Summer Season

by Julia Williams

  It was a hot June day, and the crowds piling out of the underground at Southfields were clearly going the same way.

  ‘This is fab,’ said Kezzie, as they marched up to the gates with their tickets. ‘No queuing for hours, and we have seats on Centre Court. Brilliant. Last time I was here I spent most of the day on Henman Hill, and only sneaked onto Centre Court at the end.’

  They had arrived before play started and spent an hour or so just soaking up the atmosphere, watching some of the lesser-known players slugging it out on the outer courts, before finally taking their places on Centre Court, where Nadal was playing an unknown. They’d missed seeing Murray, who’d got through his match fairly easily the previous day. Kezzie wasn’t sure if she was pleased or sorry. At least it cut down on the nerves factor.

  The tennis they did see was fast and furious, and she and Lauren were on their feet by the end of a tense four setter, which Nadal won.

  ‘Time for a break,’ said Kezzie, in the pause before the next match was due to start. ‘Do you need anything?’

  ‘No, I’m OK here for a minute,’ said Lauren. ‘I’m just going to text Troy to check everything’s OK at home.’

  ‘I’ll get us ice cream,’ said Kezzie, and headed out towards the loos. She was just walking down the corridor underneath Centre Court when she stopped suddenly. There ahead of her in an animated conversation with a pretty young woman was – could it really be? – Richard. Oh my God. It couldn’t possibly be. Kezzie felt the ground melt beneath her. She’d had no reply from her insanely stupid spur of the moment letter, not that she’d been expecting one, so Richard clearly didn’t want to put things right. He was the last person she wanted to see.

  Richard looked up and saw her before she could make a bolt for it. She felt as if she was fixed to the ground; trapped like a rabbit in the headlights.

  Richard made an excuse to his companion and came towards her.

  Kezzie froze to the spot. Her heart was hammering, and her stomach was in knots. Fear made her brazen.

  ‘I see you haven’t wasted any time,’ she nodded at Richard’s companion.

  ‘Kezzie!’ Richard said in exasperation.

  ‘So, she is the new woman in your life?’

  ‘Don’t be daft. She’s my new secretary.’

  ‘Oh.’ Maybe it was the secretary who’d answered Richard’s phone the day she’d rung him. Kezzie’s confidence drained away. This wasn’t how she wanted things to go. ‘So you haven’t replaced me then?’

  A slight smile played on Richard’s lips, and a sudden heartbeat of desire shot through Kezzie. God she missed him. Standing so tantalizingly close to him made her realize just how much.

  ‘As if I could replace you,’ he said, and Kezzie melted into a puddle.

  ‘Nor me, you,’ whispered Kezzie.

  They looked at each other for a long time, and a sense of sadness came over Kezzie. Richard hadn’t replied to her letter. The past was the past, what they once had was gone forever.

  ‘How are you?’ Richard said eventually.

  ‘Fine,’ said Kezzie. ‘Brilliant in fact. You?’

  ‘Great,’ said Richard, his hearty smile not quite reaching his eyes.

  ‘Well, see you then?’ said Kezzie, unable to cope with stringing out the situation any longer.

  ‘How do I get in touch?’ he called after her, to her surprise.

  ‘If you’d bothered to read my letter, you’d know,’ she said.

  ‘Letter?’ Richard sounded puzzled.

  ‘The one I sent you,’ she said, and walked away without daring to turn and look back. She thought Richard might have called her name, but she ignored him and carried on walking.

  Joel was having a frantically busy day at work. He’d already sat through two difficult meetings in which they’d managed to save the charity plenty of money, but at a huge cost to their service users. Services were definitely having to go, and Joel didn’t feel good about it. He was beginning to feel like the Jonah of the organization, whom everyone distrusted. It wasn’t a great position to be in. At this rate it was going to be a pleasure to get home, which wasn’t always how he felt. He was grateful to Eileen for looking after Sam for him. He stupidly hadn’t thought through the implications of giving Lauren a day off, and though she’d offered Troy’s help, he wasn’t too keen on that idea. In the end, Eileen had volunteered, saying she owed him for getting New Horizons to come and play at the fete.

