The Next Forever
Page 13
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. There’s a lot to do, though.”
As he squinted at his wedding task list, Chrissie leaned closer and glanced at his notes. “You haven’t sorted your flowers yet?” she asked.
Big Kev shook his head sadly. “We’re on a tight budget and struggling to find a florist we can afford. All we need are a few bouquets and buttonholes, and I think we might just buy some bunches at the supermarket and do the best we can with them.”
Chrissie shook her head and reached for her phone. “I know a florist in the north of the city. Her prices are good and her work is beautiful. We’ve worked together on a few wedding cakes where brides have wanted very specific floral designs for decoration, and she’s always done a terrific job without breaking the bank. Write this number down and tell her Chrissie Sullivan sent you.”
Big Kev scribbled the details into his notebook, and Chrissie helped him to correct the phone number when he wrote down the wrong digits. Keith was strangely touched by her kindness.
“Oi, Keith!” someone called out from the other side of the pub. “Hurry up with these quiz results. Some of us have homes to go to.”
Frowning, Keith gathered together the scraps of paper on which he’d scrawled the quiz answers and scores. When Chrissie grinned and gave him a silent toast with her juice, he shrugged in amusement.
“Right, listen up, everyone. Question number one was, ‘What’s the second longest river in the world?’ And the answer is the Amazon.”
A cheer went up amongst some groups of competitors, while others groaned.
“And I’d like to ask Jimmy Pearson and Team Genius if they honestly think that the second longest river in the world is the River Clyde,” Keith said.
A roar of laughter rumbled around the pub and Keith grinned to see Jimmy Pearson shuffling uncomfortably on his bar stool. “Those idiots told me it was the Clyde,” he growled, pointing to his team mates at a nearby table.
“We thought the question was about Scotland, not the whole world,” one of them complained.
“Aye, well even if it had been, you would still have been wrong,” Keith said. “The Clyde’s the third longest river in Scotland. Anyone here know the second longest?”
“The Spey,” someone called from the back.
“Well done, Bobby,” Keith called out. “You win a bonus packet of crisps.”
“Hey, we didn’t know this was a bonus round,” someone complained. “That’s not fair!”
“Ach, stop whining,” Keith said. “Right, question two.”
Ten minutes later, the quiz answers had been declared, the final scores announced, and the winning team and runners-up were basking in their glory. Keith tucked his quiz paperwork behind the till and finally turned to Chrissie.
“Thanks for waiting. Shall we get going?”
Just as Chrissie set down her glass and rose from the bar stool, Keith heard footsteps in the corridor behind him.
“Keith?”
When he turned, he saw Janice. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she was twisting her hands together as she watched him.
Keith stepped into the corridor. “What’s the matter?”
“Could you help put my empty suitcase up into your loft?”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m just on my way out.”
Her expression brightened. “Oh, where are you going? Maybe I could come too, for a change of scenery?”
“No, you can’t come, Janice, I’m…” Keith gestured to the bar, and in the general direction of Chrissie on the other side of it. “I’m going out with someone.”
Janice’s gaze shifted from Keith to Chrissie, who was tucking her phone into her bag and saying goodbye to Big Kev.
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”
“I don’t. Or at least… look, I don’t know if I have or I haven’t. We haven’t even been out together yet, so…”
Janice stared at Chrissie a moment longer before smiling and turning back to Keith.
“She looks lovely.”
“Aye, she does. So, if this suitcase business could wait until tomorrow—”
Janice flapped her hands. “I really have to move it out of the room. I’m trying to sort out my things and find a place for everything, and clearing out the stuff I don’t need would be such a big help. And it’ll only take a minute to throw the suitcase up into the loft.”
Seeing the pleading expression on Janice’s face, Keith sighed. “Fine, I’ll come up and sort out your suitcase. But that’s all, Janice. I can’t help with anything else tonight. I’ve already kept Chrissie waiting long enough.”
