AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Louise and Gordon already had drinks in front of them, and Louise was playing with the stem of her glass, the deep red liquid inside swirling.
‘Gordon?’ she reminded her husband.
‘Oh, yes.’ Gordon reached inside his jacket and withdrew an envelope which he passed across the table to Ron.
‘Open it,’ Louise urged, and her eyes sparkled as Ron tore it open.
Withdrawing the contents, he unfolded the letter and scanned it. Hastily he took a gulp of his juice, almost spluttering as it went down too fast. Gosh, it really was a substantial amount. He looked up. ‘Are you sure about this?’
‘Very sure.’ Louise reached for her husband’s hand. ‘It was Gordon who suggested it, but as soon as he did, I realised how right it was. You worked just as hard as I did to pay that mortgage. In fact, if I remember rightly, you paid the lion’s share of the deposit. In the beginning, when we first split up, I felt justified keeping the house because I thought I deserved it after everything I’d been through, after all the pain and heartache. But eventually my broken heart mended, and I began dating again. When I met Gordon, when he proposed to me, it was natural that I moved in with him, considering his house is…’ She paused. ‘Substantial.’
Ron couldn’t resist teasing her. He liked this new version of his ex-wife. ‘How substantial?’ He was grinning as he said it so she wouldn’t take offence.
‘Put it this way, we have an apartment in Chelsea, as well as the house.’
Ron whistled. ‘Impressive,’ he drawled. Then a thought occurred to him and he jabbed a finger at the letter. ‘Are you sure this is half the market value, because I’ve got a feeling you might have given me more than my share?’
‘It is,’ she insisted. ‘You’d be surprised how much property prices have risen since we first bought it. As I told you on the phone, we’ve been letting it out, and since the mortgage was paid off ages ago, the money we’ve had in rent had just been sitting there. You’ve got half of that as well.’
Ron opened his mouth, then closed it again sharply. He blinked. ‘Really? Do you think that’s fair to give me half of the rental as well? After all, I’ve done nothing to earn it, it wasn’t as though I had to make sure the tenants were behaving themselves, or that the rent was being paid on time.’
Gordon said, ‘Just take it, please, for Louise’s sake.’
‘Will it help?’ Louise asked him. ‘I mean, if I’d known you were homeless, I would have sold the house years ago, but I didn’t. I’m sorry.’
‘Lou, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. I’m the one who’s sorry.’
A waiter appeared at their table. ‘Are you ready to order?’
‘I think we should,’ Gordon said.
Ron realised it must be a little awkward for the current husband to meet the former under such charged circumstances. But when Louise gave Gordon a loving look, Ron felt a twinge of envy. Not because he wanted Louise back, but because he wished Annabelle loved him like that.
Once again, the irony made him chuckle, but before either of them could ask him what was so funny, Ron asked to see photographs of their children.
‘I hear you’ve got two,’ he said to Louise. ‘How old are they?’ Which prompted Louise to show him a phone full of photographs of two gorgeous boys who were slightly younger than Annabelle’s children, and the spitting image of their father.
Once again Ron was envious, but surprisingly when he thought about children, he didn’t hanker after any of his own. What popped into his mind was Jake and Izzie, and how deeply he’d come to care for them in the short time he’d known them.
***
Beverley had been kind enough to lend Ron her car for the journey from Brighton to Tewkesbury to meet Louise and her husband, and he’d booked himself into a modest hotel just off the main street, not wanting to face the drive back to the south coast late at night. Besides, there was something else he wanted to do, as been as he was up this way, and that was to go to Pershore to see Kate. He’d already messaged her to ask if she was at work today, and on hearing that she would be, he’d arranged to take her out to lunch.
It was a total novelty to be able to take someone out for a meal. He couldn’t honestly remember the last time he’d done that. He’d bought someone a bacon buttie on occasion when he had been feeling flush, or a bag of chips when he could see that someone was in a worse state than he, but that wasn’t the same as taking them out for a meal. The only time in recent years that he’d done anything remotely similar, had been when he’d paid for the kids to go surfing, and he remembered how good it had felt to be able to treat someone to something nice. Money wasn’t for saving, it was for spending, whether that was being able to afford a latte and a sandwich when you hadn’t eaten in two days, or whether it was being able to buy someone a bunch of flowers. After all, you couldn’t take it with you, could you?
As Ron turned off the A38 and headed east towards Pershore, he thought about last night and meeting Louise again after all this time. He was so pleased she was happy, and he was still in shock about the money she was gifting him. He was under no illusion that he deserved to receive half of the money for the sale of their former house. This was a gift, and he resolved to spend it wisely. He wished he could do something nice for Annabelle and the children, but he hadn’t heard a word from her since she’d gotten in her car and driven away from Rest Bay. She’d sped off with the two children in the back, and he’d followed, behind the wheel of Beverley’s car, because she didn’t like to drive so far anymore. He’d deliberately let Annabelle get some distance ahead, not wanting to see her tail lights on the M4 as a constant reminder.
He still didn’t believe the money was real, not even with a letter in his hand, not even with the bank transfer winging its way into his account. It was a wonder it was still active and hadn’t been closed down, but he still had a bank card for it and every now and again he’d draw out ten pounds from the meagre amount in there, just to keep the damn thing open. It was a necessary evil, because one day he would finally be allowed to draw his army pension, and he didn’t want the hassle of having to try and open a bank account with no fixed address.
Even when the money from the sale of his former house landed in his account and he could actually see it for himself, he still didn’t think he’d believe it was real, and he guessed it might take some time before he accepted that it was his to spend. He just wished he had someone to spend it on besides Beverley.
The first thing he intended to do was to take her somewhere nice. The Dorchester for afternoon tea maybe? She’d like that. Although, she might try to insist on taking Pepe which could be a bit of an issue.
Thinking about Beverley made him think about his second reason for visiting Pershore today. As per her wishes, his mum had been cremated, not buried, and he had scattered her ashes in the grounds of Pershore Abbey to drift amongst the headstones there. It had seemed more fitting than the cemetery’s garden of remembrance.
It was a strange experience driving into Pershore town centre rather than walking, and it brought back poignant memories. His mother had been so full of life and love, that his heart ached with the loss of her. Cancer was a cruel, cruel disease,
What was just as cruel was that he’d been out of the country on a tour of duty when she’d taken her final breath, and he’d never forgiven himself for not being there. That she’d successfully hidden the speed and severity of the disease from him, was no consolation.
