The Promise of Summer

by Bella Osborne

  ‘There you go. That is the same.’

  It clearly wasn’t. ‘Okay. If you like. Anyway, nice to see you. I need to um …’ She held up her poo-bag-covered hand. She lugged Boomer away from his new best friend and nearer to his earlier deposit.

  Ray didn’t seem to take the hint and followed her at close proximity. ‘I didn’t know you lived around here.’ He hovered at her shoulder while she attempted to grab Boomer’s poo. It was more than a bit off-putting being watched.

  ‘I don’t, we just fancied a change of route.’ On her second lunge she successfully scooped it into the bag and swiftly tied a knot whilst hanging on to the lead – no mean feat. With the challenge completed she carried on her way. Ray trotted to keep up and came in step alongside her.

  ‘It’s nice to see you again. Especially with you being a fellow spaniel lover.’

  Kim thought about what Ruby had said. ‘Look, Ray. It is nice to see you again too.’ He appeared thrilled and she felt even worse for what she was about to say but she steeled herself. ‘But I’ve got a lot going on right now. I need some alone time to think.’

  ‘Dog walking is great for that,’ he said, continuing to walk beside her.

  Kim stopped walking. She needed to be firmer. She could do this. ‘Bye, Ray, and perhaps I’ll see you again on another walk.’

  ‘Right you are. Another time. Nice to see you, Kim and Big Boy Boomy, Boomer, Boomerang.’ He chuckled to himself as, at last, he walked on.

  She looked around for the nearest bin and made off towards it. Boomer was reluctant to walk in a different direction to his new friend, but once he picked up the smell of something else they were off. Kim’s thoughts went back to her planned conversation with Vince, which she feared was going a lot smoother in her head than it would in reality.

  Her phone pinged in her pocket and she went to retrieve it. At the same time Boomer did a lap of her legs and literally tied her in knots as he scrabbled to get somewhere or see something. She shuffled towards the bin.

  Ray suddenly popped up beside her, which explained Boomer’s excitement as he and Florence got to know each other all over again, but this time his lead was cutting off the circulation to Kim’s lower limbs. ‘I was going to say, Florence and I go to fly-ball. It’s great for spaniels. Here’s a leaflet.’ He waved it in her face, and her annoyance levels hitched up a notch.

  ‘My hands are full.’ She held up her hands. Showing him the lead, phone and poo bag.

  Boomer went in reverse and spun her around the other way and as she passed the bin, she saw her opportunity. She launched the bag at the bin. Or at least she thought she did. The moment her phone left her hand she realised her mistake and watched in slow motion as her mobile sailed through the mouth of the bin and landed with a cushioned thump on heavens only knew what. Although she had a sinking feeling she was about to find out.

  ‘Anyway. Here you go,’ said Ray, pushing the leaflet into Kim’s now free hand. What a shitty day, she thought.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Ruby had it all planned out. Curtis was on an early train; she was collecting him from the station and they were going back to his to get the ring. Then she was off home to spend the best part of two hours getting ready for her date with Lewis. She’d picked out what she was going to wear – smart and sexy but not too much. She wanted to keep something in reserve for when she really wanted to wow him. She was looking forward to the dinner and getting to know Lewis better.

  Kim had given her some flowers for the nursing home, which was lovely but this time Curtis would have to drop them off as she was on a tight schedule, especially if she was going to do her hair in tousled curls. Ruby felt a pang of guilt that she hadn’t visited her new friends at the home for a while. She’d been caught up with things. She made a mental note to visit over the weekend and the guilt dissipated.

  She was waiting in her car by the station when a text popped up.

  Train at a standstill just outside Chesterfield. Will update when we move.

  This was bloody typical. He was only about fifteen minutes away. She took a deep breath. She had left plenty of time – it was fine. She texted back.

  No worries. Waiting in usual spot. Keep me posted.

  She checked her email. Nothing much. Things had gone quiet since the project had completed. There was something planned called a post-implementation review but apart from that, it was done. She feared it also signalled the end of her job with Curtis. He hadn’t said as much but the hours on her timesheet were dwindling and he wasn’t sending a lot her way any more. With the ring going back to Lewis she feared she wouldn’t be seeing much of Curtis going forward. A sigh escaped her. She didn’t want to lose him from her life.

