Page 26 of The Seaside Supper Club

Cath held down a sigh of frustration.

She then spotted Nikki shaking her head. ‘And we’ve got Kev’s mum and dad’s ruby wedding do that day. They’re having a big celebration lunch. There’s no way we could miss that.’

‘No, of course not.’ Dammit, so as well as Will being AWOL, the whole of Nikki’s family wouldn’t be able to help either.

This was going from bad to worse, and really wasn’t looking good for a summer event at all. Should she start looking at dates in the autumn? But then Lily would be off and away on her studies, Cath realised. She began to feel a bit headachy. But she wasn’t one to give in. There was always a way. There had to be …

She’d go back to Veronica and Julie and start the whole process again. Perhaps try late June? When was Lily’s last exam? Or early September, at a squeeze?

‘Sorry, Cath,’ said Dan kindly.

‘We seem to be going around in circles, don’t we,’ added Nikki, rather dejectedly.

‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ Cath added, without realising her pun, in no way ready to give up on this. And then she had to laugh as she spotted Will giving a goofy smile from his thumbnail image.

‘There is indeed.’ He grinned at the group, and gave a wink.

‘Right, so we’ll chat again soon. I’ll go back to Veronica on dates, and check with the home too, then I’ll come back to you all.’

‘We’ll make it work somehow,’ Andreas said positively.

And that gave her the extra lift she needed to get on with the task. The first of many tasks, of course. And well, if it was this hard finding a date … her work was well and truly going to be cut out.

*

A day later, and Cath was back at the care home for her weekly visit, trying her best to add some cheer to the residents’ day room. But beneath her jolly chat, she was hiding her concerns that their much-longed-for event might not yet happen.

She’d had a conversation with Veronica last night, after the video call with her tribe, and free Sunday dates were few and far between; the June ones clashed with Lily’s essential exam schedule, and the autumn availability began in November! Bloody November, it’d end up being another Christmas do at this rate.

Back in the day room, after spending some time chatting with Christopher about his working days, and Vera telling her the exciting news of a new great-grandchild in her family, Reggie caught her eye and beckoned her over to come and sit beside him.

‘Hello, lass. Now then, a little bird told me you’re planning another shindig for us old ’uns.’ He gave a big, sparkly-eyed smile.

Oh dear, had he heard something on the grapevine about the tea event plans, perhaps through Julie or Linda, she wondered? Or was he second guessing? Either way, she really didn’t want to have to disappoint him.

‘Umm, well.’ She lowered her voice, not wanting to raise the other residents’ hopes merely for them to be dashed. ‘Yes, me and the team were mooting something, but … well, it seems timing’s a bit of an ongoing issue.’ Cath’s shoulders wilted.

‘You seem troubled, lass. And that’s a real shame when you’re trying to do a good deed. So why don’t you go ahead and tell me what the problem is. My Elsie always used to say a problem shared …’

‘Is a problem halved,’ finished Cath, who then went on to quietly fill Reggie in on the diary clash they had with the home’s special fish and chip lunch outing.

‘Ah yes, well, that is always a good ’un, that trip. But …’ And he paused, leaving it there, as though pondering.

A new face in the room was smiling over at them, at that point. She then gave a little wave.

‘Oh, that’s Janet. Just joined us. Bit batty, but seems pleasant enough,’ explained Reggie, cheekily.

‘Oh, well, perhaps I’ll go and introduce myself. Make her feel welcome,’ said Cath, rising to her feet. ‘I’ll catch you next time, Reggie. Take care.’

‘You too, lass. And don’t you go worrying yourself about this ’ere do. Things have a way of working themselves out, as you know …’ And he gave a wink.

Janet was indeed new to the home, having arrived two days ago. She confessed to feeling a bit lost, bless her, and she was missing her cat, Tigger, a beautiful tabby, who’d been re-homed with her daughter. Whilst Cath and Janet were getting acquainted, and Cath was reassuring the old lady that her cat would have a nice new home with her family, she spotted Reggie getting up rather stiffly out of his seat, with Betty joining him. The pair of them then headed off out of the double doors to the entrance hallway, looking rather purposeful.

After a round of tea and biscuits served by the lovely Linda, with Cath diving in for a Jammie Dodger, Janet began chuckling as she told her how the last time she’d had one of those, it’d taken her dentures clean out.

Cath had to smile.

How she wished she could get this date ironed out, and give these wonderful people a ‘Tea Dance’ to remember. There’d be no Jammie Dodgers on the menu, however. The home wouldn’t thank her if they had an influx of dentistry issues.