Another Day in Winter by Shari Low

Author:Shari Low [Low, Shari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2018-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty

George

Here they are then, like the bad bloody pennies. Vultures back to feed on the carcass.

I don’t know what I expected, but nothing has changed. Not a damn thing. If this body of mine was working, it would be showing all the signs of mighty irritation just now, but of course it isn’t. I can’t even open my eyes and right now I’m fairly convinced that’s not a bad thing, because I don’t have to look at those smug faces.

It’s not a kind thing to think about your own son. I know that and I’ll have to be judged on it when I move on to the next life. But just to hear Norry there, asking, ‘What’s the point of just sitting here?’ breaks my heart. I tried my best with him, I really did. My Betty was the most kind and caring woman, but he got none of that. Maybe we spoiled him. Or maybe there’s no outrunning genes and they catch up sooner or later, because that boy is my da all over.

I can sense that Tom is struggling, finding it difficult to deal with him. I still don’t understand why they’ve come. It has to be for the money. Of course, Norry’s ego will have stopped him considering the possibility that it won’t go to him. He’ll be thinking they’ll get the house, and they can flog it and add another few quid to their stash, but they’ll be sorely disappointed when they find out it’s all going to Tom. He’s been more of a son to me than Norry ever was and it’s only what he deserves after what I did to him.

‘It’s snowing, Grandad,’ I hear Tom say and, my God, my heart breaks. The memories of sledging, of snowballs fights, of Tom’s excitement every time flakes fell. Out we’d go, desperate not to miss a moment of it. Betty loved it too – except when she was having to trudge through it on the way to work. Oh Betty.

That’s what I’m looking forward to most about getting to the other side. I’m not scared, because I know Betty will be there waiting for me. Living without her these last few years hasn’t been easy and, I’ll not lie, there have been many times when I wished I’d been taken at the same time. I’m glad now that I’ve had the extra years to spend with Tom, though. It would have been great to see him married, with children of his own, but it’s not to be and I accept that. Wherever I go, I just hope I’ll be able to watch over him every day of his life.

I hear Tom speaking to Rosemary and the tension in his voice is palpable. ‘I just realised I never asked you the same thing,’ he says. They must be going back to a conversation they had in the car on the way here.

‘What?’ she says. The voice hasn’t changed. It almost amuses me that she’s been forced to come, because God knows, it’s not as if she’s here out of love.

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