Sunshine and Second Chances

by Kim Nash

  He stared deep into her eyes and she wondered whether he’d been taking lessons from Hector.

  ‘I want to start my own business, George.’

  ‘We can do that. I can look around for something and I can buy you a going concern. Get you some staff. Job’s a good ’un!’

  ‘You’re missing the point totally, George. I want to do this for myself. You can’t fix everything by throwing money at it, you know.’

  George looked devastated. ‘Olivia, I work damn hard so that you and the boys can have everything you want. Damn hard.’

  ‘You do, George. I’m not disputing that. But this is something I want to do. I might need to ask for your advice, but I need to do it for myself.’

  She explained her business idea and he nodded at her. She reached over into her handbag and got out a notebook. She ran through her ideas.

  ‘You really have been doing some thinking, haven’t you?’

  ‘It’s got my brain working again, George. Not just about what needs washing for what day, and who needs to be at what club and at what time. This has truly got my mind working. And it’s exciting me. I can’t honestly remember the last time I was excited about doing something.

  ‘Remember when you first started the business and we’d sit at night and work out how to make things better and run more smoothly? I used to help you then, but for some reason you stopped asking me. I miss those days. I miss being part of what you do. The only time I’m involved in the company is when you are entertaining and want to show off the house and your family.’

  ‘That’s a bit unfair. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and the things that we’ve got.’

  ‘But I’d swap them all tomorrow to have my old George back. Not the show-offy George who wants to be better than everyone else. Just good old humble, hard-working George, who loves his family and puts them first.’

  George gulped. ‘I thought it was what you wanted. You’ve never gone without a thing.’

  ‘The only thing I ever wanted, George, was you. You and the boys. Remember when they were young and on a Saturday night we used to sit and have a takeaway and watch X-Factor? A proper family night. We had three sofas in the lounge and we all used to sit on the same one, snuggling up with each other. Now, we’re lucky to all be in the same room. The boys sit in their rooms playing on their electronic games, and if they are in the same room as us, you and they are always on phones or iPads. I miss us being a family.’

  George poured more wine. ‘I think it’s going to be a long night. But there is nothing that you’ve said to me so far that I don’t think we can fix. Do you feel the same? Do you want to fix things? Oh, Olivia,’ his voice quivered. ‘I love you so much. We all do and we want you home.’

  Olivia reached out and stroked his cheek. Stubble was starting to come through, and he wasn’t looking like the smooth-shaven husband who left the house early each morning. She looked deep into his eyes.

  ‘Do you want me home, or do you need me home, George? They’re two very different things.’

  ‘I very much want you home, Olivia. I have never once in all of our years together ever looked at another woman. I’ve never needed to. I’ve had everything I’ve ever wanted in you. You are beautiful, you are bright, you are kind, you are an amazing mother to our boys and you are my everything. I adore you, and I’ve clearly been pretty bloody shitty at showing you that. Please let me try to make it up to you and make everything better. Please say you’ll give me a chance and I promise I won’t let you down.’

  Olivia yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She was shattered. Getting all of this out tonight had been cathartic yet exhausting. These were things she’d been bottling up for a very long time.

  George put his head in his hands and his shoulders started to shake. Her touch on his back made him look up and she looked deep into his eyes and remembered just how very much she loved this man before her.

  ‘Do you want me to find a hotel to book into? I didn’t even think of organising anywhere. I just wanted to come straight here to you.’

  ‘No, George. Stay here.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I’m absolutely sure. There’s no place I’d rather you be.’

  She took her husband by the hand and led him to her bedroom and showed him exactly how sure she was.

  Liv had slept more soundly than she had for weeks. The next morning, she stretched and yawned as she sauntered downstairs in her dressing gown to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen and her husband singing and dancing around the kitchen in his boxer shorts and an apron. She raised her eyebrows. It had been a very long time since she had seen a sight like this.

  ‘A full English for my wifey!’ He planted a kiss on her nose as she gazed at him in astonishment and he placed her plate on the table, leading her by the arm to the chair.

  She honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had cooked anything.

  ‘I’ve still got it, you know.’ He winked at her as he fetched his own plate from the work surface.

  There was nothing nicer than someone else cooking for you. She always felt things took so long to prepare and cook that when she sat down she couldn’t really be bothered to eat. He’d even remembered how she liked her eggs. It was delicious and she ate the lot.

  ‘Coffee, senhora?’

  ‘Good grief!’ She looked around her in feigned shock. ‘Call the police. Someone’s taken my husband away and replaced him with an imposter!’

  He clutched his hand to his heart. ‘Oh, that hurts! What you will find, my love, is today is the first day of the rest of our lives. I’ve spoken with my mother and she’s happy to have the kids for a little while longer, and suggested you and I spend some time together out here. It’s been a while since we had a holiday and it’s been over fourteen years since we had a holiday on our own. So how about it, wifey?’ He leant on his elbow and fluttered his eyelashes at her dramatically.

  She loved him calling her ‘wifey’. When they were first married he called her nothing else. It was another one of those things that had dwindled away over the years. It sounded good.

  She looked at the man in front of her and couldn’t believe she had even considered throwing everything that they had away.

