the copies up beside the ancient cash till.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Not a bookshop. We’ve only got space for just this one.’
People think love should be popping candy; always surprising and exciting and fresh to the mouth. Or like dark chocolate; mysterious and adult and bitter. Or the tough candy shell of a Minstrel, waiting to be cracked; the friable crumbling burst of a honeycomb; spiky as peanut brittle; as painful as a sharp shard of toffee.
I think love is caramel. Sweet and fragrant; always welcome. It is the gentle golden colour of a setting harvest sun; the warmth of a squeezed embrace; the easy melting of two souls into one and a taste that lingers even when everything else has melted away. Once tasted, it is never forgotten.
And that is all I have to say about that.
DON’T MISS THE NEXT IRRESISTIBLE
NOVEL FROM
Indulge yourself and your sweet-toothed, baking-mad friends with Jenny’s new novel, simply bursting with Christmas cupcake recipes and seasonal sugar-fuelled fun.
Coming in Autumn 2012
MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFÉ
Jenny Colgan
Come and meet Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Café.
Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that – Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe’s bakery, she has undoubtedly inherited his talent.
When she’s made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment. Armed with recipes from Grampa, and with her best friends and local bank manager fighting her corner, The Cupcake Café opens its doors. But Issy has absolutely no idea what she’s let herself in for. It will take all her courage – and confectionery – to avert disaster …
‘Sheer indulgence from start to finish’
Sophie Kinsella
978-0-7515-4449-7
WEST END GIRLS
Jenny Colgan
The streets of London are paved with gold … allegedly.
They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites – Penny is blonde, thin and outrageous; Lizzie quiet, thoughtful and definitely not thin. The one trait they do share is a desire to DO something with their lives and, as far as they’re concerned, the place to get noticed is London.
Out of the blue they discover they have a grandmother living in Chelsea – and when she has to go into hospital, they find themselves flat-sitting on the King’s Road. But, as they discover, it’s not as easy to become It Girls as they’d imagined, and West End Boys aren’t at all like Hugh Grant …
‘A brilliant novel from the mistress of chick-lit’
Eve
978-0-7515-4332-2
OPERATION SUNSHINE
Jenny Colgan
Evie needs a good holiday. Not just because she’s been working all hours in her job, but also because every holiday she has ever been on has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting – sometimes all three at once. Why can’t she have a normal holiday, like other people seem to have – some sun, sand, sea and (hopefully) sex?
So when her employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the South of France, she can’t believe her luck. It’s certainly going to be the holiday of a lifetime – but not quite in the way
Evie imagines!
‘Colgan at her warm, down-to-earth best’
Cosmopolitan
978-0-7515-3762-8
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND
Jenny Colgan
Sophie Chesterton has been living the high life of glamorous parties, men and new clothes, never thinking about tomorrow. But after one shocking evening, she comes back down to earth with the cruellest of bumps. Facing up to life in the real world for the first time, Sophie quickly realises that when you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way is up.
Join her as she starts life all over again: from cleaning toilets for a living to the joys of bring-your-own-booze parties; from squeezing out that last piece of lip gloss from the tube to bargaining with bus drivers.
For anyone who’s ever been scared of losing it all, this book is here to show you money can’t buy you love, and best friends are so much more fun than diamonds …
‘Jenny Colgan always writes an unputdownable, page-turning bestseller – she’s the queen of modern chick-lit’
Louise Bagshawe
978-0-7515-4031-4
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DUMPED
Jenny Colgan
Now, you obviously, would never, ever look up your exes on Facebook. Nooo. And even if you did, you most certainly wouldn’t run off trying to track them down, risking your job, family and happiness in the process. Posy Fairweather, on the other hand …
Posy is delighted when Matt proposes – on top of a mountain, in a gale, in full-on romantic mode. But a few days later disaster strikes: he backs out of the engagement. Crushed and humiliated, Posy starts thinking. Why has her love life always ended in total disaster? Determined to discover how she got to this point, Posy resolves to get online and track down her exes. Can she learn from past mistakes? And what if she has let Mr Right slip through her fingers on the way?
‘A Jenny Colgan novel is as essential for a week in the sun as Alka Seltzer, aftersun and far too many pairs of sandals’
Heat
978-0-7515-4030-7
Has Rosie Hopkins got your mouth watering?
Mrs Kibble has created a special blend of nostalgic sweets, inspired by the story, especially for you!
When Mrs Kibble opened her first old-fashioned sweetshop in the heart of London's busy West End, it was the first traditional sweetshop of its kind in London. Following the amazing success of her first shop, Mrs Kibble opened her second retro store.
Visit a Mrs Kibble store and you can expect to step back in time and feast your eyes upon a visual delight. Filled wall-to-wall with brightly coloured sweet jars crammed full of all the old favourites, your only problem will be wondering what to choose from the amazing selection of sweets, confectionery gifts and personalised sweet jars. But if you don’t live in London don’t panic! You can browse the virtual shelves at Mrs Kibble’s online store.
www.mrskibbles.com
Take yourself on a trip down memory lane – with no Pick ‘n’ Mix in sight.
Keep in touch with
www.jennycolgan.com
For more information on all Jenny’s books, latest news and mouth-watering recipes
Search ‘Jenny Colgan Books’
@jennycolgan
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*If consumed daily by the pound over several decades.