Natalie, 60, Looking For... What? by Val Erasmus

Author:Val Erasmus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: The Book Guild
Published: 2024-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

I went for tea at Maggie’s house that Thursday. She was in a mood; I could see it the minute she opened the door. She didn’t say a word, just glared at me before she turned and went down to the kitchen. Alan grabbed his coat off the stair banister and, giving me a look like a startled rabbit, escaped without a word through the open door. I followed Maggie down to the kitchen where she was making us a vodka and coke each – and her mood was, indeed, dark.

She handed me my drink. ‘So, you’re back, are you? How was it? And I hope you haven’t brought any soddin’ holiday snaps because I don’t want to see them!’

‘Holiday snaps?’ I said, incredulously. ‘What’s that?’

‘They’re what people who have just come off holiday bore the tits off other people with.’

‘Well, no. I haven’t. Unless you want to look at them on my phone.’

Her deadpan glare answered that one. I couldn’t help but laugh as I followed her back down to the lounge.

‘I brought you a little present back.’

From over her shoulder, I heard her mutter something like, ‘It better not be a tea towel or fuckin’ fridge magnet!’

Sitting down in our usual places, I handed her two wrapped gifts. One was a striped, Rastafarian hat complete with dreadlocks, and the other a bottle of rum. The shape of the bottle was a bit of a giveaway, so she unwrapped the other parcel first and, holding up the hat, regarded it as she might a dead cat. She was slightly more gracious about the rum.

‘If you don’t like the hat,’ I said, ‘give it back, because Lea fancies it. I’ll give it to her.’

‘Who?’

‘Lea, Richard’s daughter.’

‘No, she’s not having it,’ she said. ‘Softlad will like that.’ And she put it up on the mantlepiece.

‘So, what’s up?’ I asked, as she sat down again.

She gave a big sigh and took a slug of vodka. ‘They’re putting me on a three-day week at work.’

‘So? That’s not so bad, is it?’

‘Course it is! That’s a big dent in my pay cheque that I can’t afford. And my pension is worked out on my last earnings.’

‘Shit! Can they do that?’

‘Apparently, yes! They’re restructuring. It’s that, or early retirement,’

‘Is it just you?’

‘No, there’s three of us. The three oldest ones there. We’ve all been there for twenty years or more, all near retirement age. They’re just trying to get rid of us.’

‘That’s crap,’ I said, stuck for words.

‘And worse,’ she went on, ‘I’m going to be stuck here with Softlad going stir crazy.’

‘But that was going to happen anyway when you retire, wasn’t it? I thought you wanted to retire?’

‘No, that’s not what I said. I said I’d love to give up work if I could afford to. But I don’t want to be stuck here with him! I’ll end up killing one of us!’

‘No, you won’t.’ I laughed. ‘You’ll be fine! And maybe going on a three-day week might ease you into it?’

‘I can’t imagine it.

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