“Understood,” Janice said. “Thank you.”
Keith stepped back into the bar towards Chrissie and leaned over the counter. “Chrissie, can you give me another two minutes? I need to run upstairs and help Janice with something.”
Chrissie glanced over his shoulder. “Is that Janice?”
Keith nodded. She seemed to study the other woman for a moment.
“She looks upset.”
“I know.” Keith scratched his chin. “Listen, have a seat for a minute and I’ll be right back.”
Keith headed up the stairs and found Janice in her room, surveying the mess that was still spread on the floor and on the bed.
“Right, which suitcase is it?” Keith said and pointed to the three cases lined up by the window.
“If you could take two of them, that’d be great,” Janice said, throwing open one of the suitcases and quickly pulling out the remaining contents. “I can probably stuff these things underneath the bed for now.”
Keith grabbed both suitcases and dragged them into the hallway before opening the loft hatch and pulling down the ladder. He stowed the first suitcase, but found he had to shift a few boxes around to make space for the second, and by the time he got it up there and stowed the ladder and shut the hatch, almost ten minutes had passed. Frowning as he thought of Chrissie waiting downstairs, he stuck his head into Janice’s room.
“Right, that’s me off, Janice. See you later.”
Janice was sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to the door, but Keith could tell by the movement of her shoulders that she was crying.
“Janice, are you okay?”
She glanced over her shoulder and flicked her hand. “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t mind me. Off you go and have a lovely night, Keith.”
He watched from the doorway as Janice blew her nose into a handkerchief. Closing his eyes briefly, he stepped into the room.
“Janice, I can’t leave you sitting here in tears.”
“Of course you can. Go on, have a nice time and just ignore me.”
“I can’t just ignore you. You’re crying your eyes out.”
“I’m trying to pull myself together, Keith, I really am.” Janice rose from the bed and pasted on a smile. “Your friend looks lovely, don’t keep her waiting any longer.” Her voice cracked and tears once more rolled down her face.
“For God’s sake, Janice,” Keith said gently. “You’ll collapse with nervous exhaustion at this rate.”
She let out a choked laugh and dug a fresh tissue from her pocket. After another noisy blow of her nose, she glanced at the door.
“What’s her name, the woman you’re going out with?”
Keith frowned. “Chrissie.”
“How did you meet?”
“Janice, this isn’t the time for—”
“Is everything okay, Keith?”
Turning, he saw Chrissie peering around the door.
“When you didn’t come back downstairs, your barman said I should just come up,” Chrissie said. “Am I interrupting?”
Keith stepped towards her. “No, of course not. Chrissie, this is Janice. Janice, this is Chrissie.”
He wasn’t entirely sure how the two women would take to each other. After all, he was trying to strike up a relationship with a woman he’d only just met at the same time as having his emotionally-unstable ex-wife living in his house. I
t wasn’t exactly ideal, and now Chrissie had found the two of them in Janice’s bedroom, as thick as thieves. She couldn’t be blamed if she decided this was one complication too many and cut her losses.
But Keith was stunned when Chrissie simply smiled and stepped towards his ex-wife and took her hands in hers.
“Hello, Janice, it’s nice to meet you,” Chrissie said. “And I’m so sorry to hear about what you’ve been going through. It must be awful.”
Janice stared at Chrissie, and then glanced at Keith before turning back to Chrissie again.
“It is awful,” Janice said, her voice quivering. “In fact, it’s terrible!”
Keith watched in astonishment as Janice threw herself into Chrissie’s arms and started bawling her eyes out. A momentary look of shock crossed Chrissie’s face before she put her arms around the other woman and patted her back.
“Oh, poor you,” Chrissie said. “Have a good cry and let it all out. Maybe we ought to put the kettle on, Keith?”
Keith scowled and then gave a reluctant nod. “Aye, okay. I’ll make you a cuppa, Janice, and then Chrissie and me can get out of here.”
