‘You can shift them round,’ said Ray.
‘It’s lovely,’ said Sheila, ‘all the sloping roofs, and you’ve kept the old fireplaces.’
‘They work too,’ I said. ‘The windows are pretty poky but I think the owners ran out of money once they’d put the central heating in up here. We’ll leave you to look round a bit,’ I suggested. ‘We’ll be down in the kitchen.’
Downstairs Ray and I had a quick confab and agreed that we’d like her to move in if she was still keen. When she reappeared Ray asked her what she thought.
‘It’s lovely. I don’t know if you’re seeing other people.’
‘No,’ I said, ‘it’s yours if you want to move in.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Her hands flew to her mouth as she stifled an exclamation. ‘Oh, it’s such a relief.’ For a moment I thought she was going to go all weepy on us but she took a deep breath and beamed. We agreed that she’d bring her stuff on Friday and sorted out a time when we’d be in.
Everybody was happy and a third adult paying into the rent and bills would ease the financial strain that Ray and I had been under for the last few months.
That evening Ray did bedtime and I put my feet up, sank into one of my books. When the phone rang I thought it was going to be Agnes but it was my friend Diane.
‘I need a good natter,’ she said. ‘This weather is driving me round the bend. Do you know what I ate for tea last night? All because I couldn’t face walking to the shops – tinned pilchards, pitta bread and limp celery.’
‘Probably very nutritious,’ I said.
‘It was revolting. Anyway I had to go out today. I ran out of biscuits.’
Diane is a foodie. Any food. Health food, junk food. And most of all sweet food. She’s also fat, her word for it. She gave up dieting in her teens and now she’s completely comfortable about her size. Big and bold about it, she wears bright, patterned clothes which she runs up on an old treadle sewing machine.
We arranged to meet up at our usual local for a drink the following night.
While I was in phone mode I rooted out Agnes’ number and rang her. I told her I’d seen Lily, passed the clothes on, that she’d been fairly sleepy. I didn’t go into exactly what Lily had said, I felt it might be less upsetting to Agnes if I told her face to face that Lily felt abandoned.
‘I asked about seeing Dr Montgomery, the consultant, but they only allow next of kin. Have you spoken to Lily’s son?’
‘Charles? No.’
‘You could find out what he’s been told and see if he’s any plans to see Dr Montgomery. It might be worth asking if he’ll nominate you as another close contact, with him being so far away.’