The Promise of Summer

by Bella Osborne

  ‘I was hoping you were going to come clean about lying but clearly not.’ The small spark of hope was snuffed out.

  ‘I didn’t lie. I was very upset and my eye had puffed up. He just assumed you’d hit me.’

  ‘You did nowt to change that assumption though.’

  Adrian cleared his throat and they both swivelled in his direction to see him standing in the doorway. Kim wasn’t sure how long he’d been there but from his expression she could guess.

  ‘Hayley, is that true. Kim didn’t hit you?’

  Kim was trying hard not to look smug but it was simply too difficult. She sipped her tea and watched the floorshow.

  ‘Dad, I can explain.’ Hayley looked to Kim as if pleading with her to help. Kim shrugged. Hayley continued, ‘I was upset. She said some things.’ Hayley pointed at Kim.

  ‘Hayley, for goodness’ sake you accused someone of actual bodily harm,’ said Adrian, rubbing his hand across his chin.

  ‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ interjected Kim. ‘It was actual beadily harm to be honest.’ She chuckled. Neither Adrian nor Hayley were smiling. ‘Because it was the beads … on the curtain … never mind.’ Kim indicated they should continue their confrontation.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ said Adrian, turning to Kim. ‘And after all this you still agreed to help with the flowers.’

  ‘Yes, flowers,’ said Hayley seeing her opportunity to change the subject. ‘Are those your books? Shall we have a look at them?’

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  It felt odd to walk into the nursing home knowing Harry was no longer there. Ruby had shed a few tears over Harry and she’d only met him a handful of times. Perhaps her tears had also been for Curtis.

  Ruby got a warm welcome from Dot and Kitty and a few of the other residents she was getting to know. ‘More flowers,’ said Dot, delightedly sniffing them. ‘They’re beautiful.’

  ‘They are,’ said Ruby, admiring the best blooms.

  ‘You look unhappy,’ said Kitty, rummaging in her bag. ‘Here, have a sweetie.’ She offered Ruby the packet.

  ‘Thanks, I’m okay.’

  ‘Is the wedding getting you down?’ asked Dot, sniffing the flowers.

  ‘There’s no wedding,’ said Ruby. There was a sharp intake of breath from someone nearby – although it could have been asthma – followed by the scraping of chairs as people moved closer.

  ‘The toerag!’ said Kitty.

  ‘No, no, no,’ said Ruby. ‘There never was a wedding. We’re just friends,’ she added assuming they meant Curtis, although it was difficult to keep track who they meant half the time.

  ‘But there was a ring,’ said Dot, frowning as if in deep thought.

  ‘Ah, yes. I see where you got confused. There was an engagement ring but …’ The faces around her were already looking bewildered. This was too complicated. ‘It turns out the ring was a fake and Lewis has been arrested.’ There was a huge collective gasp. She figured she might as well give them the juicy bits even if they might not fully follow the story. She recounted the restaurant confrontation and she found that in the retelling, Curtis came out the hero. Kitty started a mini round of applause.

  ‘Your life is better than Emmerdale Farm,’ said Dot.

  ‘It’s not called that any more. Not since Annie Doo-Dah left,’ said Kitty.

  ‘Sugden,’ said a familiar voice behind her. Ruby turned to see Curtis filling the doorway.

  ‘Annie Sugden,’ said Kitty clapping her hands and the conversation drifted off.

  ‘Hi’ said Ruby. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here any more.’ She suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she folded her arms.

  ‘I needed to collect Harry’s things. The clothes are going to charity but there were a few other items.’

  ‘I see.’ Ruby nodded. Awkward was an understatement. ‘How’s Cordelia?’

  ‘She’s well. She’s gone back to London but she’ll be back for the funeral.’

  ‘That’s good. I’m pleased you two are getting on.’

  ‘Actually, if you have a few minutes I did have some questions.’

  ‘Sure.’ Ruby said her goodbyes and followed Curtis out. They strolled down to a bar on the Chesterfield road as the sun started to fade. They didn’t do much in the way of small talk on the way. They ordered drinks and found some stools in a cosy corner.

  ‘I’m sorry you weren’t there when Harry died. I kind of feel responsible,’ said Ruby.

  Curtis shook his head. ‘Not at all. Statistically it was very unlikely I would have been there when he actually died. I think it’s far more important I was there while he was still conscious.’

