The Pet Shop at Pennycombe Bay

by Sheila Norton

  ‘Yes, of course I will.’ I took the keys from him. ‘Poor Vera. I hope she’s going to be OK.’

  ‘I expect Jim will call you when he gets the chance.’

  ‘I hope so. Thanks, Mr P. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.’

  The shop was unusually busy for the next hour or so, with a couple who took forever to choose a bed, litter tray and toys for their new kitten; a couple of people buying dry dog food that had to be weighed out and bagged up, and finally, while several other people were browsing the shelves, and others waiting to be served, a neighbour of Vera’s came in. She’d seen the ambulance outside Vera’s house, seen Jim there, and was obviously worried about what had happened. At the same time, she kept telling me how guilty she felt that she hadn’t done more to help Vera since her original fall.

  ‘I work part-time, you see,’ she said, ‘and I’ve got four children, at two different schools. I’ve never got a minute to spare. But that’s no excuse. I should have popped in to see if she was managing OK. I blame myself.’

  ‘You shouldn’t,’ I tried to reassure her. ‘She’s had a district nurse calling on her, and Jim goes round to see her regularly. I called on her myself yesterday. She’d have been OK if she hadn’t tried to go upstairs.’

  ‘Well, I’ll make a point of going to check on her every day now. I hope she hasn’t done any more damage to herself.’

  ‘So do I. Jim’s promised to call me as soon as she’s been seen.’

  I’d barely finished speaking when my phone warbled with a call from him. After apologising to the people waiting to be served, I took the call and listened to a brief update from Jim. It wasn’t good news. Vera’s arm was broken – it was a bad break and it was going to need surgery to fix it.

  ‘The doctors are still worried about her ankle, too,’ he went on, sounding tired and anxious. ‘They X-rayed it again today and it hasn’t mended properly yet. They’re going to keep her in hospital, obviously. I don’t know how long for. She’s not happy, as you can imagine.’

  ‘No, I’m sure she’s not, poor Vera. Jim, can you tell me more when you get back? Sorry, but I’ve got customers waiting.’

  It was another hour before he arrived back at the shop. By then, of course, I’d told Vera’s neighbour the news and she’d gone off, berating herself even more about not keeping an eye on Vera and promising to visit her in hospital. Several of the other customers knew Vera too, and I guessed by the end of the day the news would be all over town. But if the neighbour had felt guilty, it was nothing to how I felt when Jim told me the full story of the accident.

  ‘What on earth made her try to go upstairs?’ I asked him.

  He gave me a sad look. ‘She said she’d realised she needed to pull herself together and stop lounging around in her dressing gown. She’d made up her mind it would make her feel better if she got dressed and did her hair.’

  ‘Oh.’ I swallowed hard. ‘That might have been my fault.’ I told him about my visit the previous day. ‘I suggested helping her get dressed. I’d have brought some clothes downstairs for her, obviously. I didn’t think for a minute she’d take it into her head to try to go up there herself. She refused anyway. Told me off for bossing her around.’

  Jim gave a faint smile. ‘That’s Vera for you,’ he said. ‘Plain obstinate! I reckon she thought about what you said, after you’d gone, and decided you might be right after all. It’s not your fault, Jess, you were only trying to help.’

  Maybe, but I still dwelt on it for the rest of the day. Poor Vera had already been so depressed, stuck at home, and now it was far worse. I made up my mind to go and visit her in hospital the next day after work, when she’d hopefully be recovering from her surgery. It felt like the very least I could do.

  CHAPTER 6

  That evening after walking Pru, I sat on the little balcony outside my bedroom, gazing out at the sea and reminding myself how much I loved living here. The view always calmed me, no matter how fed up or stressed I’d been feeling about anything, and at the end of a beautiful sunny day like this, it was easy to forget my worries. The sea was an amazing shade of silvery blue, dotted with little sailing boats, and the silhouettes of several paddle-boarders taking advantage of the still, warm evening. I sighed with contentment. What did it matter if I had to offend Nick by being so abrupt with him? Why should I worry whether Ruth was overreacting about our harmless chats? He was her boyfriend, it was their relationship. As long as she let me stay here, I’d just let them get on with it.