  ‘I think it sounds absolutely wonderful. But without wishing to put a dampener on things, one full English and a pot of coffee isn’t going to mend everything.’

  ‘I absolutely know that, darling, and that’s why I think it’s a good idea for us to spend some time together out here and work out exactly how we’re going to do things differently in the future. But anything you want, you’ve got it. If you want the cleaner to do more hours, then we’ll arrange it. If you want me to take on more of the stuff at home, let’s work out a rota and we’ll start it as soon as we get back. Whatever it takes. I swear to you that I’m committed to you and that I’m prepared to do the work.

  ‘And, also, we’ve got a lot of talking to do about your business idea. If you want my help, then I’m very happy to give it to you, but if you don’t, then I’ll let you get on with it. But I would like to be involved if you’d let me. Just remember how good we used to be when we put our heads together.’

  George went to pick up her plate to take it over to the sink, but Liv grabbed his hand as he was passing. She pulled him close to her and he leant down and took her in his arms. She breathed him in. Her George. Her husband. The love of her life. And she knew in that moment, that whatever the future held for them, it was going to be together, and everything was going to work out OK.

  ‘Mum, Mum!’

  Olivia turned to see her sons hurtling towards her. Seb flung his arms around her waist and squeezed her tightly, and James pulled her into his shoulder. At fourteen he towered over her.

  ‘I’ve missed you, Mum,’ he whispered into her ear.

  She took a huge breath. God, how could she possibly have forgotten how much she loved these boys? How could she have even thought about causing devastation i
n their lives by splitting up their family? She clung onto them both as tightly as she could.

  ‘You can let go now, Mum.’ James grinned at her.

  ‘I’m never letting go of my mummy again. Please don’t go away again, Mum. It’s been awful,’ said Seb.

  She laughed at the dismay on his face when she ruffled his hair. ‘Don’t worry, mate. I’m back now. And I know I’ve not been away for that long, but you’ve both grown. I’m sure of it.’

  ‘That’s because Grandma has been making us eat loads of vegetables. She’d given so much cabbage and broccoli to us that we gave it to the dog when she wasn’t looking and he keeps farting all the time and scaring himself.’

  Liv laughed at the thought. She couldn’t wait to see Hector.

  ‘Well, I hope you’ve been behaving for your grandma if she’s been good enough to look after you.’

  Liv and her mother-in-law had never been the best of friends. She was one of those mothers who’d never really wanted her child to leave home and still treated George like he was about ten every time they went to visit. Liv felt she was never good enough for Kathleen and that she always looked down her nose at her. She was old school, and believed that women stayed at home looking after the house and the children, and had meat and two veg on the table for when their man came home from work.

  While they’d been away, Olivia and George had talked lots and admitted that they didn’t communicate well with each other these days. George had thought that giving her money so she could buy whatever she wanted made her happy. In fairness, she’d never told him that it didn’t. She hadn’t wanted to offend him. They made a pact that if either of them was not totally happy about something, that they had to have a conversation about it. It was all about communication.

  Grandma Kathleen appeared from the coffee shop, where she’d been watching their arrival. Greeting her daughter-in-law, she put both hands on her shoulders.

  ‘Olivia, darling. You look all sun-kissed and fabulous.’ She pulled her into her ample bosom and hugged her tightly. Liv couldn’t remember her ever doing this before in all her married life.

  Kathleen kissed her son on his cheek and gave him the keys to the Range Rover. She tucked Olivia’s hand into the crook of her arm. Olivia turned around to make sure the boys were following her. James flicked Seb on his face and Seb cried out, ‘Muuuum, tell him!’

  She spoke at the same time as her husband. ‘James—’

  ‘That’s enough, James. Leave your brother alone. NOW!’

  Olivia quite liked this assertive side to her husband. Normally he left the disciplining of the children to her, and she really did hope that he had turned a corner and that this wasn’t going to be something that was short-lived. Although she knew that if she wanted to keep her family together, she wasn’t going to let it. She would do everything in her power to make it all work out, to help them work things out together.

  ‘Boys, come with me and we’ll go grab the car. You two can wait here and I’ll text you when I’m in the waiting area,’ said George.

  This was a little different to the last time they went on holiday, when George was texting someone from work on his phone while she battled to put the cases in the car, pay the parking ticket and get the children to stop bickering with each other. He really did seem to be turning over a new leaf.

  Kathleen smiled at her. ‘Darling, you deserve a bloody medal. If I had to put up with your family twenty-four hours a day, I’d be buggering off to Portugal on a one-way ticket. They’re bloody horrendous! How on earth do you cope with them? It’s been lovely to see them all, but dear God, I can’t wait to get home. I’m exhausted!’ She winked and the two women laughed in solidarity.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind but I’ve taught the boys, and I include the big one in that, how to use the washing machine and tumble dryer. I’ve taught the smaller two, who, by the way, are actually growing every day and have eaten us out of house and home, that they need to pick up their dirty pants off the floor and put them into their laundry baskets and that anything else on the floor that doesn’t belong there, probably needs to go into the bin. I’ve taught them a few other things too, so I hope they’ll show you when you get home.’