  Logical as ever. ‘You know he loved you very much,’ said Ruby. She thought about the night she’d chatted to Harry when Curtis had been in London.

  ‘Yes, it was one of the last things he said.’

  Ruby had to swallow hard not to get emotional. Grief was a regular visitor who she had to slam the door on. She took a deep breath and tried to sound bright. ‘I’m glad we’ve seen each other …’ He looked intrigued. ‘I wanted to say I was sorry if I was a bit off last night.’

  ‘I ruined your date. I understand.’

  ‘No,’ said Ruby. ‘You saved me from another waster. So, thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ he said with a nod.

  Curtis reached forward and his hand brushed her cheek. The intimate gesture caught her off-guard. What was he doing? ‘Curtis?’ her voice was barely a whisper.

  ‘Spider,’ he said, retrieving it from her hair and letting it drop to the floor.

  The question she wanted to ask him popped into her head. ‘Curtis … can I ask you something?’

  ‘Yes.’ He was studying her face.

  She wondered what he’d say if she asked him what was bubbling in her mind. But now wasn’t the right time. ‘What was it you wanted to talk about?’ she asked instead, reaching for her glass.

  ‘Cordelia.’

  Her name alone conjured images of the two of them together. ‘Anything specific?’

  ‘Indeed. She stayed at my house …’ Ruby immediately wanted to know what had gone on and also didn’t want to know at the same time. ‘And I noticed she’d forgotten her toothbrush, underwear, some make-up remover, and some other make-up products. I offered to post them to her and she said she didn’t need them. Now should I dispose of the items or post them to her anyway?’

  Ruby scratched her eyebrow. ‘Neither, Curtis. You need to keep them at yours.’

  ‘Indefinitely?’

  ‘She’s planning on becoming a regular visitor.’ Something lurched inside Ruby’s gut.

  ‘I see. That explains why she said I should use non-biological washing liquid in the future.’

  ‘Things are progressing well then?’

  He pursed his lips. ‘I’m not sure.’

  Ruby leaned forward. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘Because I’m not sure I know what progress looks like in this context.’

  ‘Usually, once you’ve established there’s a mutual interest, you kiss and if that goes well, you move on to …’ he was watching her intently ‘… physical things. Then it sort of fizzles out and you realise that that was all it was – just a physical thing. Or, if you’re luckier than me, your relationship develops. And you talk. Learn about each other. Discuss what you want for the future: family, career. You settle into something that’s both exciting and reassuringly familiar.’ Her mind unhelpfully played her a film reel of their trips out, Curtis making her breakfast and him holding her in the restaurant when Lewis was arrested and how right it had felt to be in his arms. It was all too much.

  ‘I can’t do this.’ She stood up. ‘I’m sorry, Curtis, I really want it to work out for you and Cordelia, I honestly do, but I can’t hold your hand any more. I’ve got to go. Bye.’ She hastily took money from her purse and placed a ten-pound note on the table.

  ‘Ruby?’ She turned back. What could he say that would make her
stay?

  ‘There will be change.’ He pointed at the note. Same old Curtis, always practical.

  ‘Leave it as a tip,’ she told him and left.

  By the time Thursday rolled around Kim could tell as soon as Ruby walked in that things hadn’t improved. They set up and Kim went through the blooms she’d managed to get from the wholesaler for Hayley’s rush-job wedding flowers. ‘And I figure if I pop into the reception at the end, I can whip the table centre vases back for the Saturday wedding.’ Ruby was staring out of the window. ‘Here,’ she said, giving her a tenner. ‘I think bacon butties are needed.’

  Ruby didn’t crack a smile but left to get the food. Kim was laying out the flowers for Hayley’s bouquet and was pleased with the mix of white hydrangeas, blush peonies, freesias and silver dollar eucalyptus. Boomer barked as a customer entered the shop. Kim went to serve.

  ‘Curtis, how lovely to see you. You’ve just missed Ruby; she’ll be back in a minute.’

  ‘Is it all right if I wait?’

  ‘Of course. You don’t mind if I carry on, do you? We’ve got a rush job for a wedding tomorrow.’ Curtis followed her to the back room. Boomer strained at his lead to get a good sniff at the new person. Kim rewarded his not jumping up with a treat and felt quite proud. ‘How’s things with you and Cordelia?’