  Having come to that conclusion, I hurried downstairs when I heard her key in the front door, anxious to stay on her right side.

  ‘Hi! Had a good day?’ I said.

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ She dumped her work bag on the floor and put a shopping bag down next to it. I heard the clink of bottles and smiled to myself. More wine.

  ‘Nick coming round?’ I asked, without thinking – and she immediately wheeled around and stared at me.

  ‘Why do you ask?’ she demanded.

  ‘No reason! I didn’t mean … Oh, look, Ruth, I’m not interested in him, OK? I thought I made that clear last night. I just wondered, if he’s not coming, do you want to share a takeaway?’ And one of those bottles, I wanted to add, but didn’t.

  She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she was wondering what I was after.

  ‘OK, yes, if you like,’ she said eventually, in a more amenable tone. ‘Chinese, please. You’ll go and pick it up, will you? Take the dog with you. I don’t want her bothering me while you’re out. I’ve got to pack.’

  ‘Pack?’ I queried.

  ‘Yes. Didn’t I tell you? Nick’s taking me to the Cotswolds for the weekend. We’re going tomorrow night; he’s picking me up in Exeter after work, so I’ll have to take my suitcase with me in the morning.’

  ‘Oh, that’ll be lovely!’ I was genuinely pleased for her, but also, I couldn’t help looking forward to a break from her mood swings and the problem of trying to avoid talking to Nick. ‘Very romantic.’

  ‘Yes.’ There was a sparkle in her eyes for a moment, and an unusual softness to her voice as she smiled and added, ‘I hope it means he feels the same as I do.’

  ‘I’m sure he does,’ I said, smiling at her.

  Perhaps being in love would start to bring out the better side of her nature, I thought to myself as I put Pru on her lead again and set off for the Chinese takeaway. Love was supposed to make you happy, wasn’t it? I hadn’t seen much evidence of that yet!

  Everything seemed much better that evening, when we sat together with our takeaway, watching a rubbish film on TV. She opened one of her bottles of wine, too, and shared it with me. It felt cosy and comfortable, as if we hadn’t argued at all. I could almost imagine nothing had changed between us.

  ‘We don’t need to start another one, do we?’ I said in surprise when she reached for the corkscrew and began to open the second bottle of wine.

  She looked back at me, seeming to hesitate for a moment, before continuing to open the bottle and pour herself a large glass.

  ‘You needn’t think I’m leaving it here for you to finish off while I’m away!’ she said, adding quickly when she saw the look on my face: ‘I’m joking, Jess!’

  I laughed along with her. ‘Of course.’

  It was good to hear her laughing, good to be friends again, so I ignored the slight feeling of unease I had about the second bottle of wine. After all, she was relaxed and happy and looking forward to her weekend away – what better reason to enjoy a little drink. We went back to watching the film together in companionable silence.

  The following day, in the shop, Jim was quieter than usual. It was obvious how worried he was about Vera. Several of our customers that morning were friends or acquaintances of hers, who came in to ask after her, rather than buy anything.

  ‘I’d like to go and visit her this evening,’ I said when we finally had a quiet moment. ‘Do you think that would be OK?’

  ‘Oh! Yes, I’m sure it would,’ he sa
id, looking at me in surprise. ‘And it would be a weight off my mind, Jess, to be honest, if you were to visit her occasionally.’ He went on to explain that Vera’s only daughter lived in New Zealand and, rather than worrying about her having no visitors, Jim had made up his mind to visit her himself, ‘every day if necessary’ – even though he didn’t drive.

  ‘It’s a long trip for you, though, on the bus,’ I said. ‘You’ll wear yourself out. Surely some of Vera’s other friends can take turns to visit her?’

  ‘They’re all elderly themselves. Like me,’ he said ruefully. ‘Some of them are a bit incapacitated. It’s a lot to ask.’

  ‘Well, in that case, I’ll give you a lift to the hospital, but honestly, I don’t think Vera would expect you to go every day.’

  ‘Maybe not, but I can’t bear to think of her lying there, lonely and depressed with nobody going to see her. If you’re going tonight, Jess, I’ll go tomorrow, and we’ll see whether anyone else offers to take a turn after that.’