  It was one of those sunny days in the summer, when it felt criminal to be at work. The office fan was working at full stretch, but all it seemed to do was fan hot air around. All the windows were open, but it still felt stuffy, and the room was full of the smell of stale sweat. Joel cursed the workload that meant he had been unable to go out for the day too.

  He rang Eileen at lunchtime to see how she was getting on.

  ‘Oh fine,’ she said. ‘Sam’s having a lovely time, particularly as we’ve got Izzie here.’

  ‘What’s Izzie doing there?’

  ‘The school rang,’ said Eileen. ‘She’s got a bit of a cough and they sent her home.’

  ‘Why couldn’t Troy have her?’ said Joel.

  ‘They couldn’t get hold of him or Lauren,’ said Eileen, ‘and I’m one of Lauren’s emergency contact numbers. I don’t mind, Izzie’s no trouble at all.’

  Joel snorted. ‘Well, don’t let Troy take advantage of you.’

  ‘I’m sure he’ll be back soon,’ said Eileen, ‘he still has to pick Immie up from school.’

  Joel put the phone down and wondered if Lauren knew that Izzie was at home. He toyed with ringing her – but what could he say? Your boyfriend seems to have gone AWOL? – and decided not to. It wasn’t really any of his business. He turned his attention to what he was supposed to be doing and forgot all about it.

  At two thirty, Eileen rang him.

  ‘Joel,’ she said, sounding a bit tense, ‘do you have Lauren’s number? I seem to have lost it. Only I still can’t get hold of Troy, and I think Izzie is getting worse. Her chest seems very tight, and she’s coughing quite a lot. I’m not even sure if she has a puffer.’

  Joel thought for a minute, and then he remembered seeing Lauren administer Ventolin the previous winter.

  ‘I’m pretty sure she does have a puffer,’ he said. ‘Do you have spare keys to Lauren’s place?’

  ‘No, sorry.’

  ‘I guess you’ll have to keep trying Troy,’ said Joel. ‘But call the doctor if Izzie gets worse. Look, why don’t I try to finish a bit early? I’ll see if I can take some work home with me. At least relieve you of Sam.’

  He gave her Lauren’s mobile number and then started to clear his desk. Luckily things seemed to be calming down a bit. He called through to his assistant and told her what was happening. He felt a bit guilty about leaving so early in the day, but it wasn’t as though he did this often. And this was an emergency. Lauren needed him. Even if she didn’t know it yet.

  The afternoon had turned sweltering, and Kezzie and Lauren were both wilting in the heat. They’d got to the point they were pouring water on their heads to cool down.

  ‘I can’t believe how much water I’ve drunk today,’ said Kezzie. ‘And yet I still feel thirsty.’

  ‘We’re going to look like lobsters tomorrow,’ laughed Lauren, who had spent most of the day covering her fair skin up with Factor 50, but she didn’t think it would be enough to stop her burning. ‘But it’s been worth it.’

  ‘Apart from meeting Richard, it’s been a great day,’ agreed Kezzie.

  ‘Damn,’ Lauren had reached into her bag to check her mobile. ‘I forgot to turn my phone back on after the match. Shit. I’ve missed a couple of calls from school. And Eileen by the looks of it.’

  She felt the blood drain from her face. The school never rang. She thought back to this morning when she’d noticed that Izzie had a very slight scratchy cough, which was sometimes, though not always, a precursor to an asthma attack. She got through to the school first. ‘She’s
where? Thank you so much for letting me know.’ Lauren turned to Kezzie, who was looking questioningly at her. ‘It’s Izzie, she’s ill.’ She rang Eileen. ‘You’re where? She’s what? Oh my God, Eileen, where’s Troy? Don’t worry, I’m on my way.’

  She turned her phone off, feeling a sick panic in her stomach. Should never have left them. Should never have left them, pounded in her head. First sign of trouble and no sign of Troy. How could he do this to her? But that anger was wiped out with worry about Izzie. Lauren cursed the fact she was so far away from home.

  ‘What’s going on?’ said Kezzie.

  ‘Izzie, having an asthma attack,’ said Lauren. ‘Troy’s disappeared and Eileen’s with her at the doctor’s now. Bloody hell. The only time I’ve gone so far away and this has to happen.’

  She started gathering her things together.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Kezzie, but I’m going to have to go. Please don’t feel you have to leave too.’

