Lisa laughed, relieved the distraction from the children meant the conversation had moved on, and glad she hadn’t spent an hour’s wages on cookies that would have been surplus to requirements. ‘You’re a fab mum, Flick,you think of everything.’
Flick smiled. ‘Thanks.’
As she drove a panting Jack back to Winnie’s house, Lisa thought about Melissa’s words. They had stunned her at the time. She hadn’t considered getting pregnant again, not in real terms. Yes, it was a prospect somewhere far off in the future, but not in the here and now. Pregnancy in the here and now was still about loss, about Pip andmourning what might have been.
With Melissa’s words practically winding her and the appearance of the children, Lisa hadn’t had the chance to point out that the notion was silly. She and Nathan were always careful, and while her periods were irregular, Lisa was pretty sure she would know if she was pregnant. With Pip she had gone off tea and coffee and been quite sick from early on. Lisa decidedshe would text Flick later and tell her that she realised poor Melissa didn’t know.
Winnie shuffled her slippered feet across the kitchen, carrying the cup, saucer and teapot-laden tray. It was a sight Lisa had missed while Winnie had been away.
‘I’m so pleased your trip went well and you had a lovely Christmas with your son.’
Having placed the tray on the table with a chink of teacups,Winnie sat down and wiggled her bottom to the back of the seat. ‘And I’ve got you to thank for it, my lovely. I never would have gone and done it without your encouragement, but you—’
‘I just reminded you of your own good advice, and you’re the one whose always saying life’s too short.’
Winnie reached over for the biscuit barrel and started pulling at the worn gold handle on the lid. ‘It’stoo damn short to waste trying to get this lid off, that’s for sure.’
Lisa laughed, tentatively offering to help. Winnie wasn’t always a great accepter of help and Lisa didn’t like to offend her.
‘Well, my lovely, if we’re to have biscuits this side of sunset, you might need to.’ Winnie pushed the barrel across the G-Plan table towards Lisa.
Lisa popped the lid off and welcomed thesight of the custard creams she knew Winnie had got for her and the overwhelming smell of the ginger nuts ever present in the bottom of the barrel – Winnie’s favourites – that she’d got used to tainting them. Winnie lifted the lid of the teapot and gave the tea a stir before shakily pouring them each a cup. Lisa couldn’t help but think Winnie’s hands looked a little more knotted and less agile thanwhen she had seen her last.
‘Well, my lovely, how was Jack? I hope he behaved for you, and that grandson of mine hasn’t been spoiling him.’
Jack, who hadn’t taken his usual spot under the table in favour of leaning against Lisa’s chair, cocked his head at the sound of his name.
‘He was actually a star.’ Lisa realised she sounded a bit too surprised and adjusted her tone. ‘I mean hetrotted along next to me perfectly. Even in the woods he didn’t try to … I mean he seemed very content to walk by my side.’
‘Ah, he’s a good boy.’ Winnie looked at Jack, her milky-edged eyes full of pride. She took a breath and picked up her teacup. ‘Now what’s this I hear about the pitter-patter of …’ Winnie paused to select a biscuit from the barrel.
Oh no.Not Winnie as well.
‘Tinypaws,’ Winnie continued as she dunked her biscuit in her tea.
‘What?’ Lisa’s mind couldn’t keep up.Tiny paws?
‘Well, wasn’t it a kitten going walkabout that got you in the paper?’
‘Oh, that! Yes.’ Lisa’s cheeks flushed as she told Winnie about the rescue and how Harold Martin had seen her while checking on the squirrels. ‘I thought squirrels hibernated in the winter, but it turnsout they don’t. They slow down, they sleep more, but they don’t actually hibernate. Did you know that?’
‘No, I never knew that.’
Ha! So I’m not the only one.
‘But something I do know …’ Winnie took a sip of her tea before placing the cup back on the saucer decisively and looking at Lisa ‘is …’
‘Yes?’ Lisa leaned forward.
‘In all my years … I’ve never seen the bones of a deadcat in a tree.’ With that, Winnie burst out laughing, wheezing from the effort and swinging her slippered feet as she tried to regain her composure. When she had finally steadied her breathing, taken out her laundered handkerchief, and wiped tears from her eyes, she looked at Lisa. ‘You’re a daft beggar, but we love you for it, don’t we, Jack?’
And it seemed Winnie and Jack weren’t the onlyones who loved her for it. What she thought might turn out to be bad publicity was having the opposite effect. People were happy that Lisa was willing to go the extra mile, or fifteen feet up a tree as it were, for their pets when needed. Even Kaboodle’s owner had been grateful, when Lisa had expected the woman to fire her for letting the kitten out. It turned out she had been struggling to keepthe kittens in, with their pent-up energy, and that was Kaboodle’s third escape of the week.
Lisa had had calls from several prospective clients off the back of the article in the paper and even had to turn down some dog-walking opportunities due to not being able to fit them in. As much as the money was welcome, she wanted to keep offering a personal service and one-to-one dog walks. It waswhat she felt was important and, though she wasn’t about to admit it publicly, probably enough for her to handle. The visitors and followers to her Facebook page had increased dramatically too, though that might have had something to do with adding the photograph of Nathan holding Kaboodle to the page after her night out with Felicity.