  By the stubborn set of his jaw I could tell he was determined to visit every day if nobody else did. I wondered if Vera realised how fond of her he was. I smiled to myself. Perhaps it was never too late to find somebody to love you. Was there hope for me too, if I waited long enough?

  Vera opened her eyes as I sat down beside her bed. Her arm was in a plaster cast, her bad ankle elevated, and her face was as white as her sheet.

  ‘Hello,’ I said gently. ‘I’m sorry, did I wake you up?’

  She nodded a hello at me. ‘Wake me up? Huh. Fat chance of getting any damn sleep in here – nurses and doctors and God-knows-who, in and out all day and all damn night, chatting and banging things around. Porters pushing people in and out in wheelchairs. Some young girl in a pink overall looming over me asking what I want to eat for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. How am I supposed to know what I’m going to want, that far ahead? I told her to clear off. A bit of toast’ll do me, I said. How about I put you down for a nice spaghetti Bolognaise, she said. I ask you! Do I look like someone who wants a big pasta dinner, when I’m lying here in bed helpless?’ She shook her head at me and I smiled. It was good to hear her talking like this: fed up or not, at least she sounded more like the old Vera. ‘Do you know,’ she went on, sounding even more indignant now, ‘we even had some woman come in with a cat this morning! Big black one, it was. She put it on that woman’s lap, opposite. Some kind of new-fangled treatment, I suppose. Unless I dreamt it – could’ve done. Could’ve been a what-d’you-call-it – hallucination. I was still a bit groggy from the anaesthetic.’

  ‘No, Vera, I imagine that was probably a volunteer. They bring pets into hospitals and care homes, for people to stroke. I know someone who visits with his dog.’

  ‘Really?’ She looked at me doubtfully. ‘Whatever will they think of next?’ She shook her head again. ‘Looked a nice cat, though. Didn’t seem to mind being put on the woman’s lap.’

  ‘Well, hopefully she enjoyed stroking him. How are you doing, Vera, apart from that? I was really sorry to hear about your fall. I wish you hadn’t tried to go upstairs: I feel responsible. If I hadn’t tried to encourage you to get dressed—’

  ‘Don’t be daft, girl. My own stupid bloody fault. You were right to try and get me to buck my ideas up. I’m sorry I sent you packing. You were only trying to help,’ she added gruffly.

  ‘And now you’ve ended up in hospital. Not exactly the result I was hoping for. Are you in a lot of pain?’

  ‘No, thank the Lord. They’re pumping me full of morphine, and God knows what else. Every five minutes someone’s feeding me damn tablets or sticking needles in me. Feel like I’m away with the fairies, to be honest. If this is what it’s like being on drugs I wish I’d had a few of those what-d’you-call-its – Purple Hearts – that everyone was talking about when I was younger.’

  ‘Vera!’ I exclaimed, laughing. ‘I’m sure you don’t, really.’

  She gave me a wink. ‘Anyway,’ she said, closing her eyes and suddenly sounding sleepy, ‘nice of you to come, Jess. Say hello to Jim. Good of him to help me yesterday.’

  ‘He sends his love,’ I said. I took hold of her bony hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘OK, I’ll let you rest. See you again soon.’

  Jim sounded relieved when I called him later and described my visit.

  ‘She seemed a lot brighter than I expected,’ I said. ‘Complaining, of course, but in quite a spirited way.’

  ‘More like her usual self, then,’ he said, chuckling.

  ‘Yes. She says she feels like she’s on drugs. She thinks she should’ve tried Purple Hearts when she was younger!’

  He roared with laughter at this. I was relieved, for his sake as well as for Vera’s. It was horrible that she’d broken her arm and had to be in hospital, but at least it meant she was having her pain properly controlled now, and was being looked after. I didn’t want to speculate on how long it might be before she could return home, though.

  It was strange having the house to myself that weekend. After a busy day in the shop on Saturday, the weather turned wet on Sunday, and apart from taking Prudence for her walks in the rain, I stayed indoors, cleaning the house and reading. I’m sorry to say I didn’t miss Ruth. It was a bit of a relief having a break from her unpredictable moods, even though our last evening together had been so nice.

  ‘I suppose she’ll be home soon,’ I said to Prudence as I dished up her evening meal. ‘I hope the weekend went well, so she’ll be in a good mood.’