Janice sobbed and looked up from where she’d burrowed into Chrissie’s chest. “Thanks, Keith.” When she glanced back at Chrissie, her expression changed to one of horror. “Oh Chrissie, I’m so sorry! I’ve made a mess of your shirt.”
Chrissie looked down and winced as she examined the wet patch on her shirt where it was stained and streaked with Janice’s mascara.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Janice hiccupped. “I’m mortified. I’ll get something to clean it with.”
Realising that Janice was beginning to flap again, Keith stepped forward. “Go and get a seat in the living room, Janice. Chrissie, the bathroom’s on the other side of the landing if you want to throw some cold water on your shirt. I think I might have some stain remover in the kitchen.”
But Chrissie was shaking her head. “It’s really okay.”
“Come and sit with me, Chrissie, while Keith makes our tea,” Janice was saying.
“No!” Keith barked. “I mean, we’re on our way out, Janice, and—”
“Exactly,” Janice sniffled. “So I’ll keep Chrissie company and you make us all a cuppa and we can sit down together for a minute.”
“But—”
“The living room’s through here, Chrissie,” Janice said, wiping her eyes and leading Chrissie away.
Not entirely understanding what had just happened, Keith shuffled into the kitchen and made a pot of tea. As he splashed milk into mugs and stirred the teapot, he listened to the two women talking in the other room, their conversation occasionally punctuated by Janice’s noisy sobbing. Scowling, he carried the tea tray through and set it on the coffee table.
“…and then Stuart told me he wanted me out of the house!” Janice was saying. “It’s a terrible thing, finding yourself alone at this age. I thought I’d be with my Stuart forever, and now I’ve been tossed on to the rubbish heap. I’m penniless, Chrissie! If it wasn’t for this man here, I’d be on the streets. And I hope you know I’m grateful, Keith, for what you’re doing for me.”
“Hmm,” Keith said, slurping his tea.
Janice dabbed at her eyes and then smiled at Chrissie. “You’re a nice woman, being so kind to me, especially when I’ve messed up your night out.”
“You haven’t messed up our night out,” Keith said. “We’ll be leaving as soon as we’ve drunk this tea.”
An unhappy expression crossed Janice’s face and Keith saw how Chrissie automatically reacted to it.
“I’m sure it’s just going to take time for you to get over all this,” she said kindly.
“We’d just booked a holiday to Corfu,” Janice said, cradling her mug and staring off into the distance. “Seven nights in a luxury spa hotel. It looked beautiful, Chrissie. They even had a night time turn-down service. And now instead of me being the one enjoying a mint on my pillow every night, it’ll be that young leggy blonde!”
Janice began crying again, and Chrissie shifted on the sofa and gave her a hug.
“I’ve got a box of After Eights in the kitchen,” Keith said. “If I stick a couple on top of your duvet, will you stop crying?”
Janice snorted into her handkerchief. “You always knew how to make me laugh.”
“Can I pour you more tea, Janice?” Chrissie asked.
“Yes, please… in fact, wait! I’ve got a better idea.”
Janice leaped from the sofa and rushed from the living room. When she returned a moment later, she was waving a bottle in her hand.
“I swiped this vodka from Stuart’s bar in his den while I was packing. Let’s open it.”
“Ah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Keith said, rising in alarm from the sofa.
“Rubbish!” Janice said. “A good strong drink’s exactly what I need. And this stuff goes down like a dream. Keith, get some glasses.”
“Janice, I’m taking Chrissie for a drink and we really need to make a move—”
“But you’ve both been so kind!” Janice said. “Please, have a drink with me before you go. I only want to say thanks for helping me calm down.”
Keith didn’t think Janice had calmed down. In fact, she looked manic.
“I honestly don’t think that vodka is the answer here.”
“Please just get some glasses!” Janice almost growled. “Or else I’ll drink this vodka straight from the bottle.”
