Page 71 of Waiting for a Bright New Future

“Lillian, Jayne has agreed to marry me.” As he said the words, his gaze went past Lillian and to the lounge windows, which looked onto the road and gave a partial view of his own drive. A faded orange Panda was pulling up on the drive. His heart rose and then sank.

“Oh, Stuart! I’m so pleased you’ll be living here with us. You two should never have split up in the first place. Can I see the ring?”

Jayne and Lillian were looking at him expectantly and Florence was getting out of her car. Even from this distance, his ex-lodger’s movements looked deflated. Jayne was squeezing his hand. She and her mother were waiting for a reply. He remembered Florence no longer had a key.

“We need to go shopping.” With an effort he switched his gaze back to the room. “Jayne’s going to be wearing this ring for a long time so I want her to have something she really loves.”

Jayne turned towards him, holding both his hands and kissed him deeply. A rap on the window interrupted them.

“I thought you said she was in London.” The smile and happiness were gone from Jayne’s face. “Please give her the cat now.”

* * *

Florence wasn’t alone. She had Slowcoach in his box of straw and two pale, thin children. Stuart didn’t have pop or squash or whatever youngsters drank and, having devoured his entire stock of chocolate digestives, they were staring disgustedly at the glasses of milk in front of them. Milk given to him by Lillian when Jayne had gone back to work.

“Where’s Tibby? Gran said we were coming to stay with Tibby,” said the boy. He was the taller of the two and Florence had introduced him as Shayne. Two words from the boy’s statement stood out. The first was ‘Gran’. Stuart couldn’t think of anyone less like his idea of a typical grandmother than Florence.. His grandmothers hadn’t sung with bands or dressed with such flamboyance. The second word was ‘Stay’. The children knew more about what Florence had in mind than he did.

“Go outside and look for Tibby in the garden,” Florence urged.

The glasses of milk were abandoned as the children rushed out shouting for the cat.

“Jacob and his new partner are returning to South Africa. She’s from there as well.”

“Can’t he take his children with him?”

“There were some problems.” Florence spoke slowly and seemed unwilling to elaborate.

“So they’ll be living with you and Jim?” Stuart tried not to imagine Florence, Jim and the children as a cosy family.

“Jim and I aren’t together. You know that.”

“But when you left here, I thought . . .”

“I went to stay with a girlfriend. She doesn’t have room to swing a cat. Never mind two children.”

Stuart’s relief wasn’t logical. What did it matter to him whether Florence was back with Jim or somewhere else? He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing.

“I was hoping we could stay here. Temporarily. Of course I’ll pay more rent because there are more of us.”

“I’ve just proposed to Jayne. We’re going to get married.”

Florence reset her features within a couple of seconds but Stuart had already seen her shock.

“Congratulations. That’s what you need — the love of a good woman.” Her voice didn’t quite reach the level of warmth he would’ve expected.

“You’re the first person I’ve told.”

“Let me give you a tip.” Florence had regained some of her composure and was staring at him earnestly. “Next time, inject more joy into your voice. At the moment it sounds like you’re indifferent to the prospect of marriage.”

“Of course I’m not indifferent. I’ve waited a long time for this second chance.”

Only the shouts of the children playing outside broke the silence between them. When Stuart had allowed himself to imagine the possibility of Florence’s return, it hadn’t been like this. He’d looked forward to her energy and bounce, her singing and enthusiasm, and the way she softly bullied him out of his comfort zone.

“Done any karaoke yet?” she said, as if reading his mind.

“What do you think? I can’t go to one of those places alone.”

“I suppose not. Look, this is awkward and especially now you’re engaged and everything. But please can me and the kids stay here for a while?”

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