Rhys laughed awkwardly. ‘Lovely meal, wasn’t it?’
‘Oh yes,’ Jenny agreed. ‘Quite delicious. Don’t you think Ed?’
But Ed just stared at me, open-mouthed, and I wondered for a moment whether anyone had ever dared answer him back. I caught Jenny smirking and quickly covering it by pretending to dab her mouth with her napkin.
‘So, Jenny,’ I continued, ‘I agree that it’s very romantic. Iris lost her husband when she was in her early forties and she never expected to find love again, especially in her mature years. They decided to seize the moment and marry sooner rather than later, because you never know what might happen if you don’t. It’s amazing how time can race by just like that.’ I clicked my fingers to emphasise my point. ‘You can keep putting things off such as thinking that you’ll have that conversation or make that apology another day, but people don’t live forever, you know.’ I stared pointedly at Ed.
‘You’re not seriously bringing up the subject of that woman again,’ Ed hissed, angry red spots burning on his cheeks.
‘What woman?’ I asked innocently.
‘Ruby.’
Rhys cleared his throat as he squeezed my thigh again. ‘I’m not sure I can manage a dessert. Mum?’
Jenny didn’t respond. She was too busy starting at her husband’s face turning from red to purple.
‘I didn’t say a word about Ruby,’ I said, calmly, ‘but now that you’ve mentioned her, why is it that you’re so adamant that you want nothing to do with her?’
Ed stared at me across the table. I could feel sweat pooling under my arms under his scrutiny but I defiantly held eye contact.
He wiped his mouth with his napkin then dropped it onto his plate. ‘Don’t mess with what you don’t understand, young lady.’
‘What’s there to not understand?’
‘Callie!’ Rhys said, firmly. ‘Please forget it.’
‘No. This is important. What’s there not to understand, Ed? She gave you up for adoption because she couldn’t be with your father who, by the way, she loved very much and still does. Unfortunately having a baby with Ruby would have ruined him and his family so she didn’t have much choice. She was only doing what was best for you and your dad. If you let her explain about—’
‘You know who my granddad is?’ Rhys said, clear astonishment in his tone.
‘Er… no?’
‘You do! She’s told you about her past, hasn’t she?’
Damn you, white wine and your truth-inducing abilities. I screwed my nose up at Rhys. ‘She might have done, but she begged me to keep it quiet. She wanted to tell you in her own time.’
‘What happened to absolute honesty about everything?’ Rhys’s voice was low but the anger in it was unmistakable. He stood up and tossed his napkin onto his plate. ‘Thanks a lot, Callie. Excuse me.’
‘Rhys!’ I pushed my chair back.
Rhys stopped and turned round, his eyes filled with hurt. ‘Please, Callie. I need a moment.’ The anger was still there.
I pulled my chair back in and glugged down the remnants of my wine, cursing myself for being so stupid.
‘Seems Rhys has a type.’ Ed made a snorting noise. ‘Girlfriends who lie and deceive. First Izzy, now you.’
‘Ed!’ Jenny hissed. ‘Callie’s nothing like Izzy.’
‘Really? From what I’ve seen so far, she’s a manipulative liar with a crap job who’s trying to bleed our son dry. Have I got that wrong?’
I slammed my glass down on the table. You asked for it. ‘Do you know what I see, Ed? I see a man who likes to conveniently forget that he started his own career at the very bottom, who refuses to acknowledge his son for the exceptionally talented individual he is, who dishes out insults and barbed comments instead of love and pride, and who is too damn selfish and self-centred to even hear what an old lady has to say.’ I’ve no idea how I managed to sound so confident.
‘Have you quite finished?’ he snapped.
‘No, I’m not. She’s eighty-four. Eighty-four. She might have another ten, fifteen or twenty years in her yet. But she might only have ten, fifteen or twenty weeks. Ruby wants to see you, you know. She told me. She wants to apologise and explain, but you won’t even give her that courtesy. She’s not expecting anything from you but surely you can let her tell you why she couldn’t keep you, and who your father is, before it’s too late.’
