Page 14 of A New Arrival at Cwtch Cove

Trudy felt her jaw hit the floor and she sucked in a breath. ‘I haven’t heard ofBig Boyeither.’

‘Thank goodness!’ Alice muttered.

‘She calls me Big Boy because of my enormous c—’

‘Nanna!’ Alice cut Donald off and squeezed past him to hug her grandmother who’d appeared, thankfully fully dressed, behind Donald.

‘Righty oh, then. I shall be off, Edith. But fear not, I’ll return later to worship your beautiful body once again.’

Edith giggled like a teenager and Donald plodded off along the corridors as casually as if he described his apparently generous appendages to his lovers’ families every day.

Trudy entered her mum’s room and closed the door behind her.

‘Bloody hell, Mum, who was that?’

Her mum waved a hand airily. ‘Oh that’s just Donald.’

‘I haven’t heard you mention him before.’

‘Haven’t you?’ Her mum sniffed then patted her hair. ‘He’s a lovely man and he has the biggest—’

‘Pigeon!’ Alice shouted and Trudy and her mum turned to look at where Alice was pointing. ‘There’s a pigeon on your windowsill. Awwww…’ She pulled a face at her mum and Trudy took a deep breath and attempted to pull herself together. What on earth was going on here? Her mum did have a wicked sense of humour and had never shied away from talking about personal matters but this was a step too far for Trudy’s comfort. ‘I quite like pigeons and this one looks like a wood pigeon.’ Alice was still pointing at the window as if the pigeon was something they all needed to focus on.

Trudy sank onto an armchair and placed her tote bag next to her feet. She opened it and pulled out a bag of pastries that Henry had sent for her mum.

‘I’ll make tea shall I?’ her mum asked and Trudy nodded gratefully.

While her mum filled the kettle in the bathroom, Alice sat down opposite her.

‘Wow! I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘Nor me. I’ve never seen or heard of that man before.’

‘Sounds like he’s generously endowed though, right?’ Alice sniggered again and Trudy shook her head.

‘Please don’t. I cannot conceive of my eighty-three-year-old mother having sex with a man called Donald Brain.’

‘AKABig Boy.’ Alice was shaking with laughter and Trudy found herself smiling too.

‘Oh god, it’s so awful.’

‘What’s awful?’ Her mum had reappeared with a full kettle that she plugged in before taking a seat on the sofa near the window. It was a generous room with space for a two-seater sofa and two chairs, a coffee table and a dresser. One door led to the bedroom and the other to a bathroom. The residential home wasn’t cheap but her mum had sold her large home in Manchester and she was able to live comfortably.

‘Nothing!’ Trudy said, holding out the bag of pastries. ‘Henry sent these for you.’

Ooh!’ Her mum accepted the bag and peered inside. ‘How is Henry the hottie?’

‘Henry is just fine. He sends his love.’

‘Gorgeous young man, isn’t he?’ Edith said to Alice and Trudy noticed how colour rushed into her daughter’s cheeks.

‘I… yes… lovely,’ Alice replied. ‘I love the pink hair, Nanna.’

Edith patted her short hair and smiled. ‘Thank you, darling. I fancied a change from purple.’

‘It suits you.’

‘Thank you. I also had a pink glitter vajazzle to match. I can’t tell you how much Donald likes it.’ She chuckled wickedly and Trudy shot a look of horror at Alice. Who wanted to know that their mum had a vajazzle? ‘Let me make that tea then and we can have a chat.’

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