She laughed as she said this, but Keith had a suspicion that she wasn’t actually joking. Holding up his hands in surrender, he went off to fetch glasses from the kitchen. A moment later he was back on the sofa with a tumbler of vodka in his hand while his ex-wife and his potential-new-girlfriend raised a toast to one another.
“To getting over a broken heart,” Janice said.
“To the future,” Chrissie said.
“To getting out of this nightmare alive,” Keith muttered and downed his drink in one go.
Half an hour later and they were still sitting in the living room. The bottle of vodka had taken a beating, mostly at the hands of Janice. Keith had drunk no more after his first pour, and Chrissie had only swirled hers around in the glass after taking a single sip. Keith suspected she probably wasn’t a vodka drinker. Even when he’d offered to add juice or cola to her glass, she’d refused, but had kept the drink in her hand in a gesture that struck Keith as unfailingly kind.
Although it wasn’t clear if it was a gesture that Janice had noticed as she’d repeatedly refilled her own drink and proceeded to give Chrissie chapter-and-verse of the whole Stuart saga. Keith had tried to intervene, but once Janice got started it wasn’t easy to shut her down. During a brief lull in Janice’s non-stop storytelling, Keith had stood up and announced that it was time for them to leave, but Janice had only resumed talking again as if nothing had happened, and Chrissie had sent him a quick head shake and a nod in the direction of his ex-wife. It was extraordinarily generous of her, Keith thought, given how the evening had gone.
“…and I wish all this was different,” Janice was now saying as she slumped into the sofa with her vodka tumbler clasped between her hands. “I wish I could have my Stuart back. I wish that leggy blonde would… sod off. I wish… I wish I wasn’t broke. And I wish…”
When she said nothing further, Keith glanced over and saw that her eyes were closed.
“Janice?”
She responded with a noisy snore.
“Thank God,” Keith said, rising gently from the sofa so as not to wake her.
“Poor woman,” Chrissie whispered. “I feel terrible for her.”
Keith carefully removed the tumbler from Janice’s hands and then manoeuvred her against the sofa cushions before tucking a throw over her to keep her warm.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Chrissie asked.
“She’ll be fine once she sleeps off the vodka.”
“We shouldn’t have let her have so much.”
“Um, well…” Chrissie set her glass on the coffee table and checked her watch. “It’s quite late now, Keith. By the time we go to the bistro and have our drink and head home again, it’s going to be later still, and I’ve got an early start at the shop tomorrow.”
Keith’s face fell and he beckoned her out on to the landing to avoid waking Janice.
“Surely we could manage a quick drink and half an hour together in peace and quiet?”
But Chrissie shook her head. “I think that ship has sailed. And anyway, look at my shirt. I can’t go out like this, covered in mascara smears.”
Keith sighed. “I’m sorry, Chrissie. I should never have let Janice railroad me.”
“That’s not what happened. She’s hurt and alone and just needs someone to talk to.”
He watched as Chrissie slipped her bag over her shoulder, and wished things could’ve gone differently tonight.
“What about tomorrow? Do you have plans?”
She smiled. “If I can work on my cake practice tomorrow at the shop, then I’ll be free. Want to give this another shot?”
“I really do. And this time I’ll pick you up at your place, and that way we can avoid Janice altogether.”
“Poor woman,” Chrissie said again and glanced through the living room door to where Janice lay snoring on the sofa. “I know you said you were worried that she was sending you signals. But I think she’s just crushed by what’s happened and her emotions are all over the place. Be kind to her.”
“I am being kind to her. I’m letting her stay here, aren’t I?”
“You know what I mean.”
Keith sighed and glanced through the door at Janice. “Aye, I know what you mean.”
Chrissie smiled and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. How about seven?”
“Seven it is. Where do you live?”
“I’ll meet you at the bistro.”
Keith shook his head. “Tonight was a disaster. The least I can do is come to your door.”
“That sounds lovely and old-fashioned,” she said, grinning. “I’m at twenty-two Hillview Street.”