I glanced across at Jenny. From the glisten in her eyes, I could tell that my words had touched her, but Ed’s eyes simply flashed with anger. ‘We’re done here.’
‘But—’
‘I said we’re done here.’ He emphasised every single word.
I opened my mouth to protest again but caught sight of Jenny, wide-eyed and shaking her head vigorously, and closed my mouth again. I’d already told Ed exactly what I thought of him so there wasn’t much to add. Probably not my finest moment.
Jenny stood up and put her hand out towards Ed. ‘If you give me the car keys, I’ll get the presents out of the boot and meet you outside in a bit.’
Wordlessly, Ed handed her the keys.
I picked up my bag. ‘Thank you for the meal,’ I muttered. ‘Happy Christmas.’
If he’d had the manners to look at me, I’d have apologised, but he deliberately and childishly kept his head turned away from me. Fine. We’d leave it there.
Our waiter helped me into my coat then helped Jenny into hers. As we made our way outside, she took my hand and squeezed it. ‘Ed’s a complicated man. Always has been.’
‘I’m so sorry for causing a scene. I shouldn’t have drunk so much. I’m not used to wine. I should have kept my big trap shut.’
‘This may sound strange but I’m glad you spoke up. He needed to hear that.’
‘But it was so rude of me, Jenny.’
‘And he was being rude to you and Rhys throughout the meal and you both smiled politely and did your best not to rise to it. One of you was going to snap eventually and I’m glad it was you because you’ll have opened Ed’s eyes to how he treats Rhys. I bring it up when I’m feeling brave and Rhys’s sister, Debbie, has made comments but Ed doesn’t listen to us. He’ll have heard and digested every word you said, though, and it’ll have had a greater impact than anything any of us have ever or could ever say.’
‘You’re just saying that to make me feel better.’
She linked her arm through mine as we walked towards her car. ‘I assure you I’m not.’
There was no sign of Rhys outside. Presumably he was in his van or walking round the block.
‘I don’t want you to feel bad about tonight,’ Jenny said. ‘Ed will snarl and grump about it all the way home, but he’ll have taken it all in and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t agree to see Ruby at some point in the New Year just to prove you wrong, the stubborn fool.’
We reached their car and she popped the boot open.
‘Do you know why he refuses to speak to Ruby?’ I asked. ‘Is there something I don’t know?’
Jenny took a deep breath. ‘There was an incident while he was at school. That, and a few other things, shaped him into the person he is today. I can’t betray him by going into the details, but let’s just say that he has to be the one in control and he has to be a success at everything he does. He can’t control his adoption in terms of un-doing it and the impact it had on him, so he controls it in the only way he can. Avoidance.’
‘But he could be missing out on so much.’
‘We all are. From what Rhys says, Ruby sounds wonderful. I lost my own mother a few years ago and would love to have a mother-in-law. Debbie wants to know her too, but she’s a daddy’s girl, as I’m sure you’ve picked up, and doesn’t want to hurt Ed by meeting Ruby. Ed struggled to deal with Rhys finding her.’ Jenny sighed and shook her head. ‘It is what it is and we keep hoping that, one day, he’ll change his mind.’
She reached into the boot and lifted out several large gift bags and a bin bag. ‘I’d better give you these and say goodbye before Ed
appears.’ She closed the boot. ‘They’re mainly for Megan but there’s something in there for you and Rhys too.’
‘Thank you. That’s very kind. We’ve got something for you in the back of the van too so we can do swapsies. If he’s in the van, that is.’
As we made our way towards Rhys’s van with the gifts, he emerged from a side street and stopped, looking shocked to see us there.
‘There you are!’ Jenny said. ‘Perfect timing. Can you open the van for these?’
I hoped to catch Rhys’s eye but he wouldn’t look at me while he loaded the gifts into the van. The fresh air and the walk obviously hadn’t calmed him down. I’d never seen him riled like this before.
‘These are for you and him.’ Rhys picked up a cardboard box containing presents and a couple of bottles of wine in sparkly gift bags.
‘There’s far too much,’ Jenny protested. ‘You shouldn’t have.’
