The Accident by Gillian Jackson

Author:Gillian Jackson [Jackson, Gillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2020-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Work became Joe’s only escape and what was left of his home life centred on his dog. It seemed that those he’d considered their friends were actually more friends of Alison’s than his, or was it simply that a bereaved man was something of a dilemma? Most people they’d socialised with were couples and now that he was alone he didn’t seem to fit into their tidy social circle anymore.

The exception to this was Phil and Helen who remained steadfast friends and offered practical help as well as emotional support. Helen was forever bringing him food or inviting him in for a meal, her way of showing she cared, and when they looked after Liffey, they made it appear that it was he who was doing them the favour by allowing them to. Such remarkable people are rare and Joe grew to value them for the true friends they were.

At times he wondered how it would have been if he’d been the one to die and Alison was left alone. Undoubtedly she would have handled it better, probably by widening her circle of friends as a coping mechanism, but it wasn’t quite so easy for a man. He couldn’t join the WI or an embroidery group and he’d never taken to golf or bowls in the way that some men do, so work became his life and Liffey his love.

He could only continue functioning and remain sane by taking one day at a time and forbidding his thoughts to stray any further ahead. Joe felt he’d lost his future with Alison gone, he didn’t want to dwell on the weeks and months ahead, they were just a painful existence to get through, alone.

Now that he was able to drive again, Joe knew he had to fill an obligation which he did not relish; he was going to visit Ethel. They’d spoken on the telephone on several occasions and she seemed to have expectations of Joe which he was not able, or willing to meet.

The insurance company hadn’t quibbled about his claim and paid the full value of his written off car promptly, enabling Joe to buy another one. The purchase of a new car had always been a time of excitement but not this one, as there was little pleasure in it for him without Ali to share it.

The drive to his mother-in-law’s was the first time he’d taken the same route as the morning of the crash, but he steeled himself to do it, reasoning that avoiding those roads would remind him every bit as much as taking them would.

Ethel Palmer lived in a neat semi-detached bungalow, large enough for one and small enough to maintain quite easily. Not that Ethel took responsibility for any of the maintenance, having expected her daughter to run the home for her. Joe occasionally chipped in with everyday practical jobs when necessary, to take the burden off his wife, but generally Ali had been running two homes, their own and her mother’s, typically without complaint.

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