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ said Kezzie. ‘Of course I’ll come with you, you can’t go alone.’

  They got up and raced to the exit. Suddenly Wimbledon seemed vast, and the crowds, which had excited Lauren on arrival, seemed hostile and threatening. The walk back to Southfields seemed longer than she’d remembered; the wait for a tube train to take them back to Wimbledon, interminable.

  Lauren tried not to clock watch, and resisted the urge to ring Eileen every five minutes, but it was difficult. She was trying to stay calm, but her heart was pounding. Izzie’s asthma attacks, though not frequent, were swift and sudden, and she could go from being relatively well to going downhill really quickly.

  ‘If only I’d paid more attention to her cough,’ said Lauren. ‘I should never have come.’

  ‘You weren’t to know,’ said Kezzie. ‘Sod’s law would have meant she’d be fine if you had stayed at home.’

  ‘I suppose,’ said Lauren, drumming her fingers on the train window, as they limped slowly into Wimbledon station. ‘I just feel really guilty.’

  ‘Don’t,’ said Kezzie. ‘Come on, we’re getting there as fast as we can.’

  They were lucky with their connections at Wimbledon and Clapham Junction, and found themselves approaching Heartsease just over an hour after Eileen had called.

  Lauren called Troy again and got no reply. By now she was frantic with worry. Luckily there was a cab in the cab rank and she and Kezzie dived in and asked him to get home as quickly as possible. On hearing it was an emergency the cabbie drove as fast as he could. When Lauren got out, he said, ‘I’ll wait here for a minute, in case you need me to take you to the hospital.’

  Hospital. Lauren hadn’t even thought of that.

  ‘Oh, thanks,’ she said in surprise.

  ‘I’ve got two asthmatic kids myself,’ said the cabbie, by way of explanation. ‘I know what it’s like.’

  Lauren raced into the house, where she found Troy, and a very pale and breathless Izzie lying forlornly on the sofa. She knew instantly that hospital was where they were heading.

  Troy got up, looking panicked and helpless.

  ‘You took your time,’ he said. ‘Doc says she’s got to go to hospital if she gets worse.’

  ‘Well, why on earth didn’t you take her?’ said Lauren. ‘You can’t muck around with a kid having an asthma attack. You should have taken her straight there!’

  ‘I thought she’d be better with you,’ said Troy. ‘When Eileen called me, I just didn’t know what to do. I panicked, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Right,’ said Lauren, ‘she needs a bag. And her puffer. You get the car ready. We’ll be in the hospital in no time.’

  ‘Woah,’ said Troy, ‘I don’t do hospitals.’

  ‘Troy! She’s your daughter,’ said Lauren, ‘it goes with the territory. You could at least drop us off and stay with Immie.’

  She looked around. ‘Hang on, where is Immie?’

  ‘Eileen’s got her,’ said Troy. ‘I couldn’t cope with two of them. You know.’

  ‘No,’ said Lauren, ‘I don’t know. You have to get Immie, while I sort Izzie out.’

  ‘This is just too much,’ said Troy. ‘I’m sorry, I just can’t do this.’

  And with that he walked out of the house.

  ‘What?’ Lauren was stunned, but she didn’t have time to react to Troy’s betrayal; concern for Izzie overrode any other feeling. ‘Shit, I can’t leave Immie with Eileen forever. I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘If you give me your house keys, I’ll go and get Immie from Eileen’s, if you like,’ said Kezzie.

  ‘Oh, would you?’ Lauren was so grateful. ‘Thanks. And could you run out and tell that cabbie I do need him, while I grab the things for Izzie.’

  Lauren went into default emergency mode, picking up stuff she thought Izzie might need, and carrying her child to the taxi.

  As the taxi sped off, she saw Troy walking down to the pub. He’d let her down again. But she hadn’t got time to think about that right now. All that really mattered was Izzie.

  Chapter Thirty

  Kezzie flew round to Eileen’s house.

  ‘What the hell’s been going on?’ she said.

  She was surprised to find Joel there with Sam. Immie was sitting watching TV, while Joel and Eileen were talking in quiet anxious tones in the kitchen.