  He puckered his eyebrows. ‘I’m still working that out. Kim, can I ask, have I upset Ruby?’

  ‘She’s not said anything to me. You’d have to ask her.’

  ‘I fear she wouldn’t tell me if I had. She was going to ask me something on Saturday night and then she just left. I’ve messaged her a few times and called but she’s not responding.’

  ‘You saw her Saturday night?’

  ‘Not intentionally. We were both at the nursing home. We went for a drink and she was explaining about the stages of a relationship.’

  ‘Was she now?’ The thought of it made Kim smile.

  ‘Yes, she was. But she said she had something to ask me and I’ve been puzzling over what it was and why she didn’t ask.’

  Kim bit her lip. It was clear Ruby had bottled out. If she was fixed on going down the sperm donor route then Curtis was by far her best, safest and most straightforward option. ‘Look, she’s been thinking about this for a while. Please don’t let on I’ve said anything. The thing is, she wants you to be her sperm donor.’

  Curtis’s eyebrows jumped and stuck in a very high position. They relaxed a fraction and he started to blink rapidly. ‘I see. I certainly wasn’t expecting that.’

  ‘Please don’t say I blabbed but at least now you have a chance to consider it and be prepared for when she does ask you,’ reasoned Kim, hoping she hadn’t done the wrong thing by telling him. ‘And don’t mention it to Cordelia.’

  ‘No. Um.’ He checked his watch twice in quick succession. ‘Thanks, Kim. I think I’ll catch Ruby another time.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Yes. Bye, Kim.’ He left the shop like someone fleeing a burning building. Damn, thought Kim, what have I done?

  Kim served a customer and Ruby returned with the bacon butties. ‘Curtis called in.’

  Ruby started tucking into her sandwich. ‘What did he want?’

  ‘Um. He thought you were holding back on asking him something. So—’ Kim’s mobile rang. ‘Hang on,’ she said to Ruby before accepting the call.

  ‘Yes … Oh, hi …’ She mouthed to Ruby that it was the bank and she gave an eyeroll. ‘Er … No … Absolutely not … Okay … Should I come down? … Right … Thanks.’ Kim was stunned; she couldn’t believe what she’d just been told.

  ‘Problem?’ asked Ruby, licking ketchup off her fingers.

  ‘Yes, a bloody great Vince-shaped one.’ She grabbed her bag and raced for the door. ‘Hold the fort. I’m going to lynch him.’

  ‘That’s not a good idea,’ called Ruby but Kim was already at the door. Boomer whimpered at the sight of her leaving.

  The bank manager had told Kim there was no need for her to come down but she disagreed. She was fuelled by pure adrenaline, loathing and a lot of temper, plus she’d missed out on her bacon butty – another reason to hate Vince. She marched into the banking hall, past the queue for the till and desks of smiling staff. She knew where the manager’s office was and through the glass she could see the manager, Vince and a woman with her back to the door. The sight of Vince made her clench her jaw. How could he have fooled her a second time?

  Kim flung open the door and strode inside, shutting it firmly behind her. She was pleased to see Vince almost topple off his chair in surprise. His head spun rapidly from her to the manager and back again. The woman next to him looked up and smiled but the smile quickly faded as she registered Vince’s reaction.

  The bank manager looked startled. ‘Madam, this is a private—’

  ‘Hi, Vince,’ said Kim, trying to sound blasé. ‘I didn’t know you banked here too.’

  ‘Uh, well, er. You see the thing is—’ He appeared to be looking for another exit as his head swivelled around the small glass-walled room.

  The face of the woman was etched in Kim’s mind. She’d only ever seen her once before and it was at Vince’s bedside – she was the acupuncturist. ‘Hi, I’m Kim Baxter. And you are?’ Kim asked, offering a hand for her to shake. She stared at it like it was a loaded gun.

  ‘Ah,’ said the manager, getting to his feet. ‘I suggest you wait in the other office while we sort this out, Mrs Baxter.’ He looked from Kim to the seated woman and then pointed at Kim as if to clarify which one he meant. ‘This Mrs Baxter.’

  ‘There is only one. She’s the imposter,’ said Kim, jabbing a finger at the seated woman.