  She played a game on her phone to while away a few minutes and to stop her from checking the time every couple of seconds. It was only a temporary solution. Fifteen minutes and no update from Curtis. The delay was eating into her getting-ready time. Maybe she didn’t need to curl her hair. It was probably a bit too fancy for a first date anyway. She didn’t want to look like she’d tried too hard.

  By the time she’d emptied out her glove compartment, eaten three of the four mints she’d found in there and reordered everything in it, she was getting to the grumpy stage. She put the other mint in the rubbish pile because it was covered in fluff. But it was a job well done as she generally opened the glove compartment, slung stuff in and then shut it quickly until the next time. It had been full of car park tickets, Greggs paper bags and sweet wrappers.

  It was coming up to forty minutes and her phone pinged. ‘At last,’ she said, pouncing on it.

  Moving slowly. Expect I’ll be another thirty minutes. You don’t have to wait. I can take a taxi and you can get the ring another time.

  ‘Grrr!’ She composed a reply.

  Need the ring tonight as meeting Lewis for dinner.

  The three little dots came up and swirled there for ages. She watched and waited. They disappeared. Why did that happen? Had Curtis started replying and then changed his mind? It was so frustrating. The dots reappeared. Ruby waited. And waited. Ping.

  OK.

  Ruby dropped the phone onto the passenger seat. This was driving her nuts.

  She got out of the car and had a walk around to stretch her legs and calm herself down. She got back in, picked the fluff off the other mint and ate it.

  Eventually she saw people spilling out of the station and started the engine like a getaway driver pre-empting the escape. She wildly skimmed the crowd searching for Curtis. At last she spotted him striding towards her. She leaned over and opened the passenger door – she wasn’t sure how many nanoseconds that would save her but it felt like it all counted.

  ‘Hello. That was annoying,’ he said.

  ‘Get in, get in. We need to go,’ she said, revving the engine.

  He did as he was told but not at the speed she would have preferred. He carefully did up his seatbelt while she stared at him.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ he asked.

  ‘Not in the slightest. I’ve got a date in about an hour’s time.’ She indicated and pulled into the traffic.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Shef.’

  ‘Then there’s no rush,’ he said happily. ‘You’ve plenty of time.’

  ‘I need to get showered and changed and make myself look fabulous.’

  ‘I see.’ Did she sense a hint of disapproval in his voice? ‘Where is Lewis taking you?’

  ‘That fancy Italian place.’

  ‘Not Greggs?’

  ‘Oh, you’re funny,’ she said, crunching the gears and they both winced. ‘How was your date last night with Cordelia?’

  ‘Was it a date? I’m not sure. We ate a meal together. I walked her back to her apartment.’

  She found herself glancing in his direction. ‘And what happened then?’

  ‘I’m not sure I follow.’

  ‘Did you linger outside? Did she invite you up for coffee? What happened exactly?’r />
  Curtis paused and she could almost see him replaying the video in his head. ‘She said, “This is me.” I said, “I know it’s you.” Apparently, she meant we had reached her building. I said goodnight. She said, “There’s a lovely view from my balcony.” I said, “Which way does it face?” and she replied east. I commented that I prefer north-facing as I don’t like to overheat in bed.’

  Ruby found she was nodding furiously in an attempt to get to the juicy bits.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah. Keep going. But maybe speed it up.’

  ‘Right.’ He carried on but was speaking faster, like the people who give out terms and conditions at the end of adverts. ‘She asked if I wanted to see the view. I said as it was dark and it appeared her side of the building was predominantly facing another block of flats, I’d rather not.’ Ruby snorted out a laugh at the picture of Cordelia’s best chat-up line being given the Curtis brush-off. ‘She then invited me in for coffee, which I explained was a very bad idea at that time of night if she was expecting to get any sleep at all. To which she said there were more pleasurable things than sleep.’

