Page 24 of A Curious Ending

Ron obviously had not been talking quietly enough as a voice joined in from the end of the bar ‘Him! Pay his bills? Don’t make me laugh!’

Lara looked around and recognised one of the local builders who was sitting up at the bar with a friend enjoying a pint.

His friend joined in. ‘Most round here won’t work for him anymore. I fixed the drainage on his swimming pool a year ago and had to write it off in the end.’

‘I suppose it’ll be different now his mum’s died. He’ll come into a tidy packet,’ the builder supposed.

His friend shrugged. ‘A leopard don’t change its spots,’ he prophesised into his pint. Had he but known it, the ghost who was standing directly behind him was in full agreement.

If somebody had told Lara earlier that day that she could look forward to having a quiet evening all to herself, she would have been delighted. But the reality turned out to be very different from what she might have imagined. She spent a totally and thoroughly miserable evening on her own. There was no Abby to annoy her and no Julian calling by with a bottle of wine. She knew she ought to be relieved about both, but the truth was Lara felt completely wretched. What upset her most was her lie about Becky. She knew it was unforgivable. So why, she asked herself for the umpteenth time, had she said it? Lara also recalled the dismissive way Julian had called her ‘that town girl’. Why on earth hadn’t she spoken up and objected?

Lara tried reading, she tried catch-up TV and then she tried to work. But nothing distracted her. In the end she reached for her phone and called her mum.

‘Hello, sweetheart,’ came the expected greeting. A pause followed. She could hear her mum talking to someone in the background. ‘Yes. Lara. Yes I know, yes I’ll tell her.’ Her mum was back, ‘Your dad says “Hi”, and to tell you he’s sent you a couple of bottles of wine he thinks you’ll like.’

Lara’s father was a member of a wine club and sending Lara a few bottles every month was his way of keeping in touch.

Lara’s mum added, ‘Your dad’s now talking about us going on a river cruise through the vineyards with Joy and Simon. But I don’t know. Would we have enough to do I wonder? I’ve heard the food is very good though, which would be nice. And it’s all inclusive. Although we would have to dress for dinner, which your father wouldn’t like. I’m wondering whether we might be better off with a couple of weeks in the Algarve like last year…’

Lara let her mum’s chatter wash over her and found it vaguely comforting. ‘Your brother called and they had a lovely time for Gemma’s birthday. They went to London for the weekend and saw a show. Your present went down well apparently.’

At least she’d got something right, Lara thought. But then she immediately remembered it had been Becky’s suggestion. Which brought her back to square one.

‘Mum?’ she said hesitantly. But Lara did not know where to begin. Her mother had no experience of running a business. She had married young and brought up two children while occasionally working as a nurse. Lara loved her mum very much but could not imagine how she could get her to understand even a tiny part of how she was feeling. With years of comfortable, secure married life as her benchmark, it didn’t seem that she would be able to grasp the problems Lara was facing as a single woman trying to keep a flower shop going.

‘How’s Grandma?’ Lara asked, at a loss as to what to say. They talked some more and covered news of the family, her brother’s new car, the neighbour’s dog and her father’s bad knee. Lara’s mum eventually asked if she could come over and see her sometime soon.

‘Yes, Mum, that would be nice,’ Lara said, trying to sound enthusiastic. By now, Lara was on autopilot and was listening to her mum’s lengthy ramblings while she checked emails on her iPad. A sudden thought came to her. ‘Are you still on email, Mum?’

‘Of course I am,’ her mum said defensively. ‘It’s the only way to keep in touch with your nieces and your brother’s very good about uploading photographs for me…’

‘Okay, Mum,’ Lara interrupted, ‘I’m going to send you an email. I want to ask your advice.’

‘Do you, sweetheart?’ Her mother sounded bemused. ‘Well, I’ll do my best and see what I can do.’

They hung up and before Lara could change her mind she typed:

Hi Mum, Good to hear your news. I have done something wrong. It’s not a big thing, but I did lie about something and gave someone else the blame.

And before she could stop herself she added:

I don’t mean to forget birthdays and things, it is just I’m SO busy.

Love you, Lara x

She pressed send and went upstairs, throwing her iPad on the bed as she headed for a bath. She didn’t really expect her mum to get back to her straight away, but Lara thought she might just check once before she went to bed.

Lara heard her email ping as she was getting out of the bath. Towel gathered around her she grabbed her iPad.

Dear Lara,

Try and do the right thing and remember we can always find time for the things we think are important.

Love Mum x

For someone who could talk for Britain, her reply was remarkably succinct. Lara wasn’t quite sure what to think. What was the right thing? And how could she find time when she was always so busy? Lara wished she could talk to Abby but she sensed that even if she left the bedroom door open she wasn’t going to see her Kindred Spirit tonight.

Lara put her iPad aside, got dry and sank into her bed. Then she tried hard not to dwell on what she might be doing with Julian Armstrong if she had said ‘yes’ to that bottle of wine.