Page 33 of Second Act at Appleton Green
Lily bit her lip to avoid laughing. ‘Sure thing, Gran. We would not want to run out of pickles. Not for the next century or two, at least.’
‘What do you mean?’ Gran moved with her walker into the kitchen. ‘And why are you propping up the pantry door?’
Lily stepped away slowly. ‘I’m doing a clean-out,’ she said waiting for the barrage of protest about the state of her pantry and that Lily should keep her nose out of her Spam.
But Gran took a look inside at the bare shelves and the bags on the floor and nodded.
‘About time someone did that. I was going to but it seemed too overwhelming, so I kept adding to it.’ She laughed.
Relief came over Lily and she reached into a bag and pulled out the can of Spam.
‘Spam? Really?’ she asked her grandmother with a laugh.
‘I don’t even know where I got that from. Your grandfather and I loathed Spam. Maybe we won it? In a pub raffle or the like.’ She shuffled back to her chair. ‘Now do I get a cup of tea or have you thrown the tea leaves out as well? I’m lucky my chair is still here,’ Gran muttered as she sat down and Lily rolled her eyes as she went back to the kitchen bench.
‘I saw you rolling her eyes then,’ called Gran from her chair.
‘Impossible,’ said Lily, laughing into the kettle as she filled it up.
*
Lily had Gran settled at home with the classic musicalThe Band Wagonplaying on her ancient DVD player, a cup of tea and some shortbread. Lily was off to restock the kitchen.
She drove to the bigger village, parked at the supermarket and walked into the store.
Pushing a trolley, she started to make her way around the aisles.
‘Lily?’ she heard and she turned to see Nick standing at the end of the aisle with a small basket in his hand.
‘Oh hi,’ she said, feeling odd to see him outside of the cottage or the village hall. He wasn’t at work today and was wearing jeans and a white shirt, which did nothing to make him seem less attractive. He looked so like Brad Pitt it was unnerving, as was the way his forearm flexed holding the basket with the heavy items in it.
‘You buying a few things for dinner?’ he asked.
She laughed. ‘A few things? No, I just cleaned Gran’s cupboards out, and let’s just say it was like being in a kitchenalia exhibition of the past thirty years. I need to restock everything. She had products older than me. It was like she was hoarding for the next nuclear scare.’
Nick laughed, and put his basket into her trolley. ‘Why don’t I push and you put things in it and we can chat?’
Lily paused and then pushed the trolley towards him.
‘Okay, let’s go.’
She started selecting the necessities. Some fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, bread and a few indulgent delights that she was certain her grandmother would enjoy.
‘I spoke to Jessica,’ he said as she stood by a display of cakes.
‘Oh?’ She picked up a packet of madeira cake.
‘She said she would apologise to you.’
‘She doesn’t need to, she just needs to stop it,’ she said as she put back the cake.
‘Did you speak to Jasper?’ he asked as they walked along the biscuit aisle. She picked up some crackers for Gran to have with some cheese and some digestives for them when shortbread was in short supply.
‘Not yet. I was going to but I got sidetracked by the pantry of yore,’ she said with a laugh.
Nick stopped wheeling the trolley and she turned around to see what he was looking at.
‘Don’t leave, Lily. You’re so fabulous and we can have fun. Ignore Jess and stay in the show.’