  Curtis took a deep breath, then got his phone out and started flicking through it. Ruby was on tenterhooks like the end of an episode of a soap opera – and she wasn’t happy to wait a week for the next instalment. ‘What did you say to that?’

  ‘I said that sleep was necessary rather than pleasurable. And she kissed me.’

  Ruby went rigid, like she’d been smacked in the face with a frying pan. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. Cordelia was definitely a woman on a mission. And despite this being ultimately what she’d planned she wasn’t feeling as happy about it as she was probably meant to.

  ‘Was it a peck on the cheek? Or a Nanna smacker? Or …?’ Ruby didn’t like how much she needed to know and she liked the images it was conjuring up in her mind even less.

  ‘A gentleman never tells.’

  ‘Curtis!’ she snapped and he almost dropped his phone.

  He put his phone away carefully. ‘If you insist. It was a light kiss on the lips. It caught me unawares so really just the edge of my lips. I have to say I panicked slightly.’

  Ruby wondered what form that took and had hopeful thoughts of him shoving Cordelia into the Thames. ‘That’s understandable if you weren’t expecting it. Did you have … coffee?’

  ‘At that time of night? No, it would have been madness. I said goodnight and went back to my hotel.’

  Ruby was relieved. ‘That’s excellent, Curtis. I’m really pleased for you. And for Cordelia.’ She relaxed her grip on the steering wheel; she needed to accept this because it was the right thing for Curtis. And anyway, she had Lewis, so everything was fine.

  ‘She invited you up for coffee. You’ll be ticking off your goal very soon,’ she said.

  ‘I don’t follow.’

  ‘Coffee is code for sex, Curtis. She invited you up to her apartment to have sex with her.’ Sometimes you had to spell it out for him.

  Curtis jolted so hard that it reminded Ruby of the time she’d forgotten she’d left the flower shop scissors in her back pocket and sat on them.

  ‘You’re winding me up.’ He let out a tinkly laugh.

  ‘Nope. Coffee is the universal code for sex. Surely everyone knows that.’

  A quick glance at Curtis’s expression told her otherwise.

  He sat back in his seat, looking thoroughly confused. ‘Actually, now that you mention it, I have noticed on the rare occasion I’ve watched television programmes – often because they are on before the news – that when someone suggests coffee at the end of an evening it’s usually followed by kissing.’

  Ruby did her crazy arm wave. ‘There you go. Coffee equals sex.’

  ‘Fascinating. Are there any more code words I should be aware of?’

  Ruby had a think while she negotiated a roundabout. ‘It’s not you means it absolutely is you. It’s fine is code for nothing is fine. I’ll think about it means definitely not. And We need to talk translates to you need to listen.’ Ruby stopped because Curtis was looking like she’d flicked his nose with every statement. ‘You okay?’

  ‘And does everyone know this?’

  She pondered. ‘Women do. Men not so much. Apart from the coffee thing.’

  ‘Then, I guess I’m dating Cordelia Stuart-Bruce.’

  She turned briefly to see that he was smiling.

  ‘I guess you are.’ And now all she had to do was to find it in her heart to be happy for him. Which she was sure she could do, if only she could ignore the little niggle burrowing into her brain.

  Once they got to Curtis’s house, he insisted on showing Ruby the things they had ordered.

  ‘Why are they still in the boxes and wrappers?’

  ‘Because I need you to supervise where they go.’

  ‘You need me to supervise you? Blimey how times have changed,’ said Ruby with a snort. ‘I’ll come over on Sunday. Right now I need to grab the ring and go.’ She remembered the flowers in the back of the car. ‘And I almost forgot, Kim gave me some more flowers for the nursing home. You’ll need to get them over there either tonight or tomorrow or they’ll wilt. Maybe pop them in water tonight. Back in a mo.’

  When she returned Curtis was on the phone. She knew instantly that something was wrong.

  ‘I’ll come over straight away. Right. Thank you,’ he said and ended the call.

  ‘Harry?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes. I know I’ve had The Call before but I fear this really is it. His blood pressure is low and he’s unresponsive.’

  Ruby watched him fiddle with his phone and she made the easiest decision of her life. She thrust the flowers at him. ‘Get in the car. I’ll take you now.’