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I am the current Mrs Baxter.’ Not the ex-partner Vince had led her to believe. And her voice sounded uncannily like that of Sally Burrows, Vince’s solicitor. Kim was rapidly realising that pretty much everything Vince had told her was a lie.

  ‘You might be, but you’re not the Mrs Baxter with the account at this bank. You pair of crooks are trying to steal my money!’ snapped Kim, holding on tightly to her temper, which was on a fraying thread. The repeated request from the ‘solicitor’ for some ID was now making sense; they obviously needed it to defraud the bank.

  Vince stood up and nudged the woman to do the same as he hastily made for the door. Kim blocked his exit. ‘Going somewhere?’

  ‘Kim, don’t get yourself all flustered. You can’t blame me for trying. I walked away with nothing.’

  ‘You had half the bloody house!’ She was furious.

  ‘But none of the business and you’ve got to admit I helped build that up. Half of it is rightly mine.’

  ‘Is it hell. It had only been up and running five months and I used my mother’s money to set it up. It’s all in my name. I don’t owe you a penny, Vince Baxter.’

  ‘Really, Mrs Baxter, we do have this in hand,’ said the manager. He turned to Vince. ‘We have CCTV footage. There’s not a lot of point in running.’

  ‘I disagree,’ said Vince, shoving Kim into the manager and wrenching open the door. He darted out, promptly tripped over someone’s shoe and hit the floor like a dropped plank.

  ‘Whoops, sorry,’ said Ruby, stepping on his hand. Kim was delighted to see her.

  ‘Ow!’ He pulled his hand from under Ruby’s heel and scrambled to his feet.

  ‘Vince!’ shouted the other Mrs Baxter, from the office where Kim was blocking the doorway. ‘Don’t leave me!’ She didn’t look happy.

  ‘He does that,’ said Kim.

  ‘Move out of the way, Kim,’ said Vince. A crowd was now watching them. A sheen of sweat formed on Vince’s top lip.

  ‘One question,’ she said. ‘Are you dying?’

  He snorted a sickening laugh and shook his head. ‘Come on,’ said Vince, leaning past Kim, grabbing his partner’s arm. Ruby and Kim blocked their exit.

  The bank manager stepped forward. ‘Really ladies, I must insist you—’ he started.

&
nbsp; ‘Ge’ore!’ chorused Ruby and Kim together.

  ‘Bloody hell, it’s Floral and Hardy,’ said Vince, with a chuckle. He tried to push past Ruby, knocking her to the floor in the process. Kim took a swing at him as two police officers rushed inside and intercepted her.

  ‘Hey, not me. I called you to arrest him!’ she shouted.

  The manager nodded his agreement and the police officers let Kim go, placed a hand firmly on Vince’s shoulder and marched him back into the manager’s office.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  An hour later Adrian was forcing a cup of hot sweet tea onto Kim. ‘Here, get this down you. It’s good for shock,’ he said, giving her shoulder a friendly squeeze.

  ‘Thanks for minding the shop,’ said Kim.

  ‘You’ve already thanked me,’ he said.

  ‘Sorry, I dumped that on you,’ said Ruby. ‘But I knew there was trouble brewing and I couldn’t just lock up with Boomer here.’

  ‘My pleasure,’ said Adrian. ‘I quite enjoyed it. I sold a pot plant to someone who really wanted a bouquet and have booked in baby flowers and a blue balloon for delivery as soon as you can.’ He tapped a note on the counter.

  ‘I’ll crack on with Hayley’s flowers,’ said Ruby, putting down her Coke can.

  ‘Oh goodness, the wedding,’ said Kim.

  ‘It’s fine. I’ve got it covered,’ said Ruby. ‘You relax and mentally stick pins in Vince’s testicles.’

  Kim’s hands were shaking as she cupped her hot tea. Her head was spinning like an Olympic ice dancer. ‘I can’t believe it was all lies,’ she said to nobody in particular.

  ‘He took me in too,’ said Ruby. ‘I can’t believe he wasn’t really dying.’

  ‘Only dying to get his hands on my money. Not that there’s much. But there is a sizeable overdraft that I don’t use. The police think they were going to empty the account, with her posing as me, max out the overdraft and flee the country.’ Kim was still shaking.

  Adrian crouched down in front of her. Boomer instantly joined him and demanded a fuss. ‘Can I get you anything, Kim?’ he asked.

  ‘No, thanks. What was it you came in for?’