9
Lou spent a productive few hours cleaning and clearing out the house. It seemed like an endless task, but she was satisfied with the progress she made, though she still had a niggling feeling her time would have been better spent making friends with some of the other mums.
It was a strangely lugubrious task, clearing out a lifetime’s belongings of someone you didn’t know. It felt disrespectful somehow, rummaging through all Noreen’s knick-knacks and photographs, things that had meant something to her, while feeling no connection or attachment to them herself. In a way it was worse than if it was someone you’d loved – sadder, because there was no one who knew the stories behind any of this stuff now, no one who’d sent her the postcards gathering dust on the mantelpiece or brought her back the Murano glass from their holiday in Venice, no one who’d look at one of the photos and smile because it sparked a happy memory.
She was distracted from her task when she found a box of letters while she was clearing out the wardrobe in her bedroom. She sat on the floor to read a couple, hoping to get some insight into Noreen’s life. There were several from a friend named Vivin England, who Noreen had obviously visited, a photo of the two of them folded into the pages of one letter. They were standing on a pebble beach, their arms around each other’s shoulders, with windswept hair and wide smiles. On the back it said ‘Brighton, June 1973’. Time slipped away as Lou opened one envelope after another, becoming absorbed in piecing together the little snapshots of Noreen’s life, and before she knew it, it was time to collect Jack from school. She stuffed the letters back into the box, deciding she’d deal with them and the photographs at a later date, happy to abandon the job for the day.
When she arrived at the school, she was surprised to meet Aidan at the gate. She’d have thought he’d be up to his elbows in lunch service and someone else would be collecting Bo.
‘We have to stop meeting like this,’ he said.
‘I didn’t expect to see you here. Isn’t it still lunch service at the restaurant?’
‘I skived off early today so I could pick up Bo. I wanted to be here myself for her first day.’
A bell sounded and the school doors were flung open, a crowd of children bursting out into the afternoon sunshine with a clatter of squeals and laughter. Lou was relieved to see that Jack looked happy, chattering to Bo beside him. They quickly spotted Lou and Aidan and ran over to them.
‘Did you have fun?’ Lou asked Jack, wrapping him in a hug.
‘Yeah. We played games,’ he babbled breathlessly, ‘and I drew a picture.’ He slung his backpack off his shoulder and pulled out an A4 page with a crayon drawing, handing it to Lou.
‘Oh, that’s lovely! Well done.’
‘It’s our new house.’
She nodded. ‘I can see that.’
‘And that’s you and that’s me.’ He pointed to the two stick figures in the garden.
‘Was your teacher nice?’
‘Yep. Her name is Alice.’
‘And we had a story,’ Bo joined in.
‘That’s great.’ She turned to the little girl. ‘It sounds like you had a brilliant day.’
Bo nodded. ‘And now we’re going to the beach. Do you want to come?’
‘Oh.’ Lou looked to Aidan uncertainly, startled by the invitation and not sure how he’d feel about it. ‘I don’t know…’
‘Can Jack come to the beach with us, Dad?’ Bo looked up at Aidan. ‘Please?’
‘Can we, Mum?’ Jack put his hands together in prayer position, making puppy-dog eyes at her that he knew she couldn’t resist.
‘We’re going over to Inch,’ Aidan told her. ‘You’re welcome to come, if you like. Unless you have plans?’
‘Not especially. We were just going to get some ice cream.’
‘You could get ice cream at the beach? There won’t be many more days like this,’ he said, looking up the blue sky. ‘We should make the most of it. I can drop you home later. We won’t be staying long. I have to get back for evening service.’
‘Can we, Mum?’ Jack asked eagerly.
‘We can go and see my nana,’ Bo said. ‘She makes the best brownies in the whole world.’
‘Sold.’ Lou smiled at her. ‘If you’re sure?’ she said to Aidan.
‘Absolutely.’