  ‘I can drive myself.’

  Ruby did a double take. ‘You’ve got a car?’

  ‘Yes. In the garage.’

  Ruby shook her head. She’d ponder that later. ‘You’re shaking. It’s better I drive.’

  ‘But you’ve got a date with Lewis.’

  ‘If it’s meant to be, he’ll wait.’ At this rate, if she had time to brush her hair it would be a miracle.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Kim poured herself a glass of wine and switched on the television. Boomer was busy eating his bed. She’d rung Vince’s mobile and it had gone to voicemail – she’d have to tackle that issue tomorrow. She put her feet up, relaxed into the sofa and sipped the cold wine. She was going to have one glass and then have a long soak in a hot bath until she was the colour of a cooked prawn. The doorbell interrupted her reverie. With a deep sigh she got up to answer it. She shut Boomer in the living room and went to the front door.

  Vince was standing on the doorstep and the second she opened the door he attempted to walk inside. She stood in his way. He pulled his head back and shot her a questioning look.

  ‘Hey, gorgeous, how about a cosy night in with a takeaway and your favourite film?’ He held up a When Harry Met Sally DVD.

  ‘Vince, I’m really tired and I’ve got a bit of a headache. So, before it turns into a full-on head-banger, I’m going to bed.’

  ‘Oh.’ He looked deflated. ‘I’ve driven all the way from Mablethorpe. I was kind of hoping you’d made a decision about us.’

  She took a deep breath. This was her cue to launch into her prepared speech and tell him it wasn’t what she wanted but looking at him standing there, with his expectant expression, how could she? ‘I think maybe there’s some middle ground.’

  ‘Full sex, no foreplay?’ he joked. She scowled at him. ‘Sorry. Poor taste. Okay go on.’

  ‘The opposite. I’m thinking we can spend time together but nowt else. I don’t feel like that about you any more, Vince. I’m sorry. I’d be lying to both of us if I said otherwise.’

  He looked a little crestfallen. ‘Okay. You haven’t called my solicitor back. She needs a copy of some ID.’

  Kim rubbed her forehead. ‘I’ll do it tomor
row.’ He gave her a look. ‘I promise. Night, Vince.’

  She tried to shut the door but he put the DVD in the way. Billy Crystal was looking at her hopefully from the cover. ‘You sure you don’t want to take a couple of paracetamols and snuggle up?’

  ‘No, but I might be able to manage a bit of this. Thanks.’ She took the DVD and shut the door.

  Ruby and Curtis ran to the car and set off at speed. ‘Thirty limit,’ said Curtis and he nervously scratched his ear.

  Ruby slowed down. The last thing she needed was a speeding ticket or, worse still, an accident. Ruby mentally plotted out the fastest route for that time of the evening.

  When they finally pulled up at the nursing home, she moored the car and they both charged up the steps and went inside, Curtis clutching the flowers. At the top of the stairs, only a few feet from Harry’s door, Curtis stopped abruptly and Ruby almost cannoned into the back of him.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. It all feels very final. When Harry’s gone, I will be all alone.’ His Adam’s apple bobbed.

  Emotions swelled inside her. At that moment she knew exactly how he was feeling. She’d been there. She was there. She squeezed his shoulder. ‘You’re not alone. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.’

  Curtis glanced at her, his face serious. He nodded, handed her the flowers and went into Harry’s room. Ruby waited in the doorway. She watched the carer get up from the chair next to Harry’s bed and whisper something to Curtis. Harry looked so frail. The nurse joined Ruby at the door.

  ‘How is he?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m afraid it’s a waiting game now. He’ll go when he’s ready. Can I get you a coffee?’

  ‘No, thanks.’

  Ruby joined Curtis in the room and they sat in silence for a while watching Harry’s chest rise and fall unsteadily. An air freshener nearby made the room smell strongly of vanilla.

  ‘I had better get these flowers into water before they …’ She didn’t want to say the word. She gave them a little shake and went to leave. Curtis caught her arm, the unexpected contact sending a shiver through her.