‘We wanted to. You deserve to be spoilt. Not sure about him, though.’ Rhys nodded in the direction of Sidney’s. ‘What are you doing out here anyway? I thought you’d be having coffee and dessert.’
‘The evening ended a little prematurely,’ Jenny said as we made our way back to her car, Rhys carrying the box.
‘It was my fault,’ I admitted. ‘I told him what I thought of him. I’m sorry.’
Rhys stopped walking and finally turned to look at me. ‘For God’s sake, Callie. What did you say this time?’
‘She was amazing.’ Jenny put her arm round my shoulder and pulled me to her side. ‘She told him a few home truths.’
‘Great. As if I don’t have a difficult enough relationship with him already.’ If the expression on his face hadn’t conveyed his disgust with me, the tone of his voice certainly did. ‘I don’t know what you were playing at, baiting him like that. It was so embarrassing and completely unnecessary.’
Rhys disappeared round to the back of Ed’s car with the box. Tears pooled in my eyes from the sting of his words. How had we gone from being so close to being so far apart in the space of a couple of hours? I turned my face away from Jenny and wiped at the tears before they trailed down my cheeks.
‘I’d better head home,’ I said to her. ‘Thanks for this evening and I really am sorry. That’s twice I’ve met you and twice I’ve screwed up. Maybe Ed was right about me.’
‘No, Callie, don’t—’
I shook my head, cutting her off. I had to get away from Rhys before he said anything else. Grateful that I was wearing flat boots, I turned and ran down the street that Rhys had emerged from moments earlier, then up a dark alley. I thought I could hear Rhys calling my name, but it could have been my imagination. My phone rang but I ignored it as I aimlessly ran up unfamiliar streets of terraced houses and along alleyways, my pounding footsteps echoing in the darkness until a stitch pierced my side. I slowed down, wincing at the stitch and gulping for air.
Turning into another unfamiliar street, laughter and loud music hit me. There was obviously a party going on, with a group of smokers huddled in the front yard, swigging from bottles of lager between drags on their cigarettes or e-cigs. I crossed the road so I didn’t have to pass too close to the laughter and excitement – the exact opposite of how I felt right then.
The street curved in front of me and I couldn’t help noticing that pretty much every single one of the bay windows had a tree displayed in it. Red lights, white lights, blue ones and multi-coloured flashing sets all screamed that Christmas was nearly here. I’d been so excited about my first Christmas with Rhys and now I wasn’t sure if we were even in a relationship. Why had he stormed out like that when he found out that I knew about his grandfather? Couldn’t he see that it wasn’t my story to tell? It wasn’t my secret. It wasn’t my past. I’d never been anything but completely honest with him. And his dad. Maybe I should have left that one alone but Ed had been horrible and I didn’t regret telling him what I thought. All I regretted was any pain I’d caused Rhys or Jenny.
My mobile burst into song again and I ignored it once more, unable to bear an argument or, even worse, news that I was dumped.
Turning a few more corners, the streets started to take on a familiarity. Nick lived near here. Could I? I glanced at my watch. 10.15 p.m. My brother was a night owl so would still be up. I only hoped he didn’t have company because that could be awkward. The last time I’d spoken to him, he’d met a woman called Lindsay online who seemed ‘nice and normal’ so they’d been on a few dates.
I soon found myself at the top of Fountain Street where Nick lived. My mobile rang again. This time, I took it out of my bag and switched it to silent, not even checking to see whether it was Rhys calling. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture. Let him stew and hopefully calm down.
As I neared Nick’s house, his front door opened and he stepped out, mobile phone pressed to his ear. He locked the door and headed down the street away from me.
‘Nick!’ I called.
He turned round, looking shocked. ‘How did you get here so quickly?’
‘What?’
Nick walked towards me. ‘You picked up my voicemail?’
I shook my head. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Don’t panic, but Mum’s had a fall. We need to get to the hospital.’
37
It was gone 3 a.m. by the time we left the hospital on Christmas Eve with Mum hobbling on crutches. Thankfully it was only a hairline fracture which would heal within six to eight weeks, although she wasn’t best pleased to be wearing a plaster cast, unable to drive anywhere over the Christmas period. I’d struggled not to laugh when she told me she’d done it playing silly wine-fuelled party games with her friends.