  She looked up at me from her food bowl, one silky black ear flopping over her face, giving her a comical expression.

  We’d better wind the party down now, then.

  ‘Yep. Clear up the empty bottles, turn off the music and send the boys home.’

  Pity. It’s been fun. Can we do it again next weekend, Mum?

  ‘I doubt it. Unless she goes away again—’

  I stopped abruptly at the sound of the front door slamming.

  ‘Hello?’ Ruth looked round the kitchen door, staring at me. ‘Who were you talking to? Have you got friends in here?’

  ‘No. Just Prudence.’

  ‘Talking to the dog now, are you?’ she said, and I was immediately alert to the sneer in her tone.

  ‘Of course she is. Everybody talks to their dogs.’ Nick appeared behind Ruth, smiling at me over her shoulder. I froze in the act of picking up Pru’s empty bowl. ‘Hello, Jess. How are you?’

  ‘Fine, thank you,’ I said without looking at him. Ignoring Ruth’s malevolent glare, I squeezed past them to leave the room. ‘I hope you both had a good weekend. Excuse me. I’m just going to … um … wash my hair.’

  ‘Is she all right?’ I heard Nick ask, as I went upstairs.

  ‘How would I know?’ Ruth retorted. ‘Why don’t you ask her yourself, if you care so much?’

  Oh dear. It didn’t sound as if the weekend had gone quite the way she’d hoped. Or that Ruth and I would be having another cosy night in together any time soon!

  By the time I came back downstairs, Nick had gone and Ruth was sitting on her own, staring moodily at the television.

  ‘So did you have a good time?’ I asked tentatively.

  ‘It was fine,’ she said. Her tone said otherwise. I guessed they’d had an argument. Presumably she wouldn’t want to talk about it, but on the other hand it seemed uncaring to leave it like that, seeing perfectly well that she was unhappy. I wished we still had the kind of best friend relationship we used to have when we were both younger, when we could always talk about our worries and insecurities to each other and feel better. Well, to be honest it was usually me talking about my worries and insecurities, and Ruth trying to comfort me. We used to be so close, though, and even now she was sometimes such a grump, she was still the nearest thing to a female friend I had, since Liz had dumped me. If I ignored Ruth now, when surely talking would help her to feel better, how could I ever expect our relationship to work again?

  I took a deep breath. I wasn’t very good at this ki
nd of thing but I needed to learn. It was probably best not to beat about the bush.

  ‘What happened?’ I asked her quietly. I thought about putting my arm around her, but we weren’t really like that these days. ‘Did you have a row? Don’t worry, everybody has arguments. It’s part and parcel of being a couple, isn’t it? It’ll all be fine, I’m sure, you’ll soon be kissing and making up—’

  ‘And what the hell would you know about it?’ she retorted, rounding on me angrily. ‘Have you ever been in love? No! You’ve never even been out with a guy for more than five minutes! And don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, cosying up to me like this all of a sudden, wanting to know if we’ve had a row – I know you’re after Nick yourself, so there’s no point pretending you’re not. For your information we haven’t had a row, everything is totally fine. And you’ve got no chance with Nick, so just keep your nose out of my business and leave me alone!’

  I’d recoiled, horrified, as soon as she’d started this rant, so by the time she’d finished, got to her feet and stomped off upstairs I was lying back almost flat against the cushions, shaking, as if she’d actually attacked me physically. I shook my head, dazed and confused. I’d tried to be sympathetic, to be a compassionate friend to her, and this was what I got in return? I just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t understand where that level of spite had come from. Prudence had padded into the room, disturbed by the sound of shouting, and was whining anxiously beside me.

  What’s going on? What’s the matter?

  I sat up and patted my knees for her to jump up on my lap.

  ‘Oh, Pru,’ I whispered against her fur. ‘I’ve done it all wrong again, as usual. She hates me now. I wish I’d never opened my stupid mouth.’

  Aw, don’t be upset. Let me lick you better.

  I giggled as her rough little tongue tickled my ear.

  ‘Thank goodness I’ve got you,’ I said. ‘You’re my best friend, I should know that by now. Why would I ever need anyone else when we’ve got each other to talk to?’