  ‘Troy’s been going on,’ said Eileen. ‘Honestly, I thought my ex husband was useless in a crisis. But Troy’s been worse than hopeless. He picked Immie up from school, but said he couldn’t manage both of them and took Izzie home. I told him that the doctor said if she hadn’t improved after having her puffer he should take her to hospital. I feel really bad now, I wish I’d taken her there myself.’

  ‘Lauren’s just gone in a cab,’ said Kezzie. ‘Troy didn’t even go with her.’

  ‘Damn,’ said Joel. ‘I’d have happily taken her. I don’t like the thought of her being there on her own.’

  ‘I’d go,’ said Eileen, ‘But I’m really sorry I’ve already promised to babysit for Niall.’

  ‘And someone needs to stay and look after Immie,’ said Kezzie. ‘I said I would. I’ve got Lauren’s house keys.’

  ‘Great,’ said Joel. ‘Come on. Why don’t we give Eileen a break and get these two over to Lauren’s house while we work out what to do next?’

  Immie was quiet as they crossed the road and she put her hand in Kezzie’s. Kezzie was touched. She lacked experience with small children, but she had grown very fond of the twins since she’d been living in Heartsease.

  ‘Izzie is going to be all right, isn’t she?’ said Immie.

  Kezzie felt a bit helpless. What did you say to a four-year-old? She had only the vaguest notion of what asthma did to people, so she had no idea how seriously ill Izzie was. It must be so frightening for Immie, not knowing or understanding what was happening to her sister.

  Joel came to the rescue. He squatted down, Sam in his arms, next to Immie and said, ‘She’ll be fine, sweetie. Mummy’s taken her to the hospital, and the doctors there will help her get all better again. She’ll soon be home, you’ll see.’

  That seemed to do the trick and within minutes of being inside, Izzie was busy playing with her dolls, while simultaneously making Sam laugh.

  ‘They haven’t had tea yet,’ said Joel. ‘I guess we’d better sort that out first.’

  Kezzie was impressed by the speed at which Joel organized the tea. He was much better at this dad thing than he let on.

  By now it was heading for seven, and there had been no word from Lauren.

  ‘I really think someone should see if she’s all right; I don’t like the idea of her being alone,’ said Joel. ‘If I get Sam settled in the travel cot he sleeps in when he’s here, would you be all right looking after him and Immie for a bit?’

  Kezzie gulped. Apart from babysitting the twins once, she hadn’t looked after any children since the fiasco with Emily. Immie she felt she could cope with, but Sam? What if he didn’t settle?

  ‘Are you sure you trust me?’ she
said.

  ‘Of course I am,’ said Joel firmly. ‘I presume you’re not planning to spend the next few hours getting high as a kite?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ said Kezzie. She felt a wave of gratitude towards Joel. It felt good to be trusted again. ‘Thanks. That means a lot to me.’

  Lauren felt as though she’d been sitting in Casualty for hours. They’d been seen speedily by the triage nurse, who’d swiftly got them into the children’s department, where Izzie was given a nebulizer to help open her airways.

  ‘If she doesn’t improve, we might have to keep her in,’ said the nurse.

  Lauren nodded. She knew the score. Izzie had been admitted to hospital twice previously – but she’d been smaller then. This time she was more aware of her surroundings and frantic when given the nebulizer. Lauren sweated buckets trying to keep her calm, and ensure the mask stayed on so she actually benefited from the Ventolin.

  Once the nebulizer had finished, Izzie immediately perked up and became very lively. She wasn’t at all happy to have to sit still while her vital signs were being monitored. The trouble was, every time they took the oxygen mask away her oxygen levels dropped, so in the end she had to have it on permanently, much to Izzie’s disgust. She wriggled crossly on Lauren’s lap, refusing point blank to lie down on the bed, while Lauren sat waiting for someone to come and pronounce sentence. The early evening had brought a rash of new patients, and Lauren was getting to the point when she thought she might have to call someone, when eventually a young doctor came in.

  ‘Hello there,’ he said, ‘and who’s this?’

  ‘Izzie,’ said Izzie crossly.

  ‘And how are you feeling, Izzie?’

  ‘Can’t breathe,’ said Izzie.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said the doctor, ‘we’ll have to do something about that.’

  He did a swift but thorough examination of Izzie, managing to make her laugh in the process.

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it looks like the nebulizer’s helped a bit. I suggest we give her another one in about an hour, and with luck she might be able to get home.’