  ‘Thank you so much. It’s my own fault, Kathleen. I’ve done everything for them over the years. It just seemed quicker and less trouble. If I did everything I didn’t have to face the grumpy faces and mardy responses.’

  ‘And what’s George’s excuse?’

  ‘Again, I think I just wanted to give him what he wanted. To make him feel like he was king of his castle. But I’ve probably made my whole family ungrateful and unhelpful by not teaching them the right way.’

  ‘There is no right or wrong way though, darling. There’s no rule book when you become a parent and a wife. You just have to muddle through to the best of your abilities. I have an apology to make to you too. I’m sorry I’ve not been more supportive over the years. I wish I’d seen what was happening and if I’d been around more, I would have. I’d have seen that George wasn’t pulling his weight at home and if I’d have made more of an effort to see you, I would have seen that you weren’t happy. Let’s not be strangers any more, Olivia. Despite them being a nightmare to look after, I’ve really enjoyed spending time with them all. I want to be more of a part of all your lives, if you’ll allow me to be.’

  ‘I would love that, Kathleen.’

  ‘I left George’s father once a long time ago, you know.’

  Liv didn’t think she’d ever been so shocked in her life.

  ‘Really? George never said.’

  ‘George never knew and I would never tell him. Please do keep this to yourself. I was feeling exactly the same way as you did. I never went as far as getting on a flight to Portugal, though I did pack a bag, leave a note on the kitchen table and walk out when he was at work one day. George was at school. I was totally and utterly exhausted and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was tired of not being me, of being a wife and a mother, with no time for anything else. I caught the bus into town and bumped into someone I used to work with. She told me her husband had had a heart attack and had passed away and she was so deeply sad and on her own, bravely bringing up her two small children. I felt like such an ungrateful madam and a complete and utter fool, so I came home. I threw away the note in the wastepaper bin, unpacked my case and went on with my day.’

  ‘Oh my goodness, Kathleen. Did he ever know?’

  ‘I never said anything to him, but when I went into the kitchen that evening, the note had been taken out of the bin and ripped into tiny pieces and sat on the windowsill. Tom came in, picked them up and took them into the garden where he struck a match and set fire to the shreds. He came back in, gave me a kiss, told me he loved me more than anything in his life and said he was sorry that he’d let me down. We never spoke about it again.

  ‘Sometimes our men need a short sharp shock to kick them into shape. They’re a bit stupid, you see, and need everything pointed out to them. They go from one extreme to the other. They want to be the head of their family, but you still have to remind them to put on their socks and pants in the morning, or who knows how they’d be dressed.’

  Liv smirked.

  ‘If you want a man to do something, you have to act helpless and ask them to do it. They feel like a big man helping out their family and everyone’s happy. It’s just a big game. But he also needs to know that he needs to make you happy too. It’s a shame he didn’t realise buying you lots of stuff wasn’t making you happy. Just keep talking to each other, darling, and if you need a friend, you know you can pick up the phone to me. Anytime. And I really do mean that, from the bottom of my heart.’

  If this offer had come before she’d been away with the girls, Olivia might have dug her heels in and not bothered with Kathleen, but she felt more mellow since she’d mulled things over and wanted to look forward not backwards. Life was too short, and not forgiving someone did as much damage to yourself as them.

&
nbsp; ‘And if you ever feel like running away to the sun again, for Christ’s sake give me a ring and I’ll be there as fast as I can throw some knickers and a toothbrush in my handbag!’

  Liv grinned and hugged Kathleen tightly. ‘Thank you for everything,’ she whispered into her hair.

  ‘To be honest, I don’t think you’ll need to do it ever again. You’ve scared the living daylights out of George. If there’s anything you want him to buy you right now – new car, new designer bag or shoes – I’d ask away, because I think he’d give you the world to stop you leaving him. He was petrified.’

  ‘I don’t want the world, Kathleen. I just want my husband back.’

  ‘I know. And I think you might just be in luck.’

  This was the most affection the two women had ever shown to each other and Liv hoped that it was the start of a blossoming friendship that they’d been missing out on for years.

  The bleep of a text on Kathleen’s phone signified that the boys were outside.

  ‘Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you home.’

  Thirty-One

  Liv was glad it felt great to be home, she hadn’t been sure how she’d feel. As she peered around the kitchen door, Hector spotted her and came bounding across the room, nearly knocking her over.

  ‘Steady on, boy!’ she laughed. ‘Have you missed me?’

  He jumped up and put his paws on her shoulders and licked her. He had such a smiley face and he looked absolutely thrilled to see her. He hopped around on all four paws and she nearly tripped over him as he got under her feet as she made her way over to the kettle.

  ‘Mum, stay where you are. I am going to make you a cuppa.’

  ‘Wow, Seb. Are you sure?’

  ‘I’m absolutely sure! Grandma showed me how. She told me I had to do it for you when you got home.’

  ‘You weren’t supposed to tell her that bit though, you muppet!’ James lightly cuffed his younger brother on the back of his head and they laughed at each other.

  It was nice that they were laughing instead of shouting. She looked across at George, and he smiled back at her.