Ruby chuckles and says, “Next week?”
“Yes,” says Laurel, smiling. “Next week is fine. It’s always a quiet time.”
She takes her mother’s hands and says, “We’re having a big Christmas Eve do. At Paul and Bonny’s. Hanna will be there. Jake. My new boyfriend. His daughter. I wish you could come.”
“No thank you,” says Ruby, and Laurel laughs.
“No,” she says. “I don’t blame you.”
“How is n-n-new b-boyfriend?”
The smile freezes on Laurel’s face. She doesn’t know how to answer the question so she smiles and says, “He’s wonderful. It’s all good.”
But as the words leave her mouth, she can feel the heavy lie of them.
Her mother feels it, too. “Good?” she repeats, concernedly.
“Yes,” she says. “Good.”
Her mother nods, just once.
“If you say so,” she says. “If you say so.”
Laurel calls Jake when she leaves her mother’s care home.
He picks up the call within two ringtones. “Mum,” he says, a note of concern in his voice.
“Everything’s fine,” she says. “Not an emergency. I just wanted to say hello.”
“I’m really sorry, Mum,” he starts immediately. “I’m really sorry about me and Blue and what we said to you the other day. It was out of order.”
“No, Jake, honestly. It’s fine. I’m sorry I overreacted. I think I was just so shocked to find myself in a relationship after so long I was a bit raw. Just wanted everything to be perfect. You know. And of course nothing’s perfect, is it?”
“No,” says Jake in a voice full of things he’d like to say but can’t. “No. That’s true.”
“Am I seeing you tomorrow?” she says. “At Bonny’s?”
“Yes,” he replies. “We’ll be there.”
“You know Floyd will be there too? Will that be a problem?”
“No,” he says, overly assured, she feels. “No. It will be fine.”
She takes a breath, ready to get to the point of her call. “Is Blue there?” she says. “I wondered if we could have a word?”
“Yeah,” says Jake. “Yeah. She’s here. You’re not going to...?”
“No. I told you, Jake. Water under the bridge. I just want to ask her something.”
“OK.”
She hears him call out to Blue, who comes to the phone and says, “Hi, Laurel. How are you?”
“I’m good, thank you, Blue. I’m fine. How are you?”
“Oh, you know. Busy, busy. As always.”
There’s a pause and then Laurel says, “Listen, Blue, I wanted to apologize for the way I reacted last time we spoke. I think I may have been a little over the top.”