‘You don’t have to stay with me,’ Mum said after we’d helped her into her house and lowered her onto the large sofa in the lounge. ‘Nick can drive you home.’
‘I don’t like the thought of you being on your own so I’m staying.’
‘Honestly, sweetheart, there’s no need. Besides, don’t you need to be at work early to get everyone sorted for the wedding?’
Crap! The wedding had completely gone out of my head. ‘I need to be there for seven. Half past at a push. It’ll have to be you staying, Nick.’
Twenty minutes later, I unlocked the door to my flat. ‘Rhys?’ I called out, hopefully, but I knew he wasn’t there without looking. Somehow the flat felt completely empty.
In the bedroom, I removed my gorgeous new outfit and carefully hung it up on my wardrobe door next to my dress for the wedding. Pulling on my PJs, I clambered under the duvet and took my phone out of my bag: four missed calls – two from Rhys and two from Nick – plus two voicemails and three texts. Yawning, I dialled into the voicemails, but they were both from Nick, as were the texts. My stomach churned. Why hadn’t Rhys left a message or texted? Clearly he’d been really worried about me walking home in the dark on my own… not. Grinding my teeth, I jabbed at the keys on my phone:
✉︎ To Rhys
Just got back from hospital. Mum broke her leg tonight. Thanks for checking I made it home safely.
Setting my alarm for six, I settled down for a couple of hours’ sleep, my left hand wrapped around the heart on my necklace, praying he’d meant what he’d said when he gave me it; that his heart was mine forever.
It seemed as though I’d only just closed my eyes when my alarm sounded. I rolled over, hoping that the disastrous evening would turn out to have been a dream, but Rhys’s side of the bed was empty and the flat was in silence and darkness.
Much as I wanted to crawl back under my duvet and sleep until my Christmas Day shift tomorrow, I couldn’t let Iris down. She’d booked Bay View’s regular hairdresser to wash and style her hair and Ruby’s, and our beautician to do their make-up and nails, but I’d volunteered to do the nails and hair for several of the residents and to help Iris and Ruby get dressed. I was then responsible for herding everyone into taxis and minibuses.
With my own relationship in tatters, the last thing I wanted to do was spen
d the day at a wedding, but I’d put on a brave face for the people I loved and try to remain focused on them instead of thinking about Rhys.
Yawning, I cycled to work, a backpack and the bike basket overloaded with everything I needed for the day ahead. There was no sign of Rhys’s van in the car park, not that I’d expected there to be.
My first plan of action was to retrieve that letter to Teddy from in front of the mailing tray. If Rhys discovering that I knew about Ruby’s past had caused such a negative reaction, I dreaded to think what would happen if he found out I’d tried to make contact with his grandfather behind his back too, especially as that would expressly have gone against Ruby’s wishes as well.
I unlocked the office and flicked on the light. Placing my bags by the desk and draping the suit carrier containing my dress over the chair, I made my way towards the mail tray on the cabinet by the printer and… oh crap! It wasn’t there. It had been sitting in front of the mailing tray for the best part of the week and neither Odette nor Pete, the other team leaders, had ignored the instruction on the Post-it note so why now? Dashing back to my bag, I rummaged for my phone.
✉︎ To Pete
Sorry to pester you when you’ve probably only just got home. Did you post that letter with the Post-it on it?
* * *
✉︎ From Pete
Yes, but the Post-it note was gone so I assumed it needed sending. Did I mess up?
Argh! I dashed to the cabinet and looked around and behind it. Nestling amongst the dust and cables, there it was. A bright orange Post-it note, staring at me.
Breathe. Just breathe. There was nothing I could do now except reassure Pete it was fine to post the letter because it was me who’d messed up. I should never have written the letter and I certainly shouldn’t have left it next to the mailing tray.
✉︎ To Pete
The Post-it came off but it’s absolutely fine. Just checking it hadn’t got lost. Have a great Christmas x
Making Wishes at Bay View Page 19
