The Promise of Summer, Part 1 by Bella Osborne

Author:Bella Osborne [Osborne, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-05-13T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Friday afternoon was dragging. Kim ate another Hobnob and instantly regretted it. It felt like every biscuit she’d ever eaten was now stored as a fat cell on her bum. Ruby, on the other hand, seemed to eat as many biscuits as she liked and didn’t put on an ounce. Kim wondered if there was some strange sort of osmosis at work, where Ruby ate the biscuits and they went on Kim’s hips. She’d given up weighing herself; she didn’t need the scales to tell her she was getting fatter, her jeans screamed that at her each morning and the mark they left across her middle reminded her every evening.

She popped her head into the flower shop’s tiny washroom and surveyed the state of her hair. She really did need to get it done. The grey was no longer strolling through; it was rampaging. It was mainly on one side, which would soon give her an air of Cruella de Vil unless she took some action. The dark circles under her eyes added to the sorry picture. She was getting older and she didn’t like it. Almost immediately her mother’s voice popped into her head: ‘It beats the alternative.’ That was what she always used to say. She knew she was lucky to be alive and healthy. Even so it was hard to look in the mirror and see a tired older person staring back.

She returned to her work bench in the back room and set about the order she’d deliver on her way home. A bouquet and balloons for the arrival of twins. A boy and a girl. Even now, after all this time, she still felt it. That hollow pang of loss – if, of course, it was possible to lose something you never actually had. She’d so wanted to have children but all her attempts had come to nothing.

Just as she tried to tie the ribbon to keep the flowers together, the shop bell chimed.

‘Hang on,’ she called.

A face peered through the beaded curtain making her jump. ‘Hiya,’ said Gloria the postwoman. ‘Need to sign for this one.’ She put the envelope on the countertop. ‘That’s pretty,’ she said, nodding at the bouquet Kim was grappling with.

‘Thanks. Can you just hold that there?’

‘Sure.’ Gloria did as instructed and Kim tied off the knot. ‘Twins huh? Nightmare. My Jade has three nippers now. She spends most days tearing her hair out.’

‘I’m sure she wouldn’t be without them,’ said Kim.

‘No, she would. She often says she wishes she’d never had them. And she’s got a new fella so I’m expecting grandchild number four to be announced soon. Signature,’ said Gloria, thrusting the electronic box at Kim.

‘It’s funny how those who really want children don’t get them and then those who maybe don’t … do.’ She was thinking out loud as she signed something that barely resembled her signature.

‘That’s because these days they let anyone do it, don’t they,’ said Gloria, appearing serious.

‘I guess they do,’ agreed Kim, although she was fairly sure that was how it had always been.

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