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Shaun and I watch Rory striding over to his car with Lois in his arms.
‘Poor Lois,’ I murmur. ‘She’ll be gutted that her proposal didn’t happen.’
‘Yeah. What is it they say? The best-laid plans...?’
‘Well, that’s one plan that was completely derailed. Literally. By a bat, of all things.’ I sigh heavily. What a night! I just want to get home. ‘Shall we call for a taxi?’
*****
It’s nearly three in the morning, Shaun’s gone home and I’ve been tucked up in bed for hours, when I wake with a start.
At first, I can’t work out what’s happening downstairs because there’s a lot of crashing and banging going on, and a shrill voice is splitting the silence.
Then I remember.
Lois and Rory. At A&E.
Scrambling out of bed, I pull on my dressing-gown and pad downstairs to the living room, where the light is on. Lois is half-lying, half-sitting on the sofa, looking shattered, her sore ankle in a giant shoe propped up on a pouffe.
Rory looks up from arranging cushions at Lois’s back. ‘Hi. We’re back.’
‘What happened? Is the ankle broken?’
‘Yup.’ Lois heaves a big sigh. ‘When I dreamed up tonight, I never imagined it would involve five hours in A&E, in a room with lots of smelly people with all sorts of nasty ailments. Honestly, I’ll be lucky if I don’t go down with Covid and flu and some horrible fungal skin infection to boot.’ She shudders in disgust.
‘You must be tired. Why don’t you go to bed?’ murmurs Rory, sitting down and putting his arm around her.
‘Yes, come on,’ I urge her. ‘We’ll help you upstairs.’
‘No.’ Lois folds her arms grumpily. ‘I’m staying here. And I don’t want anyone fussing around.’
‘Okay.’ I glance at Rory, uncertain what to do. ‘What about a cup of tea, then?’
‘I’ll make it,’ he says, getting up.
‘No, you stay here.’ Lois reaches for his hand. ‘You can keep me company while I watch crap night-time TV.’
‘It’s fine. I’ll go and boil the kettle,’ I say cheerfully, my heart going out to Rory.
Lois can be sparkling company when she’s happy and healthy. But when she’s facing a challenge, like this fractured ankle, she tends to get irritable and start taking it out on everyone around her. I’ve been there many times and I have the T-shirt to prove it.
Does Rory know what he’s in for?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Gran phones me later that morning as I’m in the kitchen, rather bleary-eyed, making toast. There was no sign of Lois when I came down at eight. Rory must have persuaded her to go to bed.
Gran has news.
She’s been given a date for her heart operation. It’s scheduled for the week before Christmas.
I receive the news cheerfully and Gran sounds fine, as if she’s taking it all in her stride and can’t wait for December. When Shaun and I arrived back from the restaurant in a taxi last night, she’d driven home after having a lovely time babysitting Bertie. And now, chatting on the phone, she tells me what they got up to before she finally managed to get him into bed. We’re laughing and it all feels perfectly normal.
But when the call ends, I slump down at the table, not really knowing how I feel.
Gran needs the operation. Without it, the prognosis isn’t good. But although I know this kind of procedure is performed routinely these days, there’s always a worry that it could go wrong. There’s a risk with any operation, but when it involves theheart...
A shiver runs through me.
