Page 93 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

VALERIE

Valerie smiled, hardly able to believe that her beloved son was back in the family home. It had been a good few months since she’d last seen him and he looked leaner, like he’d been working out. Or not eating properly.

‘It’s so good to have you back, Jacob.’

She ruffled his hair as she went past the kitchen stool he was perched on.

‘You know me, Mum,’ he said, smoothing his hair down. ‘I love coming back to visit.’

‘Maybe you should do it more often, then.’

She bit her lip, cross with herself. She’d told herself she wouldn’t spoil his visit by nagging, but he’d only been home for half an hour and she was already scolding him.

‘What I mean is,’ she added quickly, ‘your dad and I miss you and of course Lily does too. Have you arranged with Nessa to see her?’

Jacob put down his mobile phone and reached for another chocolate digestive. ‘Yeah, I’ll sort something out with Ness.’

‘Lily will be here for your dad’s birthday tea, so you’ll see her then too.’

Jacob paused, the biscuit halfway to his mouth. ‘Birthday tea?’

‘She’s very excited about having tea with Grampy tomorrow on his special day. She’s made him a card and bought him a present with her pocket money. Isn’t that sweet?’

‘Mmm.’ Jacob took a large bite of biscuit and chewed for a while. ‘I didn’t know what to get Dad so I thought I’d give him a bit of cash, so he can get what he wants. And you know me, I’m not one for birthday cards. I don’t agree with paying a fortune for a bit of cardboard. It’s a capitalist rip-off.’

Valerie nodded and loaded plates from their lunch into the dishwasher. He’d forgotten his father’s birthday. That was clear enough. But at least serendipity meant he’d missed his family enough to come home this weekend. It was a fortunate coincidence.

‘What time is Dad’s birthday tea tomorrow?’ asked Jacob, running his fingers across Valerie’s squeaky-clean granite worktop.

‘Four o’clock.’ When he grimaced, she asked, ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Four isn’t great, to be honest. I’ll be heading home by then. I don’t want to leave it too late because you know what the trains are like. I would have driven, only the roads round here are terrible.’

Valerie straightened up from the dishwasher and stretched her aching back. ‘Are you returning to Manchester tomorrow? I thought you were staying until Monday.’

‘Yeah, I was thinking about making a long weekend of it but I need to get back for work. We’ve got a big project on right now and I’m an important part of it, so I can’t stay.’

‘That’s a shame,’ said Valerie calmly, going back to loading dishes.

‘Yeah, but I’m sure Dad won’t mind and maybe I can nip round to see Lily tomorrow morning, so long as Ness doesn’t have a mare about it. Are they still living with her gran?’

Valerie placed a smeared bowl on the worktop and turned to look at her son. ‘No. Nessa’s grandmother died a few weeks ago and they had to move out.’

‘Oh yeah, of course. She did tell me about her gran but I forgot.’ He picked up his phone and started scrolling through Instagram. ‘So where have they moved to?’

‘They’ve been living at Driftwood House for a few weeks, apart from when Lily stayed here with us for a month. Didn’t she tell you that too?’

‘Probably. I zone out a bit when Ness sends a long email.’ He closed down his social media and reached for another biscuit. ‘Driftwood House, eh? I heard Rosie’s making a great success of the place. I wouldn’t have thought she’d have enough room in the summer season for Ness and Lily to move in.’

‘She doesn’t. It’s been a stop-gap while Nessa’s looking for somewhere else suitable for her and her child to live. It hasn’t proved easy.’

Valerie was about to tell him all about Nessa’s crackpot plan to house his daughter in a derelict building, and to reassure him that his daughter would, in fact, be moving in permanently with her and Alan in two days’ time, but what was the point? she wondered. What was the point when her son didn’t even know that his daughter had been living in a seaside guesthouse? And he didn’t seem particularly interested.

He hadn’t mentioned Lily’s living arrangements during the brief phone calls he’d made to them over the last month, and she’d assumed he was so worried sick he didn’t want to talk about it. She’d gone along with that, not wanting to add to his stress and spoil their precious chats. But it seemed he hadn’t been worried at all. He’d been oblivious.

Valerie deliberately relaxed her shoulders, which were heading towards her ears. ‘Maybe we could switch Dad’s tea tomorrow to a birthday meal this evening. Lily might be able to come round for a couple of hours if I text Nessa. I’m cooking roast lamb because it’s your favourite.’

Jacob swung his legs off the stool, stood up and stretched.

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