Page 24 of This is Where I Leave You

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An hour later, all three women were sat in Cady’s sitting room, takeaway coffees, sandwiches and buns spread out on the coffee table. Even noises from the builders in the background did not dull their conversation.

“So you have not heard from her since?”

Cady shook her head. “No, and I stopped the standing order from my bank, so she will get no more money, and she hasn’t even phoned to give me an ear bashing! It’s strange, but I feel relieved.” She smiled, grabbing another cheese and pickle sandwich happily.

Georgina looked at Cady, and winced at the words she was about to speak.

“So, you really think it was Richard that ‘came’? Were you not scared?”

“I was petrified at first, but Priscilla was here and she seemed happy about it, and then I just felt strength, like I had an unseen ally, so I told her where to go, which I have never dared do before. I know I should be freaked out, but I’m not. I am still furious with him, but I am glad that he is alright, in a way.”

George’s eyebrows raised.

“You know what I mean, he is dead, obviously, but the fact he came to help me, that means he is okay and it’s kinda nice to think he knows that he is a father.”

Magda picked up a Viennese finger and licked some of the cream from the side.

“Is kinda nice, yes? That he say sorry, before he go. I think it quite the romance gesture. Back from ze dead to stick up against the mother-in-law. Very Nicholas Sparksie, no?” She shoved the rest of the sweet treat in her mouth.

Cady and George burst into laughter, and then stopped when they eyed each other.

“What are you going to do, George? Will you be keeping the baby?” Cady said softly, not wanting to jeopardise their newly rekindled friendship. Georgina smoothed down her clothes self-consciously, her brows furrowed in thought.

“I am going to keep it Cades, I know what I said, and I am so sorry for that, but I..I have changed, I guess, or rather the baby has changed me. I am actually quite excited, and Magda will help me when I go back to work.” Magda nodded at this, still chewing. “I am planning to tell my boss tomorrow actually, I am going in and clearing my desk for a week off, and I am going to tell him that I am office bound from now on, no more travelling around.” George looked rosy cheeked at the very prospect of telling her boss her demands.

“But what if he doesn’t agree?” Cady asked, picking up another sandwich. Man she was hungry today.

“I will tell him I quit then, I still have all that money saved from my parents, I figure I could go freelance, work from home or something, we will be okay. I think he will cave anyway, I bring too much business in for him to just throw me away.”

Cady grinned. “You said ‘we’ – as in you and a BABY. Wow, George, I am so happy for you!”

She smiled back at her friend, and Magda piped up, “all happy but Ben. We get Ben good, he not happy much, when he see Magda all gun a blazing.”

Cady was confused. “You’re going to Paris? Really?”

George laughed. “Oh yes, tomorrow night after the office, Magda and I are flying to Paris, figured we would take a few days holiday there to rest before the baby comes, do a bit of clothes shopping and visit the beautiful bouncing dead-beat daddy.”

Cady was aghast at her friend’s resolve in the face of so many changes in her life. Looking around her half finished house and listening to the banging in the background, she realised that although she was changing the house, nothing had really been sorted out. She was going to be a single mother in just over a month, and the build was finished at the end of the week. She still had to empty the master and spare bedrooms ready for painting, the decorators had to come do the whole house, and she had to buy a whole nursery. Today’s shopping trip, although great for her and George, had really been a damp squib in terms of baby shopping. And she still had that letter to open from Richard….she had learnt from Dick that she could afford to stay off for a long while with the money as long as she was careful, but she still couldn’t bear to

open that letter, scared of what personal thoughts might be written down on those pages. She looked again at her best friend, chatting away with Magda about their baby shopping trip in Paris, and she realised it was now or never. It was time to sort her life out once and for all, Luke and Marcus included.

CHAPTER 22

The day came when the build was due to end. Luke had been hovering around the site all day every day, only leaving when he had no excuse to stay. Cady took his phone buzzing to be the woman calling him home, and so tried not to mind when he went home, or notice his phone vibrations. The fact was, she couldn’t stop thinking about Luke, her days were occupied with thoughts of him, the baby, Marcus, even Richard. She had spent the last few days cleaning out the remaining two rooms of Richard. The spare room was now empty and the furniture covered for painting. The master bedroom had been horrible to undertake; eventually she had just thrown the whole bed away, sheets and all, getting the workmen to lug the sofa bed from the spare room into there till her new king size bed could be delivered. She had given Priscilla first refusal on his clothes, but surprisingly his mother had simply said that she had come to terms with his passing and that his clothes should benefit others, so a very happy charity shop lady was soon in the possession of a good few bags of men’s books, clothes and trinkets. Cady kept the photos and made a memory box for the baby, full of things of daddy; wedding photos, cufflinks, notes he had left to Cady in the early days. Now the house was done, all ready for the final painting next week, and then she could get to work on assembling the parts of her new life. Thank the Lord for online shopping, she had everything ready to be delivered in two weeks and Dick himself said that he and Priscilla would come and assemble the cot, hang pictures etc so that everything was in place. 4 weeks from now and she would be a mother, and the thought terrified her and delighted her in equal measure. She knew once the house was complete, then she could relax. She had even chosen a distance learning course with a university on writing children’s books; she planned to study when the baby slept, ease herself into her new roles. She was even going to fill the baby’s bookcase with children’s books, great research for her and bonding time with the baby. She could finally see a happy ending of sorts in sight. If she didn’t think of Marcus, that is..or Luke. Try as she might, she just couldn’t see Marcus in her house feeding the baby, or snuggling against him in front of the TV. She realised that she felt no spark, he had just been what he always was, a comfort and a friend. She just had to tell him.

Luke was a different matter. All week he looked as though he was trying to tell her something, and she had been deliberately avoiding him, sticking her head in the laptop or a catalogue whenever he roamed near. She knew what he was trying to tell her, that he realised she liked him but he was taken. That basically he saw her as a desperate woman, pregnant and alone, with no chance of tearing him away from his beloved girl, who was essentially a broom handle with boobs. She just couldn’t bear to hear him say what she already picked up on, and she figured that after today, she wouldn’t need to. So here she was, perched in hiding on her sofa bed, mobile phone and Richard’s letter sat next to her. Fluffing the cushions up, she tried and failed to bring her knees nearer to her chest, man she was uncomfortable lately. This pregnancy lark was like trying to move about with a beach ball stuck up your top, but worse because a beach ball didn’t give you heartburn at 3am, or jab you in the ribs with a swift right kick, or make you cry at the TV advert for pile cream.

Turning the phone on, she waited for the onslaught of messages. When the handset started to beep, she opened the back and ripped out the sim card. Any messages on there would only upset her, and what was the point in that? Putting in the new one she had ordered from the phone company, she scrolled down her list of contacts, firing off a text to Marcus. MARCUS, IT’S CADY. PLEASE COME TO MINE TONIGHT, ABOUT 7? WE NEED TO TALK.

She hoped that he would not contact her beforehand, she really just wanted to clear the air and set him straight and then she could concentrate on the baby. Luke would be gone after today too..and that thought scared her more than anything, even facing labour alone. Priscilla had made noises about being at the birth, but she wasn’t too keen on the idea of her mother-in-law staring at her business end, seeing her poo and so forth, and George was terrified about her own labour. Asking her to witness another beforehand was a bit much to ask even of a best friend. So she would do it alone, as she would motherhood. Her phone beeped back, jolting her from her thoughts.

WOW, BACK IN THE REAL WORLD EH GIRL? SORRY HUN, AM WORKING LATE, AND TOMORROW BUT CAN COME SAT AT 7? M XX

Cady was disappointed. Her final scan was the next morning, the doctor had ordered an extra one with her scare earlier on, and she really just wanted to clear her emotional decks before going there. Never mind though, work was work. She replied, OK, 7 SAT. C. She left off the kiss again, but he either had not picked up on the context of the texts or he was ignoring it as he didn’t reply. Either way, it would all be over by Monday morning.

Putting the phone on the bed, she smiled at the photo on the screen. It was her and George on one of their wine nights in, both slightly sloshed and gurning for the camera. Hmm, most people had their husbands on their phones, or their kids, maybe that was a tell of hers she had only noticed now. Glancing at the envelope on the bed, she took a deep breath and pushing her thumb under the gummed flap, slowly ripped open the envelope. She pulled out the contents and let them fall onto the sheets. Richard’s handwriting was visible across the folded pages, swirly and elegant, so unlike her own. He had always joked how she could have been a doctor with her illegible scrawl.

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